The Tex Avery Syndrome is a Hardcore Metal band with a very unique sound that you cannot find in any other band. Now, you can verify that, as the German band released their debut album entitled “Origin”.

The Tex Avery Syndrome previously released an EP called “Wolfcity” in 2016. Now, with their first full-length release, they explore a new depth in music.

We had the pleasure to chat with Laura Gierl, the vocalist of The Tex Avery Syndrome, to talk about “Origin” and other things as well. We also had the chance to listen to the new album and write a review about it.

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To skip our review, and jump right to the interview with Laura Gierl, click on Bugs Bunny.

The Tex Avery Syndrome, aside from being one heck of a good band, also have one heck of a long name. Therefore, and since I’m the laziest person you might ever meet, from now on through this article I shall refer to them as TTAS.


Review

‘Origin’ consists of 12 songs extending over the period of 43 minutes. The album is loud, heavy, and feels like it has been stuffed with good things. Here are four things we loved about ‘Origin’.

The Power

‘Origin’ is loaded with power and feels like it’s about to explode. The drums, the guitars and the vocals all work together to provide powerful music, always rising and always providing good vibes of power. To understand what I mean, think of it as a river streaming in a single course. The river would lose its power if we dig branches around it and divide it into multiple streams. Each instrument used on ‘Origin’ is one of these streams, and it feels like they all flow together into the same stream, each adding its own variety, but all working like a machine creating the power and edge. This can be felt on every song in the album, especially Long Desert Run, Life is for the Living, and Closure.

The Rich Guitar Music

I admit I have a problem with most new (2010-) Metalcore and Post-hardcore bands, and it roots from the fact their music is poor. Most of them find one riff, stick with it for one whole song, play it faster here and slower there and add a random melody at wrap it up, without a damn solo! For me, one of the most important factors of a good Metal/Rock song is the guitar solo. And a band has to work very hard to restore my admiration when they lack solos. That is not the case on ‘Origin’. The band, having in its ranks two guitarists, are far from repetitive and very rich with their riffs. Both guitars are working full shifts and providing great variations and wonderful tunes. This, and that solo on Closure… Damn! But we shall talk about that later. Pendulum and All Is Not Lost are examples of songs were TTAS showered us with rich music!

Laura Gierl = OP

For all of you old people who do not know what OP stands for, it’s a term used mostly in video games meaning “overpowered”. Like when someone has too much power over other players. You can read its definition of Urban Dictionary here.

Laura Gierl’s screams are so powerful that the sound waves emitted from her vocal cords could be mistaken for an earthquake on the Richter scale. But it’s not just about the power. They are also so damn good. You enjoy listening to her varying her screams with the speed and power of the music behind her. Rage Gene, Warflower, Pendulum, and Closure are a few of the songs I enjoyed her vocals on most!

‘Closure’

I mean the song was referenced in the three previous bulletins. It’s only normal to give it its own bulletin. Closure is my favourite song on the album. It’s so full of energy, moving between varying speeds, so amazing in its lyrical scheme and the performance of Laura Gierl on it is spot on! Plus, it has one of the best guitar solos I have heard for a very long while. (And it slashes Justin Bieber in its great cartoonish intro)


One thing I would have loved to hear on ‘Origin’ is some slower songs with heavy music and and “clearer” screams. The band showed its capability of making not only energetic hardcore Metal but also ballads and transition tracks on occasions like the intro of Betrayer, the intro of Pulling Teeth, and Disillusion. I would have loved to hear a full song of that kind of music to interrupt the consistency of the album.


We heavily recommend “Origin” for all fans of Metalcore, Alternative Metal and Metal fans in general. It is a very good album and it’s very hard to believe that is only TTAS’s first album! Makes me wonder what is coming next!


Rating

Here are the average of the ratings that were placed by the FemMetal Team.

Music (30%)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐10/10
Lyrics (30%)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐9/10
Production (30%)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐8/10
Cover Art (10%)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐8/10
Total⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐9/10

Interview

Mirk: Hello Laura! I’m happy to talk with you. How are you and the other TTAS members?

Laura: Hey Mirk, great talking to you! 
We are doing great, right now we are getting ready for the fall album release tour and we are beyond excited.

Mirk: You released a new album lately, ‘Origin’. Would you like to tell us a bit about this album?

