Metal string trio Judgement Day goes in a completely different direction with its forthcoming release.

Key Connection: A few years ago, JudgementCQ Day violinist Anton Patzner was unexpectedly invited as one of the session musicians to contribute on Slash’s self-titled solo debut. Riki Feldmann

Metal string trio Judgement Day goes in a completely different direction with its forthcoming release.

By Adam Joseph

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Violin-cello-drum Judgement Day has evolved a sound to rival Metallica. But the Bay Area instrumental outfit’s third full-length album, Polar Shift – hitting the streets on July 31 – is a return to basics for brothers Anton (violin) and Lewis (cello) Patzner and Jon Bush (drums). While heavy distortion and effects fueled their previous records, the new LP, for the most part, moves in a more acoustic direction. Anton refers to the upcoming release as “something that’s new and fresh.”

“On the other albums, the distortion makes everything sound like guitars, and on this one you could distinctly hear the violin and cello parts,” he says. “We challenged ourselves to see if we could make an album where violin, cello and drums can play together as they sound and really rock.”

From the opening track, “Ghost Hunt,” a blistering convergence of percussion and strings racing up Mussorgsky’s “Bald Mountain,” to the heart-racing cover of “Altair” (theme from the video game Assassin’s Creed), an adventure in bipolar rhythms and theatrical orchestration that closes the album on a satisfying note, the threesome achieves the heavy rock-and-roll momentum of its previous work, and they didn’t need that large arsenal of effects pedals.

Anton worries Polar Shift may lose many of Judgement Day’s diehard metal fans, but others will be hooked after the album’s first tune.

The allusive, multi-layered synth six-piece V.I.S opens along with genre-leaping, multi-instrumentalist Michael Glines, who will be celebrating the release of his solo debut Let Yourself.