Band: In Heaven
From: Cincinnati, Ohio
Their formation story:
(Corey, vocals): "I hadn't been in a band in a few years. I was really missing playing, and especially missing performing. As I've gotten older, my taste in heavy music has become increasingly extreme. Anything that pushed a boundary or broke a rule always caught my attention. You know how extreme music is. I just constantly craved the next craziest thing. It eventually got to the point where I started writing the riffs and music I wanted to hear.
"My good friend Zach McDermott (bassist) and I, who met when we were young because we were both straight edge, eventually started demoing. He had always been in bands I respected, but our timelines as musicians never aligned, so he was my first choice as a member. We both loved hardcore but wanted to bend it and incorporate other extreme influences. As straight edge musicians, we wanted to make music we would mosh to while also pointing to other crazy genres and sounds we liked. From there, over the course of a year, we solidified a song or two with the help of our friend Sabian Pack, who ended up not being a member in the long run.
"We sent these semi-finished ideas to musicians that we liked, and eventually, after some trial and error, we landed on our current lineup. Two guitarists that we have always admired (Thomas Hovater and Jon Weik), and drummer David Sink, who was a complete stranger to us. We knew nothing about him other than the fact that he could play, but he had never played power violence, grind, hardcore, or anything like that live before. I sent the dude this 4-hour-long Spotify playlist full of grind, powerviolence, hardcore, and just like that, the dude was an extreme musician/drummer.
"It was honestly insane. He went from playing funk to playing insane 20-second-long fills and blast beats seemingly overnight. David is a true student of his craft. We practiced the most finished songs a couple of times as a band, and the chemistry was just there. Instantly. We are all nerds. We all love movies (hence our name being an Eraserhead reference). And that was that. From there, we went on to record the self-titled EP, which will be out in a few months."
Their sound in their own words:
"I describe us as 'blackened hardcore,' but we pull from a lot of genres. Especially sludge, power violence, grind. At the end of the day, we just want to be an extreme and harsh band with mosh parts that point to hardcore. I would say Dead in the Dirt, Full of Hell, Fuming Mouth, Candy, and Portrayal of Guilt are all huge influences on not just our sound but also our writing sensibilities. A blending of sounds. In some cases, the word 'mutation' might be more fitting. Also, we are all huge Crowbar fans, if that isn't made clear enough from our huge main riff in the single."
Latest release info:
"Our newest release is our first and only release so far. It's from the self-titled EP that we are releasing in May/June on TCIITH Records. The song name is 'Shattered Whole,' and it features the vocalist (Aaron Russell) from my other band, CastXDown (straight edge hardcore). We did this because his vocals obviously rip, but we also wanted to pay some homage to what he does for the hardcore scene in our area.
"His feature also helped contextualize our crazy sound within hardcore, and not just metal. After all, we want our live sets to be violent. I would say "Shattered Whole" is the most 'normal' song on the EP in terms of its structure. It is extremely heavy, but doesn't take as many risks as some of the other EP tracks. It's really crushing yet really accessible. So if you think this one is heavy/crazy, your face is going to get melted by the rest of the release."
Future plans:
"We are going to release a second single near the end of April called 'Great Dane.' That one is going to feature our good friends in Landfilth. After that, our EP and merch rollout should all happen near the end of May or the beginning of June."
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"Emanating Peace, Pain Begins, Primal Force, and Rejoice are all bands near us that we heavily mess with right now. Huge shoutout to some homies - Landfilth, Resin Ring, Black Spot, Molten Anchor, and CastXDown as well."
In Heaven on social media: Instagram
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