Surgeon are an up and coming Philidelphia area alternative metal band. Upon first listen to Surgeon’s 4 song album sampler I was amazed at the pristine production and amazing musicianship. The first song “Hamburger Factory” is rocking tune. Lead singer Scan Boltron’s vocals are reminiscent of The Toadies and Queens of the Stone Age, while drummer Dave Latimer adds some very tasty double bass drumming to give the song more metallic heavy edge. Lydia Giordano and Chris Wilson are a great guitar duo whose smoking riffs had this reviewer headbanging along to the song.

The second song “Animals” starts with some impressive lead guitar by Giordano and goes into a very Metallica-esque” rhythm before changing again into a modern rock anthemic verse and breaks it down into a fist pounding crescendo.

The full out metallic assault of ‘Watchin You” kicks things into overdrive with a steady driving beat from Latimer. Fans of Queens of the Stone Age will love this heavy song. The chorus is extremely catchy and memorable and there is some great lead guitar soloing from Giordano. This is probably my favorite song on the sampler.

A cool “psychedelic” sounding guitar riff starts the last song ‘Tomorrow”. This is the most “progressive” sounding of all the songs. Featuring some very cool “Sabbath” riffs and odd time signatures. This will whet the appetite of any prog rock fan, but it also has enough melody and aggression to satisfy any lover of heavy metal

Overall, Surgeon is a great original rock band that adds just the right touches of prog, metal, aggression, and melody. If they are in your area, I highly recommend checking out their live show as they put on an awesome show! Surgeon gives me hope for the future of rock!