- Cannibal Corpse, Dimmu Borgir, The Black Dahlia Murder, Bloodbath, Whitechapel (Band), Aborted, Nile, Cattle Decapitation, Job for a Cowboy, Necrophagist, Obscura, Behemoth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Cradle of Filth, Dream Theater, Opeth, Scar Symmetry, Symphony X, Emperor, Septicflesh, Hour of Penance, Ingested, Suffocation, Suicide Silence, Beneath the Massacre, Carnifex, Trivium, Lamb of God, Slipknot, Korn
Formed in Connecticut in 2013 by Ben Duerr (vocals) and Chris Wiseman (guitars, programming), the band's early days made the rounds on Facebook through Duerr's vigorous promotion of his new project, and by mid-2014, Inferi Sententia, their debut EP, was available for download. The band continued on for the next year or so while Duerr continued to help build hype, and by the very beginning of 2016, Primordial, their first full-length, had been released. The band's blossoming hype spurred Duerr and Wiseman to get a full band, and Matt Kohanowski wound up joining on drums at some point during the year, while Federico Zuccarelli and Keith Kohlhepp joined in on rhythm guitar and bass (respectively) at some point during the beginning of 2017. This lineup recorded Reclaimer, their sophomore full-length, which was released that spring and was hailed as a modern deathcore classic almost instantly, and their hype had mushroomed to unbelievable levels. Around the end of 2017, the band finally announced what everyone had been waiting for: their first live shows. The two dates (at the Webster Underground in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Gramercy Theater in New York City) both sold out (and, in the case of the former, had people come from as far as Germany to see them), and it was clear that they were there to stay, though Zuccarelli left at some point during the year and was not replaced.
Around the beginning of 2018, the band announced their first tour (a regional leg supporting Carnifex and Oceano) and dropped a new single. Later that spring, the band announced their first full-length tour supporting The Black Dahlia Murder and Whitechapel (Band) early that summer, followed by a late fall/early winter coheadliner with Spite. Due to disputed reasons (officially a family emergency), the band had to drop off the coheadliner with Spite and lost Kohlhepp and Kohanowski. The band welcomed in Andrew Monias and Anthony Barone as their replacements, but opted to reenter the studio to record a third full-length. Melancholy, their third album, dropped in August of 2019, and as of the writing of this page, they are preparing to embark on a tour supporting Despised Icon.
Discography:
- Inferi Sententia (2014) (EP)
- Primordial (2016)
- Reclaimer (2017)
- The Instrumentals (2017) (compilation, instrumental versions of Primordial and Reclaimer)
- Underneath a Sullen Moon (2018) (single)
- Melancholy (2019)
- Intensified Genocide (2021) (single)
- Elegy (2022)
NO REMORSE! FOR THE CARELESS TROPERS OF THE EARTH!:
- Ascended Extra: Anthony Barone was originally a live fill-in due to Matt Kohanowski's unwillingness to pull double duty with Shadow of Intent and Oceano (not to mention the logistical difficulties involved with the former only being on part of the tour and Oceano doing the entire thing) before he became full-time after Kohanowski left. Bryce Butler, in turn, also became this after several tours, as it had become clear that Anthony was much too busy with Babymetal to juggle both acts.
- Concept Album: Primordial and Reclaimer are both concept albums based around the Halo series, while Melancholy is an original story about a man tormented by an evil sorceress. Elegy focuses on the unending cycle of conflict that has persisted throughout human history.
- Deathcore: One of the most death metal-oriented modern examples, with noticeable MySpace deathcore sensibilities. They would later shed this with Melancholy.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Primordial had prominent Technical Death Metal elements that they greatly downplayed on Reclaimer and almost entirely dropped on Melancholy.
- Epic Rocking: "The Dreaded Mystic Abyss" (10:20), "The Tartarus Impalement" (7:52), "The Didact's Will" (7:43), "The Cosmic Inquisitor" (6:33), "The Aftermath in Jat-Krula" (6:21), and "The Horror Within" (6:10).
