Wait…what? A pre-order? Have I lost my tiny mind? Well yes, I probably have, and alright. I admit it. I should’ve gotten around to Am I in Trouble? a lot earlier than I am and it shouldn’t have taken them/him announcing that the album Spectrum was due to January 3rd, 2025 to remind me that I hadn’t written a piece on Am I in Trouble? yet, even though I’ve been spinning the tracks available on Bandcamp and Ampwall since I crossed paths with Steve Wiener over on Bluesky after I reviewed one of the projects he’s involved in, Ashenheart.

I say one of the projects as, from what I can see, he is currently involved in three, but I think – and he can put me right if I’m wrong here – that Am I in Trouble? is his baby and his alone. And just like any single parent will tell you, sometimes that child grows up to be a monster wrapped in a the body of a genius. Trust me, you should meet my spawn sometime.

Am I in Trouble? is, on the basis of just three available tracks, the offspring of a crazed wizard of the most arkane arts, who will quite happily cross the streams as long as he gets the desired results. And if that analogy sounded mixed up all to Hell, then good! As that’s what Am I in Trouble is. Mixed up all to Hell.

To quote from the blurb on the Bandcamp page;

Spectrum is a deliberately disparate, vivid and varied musical journey.  

And I don’t think I could have put it better myself. Annoyingly.

The thing is, you cannot pin Am I in Trouble? down. Are their black metal elements? Yes, quite a few, but to call this black metal misses the target so much that it hits the barn door. There are folk influences littered throughout, driving metal, hard rock, guitar riffs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Savatage record, spanish guitar noodling, harmonies that belong on a Funkadelic track, and so many different and wildly varid styles of music, all in one sumptuous stew, that you will gorge yourself until you cannot gorge no more. Then go back begging for seconds anyway.

For those who know, Am I in Trouble? sound, at least to me, like what a black metal band would sound like if George Clinton decided to try his hand at black metal, and that’s probably the highest compliment I have ever paid anyone.

And for those of you who don’t know, get your asses over to Am I in Trouble? Bandcamp page and pre-order Spectrum, as it is going to be one of the best releases of 2025, guaranteed.