We Came As Romans release 'Darkbloom', announce USA headliner

If you haven't checked out the brand new We Came As Romans record "Darkbloom", stop what you're doing and give it a listen. An incredibly emotional record filled with high energy bangers and a couple tearjerkers, it's a journey from start to finish.

If you have any knowledge of the background of the band, you'll know that they lost vocalist Kyle Pavone in 2018. This is their first record since his passing and many of the songs offer tribute to him (Watch: Promise You via SharpTone Records YouTube channel). The album walks you through the various stages of grief and gives you insight to how Kyle affected and was loved by his bandmates.

Extreme Vocal Institute's David Benites worked with vocalist Dave Stephens on the record while they were in the studio via remote during the height of the pandemic. Since then, David has toured with We Came As Romans twice working with Dave as well as guitarist Joshua Moore and bassist Andy Glass and performing their song "Daggers" with them. He shared a bit about his role on Darkbloom in an Instagram post:

We Came As Romans have also announced the "Darkbloom" headliner with support from Erra and Brand of Sacrifice (Listen to "Darkbloom featuring Brand of Sacrifice"). The tour starts in January and runs through February 18, wrapping up in We Came As Romans' home city of Detroit, Michigan. Tickets go on sale Friday October 21st at 10 a.m. via iamdarkbloom.com. They're hitting the following cities:

Jan 19 - Pittsburgh PA | Mr Smalls

Jan 20 - Philadelphia PA | TLA

Jan 21 - Worcester MA | The Palladium

Jan 22 - New York NY | Irving Plaza

Jan 24 - Baltimore MD | Baltimore Soundstage

Jan 25 - Richmond VA | Canal Club

Jan 26 - Charlotte NC | The Underground

Jan 27 - Atlanta GA | The Masquerade

Jan 28 - Orlando FL | House of Blues

Jan 30 - Houston TX | White Oak Music Hall

Jan 31 - Austin TX | Empire

Feb 1 - Dallas TX | House of Blues

Feb 3 - Phoenix AZ | The Nile

Feb 4 - Anaheim CA | House of Blues

Feb 5 - Sacramento CA | Ace of Spades

Feb 7 - Portland OR | Hawthorne Theatre

Feb 8 - Seattle WA | The Crocodile

Feb 10 - Salt Lake City UT | The Complex

Feb 11 - Denver CO | Summit Music Hall

Feb 13 - Lawrence KS | Granada

Feb 14 - Minneapolis MN | Varsity Theater

Feb 15 - Chicago IL | House of Blues

Feb 17 - Columbus OH | The King of Clubs

Feb 18 - Detroit MI | St. Andrew's Hall

In addition to checking out "Darkbloom", take this time to check in with your friends and family because you never know who is struggling silently. Visit the Kyle Pavone Foundation for resources for those suffering from addiction.

Header image: Paxton Powell

Trinity of Terror Tour recap

The second leg of the Trinity of Terror Tour wrapped up this past weekend in Cincinnati, OH. Extreme Vocal Institute's David Benites was on the tour working with members of We Came As Romans, Motionless In White, and Ice Nine Kills as well as being tagged in to perform "Slaughterhouse" alongside Motionless In White each night.

In an Instagram post David said: "Trinity of Terror Tour is done! Hands down the craziest experience of my life so far. Can't even go through the huge amount of memories captured without a giant smile on my face.

We Came As Romans, Motionless In White, Ice Nine Kills, very proud of all the great vocal work we've done together here, and all your leaps and bounds in progress. The best times with new friends made and bonds made stronger with old.

Amazing having family be out here with me, as well as meeting so many of YOU, my EVI family every day. Special thanks again to Chris [Motionless] for inviting me to share the stage and share the most intense and unforgettable performances. Now, onto the next!"

During the time on the road, David put out a 30 second voice lesson covering how to scream like Knocked Loose vocalist Bryan Garris, whose parts he was performing in "Slaughterhouse". He also shared this trick for finding time to practice and this video of tongue twisters for time with Ricky Armellino (Ice Nine Kills).

The tour made its way through Blue Ridge Rock Festival with We Came As Romans playing Thursday and the remainder of the package playing Saturday. You can see David's recap of Blue Ridge here.

The tour also included a bucket list home show for Motionless In White at Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA complete with an insanely loud crowd and pyrotechnics.

Leg three of the Trinity of Terror Tour kicks off on Halloween and runs through the month of November with a couple dates in December. The third leg will feature Atreyu as the opener.

David is currently on the True Power Tour with Fit For A King, Pierce The Veil, and headliner I Prevail with Yours Truly opening. You can keep up with all the shenanigans from that tour on his Instagram.

Cover image by Ellie Mitchell Photography.

