Theocracy - Mirror of Souls

Theocracy Signs with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

NEW YORK -- Sony BMG Music Entertainment is pleased to welcome Theocracy to its diverse family of artists and musical visionaries. Hailing from Athens, Ga., Theocracy started life as a metal band in the tradition of hundreds of others, playing in front of small audiences and struggling to build a legacy. Their particular brand of melodic mayhem has traditionally been most successful on European shores, but Sony Senior A&R Representative Matt Pinfield heard potential for so much more when he listened to the material included in the band's press kit.

"It was apparent right away that the raw talent was there," explains Meghan Lyons, A&R assistant. "What they needed was a gentle nudge in the right direction." The result is the band's major-label debut, Mirror of Souls. Jam-packed with almost 70 minutes of music, the material on Mirror of Souls runs the gamut from screaming death metal to smooth R&B-styled choruses to twangy country, culminating in the 23-minute magnum opus title track.

"We normally frown on lengthy songs," says Lyons. "But this track is like a journey through a mind-meld of seemingly disparate musical universes. It is truly something to behold."

Theocracy's self-titled debut album was released on an independent label called MetalAges Records at the end of 2003, leading some to express concern about why the follow-up has been such a long time in the making.

"It's been frustrating, because we've had to keep silent on why this album has taken so long," explains band founder and frontman Matt Smith. "We finished the whole album last year, but since Sony picked it up and re-tooled it with several different producers and mixing engineers, it's been a lengthy process. However, the end result is well worth it."

To those fans who may be tempted to cry foul at the stylistic shift between the albums, Smith emphasizes that these broader directions were simply natural extensions of the band's sound. "When I heard that Sony wanted to alter the approach of certain songs, I was concerned, but I decided I'd be cheating myself if I didn't at least try it with an open mind," Smith says. As it turns out, he would have been cheating the rest of the world at large, too.

"I was blown away by the finished product. Rest assured that not one note on this album is contrived or unnatural; it's a reflection of where we're at as a band, and an extension of our natural evolution."

Part of that evolution includes Sony's considerable marketing muscle, which sees the band releasing everything from wall calendars to its own clothing line, Theocrasize. Guitarist Jon Hinds is even releasing his own fragrance, Scent of Hinds.

"We will be pushing the Theocracy brand very hard starting in the third quarter of 2008," says Lyons. Though an actual date has yet to be determined, look for Mirror of Souls to be released sometime in that window.

A three-minute sneak preview of the title track, " Mirror of Souls ," is available for download here.

Read this, you turds!

Eyesore wrote:

Read this, you turds!

I did, but your short stories are way more gripping.

I already fell for this on another board.

HAHAHA Matt Pinfield LMAO!!!

Good for that band though. Hope they can stay on it.

April Fool!

I actually found myself listening to that sample several times, trying to like it. I finally posted that I thought it was horrible and promptly got laughed at.

Are you guys not familiar with Matt Smith and his jokes? They do this kind of thing a lot, and it's always pretty funny. They previously release an album preview track and it was retarded but somewhat believable. This new hip hop death metal country sample was a bit more obvious. Then there was the song "Skeletor Goes To Mars," which was hilarious.

And Matt's St. Anger spoof will always be funny.

I'm new to Theocracy so I wasn't expecting this...

tohostudios wrote:

I'm new to Theocracy so I wasn't expecting this...

Oh, haha. Well here's a bit more humor from Matt Smith. He's a funny dude!

FAKE NEW ALBUM PREVIEW
SKELETOR GOES TO MARS
ST. ANGER SPOOF

"Skeletor Goes To Mars" is pretty sweet, even if it's a joke. Haha.

I remember Skeletor goes to Mars from last year.Matt's a crazy guy.

This had me goin' till I got to this part:

Quote :

Part of that evolution includes Sony's considerable marketing muscle, which sees the band releasing everything from wall calendars to its own clothing line, Theocrasize. Guitarist Jon Hinds is even releasing his own fragrance, Scent of Hinds.

Soon as I saw "Scent of Hinds," I was like "Waaaaait a minute... WTF?"

That some funny Sh*t right there. Seriously, Matt needs to release an EP of these joke songs or something because they are awesome. Skeletor Goes To Mars is actually a pretty good song. Is it wrong to like the first one with the rap-death-country, I would love to have that on my hardrive.

BTW, the St. Anger parody was spot on IMO.

He has 9 posts at the CMR, 2 are April fool, and 3 are Christmas tunes I believe!!

You can download them, DB.

Short clips, but they sound great! I hope Matt gets this out soon.

Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3

So Theocracy have done yet another joke song. This one is—puke on Matt Smith!—a song for the Yankees. This has something to do with some people that work at ESPN. I guess it was featured on ESPN and the band's website did a month's worth of traffic in a night. Good publicity, I guess.

http://www.theocracymusic.com/JackO.php
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/theocracy/395773-whats-story-espn-track.html

And you wonder why the new album NEVER get's to be finished!

New song here: http://www.myspace.com/theocracyband

New album art:



Can't wait for this album!

I am all over this as well! Cool art!

Sounds great to me!

I'll be picking this up.

Eyesore wrote:

New song here: http://www.myspace.com/theocracyband

New album art:



Can't wait for this album!

The MUST make a t-shirt with this on it!

That IS a cool album cover.

They still have the April's Fool's album sampler up there.

"I do my make-up in the mirror of souls."

Its a decent cover, but I don't think its THAT good. Hope it gets put out sometime soon in the US.