NOTSM

track-list:
Humans
Terminal
The Hedonic Treadmill
The Hedonic Treadmill 2
You Make Your Own Luck
Only Death Brings Silence

all lyrics and songs written by Matt Barkley
all vocals performed by Alex Hamilton
mixed and mastered by Marc Peiron

MANAGRAM Productions:
“I loved it, powerfull Metalcore energy with big guitar riffs, vocals are solid too (The Hedonic Treadmill). The production side is really good ! Bravo”
Dreamfuss – Alt-rock:
“The song (The Hedonic Treadmill) is interesting, the vocals and guitar lines really hit hard, congrats. The production is good too.”
The Metal Asylum:
“We really dig this track (The Hedonic Treadmill), you can definitely feel the emotion and the passion in every aspects, we love how it moves from Metal, to Metal Core so effortlessly, as well as being very melodic.”
Buzz Slayers:
“Brutal and precise! Love the metal!”
MANAGRAM Productions:
“Big big track (Humans) here, the riffs are devastating with a good groove and the vocals powerful and melodic, it’s a good job well HEAVY ! Bravo \m/ !”
Roadie Metal:
“Great structures and riffs, the song (Humans) is heavy and well constructed, you’ve created something powerful!”
Indiefferential Magazine:
“(Humans) Fast, distorted and heavy! That’s what I enjoy in this genre! The riffs kept me at the edge of my seat and then the vocals came in with some amazing screams that really sound good! That bassy mixed voice sounds absolutely great. The chorus is really melodic and I enjoyed it! I would not change anything here, it’s really fast and gives out a unique kind of energy. I would not consider this simply metal, we have such great music that should not be overlooked because it’s produced in a metal song! The break was done pretty good as well and would create an amazing mosh pit!”
FFeel Music:
“(Humans) The first thing I want to say is that the production quality is top notch! Every instrument sounds at its best! The grooves are so rhythmically fun! The kick drum sounds like a machine gun! It’s so fast! Unbelievable! The leads are epic!”
Dejected:
“(Humans) Loved the performance! Beautiful songwriting and tasty riffing & vocal performance. Straight up brutal and relentless heaviness. It just screams aggression and power! Has a bit of a groovy death metal touch to it. very solid release.”

