Robots and Monsters

New Jersey-based metal/hardcore outfit Robots and Monsters formed in the fall of 2013, but the members of the trio have performed together intermittently since they were in grade school. For years the band’s members – guitarist Derek Gadino, bassist Bill Bergmann (ex-Mucky Pup) and drummer/vocalist Dylan Gadino – performed as The Llama Project, a jokey metal band who wrote self-deprecating songs about life in the suburbs (the Gadino brothers and Bergmann grew up on the same street). Robots and Monsters’ debut recording, Down to Ash, however, finds the longtime friends creating more serious sounds. Steeped in East Coast hardcore aesthetics and filtered through accessible arrangements, the eight songs on Down to Ash are emotive reflections addressing the frustrations of life and feelings of total despondency. Also,there’s a song about Star Wars. The three longtime friends grew up obsessing over the likes of East Coast metal heroes Anthrax, Nuclear Assault and Overkill (to name just a few) as well as West Coast thrashers Slayer, Testament, Metallica, Death Angel and Exodus. Their musical tastes evolved past metal and eventually the Gadinos and Bergmann were into everything from punk to hardcore to power pop to folk and all things in between. The culmination of these influences deftly comes together on Down to Ash.