How to scream: where to start your vocal journey

One of the most common questions we get asked is "where do I start?" We have specifically tailored our content to work for people of all backgrounds; from people with no vocal experience to professionals who tour internationally. This means you can get started without fear of missing out on information, but here's a guide for you anyway.

Identify the type of scream that you want to begin with.

The vast majority of the sounds you're after are based in two techniques, the false cord or the fry scream. After that, shaping and manipulation gets you to more distorted sounds. If you're unfamiliar with these techniques, we have a video on our YouTube channel that explains the differences and a bit about how to produce the sounds:

If you're looking for a deeper dive into how to get started with producing these sounds or want some more information, we highly suggest checking out our EVI Now program. Course 3: Introduction to the False Cord and Fry Techniques is a much longer, more in-depth version of the video above. Courses 15 and 16 focus on the false cord and fry scream activation and different methods of getting there if the original methods presented in the introductory course don't work for you.

Course 3: Introduction to the False Cord and Fry Techniques description:

The false cord and fry techniques are the two most commonly used extreme vocal techniques in metal. In this course, we are going to identify and define these techniques, compare and contrast them, and learn how to produce the sounds. David walks you through both step-by-step so you have a solid foundation of how to produce these sounds in a healthy way.

Course objectives include:

• Define the false cord technique

• Define the fry vocal register

• Define the fry scream technique

• Begin to produce both types of vocals

Course 15: Revisiting the False Cord Technique description

We covered the false cord scream technique in Course 3, where you got a general overview, how to activate the false cord scream and information about the theory of the false cord scream. Now, we are going to take a more in-depth look at this technique and answer some key questions that you might be asking yourself at this point. Additionally, if you've been struggling with the false cord activation, David gives you some alternate ways to build the false cord scream.

Course objectives include:

• Get a more in-depth understanding of how the false cords work and to prepare the body for vocal work using the false cord technique

• Identify alternate activation methods for the false cords and building into the scream

• Learn WHY David includes the warm-ups he does for the false cords and how it benefits your voice

Course 16: Revisiting the Fry Scream Technique description

We covered the fry scream technique in Course 3, where you got a general overview, how to build the fry scream and information about the theory of the fry scream. Now, we are going to take a more in-depth look at this technique and answer some key questions that you might be asking yourself at this point. If producing the fry scream has been challenging for you or shifting from the fry vocal register to the fry scream, David also offers alternate activation methods in this course that should help you placing the fry scream properly!

Course objectives include:

• Get a more in-depth understanding of how the fry scream works and to prepare the body for vocal work using the fry technique

• Identify alternate activation methods for the fry and building into the scream

• Learn WHY David includes the warm-ups he does for the fry scream and how it benefits your voice

Pick a technique to focus on at first based on your interests or voice

We highly suggest focusing on one technique rather than attempting to learn both at once, especially if you're new to vocalizing altogether. So how do you decide which one is right for you? Watch the video linked above and see which characteristics fit best for the ideas you're going for with your sound. You may find that you try a little bit of both at the start and see which one works better for you initially if you are someone who wants to learn both techniques. Really this all just comes down to choice because you CAN and WILL get there!

Melodic foundation is key

You don't have to be the best singer in the world to dive into extreme vocals or even have any experience with singing at all. However, we do encourage all of our students both private and those who use EVI Now to work on strengthening the melodic foundation.

We do have courses in EVI Now that focus on true or pure tone singing, often referred to as "cleans". We will be including more in the program as we continue to expand our lessons. You will be working on your pure tone singing every step of the way even when practicing your extreme vocals if you opt to use any of our learning resources.

Warm up even if you’re not fully doing the screams yet

Warming up is going to help you build a relationship with your voice. It's important to warm-up before you vocalize of any kind so even if you haven't gotten the full screams yet, you should still do a melodic warm-up before moving on to working on activating distortion.

In our EVI Now program, we have warm-ups that are split up based on your voice type and we include guidance on how to find your voice type if you're not sure what that is. We also have videos on our YouTube channel that you can use as a reference if you are not a member of our program.

Warming up not only helps you to prep the body for more rigorous vocal work, but helps to prevent injury.

Find what works for you

Everyone has a different style when it comes to learning and we try to accommodate for that as much as possible. We also understand that everyone has a different budget to put towards accessing resources which is why we put out so much free content as well as having our EVI Now courses and offer private coaching.

The content we put out on our Instagram, Facebook, and David's TikTok tends to be short format with little talking while our YouTube is more formal. Our EVI Now courses take our YouTube channel and expand on it with even more details and exercises. Private lessons allow David to tailor his teaching style to you and your needs as well as your personal goals.

Even if you don't opt to use our content, we encourage you to seek out as much information about your craft as possible.

Remember to have fun with the process!

Cover photo: Paxton Powell