High Council (Cruel and Unusual)

Greg Aramini
Jul 15
5 min read

Released: 2025

Genre: Heavy metal, Power metal

Sounds Like: Dragonland, High Spirits, Dragonforce

Homeland: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

What makes Cruel and Unusual elite and sit atop OHMs Peak?

High Council brings a majestic fusion of heavy power metal directly to your doorstep.
Cruel and Unusual offers exceptional fantasy-driven storytelling and top-notch production, making it a piece you'll want to play repeatedly and blast out your neighbors.
The solos, frequent rhythmic shifts, rapid drumming, and pounding bass perfectly capture the essence of a power metal album.
The vocals are both clear and strong. The vocal harmonies between guitarists Steve and Bob are impressive and contribute to the creation of this intense heavy music.

Track Listing:

Cruel and Unusual 4:29
Routed in the Wood (By Eldlings and Brackenguard) 6:38
To From Whence 3:06
Schwarzschild Radius 6:18
Liberator 6:23
Jackal 7:01
Plaguebringer 2025 7:39
Wildspace 4:34

Dive deeper into Cruel and Unusual with our Q&A with High Council.

OHMs Peak: Cruel and Unusual engrosses the listener like an intense wartime novel. The imagery and intensity are so damn authentic. Would love for a brief glimpse into your writing process and time commitment in making the album.

High Council: It's interesting because unlike most of our older releases, this album really is sort of a retrospective of material that was created throughout the band's career. Some tracks are brand new additions that we've written since the end of the pandemic, while others were actually written pretty close to the beginning of our 20 year history and never made it onto a professional recording for one reason or another. Still others sprang from riffs or demos that were created at many points between. Regardless, we have a very collaborative approach to writing where every member of the band gets a chance to shape the songs and the lyrics. We are tough on ourselves and each other, and try hard to stick to a "no filler" ethos. We think that makes the songs better in the end, and hopefully the listeners agree.

OHMs Peak: What developed your love for Power metal landscapes and how did your band name High Council come about?

High Council: Each member of the band came to appreciate metal at different points and in different ways, but we pretty much agree that style of music is both passionate and lets us each work our stylistic preferences into the music.

As far as our name, Bob and Lou had been searching for a sci-fi themed name for a while, and for a brief time the band even went by the verbose and somewhat cringey name "Promethean Phase Adept OCC" which was a deep reference to the Rifts tabletop roleplaying game. Eventually, Bob floated the name "High Council", which is the perfect sci-fi trope and band name all in one, and the name was changed immediately.

OHMs Peak: 'Schwarzchild Radius' contains some moments of peaceful acoustics and bass work, then continues to build and comes back down to earth at the end. Can you take behind the scenes of writing this glorious track?

High Council: This track highlights the more progressive side of the Council. The classically influenced fingerpicking is one of the hallmarks of Bob Saunders' style, and appears here as well as on some other tracks throughout our discography. With that as a starting point, the song ended up weaving through a lot of our collective influences as we worked on it; definitely some NWOTHM / Iron Maiden style riffing, the chorus - a kind of 90's radio grunge chord progression, some progressive-influenced time signature changes, and even hints of Radiohead at points in the verses. I don't think any of these themes were goals, per se, but after workshopping this track for so many years and having the final version finally polished and released, you can kind of look back and call yourself out on where your mind may have been at the time. But like all of the songs we work on, it was a very collaborative process in which each member's strengths and influences shone through.

OHMs Peak: What was your band’s most memorable live performance? Where was it held and why was the night so special?

High Council: I'm sorry but there are too many good ones, so we'll have to do top 3, ranked from coolest to most pathetic:

- Alestorm / Aether Realm tour opener, Voltage Lounge, Philadelphia PA - We dressed in crazy costumes, Lou played a game of Magic: The Gathering backstage with Chris Bowes of Alestorm during the opening band, and the crowd loved us even though we had a technical issue that knocked out Bob's guitar for at least an entire song.

- David's Outlook, Hanover PA - The Council played on a bill full of deathcore bands (and one math rock band), drunkenly and unwittingly incited a brawl in the vintage thrift store that served as the venue, which ended with a very large fan crowdkilling half the attendees into a board game closet. While we recovered in the local Denny's, some customers asked Steve to sing happy birthday to their friend once they found out we were a band.

- Buck's Backyard Barbecue - Albion NJ / House Party - New Brunswick NJ - We showed up to play a party in the boonies that was (unknown to us) actually for a biker gang and also mostly cancelled due to the fact it was 97 degrees outside. We played a very short set to our van full of friends while the few party attendees rushed around trying to put out a fire caused by their attempt to barbecue a pig that had died in the woods the previous night. We then played a 2nd house party show that night where we told everyone the story of how crazy the first show had been.

OHMs Peak: What band NOT in the Power metal genre would you love to tour with that would most compliment your sound?

High Council: It seems like a bit of a stretch to me, but the most frequent comparison to a non-power / traditional metal band we've gotten is System of a Down. I think probably because of our vocal harmonies and some of the rhythmic stuff we do. I'm sure if you put us in a stadium with those guys we could win at least a few new fans!

OHMs Peak: We would love any insight as to your current and upcoming tour plans?

No tour yet but a few one offs:

High Council: - 5/18 Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA with Cardinal's Folly

- 7/17 The Rusty Nail, Ardmore, PA with Malphas and Celestial Wizard

News of upcoming shows is always posted on our facebook and instagram accounts.

OHMs Peak: The album art has a classic metal feel and drew us in. Who created this masterpiece?

High Council: The artist goes by @apocalyptic.nuke on instagram. Also I would be remiss not to mention our good friend Jim Viola of @damngoodbrand who did the logo treatment and cool graphic design work on the border and the CD and Vinyl layouts.

OHMs Peak: High Council is stranded on an island with only a solar powered turntable and majestic powered solar blue tooth speakers. The band collectively can only choose one album. Which album to you agree to?

High Council: I could be speaking out of turn but if we all had to agree on just one (harsh), I think my best bet would be Sad Wings of Destiny by Judas Priest. Even though our tastes change over the years, there's something just so raw and passionate about this classic that I think still resonates with at least 75% of the band and is clearly heard in a lot of what we do.

High Council are:

Bob Saunders - Guitars, Vocals

Steve Donahue - Guitars, Vocals

Lou DiDomenico - Bass, Keyboards

Greg “Wolfman Vegas” McKeever - Drums

Follow High Council: Bandcamp / Facebook