Though they've only been together for a little over a year, Aussie band Hail Mary has already lived through its share of grief and loss. The group was formed by vocalist Tahmid "LADSTREET" and guitarist Jordan after meeting and growing up together in the Western Sydney hardcore scene. Soon after, Jordan's brother, Jarel, joined the fold on second guitar, and then the rhythm section of bassist Thom and drummer Matt entered the picture to flesh out the lineup.
With everyone firing on all cylinders, Hail Mary recorded their self-titled debut EP, but Tahmid tragically passed away unexpectedly just two weeks later. After many discussions with family and close friends, the band decided to continue with Thom now in the vocals spot. Hail Mary then asked their friend Luke to handle bass duties, and though he never had played the instrument before, he quickly learned their material within a couple of weeks.
As far as their sound, Hail Mary told me the following about their direction: "When writing this record, we were listening to a lot of '90s death, thrash, and groove metal, particularly Sepultura, Machine Head, and Bolt Thrower.
"We think from that perspective, we’ve always seen the band as explicitly a death metal band. But we all came up in the local hardcore scene, so we’ve definitely brought some of that influence into the mix. Taking these influences and combining them with our own experiences and where we are from, we like to sum it up as King Hit City Death Metal."
The Hail Mary EP hit streaming outlets just last month. "With Tahmid’s passing, the record has taken on deep significance and importance," the band told me. "There is no such thing as luck when you lose someone you love, but we are at least somewhat blessed that Tahmid was able to have tracked his vocals and mapped out everything for this release before he passed. He had everything planned from the graphics, the merch, people involved and the overall themes and aesthetic. He had most of this shit locked down before half the songs were even finished. Man had crazy vision."
"Alongside all of this we think it’s important that people listen to and understand the lyrical content of these songs. Tahmid was a Bengali man, he was an artist, and he was a committed anarchist living on unceded lands. The lyrics of these songs are a personal history, a telling of the way violence, trauma and guilt are intertwined in politics and culture ultimately shaping the way we live our lives.
"We’d love for these songs to be an opportunity for people to learn more about the history of the global south and of the horrors of nationalism and imperialism. Tahmid was able to expertly convey that the past is never just in the past, it’s right here within us. If anyone wants to know of the historical context behind some of the songs, Operation Searchlight is a good place to start."
I asked the Hail Mary crew to list some other bands from their side of the world No Echo readers should look into, and they didn't disappoint. "There are so many fresh bands in the Aus scene chopping it up right now. Shout out to Backhand, Burn In Hell, The Chain, Compound, Curses, Dance, Feel The Pain, Fever Shack, Geld, Hell On Earth, Histamine, Homesick, Horse Power, Hunny, Iron Mind, Jokes On You, L.O.W., Mass Control, Negative Mental State, Nerve Damage, No Apologies, Primitive Blast, Rapid Dye, The Real Deal, Risk Death, Spat Out, SPEED, Spite, and Thantu Thikha.
"We’ve definitely missed a few but it’s all love."
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Hail Mary on social media: Instagram
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