Necrot

Founded by bassist, vocalist and principal songwriter Luca Indrio and drummer Chad Gailey in 2011 – guitarist Sonny Reinhardt joined in 2012 – the Oakland, California trio offer Lifeless Birth as a peak of their efforts to encapsulate and push forward the deathly stylings of 2020’s Mortal and their 2017 debut, Blood Offerings. It’s not about giving up a ferocity that’s helped make them a household name among the converted. The maturity they show on Lifeless Birth manifest a vision of what Metal can be and do in 2024, tearing down old barriers and keeping those traditional elements that make it stronger.

By 2017, They had released 3 demos, a compilation LP, and their debut album, “Blood Offerings”. “Blood Offerings” charted at #29 on the Billboard Hard Rock chart and #52 New Artist chart and ranked in at #4 on Decibel Magazine’s Top 40 Albums of 2017. Their 2nd album, “Mortal”, was released in 2020 through Tankcrimes and placed in 14 different spots on the Billboard charts including #2 Top New Artist, #10 Heatseekers, #17 Emerging Artist, and #41 Billboard Top Albums. They also charted within the Top 20 on numerous Top Album Year-End lists including Decibel, where they placed at #6, and Revolver at #20.

Necrot have tour with Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, The Black Dahlia Murder, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Municipal Waste and many others. Expect no letup as Lifeless Birth brings Necrot to their own place among metal’s superlatively aggressive proliferators. JJ Koczan

MORTA SKULD

Early in their career, Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Morta Skuld accomplished the impressive feat of being signed by leading British independent metal label , but with no company showing similar interest in their homeland, they never quite managed to ascend beyond the underground death metal scene. Originally founded in 1989, Morta Skuld recorded and circulated two separate demos (1990’s Gory Departure and 1991’s Prolong the Agony) before pairing up with Rhode Island’s for a split single in 1993, which would duly get both bands signed to . Morta Skuld struck first, however, unleashing their Dying Remains debut later that same year and heading out on tour with genre fixtures like , , and , then repeating the pattern with 1994’s As Humanity Fades and 1995’s For All Eternity, which were followed by more rigorous roadwork in support of , , and others.

But, as mentioned earlier, none of these releases, though brimming with ably performed American death metal, made it into record stores unless imported from overseas, and so Morta Skuld’s frustrated members, Dave Gregor (vocals/guitar), Jason O’Connell (guitar), Jason Hellman (bass), and Kent Truckenbrod (drums), decided to link up with U.S.-based for the release of their fourth album, Surface, in 1998. Unfortunately, by then it was seemingly too late for the group, which was splitting at the seams. O’Connell was the first to bounce (or get bounced!), quickly followed by Truckenbrod, and after hiring a new drummer in former man Jason Mooney, the new trio renamed itself MS2 and sold out to nu metal before morphing yet again into a more groove-metal-oriented direction as , recording one EP and two albums in the late 2000s. The band’s early career dreams were compiled for posterity by in 2005’s Re-Surface: The Best of Morta Skuld, and in 2017 Morta Skuld resurfaced with founding member David Gregor (guitars/vocals), guitarist Scott Willecke, drummer Eric House, and bassist Al Lewandowski, and released their first collection of new music since 1997, Wounds Deeper Than Time. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi

CANNIBAL ABORTION

Slamming Brutal Death From The Depths Of The Windy City

FRIGID

3 Piece Extreme Metal from the 219