Band: Contract Killer
From: Los Angeles, California
Their formation story:
(Dono Klein, guitar/vocals): "We started in the back half of 2024. I had been wanting to start a band like this for a long time. Colby (drums) and I met through Instagram and started jamming. He liked the songs I had already written and he reached out to everyone and put this lineup together. Vibes were pretty good from the jump and we recorded our first EP maybe a month or two after jamming all together for the first time."
Their sound in their own words:
"I like to distill all my favorite aspects of death metal, hardcore, and thrash/ crossover into CK songs. I love so many kinds of aggressive music, but it’s also really fun to take inspiration from something outside that realm and mix it in. For instance there’s a Katy Perry vocal pattern on a new CK song. Stuff likes that helps keep things from being too derivative.
"The most influential bands for me I’d say are Sepultura, Bolt Thrower, Merauder, Napalm Death, and Power Trip. Stuff I’ve been into more recently: The new Tribal Gaze is fuckin awesome. There’s like a life-changing part every 15 seconds on this record I can’t believe it. Impunity from the UK. Their songs on the Cross of Disbelief split are so awesome.
"Fatal Realm has been in constant rotation since I first heard it. Deadbody is also a huge inspiration. I love the way they fuse earworm hooky riffs with extreme chaos, and Miles is one of the best lead players I’ve ever heard."
Latest release info:
"This is our second EP, and I feel it’s an awesome next step. I’m always hard on myself when writing my own contributions. I was so proud of our first record, that following it up felt intimidating. The goal is always to get better and do better than we did before, and I’m 100% confident that we have achieved that. We think all these songs are heavier, catchier, and more moshable.
"I liked how much more collaborative the writing process was this time around, and I think you can hear that we sound more cohesive on this one. We recorded again with Andrew Solis at Deadstare Audio. He’s always a pleasure to work with and we are super stoked on how it came out sonically."
Future plans:
"We’re really just trying to play more shows and make more music. There aren’t really plans so much as things I hope to one day do. I’d love to play as many shows as possible with bands I look up to and have been inspired by. I’d also love to play shows out of state in 2026."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"You should check out all our friends! Auditory Anguish, Dying Breath, Strut, Marrow, Plagas, Smoked909, Humanicide (coming soon). Provoke, and Killfloor."
Contract Killer on social media: Instagram
Tagged: contract killer