- Genre Throwback:
- Elegy is a throwback to mid/late 2000s melodic death metal, with a sound highly reminiscent of acts like Skyfire, Miseration (who Ben cited as an influence), Disarmonia Mundi, and Mors Principium Est.
- "The Migrant" hearkens back to the band's earlier material circa Reclaimer and Melancholy.
- Horrible History Metal: "Intensified Genocide" was, as per
Ben, written about the Abkhaz/Georgian conflict in the Georgian Civil War. The lyrics of "Where Millions Have Come To Die" are instead based upon the Siege of Leningrad. - Humans Are Bastards: The core theme of Elegy: history is laden with saga after saga of gratuitous cruelty, exploitation, and brutality, and humanity has not learned a single thing from any of it.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every song from Primordial and Reclaimer starts with "The", except for "We Decend..." from the latter.
- Instrumentals: "The Great Schism", "The Dreaded Mystic Abyss", and "Reconquest".
- Lead Bassist: Andrew Monias is a Type B, as he handles the backing harsh vocals.
- Lead Drummer: Anthony Barone and Bryce Butler are both known for their technical ability. Barone is also known for his YouTube channel, while Butler is known for his massive amount of projects and live fill-ins for other bands, though he has told people that Shadow of Intent is his main gig now and he will not be doing much outside of them save for occasional session work and maybe a fill-in every once in a while between tours, and possibly brief runs with Circuit of Suns if they ever start doing anything again.
- Melodic Death Metal: They moved heavily in this direction on Melancholy and almost completely settled on it on Elegy.
- Metal Scream: Ben Duerr is Types 2 and 3, sporting a deep, somewhat phlegmy bellow and shrill, screechy highs.
- Motor Mouth: Ben Duerr is known for extremely fast and precisely-delivered vocal lines, with "The Battle of the Maginot Sphere" being among the best displays of this."Blood boiling at the obliteration of those trampling our masses as they're consumed under our final march, this is the Battle of the Maginot Sphere!"
- New Sound Album: Melancholy was a Genre Shift to symphonic death metal with only tiny remnants of their deathcore era. Elegy instead almost completely drops all traces of deathcore in favor of a melodic death metal sound largely inspired by Carcass and The Black Dahlia Murder.
- Soprano and Gravel: Chris Wiseman contributes cleans on an intermittent basis, though they became more frequent on Melancholy.
- Special Guest: They have had guest appearances from Dan Watson, Jay Evans, Dickie Allen, Alex "Terrible" Shikolai, Tom Barber, Trevor Strnad, [[Whitechapel (Band)} Phil Bozeman]], and Chuck Billy, while Francesco Ferrini helped out with orchestration on Melancholy and Elegy. On the live front, Anthony Barone started out as this, and so did Bryce Butler in turn.
- Start My Own: Ben Duerr started Hollow Prophet as a side project, while Chris Wiseman did the same with Currents, and Keith Kohlhepp started an as-yet-unnamed deathcore project with Shane Jost sometime after leaving the band.
- Stop Motion: "Blood in the Sands of Time" has a music video made in this format that depicts the conflict in the Middle East and the costs it has exacted from all sides participating in it.
- Symphonic Metal: They had overtones of this during their deathcore days, but they fully embraced a shift to symphonic death metal on Melancholy.
- Vocal Tag Team: Ben Duerr handles the harsh vocals (though Andrew Monias handles some of the highs live), while Chris Wiseman handles the clean vocals.
- Wicked Witch: The main antagonist of Melancholy.
- Wolverine Publicity: Ben Duerr's prominent social media presence and prolific vocal covers were one of the main things that helped build hype for the band; it is a safe assumption that without his promotion of the band and general omnipresence in a large portion of the general extreme metal scene, the band would have probably never taken off.
