What you must know about Carolina metal band Souls Harbor

They’re heavy duty:

Beaufort-based rock/metal band Souls Harbor define their music as “in-your-face, jaw-dropping, eye-opening and ear-shattering” stuff.

They’re a burly-lookin’ quintet:

The band’s roster is comprised of lead guitarist John Fenin, drummer Rob Cadiz, rhythm guitarist Tony Bigley, lead singer Doug Marshal, and bassist Ryland Milonakis.

They’re “from away:”

While frontman Doug Marshall, 28, resides in Sheldon, S.C. (exactly halfway between Savannah and Charleston, jut north of Beaufort), he grew up in Cincinnati, watching the remnants of the Big Red Machine, slurping Skyline’s Five-Way Chili, and sipping Burger beer. “Nobody in Souls Harbor actually grew up in Beaufort, but we love living here now,” says Marshall.

They’re sound is surprisingly refined:

“When we started off, we were definitely more of a garage band,” says Marshall. “We were determined to get up there and polish it up and get away from the band-in-the-garage sound. We wanted to have some structure and concentrate on our guitar to. Some band’s have guitar tone that will drive you out of the venue. We try to use top equipment and make it strong.”

They’re biz-smart:

“A lot of bands want that deal so bad, they could get into a bad situation,” Marshall says. “We wanted to get out on the road and play and get our name out. We didn’t want to sit and wait. We have a great radio campaign going on, pushing the single ‘Burning Souls.’ We’ve done some great music festivals this year. We’ve had great support from the Charleston scene.

They don’t totally overdo things with massive use of guitar effects and audio bullshit:

“We wanted to try to catch the live show on a CD, because we don’t use many guitar effects,” says the lead singer. Eric Bass encouraged us to capture the raw sound and energy of the live, and I think we did a pretty good job of it.”

They’re military veterans:

Fenin, Marshall, and Milonakis all served as Marines and Cadiz served in the Navy before they considered forming the band. “I did five years with the Marines and John and Ryland did four. Rob, who is our original drummer, was in the Navy. We actually formed the first version of Souls Harbor in 2001 while we were all serving in the Persian Gulf on the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier. We were over there doing the whole Saddam Hussein campaign, working on F-18s.”

Their debut full-length album actually sounds pro:

Recorded with premiere audio engineer Eric Bass at Fusion 5 Studios and other facilities, Souls Harbor’s new 10-song album, Writings on the Wall, is clean, solid, and precise. It relies as much on extreme dynamics and tight arrangements as it does on Marshall’s emotive and assertive vocal and hollering stylings.

They signed a one-album deal with a decent indie metal label:

Souls Harbor signed with Phoenix-based metal label Crash Music Records (www.crashmusicinc.com) earlier this year, thanks in large part to the efforts of their manager, Rob Volger, a New Jersey native. Their Crash labelmates include Flotsam & Jetsam, Vicious Circle, Digorge, and Society 1.

They celebrated the official release of their album this fall:

Souls Harbor officially released Writings on the Wall in September with a set opening for Charleston’s Number One Contender at the Music Farm on Fri. Sept. 8. Earplugs were useless.