‘Only Death Brings Silence’ takes listeners on a musical and lyrical adventure that explores some dark aspects of the human experience.
The heavy and dynamic musical compositions enhance the emotional impact of the lyrical themes, creating a cohesive and immersive experience for fans of heavy metal.
“The aim of this album and its singles is to provide listeners with a multifaceted listening experience. Through the lyrics, I aspire for listeners to connect with the themes and find personal resonance, all while delivering plenty of opportunities for headbanging from the heavier moments of the album. During softer moments, I hope listeners will appreciate and be moved by the melodies, while during more experimental segments, I hope they’ll find intrigue and curiosity, urging them to explore the full breadth of the musical ideas presented. The meticulously crafted tracklist is designed to captivate listeners from start to finish, ensuring an engaging and immersive experience throughout the entirety of the album.”
‘Humans’:
Lyrically – “This song is about the profound negative impact that humans have made on the planet.”
Musically – “This song has a basic song structure and was written primarily to accommodate the lyrics. The song is fast-paced and is more or less based on the same musical motif throughout its entirety. I’m not a big fan of guitar solos, but I thought a solo would fit nicely in the middle of this song. The section from 2:31-2:41 was written with a live setting in mind and is meant to pump up the crowd before the last verse comes in with a bang.”
‘Terminal’:
Lyrically – “This song is about mortality and how, no matter what we do in our lives, we’re all going to eventually die.”
Musically – “This is a slower-paced song that has a kind of ‘doomy’ vibe to it. The first part of the song follows a pretty common format, but the second half veers off in a completely different direction ending with a mind-bending drum part.”
‘The Hedonic Treadmill’:
Lyrically – “This song is about how we’re always chasing the next high, even though it rarely leads us to the happiness and fulfillment we are hoping it will.”
Musically – “This song starts with a headbanger of a riff that is clearly inspired by Meshuggah. The vocals come in pretty heavy during the second riff of the song, and then there’s a weird (what I like to call) ‘guitar trade-off’. A ‘guitar trade-off’ is a technique I use often in my songwriting where each guitar will play a different riff and then, on the repeat, they will swap and play the other guitar’s riff. After this section, the song is pretty simple from a structural point-of-view until it gets to the fast riff around 3:18. Right before the fast riff though, there’s some neat rhythmic ideas happening: if you listen closely, the guitar chug pattern is in 7/8 time and never changes, but the drums change three different times throughout the course of the riff. The outro starts with a neat guitar melody that’s played on its own, and then the rest of the music comes in with a cool rhythmic pattern that eventually fades out.”
‘The Hedonic Treadmill 2’:
Lyrically – “This song is about how we’re always chasing the next high, even though it rarely leads us to the happiness and fulfillment we are hoping it will.”
Musically – “This is the second part of a two-part song, and it starts with the same rhythmic pattern that part 1 ends on, but without the melody overtop. The vocals of the song immediately come in and feel like a punch in the face. The rest of the song has a more basic structure than the first part and has a lot of clean guitar and vocal sections, which is meant to contrast Part 1 of the song. After the punchy riff from 3:31 to 3:44, the outro of the song is really chill, ending on a big crescendo that stops dead right at the top.”
‘You Make Your Own Luck’:
Lyrically – “This song is about the role that luck plays in the successes and failures of our lives.”
Musically – “This song has a basic song structure and was written primarily to accommodate the lyrics. This is another fast-paced song that has a pretty typical structure. When writing the vocals for this one, I wanted to keep them harsh the whole time because of the aggressive nature of where the lyrical content came from. I ultimately decided to let the guitars carry the melody during the choruses.”
‘Only Death Brings Silence’:
Musically – “This is a long instrumental song that is a rollercoaster ride through many different musical ideas. If you listen closely though, some of the ideas do come back again, either rhythmically or melodically. The original idea I had for this song when I wrote it was to split it up into about 10 different tracks, but I ultimately decided to keep it together as one song because that’s how I always intended it to be listened to.”
The concept behind ‘Only Death Brings Silence’ delves into the noise of our modern world, where the constant need to voice opinions, the onslaught of distressing news, and online discord create a metaphorical ‘loud’ environment, and the album suggests that the only respite from this overwhelming clamor is found in death.
The album artwork encapsulates this theme through a deliberately blurred image, symbolizing the sense of being unrecognizable and adrift in the sea of societal ‘noise’.
Excitement builds for the release of NOTSM’s debut album ‘Only Death Brings Silence’ on May 3, 2024.
A solo project from Matt Barkley, the album delivers a unique blend of heavy metal, proggy riffs, and breakdowns wrapped up with introspective lyrical themes.
Barkley’s primary instrument is the guitar, thus the songwriting process typically begins with guitar-based riffs or concepts.
He has a deep fascination with rhythm guitar playing, often experimenting with intricate rhythmic patterns, and using odd time signatures, polyrhythms, and polymeters to create engaging compositions.
He comments on the album:
“The aim of this album and its singles is to provide listeners with a multifaceted listening experience. Through the lyrics, I aspire for listeners to connect with the themes and find personal resonance, all while delivering plenty of opportunities for headbanging from the heavier moments of the album. During softer moments, I hope listeners will appreciate and be moved by the melodies, while during more experimental segments, I hope they’ll find intrigue and curiosity, urging them to explore the full breadth of the musical ideas presented.”
“The lyrics for ‘The Hedonic Treadmill’ and ‘The Hedonic Treadmill 2’ come from my own experience of dealing with burnout.”
“The vocalist on this album, Alex Hamilton, was hired off of Fiverr.”
All instruments on this album are programmed.
All guitars and vocals are recorded.
The working title for the song ‘Only Death Brings Silence’ was ‘Zippicamknicks’, an undergarment from Aldous Huxley’s novel ‘Brave New World’.
Over the years, Barkley has maintained a riff bank—a repository of ideas that he frequently revisits and refines for use in his music.
In his approach, music precedes lyrics, though he’s recently delved more into lyric writing.
This album sees a blend of both processes, with two songs crafted around pre-existing lyrical concepts.
While his methods may evolve in the future, this amalgamation of guitar-driven creativity and evolving lyrical exploration defines my current writing ethos.
NOTSM is defined by Barkley’s willingness to adapt and refine his sound while retaining the spirit of experimentation and innovation that is evident in the music.
‘Only Death Brings Silence’ is recommended for fans of The Halo Effect, Rivers of Nihil, and Sylosis.
“NOTSM is an acronym for ‘none of this shit matters’ and this is a mantra I’ve been using for years to remind me to focus on the things that are important in my life.”