Transylvania Stud - White Witch

 

Transylvania Stud is truly a dude who can do it all. This one-man band has been cranking out some top-notch original music and some amazing covers for almost a decade now. His vocal and musical style combines elements of grunge, post-grunge, modern rock, and metal. There's even a dash of southern rock thrown in for good measure. 

Here, our primary focus will be White Witch, Transylvania Stud's first full-length album, released in October 2019.

White Witch

White Witch is made up of seven catchy, modern rock tracks that do a great job of utilizing elements of multiple genres to create a varied, effortlessly listenable album. Here's a little track-by-track breakdown:

1. Unconditional Numb (feat. George Pauley and Natalie Pauley of The By Gods: This track is driven by a heavy metal/hard rock riff beneath soaring vocals and harmonies that provide a nice contrast to the heaviness of the guitar. 
2. High Stakes: This one has a much faster, rollicking pace that takes a modern heavy rock direction with a bit of a southern rock feel. 
3. Cloak and Dagger: Interestingly, Cloak and Dagger is kind of a mash-up of the styles heard in the two songs that precede it: a heavy metal background with melodic vocals, but an overall modern rock feel. This song has a late 90s post-grunge vibe heard in both the vocals and instrumentals. 
4. Drown: This is a really fun and incredibly catchy song that has a classic grunge feel combined with a larger dose of southern rock, something that can be heard in a lot of American grunge music from the early to mid-90s. The very smooth and melodic vocals on the chorus remind me a lot of Scott Weiland, while the verses smack more of Chris Cornell's style, reminding me of some of my favorite elements of this era of music and its vocal style in particular. 
5. Three Fold (feat. Andy Herrin): I couldn't help but notice that Three Fold also has a style that is essentially an amalgamation of the two songs that come before it (something I really enjoy about this album; everything fits together but also progresses along). That being said, this song has both a grunge and modern rock feel and as always, is made ever so infectious by those lovely vocals. 
6. Long Way Down: This track starts with a bass solo and has very prominent bass throughout the entire song, providing a nice change of pace. This pairs well with some bright and energetic guitar work throughout the song. We've come full circle here to a large extent, returning to that heavy metal/hard rock influence. 
7. In Over Your Head: This is the loveliest song on the album and, by default, my personal favorite. I feel like the vocals on In Over Your Head are done in the exact manner in which Chris Cornell would have approached them, and of course I mean that as a huge compliment. 

One of the primary things I noticed about Transylvania Stud is his uncanny ability to create an infectious chorus; the kind that gets stuck in your head and you walk around singing all day (not that I'm complaining). I also noticed his superior ability to combine essentially all of the styles of music that I personally grew up with: grunge, post-grunge, hard rock, and southern rock. Transylvania Stud does this in a very seamless way, which is the most impressive thing about the flow and composition of the album. So, in a really awesome way, I found White Witch to be nostalgic, reminding me of the progression of my own musical tastes throughout my life. 

Transylvania Stud's music has the ability to appeal to fans of several musical genres, and I can easily envision his music being played on modern rock radio (In fact, it's the opinion of the author that modern rock radio is in dire need of something like this). White Witch is something you don't have to be in a specific mood to listen to; it's one of those handy albums that are always listenable...heavy but not aggressive, melodic but not overly emotive, and relatable lyrically without being depressing or a buzzkill (like a sappy love song or breakup song can often be). This album was a refreshing listen in the world of extremes that we live in, created by an insanely talented vocalist and multi-instrumentalist.

   

More About Transylvania Stud

In addition to White Witch, Transylvania Stud has released an EP of original music, Red Queen, in 2017, along with a few other original singles. He also has quite the array of cover songs on his resume: Bad Seed, 2x4, and Ain't My Bitch by Metallica; Gimme Back My Bullets by Lynyrd Skynyrd; How the Gods Kill by Danzig; and Searching With My Good Eye Closed, Loud Love, and My Wave by Soundgarden.

   

Transylvania Stud is currently hard at work on a new album that will be released once he locates a new label, and you can bet yours truly will be on the lookout for that. 

A huge thanks to Transylvania Stud for sharing his awesome music with me! You can check him out on these sites: Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify, and YouTube. 

Be sure to check out my review of Transylvania Stud's newest album, Empress here!