Who's in the band?
rototypical is a solo project founded and headed by me, pat savage. i started actively working on this idea in 2015, and wrote all the composition and a skeleton of demo instrumentation before reaching out to much more gifted musicians, who for some reason decided to jump in on my wild idea. so, the words expressed here are just me, although two others were pivotal in completing the music, while another painted the artwork.
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pat savage—composition, guitars, and vocals
evan sammons—drums, mixing, mastering
gabriel castro—bass, synth, additional guitar leads on durator/traveler/lunacy/relic glow
jennifer hrabota lesser—album artwork
What Am I Listening To?
the niche sub-genre of progressive metal can be overwhelming, and most fans would describe it as an "acquired taste." if you aren't a fan of this type of music, or metal at all, then you've likely already been dragged through a carousel of this is why it's so great and the musicianship is simply top-notch and but you need to listen to the same album at least ten times to really understand it or make a judgment and who really wants to get berated like that? i certainly didn't. metal wasn't for me growing up, and i'd even refuse to listen to more than a moment of screaming vocals or double-kick drumming. in fact, i actively hated all forms of metal until college.
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and you know, it's tough to get on board right from the start. there isn't always a clear beat to bob your head to. It's fairly rare to hear a chorus repeat multiple times in a song. the song structures themselves are almost nothing like what we all hear on the radio growing up. prog metal—particularly the style i'm writing—is much more of a linear experience. a verse or a chorus might repeat here and there, but most of the sections will be unique throughout, tied together only with subtle riffs and progressions that are repeated and/or revamped as the story marches on. one way i like to think of it goes as such: watching a movie is a long presentation of a story with virtually zero repeating scenes. what if you saw an exact copy & paste scene an hour into a movie, that had already played five minutes in? with rare exception, that wouldn't make much sense, right? rototypical—and many forms of progressive music, for that matter—operates more like a movie, or a classical symphony, than a song you'd hear on the radio.
so, how do i concisely package up this album to hook a new listener? the short answer is: i don't! that's a big oof, but finding a single track to fairly represent the entire album was daunting from the very start. a couple years ago, as i'd absorbed the songs during the initial recording process, i found that aiming to create a soundscape more "listenable" or "addicting" or "insert-large-word-that-makes-me-sound-more-intelligent," was only distracting me from constructing exactly what i felt was right for telling the story.
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and so, if you can only muster up enough tolerance to make it through one part of a song or two: firstly, i totally get it! but; secondly, i can guarantee that no matter which small section(s) met your ears, they did not accurately capture the dynamics or the essence of The Tactician. however, just by virtue of giving it a shot, i love you.