Laura: It’s our debut album and, I know every band says that, but we put so much blood, sweat and tears into it.
We’ve been on the last lap of finishing songs and recording, and within the process of all that, life threw so many obstacles at us.
Some of us lost close family members and friends within a very short time, romantic relationships came to an end, it’s been hard. I was glad to have an outlet, writing lyrics, screaming. I guess you can hear some of that pain on the record for sure. For me, it is a very personal album lyrics-wise.
We didn’t want to sound overly produced, too. So we were going for a modern, but rougher sound.
We grew so much as a band making this record and I’d say it sets a great foundation of who we are as a band.

Mirk: Your band’s name is borrowed from the famous cartoonist, Tex Avery. What is the resemblance between Tex Avery and The Tex Avery Syndrome?

Laura: My Guitar player was drunk when he came up with the name. We’ve been looking for a band name for months, and we all thought it was great when he texted us in the middle of the night.
We are wild and mad, especially when you watch us playing live, but we also do not take ourselves too seriously and we love having fun. Similar to Tex Avery’s cartoons.
If you know Red Riding Hood you you probably remember the wolf and his eyes that pop out of his head when he sees the woman in red.
That’s The Tex Avery Syndrome. 
We are still a heavy, dark band, but we, as humans, love to have fun and the guys are honestly hilarious and we didn’t want to have a super evil sounding band name.

Mirk: Tex Avery lost sight in his left eye because of a paper clip incident. According to Joe Adamson’s documentary on Tex Avery, this depth perception lacking from losing sight in one of his eyes gave him a “unique look at animation” which contributed to his successful career. Do you feel that you have a “weakness” that makes you in a way or another stronger or fuels your creativity?

Laura: Pain is a gift, it makes you vulnerable, sad, angry, but it gives you creativity. You make art and turn into something positive and in best case other people feel less alone with their thoughts and feelings.

Mirk: Your musical style is aggressive and contains elements from different Rock and Metal directions. What would you say influenced your band to build up this unique style of “Cartoonish Hardcore Metal”?

Laura: Cartoonish hardcore metal is a great way to describe our music. I might steal it 😊
Honestly, we just go with the flow. We all have a few genre and bands we all listen to, but then we also listen to something complete different than the other. 
We all love groovy riffs and good melodies, that is for sure.
We do not have one songwriter, everyone is part of the process. Even our bass player wrote some guitar riffs.
They come into practise with an idea and then we work on it, even I as a singer.
It’s important to give a song some room to breathe, to open the structure for some catchy parts. That’s what we love. We want people to move, dance and head-bang.

Mirk: You’re from Germany, a country rich with great Metal bands. Which of these bands did you grow up listening to?

Laura: Honestly I did not listen to any German metal band at all when I grew up. When I was a young kid, about 7 or 8, I found Pearl Jam and Soundgarden on my cousins bedroom floor and then it became heavier. But as a teenager and young adult I found out about Caliban, Heaven Shall Burn, Callejon and Rammstein of course, which are from Germany. I know we have some big old school Metal bands from Germany, but it’s not really my type of music. Yet it is amazing that they became that famous.

Mirk: Do you remember the first time you performed live for an audience? How big was the audience and how did it feel?

Laura: As a child and teenager I sang in a choir. We traveled a lot, so it was quite a common thing to perform for a couple of hundred people. It felt a bit different with my band though. Before The Tex Avery Syndrome I played in another band with my drummer and guitar player. That was my first Metal show as a lead singer, being more or less the center of the entire performance. Being on stage wasn’t new to me at all, but becoming a stronger performer was a new thing to grow into. I think it must have been 70 people maybe. It was great, but  you could probably see that this was new me. But I knew I wanted to this more often.

Mirk: What issues related to human rights or other global cases would you like to target, either through your music or social media?

Laura: Let me tell you what I think.. you can sing about something or post about something on social media, but you also need to take action, go to demonstrations, go vote, discuss with your friends, neighbors, strangers, transfer that onto your daily life. Talk to that police officer, who treats a black person unfair or that old woman hating on immigrants or two gays kissing. Otherwise you won’t make a big difference by just posting a photo on Instagram or talking to an audience you already know is like-minded. Confront the people who support an unfair and unequal system and do your best to change their minds.

Mirk: Since you love toons, which cartoon character would you say is most like each of your band members including you?

Laura: We could be the entire family guy family.

Mirk: Aside from music, what hobbies and interests do you have?

I love sports, especially boxing, surfing and bouldering, traveling and nature…is food a hobby? Because I love food. 

Mirk: (laughs) Thank you Laura for this interview and good luck on your and TTAS’s future projects!

Laura: Thank you for the interview!

The Tex Avery Syndrome:
Drums: Alexander Stehle
Guitar: Christoph Kipper
Guitar/Vocals: Nico Meister
Bass: Thomas Mück
Vocals: Laura Gierl

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