By Deuce

For every one (or 100 or so) that have no conception of the word’s meaning, there’s a musician who comes along every purple moon who defines—and consistently redefines, all within the scope of a single project—the term artist.

Night Wilds front man Seth Micarelli is one such creator. His canvas, his oyster, his galaxy in which he’s penned, painted, and panted out his creations, is the 17-cut Opus All That Should Have Been.

Now mind you, the album’s not slated to come out until the April Fool’s Day of 2024 (numerologists would have a field day with that date). The band’s already been pushing the release for more than a month. The striking album title, the bevy of under-two minute tunes that morph into each other non-stop in its early phase, culminating in the nearly seven-minute climax “Lost Light”, and the sheer breadth of the material on here all let you know this dude’s not playing around—except for on his guitar.

When this singer-songwriter summons all the blood to his face and screams, as is his wont on numerous hooks on this collection, it’s downright scary—both in how fast he goes to that from what is, ostensibly, normal singing. His singing voice is heavy yet sweet. He can pull off a seemingly gospel number like “New Jerusalem”, rife with acoustic guitars, long synths, and a Tom Pettyish melody similar to that displayed on “Free Fallin’”, with little effort. But when he gets to raging about “I want your soul” with the electric guitar ferocities mounting in the foreground of your skull, you’re going to be inclined to believe him.  

Just check the vocals on “The Show”, which already has a music video (as does “Jerusalem” and “Confusion”). Micarelli takes what sounds like some sort of sped up waltz in, could that be three-four time or something? Then, he speeds it up, repeatedly roaring “faster” with such vehemence it’s no wonder the players had no choice but to accede.

The number segues into “Mother” before transitioning into “Fear”, which is largely bereft of drums, grooves, and riffs, yet is laden with the singer’s sonorous, sweet singing—until he erupts into the most horrific of cries, certainly bringing the title of the tune home to anyone brave enough to venture that far into the LP.

And, that’s only the fourth cut.