Review by Francesca Londono
"My Heroes" hits hard right from the beginning with a gritty synth line and grungy, metal guitar line followed by a scream of "Let's go"! It immediately captures your attention and gets your blood pumping. Then the verse comes in with a beautiful melody. The vocals are haunting and layered with gripping harmony that helps set the tone for the whole song.
Then the chorus comes in, the instrumentation stops, and just the vocals break through the silence, singing, "All my heroes are dead, " making for a dramatic entrance of the chorus. The lead guitar has some nice distortion and overdrive on it, which is a signature staple of this genre of music. It drives the song forward and gives it the intensity that it has. The bridge comes in with a dark and head growl/ scream. Then the out-of-this-world guitar solo roles in, with light speed velocity and intricate playing.
Cody has a stunning tone and superb control of his vocal timbre. From curdling screams to a beautiful falsetto that you can hear in the pre-chorus. The intensity of his voice can shift on a dime. His vocals are doubled with a lower and grittier sound in the chorus, which reappears again in the bridge.
Cody says that the concept of this song is about his childhood music Idols who have tragically passed away due to substance or mental health issues. He has some very clever lyrics in the song. When the first verse hits, he sings,
"Gazing into the nothingness, the stars have killed their light."
I like how detailed and external these lyrics are. It already clearly paints a picture of this dark and dreary feeling. In the chorus, Cody sings the hook "All my heroes are dead," reinstating the title of the song and the overall concept. Another line that stood out to me in the chorus was "And the demons they then win," which means that they let their inner thoughts control their bodies. A very clever lyric that he has is "And now my countdown begins," which is the last line of the chorus. It's a compelling closing line because he's saying that he's fearful for his time to come soon since his musical heroes have all died so tragically. Overall, this song captures the fear and anxiety of not knowing when your time will come. The intensity of the music brings the concept and the feeling to a whole different dimension.
About Cody Brande
Cody Brande is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer based out of La Crosse, Wisconsin. He began his music career in 2015 as the singer and primary songwriter for the band Crux of Motion before eventually joining the bands, Fubahre and Sylace Snow in 2018. He then began pursuing a solo career in 2019 after Crux of Motion went on an indefinite hiatus. On May 6th, 2022, he released his debut solo album, 'Broken by Design'
@codybrandemusic
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