ALBUM REVIEW: BILLYBIO Will “Feed The Fire”

CBGB’s gave birth to US punk and L’Amour was the club that brought metal to America – some say L’Amour is the CBGB’s of metal. Whatever, point is both clubs are rock ‘n’ roll landmarks and both are smack in the middle of scary-ass Brooklyn.

L’Amour is where Metallica and Anthrax made their names and reportedly where the first ever guy yelled SLAYERRR! from the back of a room. CBGB’s spawned the likes of The Dead Boys and Beastie Boys. Both clubs are where a hard-case inner-city Brooklyn kid called Billy Graziadei came up in the world, hellraised on the emanating imminence of each. So when the Biohazard frontman describes his latest album as a “100% product of who I am and where I’m from”, simple musical math tells us this might just be a beast.

At least in a perfect world that would be the case, it’s an impending imperfect one that Graziadei is focusing his fury at on his first solo release, but not one that can’t be pulled from its own sociopolitical ratpiss gutter.

Most tracks do pull their punches from Billy’s days as a mini no-less-musclebound mosher at CBGB’s almost mythical matinee’s and L’Amour’s legendary metal nights. Enemy could be Jello Biafra singing with The Dead Boys, Freedom’s Never Free is like Tom Araya screaming for the Crumbsuckers while Disaffected World has all the doom-laden sensibilities of Trouble or Sabbath and No Apologies, No Regrets could be a brand new Carnivore track. An electronic-edge helps modernise and a hint of Hip-Hop harkens back to the hallmark of Biohazard. There are songs on here might sound like recruitment drives aimed to aurally satisfy and service Slipknot’s army of maggots in every possible way, but Billy was there first, in a punk-infested thrash-pit, covered in piss and snot and spit long before Nu-metal ever had the audacity to take an honest-to-god good riff, break it in half, tune it down and call it a “breakdown”.

Feed The Fire is an all-for-one riotous charge of straight-outta-Brooklyn bloodied, bare-knuckled, mucho-macho, puke-stained Punkmetal propelled by a full-throated roar and balls-til-Sunday rawkus rifolla. This record has the infectious bark and bite of a rabid dog down a dark New York City alleyway, I mean you can practically feel the spittle flying right through the speakers on this. Gloriously belligerent and self-affirming.

Review by Harley Gough

 

About Billybio

Music has always been the central, unifying force in Billy Graziadei’s life. Early musical training took place on the Graziadei family’s old, forever out-of-tune upright piano and he began studying music under the guidance of his Grandfather and Uncle, both of whom he had always admired. So he expanded his musical vocabulary while growing up, finding inspiration in so many forms of music but it wasn’t until he stumbled into the underground world of punk-rock music that his musical taste was really sparked into growth.

“With BillyBio, it’s 100% me. No influence from anyone else. This is who I am and what I’ve become. I’m a product of everyone I’ve met, talked with, shared my stories with…and a bit of their stories as well.”
Billy Graziadei

Immersing himself in the sounds, perspective, and culture of the punk underground, Billy’s desire to create new, innovative music led him to the late 80’s hardcore scene in New York City, from Sunday matinee hardcore shows at CBGB’s to Friday night metal shows at Brooklyn’s L’Amour metal/rock club. It was here that he found his musical home and it was here that Billy helped form a band that would take the metal/hardcore scene by storm. It was the birth of BIOHAZARD. As one of the first bands they combined the urban sounds of hardcore, metal and rap with scorching lyrics describing the forces at work in our modern urban lives.

With an audio engineering degree and years of experience recording BIOHAZARD, Graziadei opened Firewater Studios. This studio became an incubator for Billy’s creativity, where he continues to cultivate his talent while producing upcoming bands.

During the years of touring with BIOHAZARD, Graziadei collaborated with many different musicians. As a result of this the later friendship with Cypress Hill singer SenDog, turned in 2016 into the Supergroup POWERFLO along with bassist Christian Olde Wolbers (Ex-FEAR FACTORY) and guitarist Roy Lozano (DOWNSET). While Graziadei continues to work on new POWERFLO songs as he tours around, he decided that the time finally has come for his solo venture: Billy Graziadei is BILLYBIO.

“I’ve always wanted to do a solo release and the timing of everything that I have been working on just seemed to fall in place. I always let the creative juices flow, I don’t try and restrict them to fit a certain genre. With BILLYBIO, it’s 100% me. No influence from anyone else. This is who I am and what I’ve become. I’m a product of everyone I’ve met, talked with, shared my stories with…and a bit of their stories as well. Anyone who’s a fan of what I’ve done, especially with BIOHAZARD, will love this! There’s something there for every fan of heavy underground music! I’m psyched to release my new music this fall as BILLYBIO. Launching the band in Europe on tour with my family in LIFE OF AGONY couldn’t get any better!”

As you can hear, the anticipation is huge and BILLYBIO will more than deliver the goods. This is the best of all worlds. “Feed The Fire is heavy, fast, groovy and full of energy, I couldn’t have it any other way. It’s full of my roots but modern.”, states Billy.
And producer Tue Madsen agrees: “When I was brought in to mix this record, it was with big expectations, and boy, were they met. These songs keep the energy level so high and have so much to say. Great deliverance, great songwriting and now Me mixing the whole thing. I couldn’t be happier.”