Local Review: Matt Michaelis – The Great Escape

Matt Michaelis
The Great Escape
Self-Released
Street: 08.15.2025
Matt Michaelis = Mammoth WVH + Social Distortion + Green Day

With The Great Escape, Matt Michaelis (songwriter, producer, guitarist) submits a bold and energetic EP to the ever-expanding scene of contemporary hard rock. In an era of hyperspecific microtrends and incredibly niche subgenres — recession pop, shitgaze, bubblegrunge, seapunk, witch house, etcetera etcetera —  The Great Escape is exactly what it reports itself to be: good ol’ clean capital-R Rock. Featuring Ethan Cronin on vocals and Nate Barnes on drums, this EP is full of adrenaline and angsty arena anthems. Powered by Michaelis’ virtuosic guitar, The Great Escape is proof that one need not reinvent the genre-wheel to make music.

This pentad is decidedly a battlecry. It’s got classic Iron Maiden motifs throughout, with clear themes of speed and machinery and glory and defiance embedded into both the sound and the lyrics. “Fury in the Fire” opens the EP with a The Black Keys-esque hook and leads it into war. “Thrust in the war machine / Breaking down the trust in the old regime” goes the chorus — and suddenly you’re on board to drive 90 mph into the sun or overthrow the government, whichever comes first. “Turnkey Amputee” surges forward with this haunting plea: “Don’t you take the rest of me!” 

The hard-driving title track, “The Great Escape,” is a stage for Michaelis’ many influences. Here, we have a very rockable mix of mild grunge, polished electric solos and the backing of Michaelis on some Billy Preston–style piano riffs. “Crisis Intervention” and “Truth and Lies” make for a nice couplet volta to end the EP — Cronin’s distorted vocals over descending riffs are reminiscent of the American Idiot days. The cinematic quality of this EP comes as no surprise; when Michaelis isn’t working on rock songs, he’s creating film and television scores. Check out his work — including music videos as well as his previous albums Intergalactic (2020) and Resolute (2017) — on YouTube or Spotify. — Libby Leonard

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Local Review: Zoe Stroupe — One Fluid Motion

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