MARZY MADDO - Release New EP With Single "The Witch"

Today marks the release of Copper Oaks, the sophomore EP from conceptual prog-metal trio Marzy Maddox. In celebration, they've dropped a lyric video for the new focus track "The Witch."

"This song is heavily influenced by the band's love for the macabre," says vocalist/guitarist Phoenix Johnson. "Taking inspiration from works such as 'The Crucible' and 'The Witch' (2015), the song's namesake, the lyrics explore humanities constant struggle with belief and the atrocities it can lead us to commit. Although our modern world can be a lot more forgiving at times there are still those who don't want to be constrained by societal and cultural norms just like yesterdays 'Witches' and are ostracized for it by those who view it as 'wrong' or 'sinful'."

"The Witch" continues the narrative of Marzy Maddox, a character the band created to be the vehicle for their storytelling.

"One of the exciting things I've chosen to do with the character of Marzy Maddox is using them as a fictional version of myself and the different facets of my personality," says Johnson.

Prior to Copper Oaks, each release was its own story set in an isolated universe from the other albums. Influenced by media like Final Fantasy and American Horror Story, which has reoccurring individuals playing different characters, Marzy is a central figure in every story the band tells, but has been a "different" character in each of these sagas.

Following the events of their previous full-length Catching Up to Massimo, which saw Marzy, the leader of the deceased Queen Azrael's army, successfully destroying the fabled Mirror of Shad'Haran (also the title of a track off the album) preventing The Sorceress from seeing the future. Copper Oaks is the first album to continue one of the previous stories and actually follows one of the secondary characters, Lucille Idrim, as she tries to cope with the death of her brother Massimo and the destiny that has been thrust upon her. Having been betrayed by her lover and former comrade Adrian at the end of Catching Up to Massimo, Lucille deals with this event in the track "Brand New Day."

"My favorite thing about writing concept albums is trying to make sure that lyrically and emotionally I can still connect to people who might not be interested in the stories," says Johnson. "Being able to have someone listen to the song and find their own experiences in it is what we always aim to do first with our music. The stories are more for me to use as a way to express how I feel and the events that have happened to me but in a hyperbolic and more fantastical fashion. If people are interested in the stories then that's a bonus!"

Listen to the single "The Witch" now on Spotify.