Brand of Sacrifice is a deathcore band from Toronto, Canada formed from the ashes of metalcore band The Afterimage. Formerly one out of many humble bands on Slam Worldwide, its unique blend of Deathcore, Industrial Metal, and Nu Metal has helped it set itself apart from the pack take the extreme metal landscape by storm as one of its biggest rising stars yet.
Current Lineup:
- Kyle Anderson - vocals
- Michael Leo Valeri - lead guitars
- Liam Beeson - guitars
- Andrew Kim - bass
- Chason Westmoreland - drums
Discography:
- The Interstice (2018, EP)
- God Hand (2019, full-length)
- Lifeblood (2021, full-length)
- Between Death and Dreams (2023, EP)
WELCOME TO THE NEW TROPE!
- Audience Participation Song: “Eclipse”: WELCOME TO THE NEW AGE!
- Concept Album: God Hand revolves around the events of the Golden Age Arc while Lifeblood focuses on Guts’ experiences after the Eclipse.
- Genre Mashup: Their music is a blend of Deathcore, Industrial Metal, Symphonic Metal, and Nu Metal, with Lifeblood dialing up on the nu metal aspect of their sound.
- Gratuitous Japanese: "Dynasty" features a computerized voice speaking some Japanese throughout the song.
- Heavy Mithril: Their discography revolves around Kentaro Miura’s acclaimed dark fantasy manga series Berserk, and it can be easily seen with song titles like “Prophecy of the Falcon” and “Eclipse”. Even their name is a reference to the manga (the Brand of Sacrifice is a Doom Magnet placed on those meant to be sacrificed to demons).
- I Am the Band: Kyle Anderson is this, writing the lyrics and being the main creative force behind the band. That said, Leo is equally important to Brand of Sacrifice, and is responsible for the business side of things.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: Not as bad as most examples in deathcore, but Kyle's lows are pretty hard to make out the lyrics to compared to his mids and highs.
- Nu Metal: Makes up a good portion of their sound and is especially prominent in Lifeblood. In fact, they’re one of the most well-known nu-deathcore bands along with Suicide Silence, Emmure, Slaughter to Prevail, Spite, The Last Ten Seconds of Life, and Left to Suffer.
- Soprano and Gravel: “Enemy” and “Exodus” features clean vocals from Kyle along with his traditional deathcore Harsh Vocals.
- Special Guest: Par for the course in deathcore:
- Lifeblood features guest appearances from Frankie Palmeri, Ben Duerr, Eric Vanlerberghe (I Prevail), Jamie Graham (Viscera), and Tyler Shelton (Traitors). Spencer Chamberlain has also contributed vocals to “Enemy”, while Will Ramos and Ryo Kinoshita have showed up on the remixes of “Lifeblood” and “Demon King” featuring them.
- Kyle himself has shown up on tracks by And Hell Followed With, Andremulasia, Distant, Downfall of Mankind, Earthists, Hurakan, Overdose of Bacon, The Animist, and Xenobiotic, among many other bands.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: "After Image" off God Hand, along with "Perfect World" and "Corridor of Dreams" off Lifeblood, act as short instrumental breathers during their respective albums.
- Villain Song: Three so far:
- "God Hand" is about the titular villainous quatrumvirate's plan to bring about Griffith's ascension as Femto and Take Over the World in the name of evil.
- "Demon King" details Ganishka's ambition to conquer the world with his military might and surpass the God Hand as the new Top God of the world of Berserk.
- "Prophecy of the Falcon" discusses Griffith's willingness to do anything for the sake of achieving his dream of having a kingdom of his own to rule over.
