Entry Level: Matt Bacon Meets SubRosa

Entry Level is a new series where musicians re-examine the records that piqued their interests in heavy and loud music as children and young adults.

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The year is 2013. I’m 17 years old listening to all the albums on the year end lists on this very website [Editor’s Note: awww]. I had been into underground metal for a few years at this point and had discovered some of my favorite bands already. But Subrosa just hit different. From the acapella intro of More Constant Than The Gods I knew I was onto something new. What I did not realize was that this was the band who would change my life.

Six months later I’m at Hellfest and I meet the band. I immediately told them I was obsessed with their music. Even then we could all tell… we got along really well. I proceeded to see them live three more times that year. I began to build deep friendships with the band members. In the hardest time of my life, their music, and they as people were there for me, a weird, underweight teenager.

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I proceeded to see them some 20-odd times over the next five years in seven(?) states and three countries. The highlight was being invited to perform with the band as part of their choir at Roadburn. Some of my favorite memories of life in the underground metal scene come from this band. They may not have been my introduction to the world of doom, but they were the band who brought me into the community. The ones who gave me a place, even if that place was “Subrosa’s Number One Fan.”

Their drummer, Andy Patterson — a veteran of bands like Shelter, Inside Out and State of the Nation — has become my personal scene elder. Insect Ark drafting him on my personal recommendation is one of the great honors of my life. Frontwoman and guitarist Rebecca Vernon remains a close confidante and beloved friend who I am still in a book club with to this day.

Before the band broke up in 2019, Rebecca actually called me to let me know about the breakup in advance. I was pretty heartbroken. However, I know I will always have these five amazing records to guide me through the dark. Anthemic, powerful, tear jerking, Subrosa will always be my favorite doom metal band for both the amazing music, and the world they introduced me to. Subrosa are one of a kind, and I will be forever grateful for what they did for me.

-Matt Bacon

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Matt Bacon is a metal social media marketing advice guru. You’ve probably seen videos of him smoking a cigar in front of a blue door.

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