Immortal Soul carries heavy metal torch 

by Sean Clancy, Entertainer Editor 

The members of Immortal Soul don't look like headbangers.  They look like what they are: college kids, products of a small town, good friends who are quick with a laugh.    But strap a guitar on Jason Goad, put his brother Jonathan behind the drum kit, and  give Jeff Cline his bass and stand back.  Producing a lean brand of progressive metal that has  more crunch than a bag of chips, Immortal Soul, whose members are all from Bald Knob,  carry on the hard rock torch like it never went away. 

The band, armed with a solid collection of original songs and a handful of covers, will  hit the stage at Carmichael Community Center Amphitheater Saturday for a free show at 8  p.m. 

Drawing inspiration from groups like Rush, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Pantera, and others, the group got together in 1996 when Cline, a friend of Jonathan since junior high, joined the band following the exit of another bassist. While the brothers Goad (Jonathan is 21, Jason is 24) had been playing together since childhood, Cline, 21, had never even picked up a bass before Jonathan coaxed him to sign on.

"Picking it up and learning it wasn't that hard," Cline said during and interview earlier this week.

After about six months of woodshedding, the band started playing out at local shows. The band members, who all attend Arkansas State University at Jonesboro, collaborate on original material, said Jonathan.

"We usually write the music together.  The past few songs we have done, I have written most of the lyrics, and Jason and I have collaborated on one or two, and Jeff has brought in some."

Of the seven songs on the band's demo tape, Jason and Jeff have one song each in which they contributed lyrics, Jason and Jonathan collaborated on one, and Jonathan wrote lyrics to the rest.

"Somebody will bring an idea in and we will build on it from there," Jonathan said. "We have a four-track recorder and we record ideas."

In addition to playing around White County, Immortal Soul has been featured with Inhumane at Little Rock's fine Vino's nightclub, and have played shows at ASU.

"It went real well," Jason said of the Vino's show.

Playing locally for crowds of friends and being taken seriously can sometimes be difficult, said Jonathan, who is the business-minded member of the group (a business administration major, he's considering entertainment law as a career if this rock-and-roll thing doesn't pan out).

"Generally, people that you know well don t take it very seriously. They just kind of know you as whoever you are (away from the band). It's almost like having another identity on stage. The focus is all on you, and it's not usually like that."

A listen to the band's demo tape (copies of which will be on sale at the show) reveals a bonecrushing weight of sound that runs parallel with heavy metal monsters like Anthrax.

"The music is generally heavy, but the vocals are melodic, and we incorporate some odd-time signatures. We try to spice it up a little bit just to make it more interesting," said Jonathan.

Indeed, Jason, who handles the bulk of the vocals, can go from over-the-top drama to a gritty growl in the space of a verse, and his solid guitar work is free from the 100-mph, squeeze-in-every-note-possible solos that run rampant in heavy metal.

Since the advent of grunge, its demise, and the subsequent rise of whatever radio is terming alternative these days, heavy metal, that longtime bastion of teenage rebellion and catharsis, has dropped below rock and roll radar it would seem. Immortal Soul continue to bang out the heavy stuff, though, and see an audience for their music.

"It is a pretty specific audience we are catering to,"  Jason said. "You have die-hard fans. Metal music is the kind of music that fans are in there for the long haul. There are a lot of (metal) bands that aren't getting played on radio or MTV but are still selling as many albums as bands that are getting heavy airplay and promotion.

That sense of community which springs from a genre of music, be it hip-hop, punk, or metal, is often what keeps the hardcore tuned in during cycles when a certain brand of music not the flavor-of-the-month or year. This is what Jason Goad said he believes is special about the music Immortal Soul creates and pays homage to.

And while the term heavy metal first used by William Burroughs in his book Naked Lunch may conjure images of leather-clad, long-haired hedonists, the members of Immortal Soul are quick to say they are Christians, and even their name is a reference to their beliefs in a higher power and the lasting power of music.

As for the group's future, Jonathan said the band may invest in better recording equipment to record themselves and shop their work around to smaller, indie labels.

"This is such a weird business, you have to kind of take things as they come," said Jason. "I like the Do-It-Yourself approach because we are able to have control over what we are doing. When you reach a certain point, you lose control. As long as we have control we can keep a life outside the band."

Weird business or not, Immortal Soul has made at least a small dent for the cause of metal and progressive music, and the passion the members bring to their sound is evident in their recording and, one would figure, in their live performance.