Hamburg, Germany, a city rich in history, is home to an independent artist named Marc who is in a band… without a band. Hence, the name of his project, “Band w/o Band,” or by the more SEO friendly nomenclature: “bandwithoutband.” Since high school, he has been writing music and playing an assortment of pubs and clubs in a variety of bands. Today, he continues his passion for creating rock music and shares it with the world as a solo multi-instrumentalist. Band w/o Band just released it’s latest single, “When Death Comes” earlier this month on 06-02-2022.

Band w/o Band’s discography (per Spotify) goes back as far as October of 2020, beginning with the debut single, “For You,” which in comparison to the later releases is a much more contemporary piece, reminiscent of a classic rock ballad. By the time the next single “Together” was released (Feb. 2021), Marc’s eclectic psychedelic-goth, synth-wave influenced sound that would be prevalent in many more future releases, was introduced. It was particularly present, in the two follow up singles released that year as well (Rock ‘N’ Roll and Tainted Love). A significant benchmark for the catalog, in my opinion, was when the fourth single of 2021 was released (“The Workout“). It is with that release that the melting pot of influences from before began to culminate with Marc’s heavier, post-grunge, and hard rock approach.

Fast forward to 2022, 5 singles later, Band w/o Band is back with “When Death Comes,” a track that features grooving, head bobbing, heavy guitar riffs in a lowered tuning. My initial impressions gave me a nü-metal vibe, but as the song progresses on to the chorus you hear flashes of traditional metal incorporated with synth organs, amalgamating the goth-pagan type of sound Band w/o Band has been building on since 2020. The drums are tight and grooving, the kick pedals are tastefully placed, I am truly curious to know if Marc played them himself or programmed them, but in either case they are a solid backbone of the track.

Not only has Band w/o Band’s sound evolved over the last 2 years, but the visual aesthetics have as well. The project’s YouTube Channel features music videos for some of the releases that are very well done. Some are official lyric videos, others are just trippy visuals that compliment the music and provide a whole new way of experiencing each track.

Follow Band w/o Band:

YouTube // Spotify // Instagram // Soundcloud