INTERNAL BLEEDING HAS RETURNED!

.Total.Fucking.Slam. IV

Sup Fellas! Let us go back to 1995 when one of the most significant records of all NY Death Metal history was dropped onto this earth like a cataclysmic bombardment. VORACIOUS CONTEMPT by Internal Bleeding is such an album. Once again, it has been a real honor to pick at these fellas brains in an attempt to recollect remnant thoughts and memories of the era when New York Death Metal was at it is highest peak and the world of death metal itself was in a rampant frenzy. The style captivated in this record remains unmatched and duplicated by many. As it matter of fact, the true New York Death Metal sound is a forgotten thing of the past that many new death metal fans seem to overlook due to the ever amassing releases of sterile and passionless offerings passed off as death metal in these recent times. Let us now learn something from the past and how it all came about when Internal Bleeding made their very first debut full length as young pioneers of the true east coast slam.


I command thee to rip up the dead... -Lou












CHRIS PERVELIS



A lot of effort went into the writing and making of Voracious contempt and although, in my opinion, the production did not come out the way we had envisioned it, I still think it is a fine album and a great representation of our music and what it meant to us.


I think we were all fortunate in one respect, and that is we were all on the same exact page when it came to writing music. We knew we wanted to create songs that weren’t filled with excessive blast beats, mindless noodling and endless solos that took a song nowhere. We all wanted to concentrate on what I call the “two pillars” of tension and release. The point was always to build up tension in the listener to the point of explosion, and hit them in the head with a groove that would just get your body moving, your head banging and your fists pounding.


Writing a new song would usually start as a disparate collection of one or two riffs. Most of the time it was me or Anthony who developed the riffs but Brian, Frank and BIll each made significant riff contributions as well. We’d go through a long process of sorting out a rough framework of a song, then we’d go back into the song and pay attention to all the tiny details. We’d adjust beats, bass fills, riffs, speed and timing to get what we thought was the ideal combination. Most importantly, a song would develop over time through constant exploration and experimentation—especially in the drum category. Bill used to write a lot of generic fills just to hold space in a song until he developed more elaborate and appropriate fills. Brian would always end up sprinkling some really tasty bass fills into songs as well.


For the songs that already existed on the demos, we went through them and mostly slowed all the slam and heavy parts down and tinkered with the details.


I remember we wrote a whole song that never got a name other than “8.” We trashed the whole thing because it didn’t feel right—what a waste of two months. None of the riffs made it to Voracious Contempt, but a few did make it onto Extinction of Benevolence two years later.


We kept to a fairly rigorous three day a week schedule which really allowed us to experiment and improve the songs.


Lyrically, Frank handled most of that department (except for the songs that were on the demo) so I leave the lyrical development aspect for him to explain. I can remember after Frank and I saw the movie OUTBREAK, we discussed at length developing the song “Humanicide.” I am actually surprised we didn’t develop a song called “Clerks” because him an I almost pissed our pants when we saw that movie. I think we saw it more than once. Usually him and I and sometimes Bill and Brian too would go out to the movies on the weekends if we had nothing going on.


We all had our ups and downs, I think most bands do. Anthony could be very difficult to work with at times. He was very demanding, especially of Bill, and I can remember numerous verbal arguments between those two when it came to the writing process. When Anthony wrote something he heard the drums, right down to the fills in his head. That would bother Bill because it would step on his creativity. No matter, they always came up with a good solution and they had the mutual respect to work together on things, even though they would clash. I was a lot easier on Bill than Anthony was, although I had my moments I am sure. I would play a riff and say “I think a Euro blast would work here,” and let Bill decide what to do. Brian was much the same way as me. Much more laid back than Anthony. Frank always made suggestions to all of us, but was never adamant about his point of view musically and in turn, I don’t think we were too pesky with him lyrically. I would suggest things to him, but that’s about it.


I am sure I got on everyone’s case because I could be an incredible pain in the ass—when it came to certain things like being on time for practice, calling if you couldn’t make it, discipline, etc. I could be a real asshole.


But I think the coolest thing about our group relationship was the vocabulary we developed to describe parts of our music and things in general. For example:
--Electricity part: a slow, heavy riff with speeding double bass under the riff
--European: a blast similar to a morbid angel type blast, using the ride symbol
--”Pfffff”: an expression that usually means something is totally cool
--”Sicko”: see “pfff”
...and so on


We chose Cove City Sound Studios (http://covecitysoundstudios.com) because basically we were young and impressionable and were impressed by the smooth talking owner who said he could get any sound we wanted. We had originally wanted to go to Legend Studios, where we recorded our demos, but the label wanted a 24 track recording as opposed to a 16 track recording. Pavement had suggested a studio in NJ, but we rejected that due to the impossibility of each of us commuting from work to NJ.


I was particularly nervous when it came to recording the album and it took a toll on me. I don’t know why, I was fine recording the demos and recorded them with ease, but when it came to recording the album, I was a total mess. I had to re-do parts constantly, I couldn’t hear well and worse, I was completely hopped up on the home-roasted coffee that the studio had. I only made it through because of the encouragement of my bandmates.


As far as the guitar equipment, I recorded with a Charvel Model 6 and Anthony recorded with a Jackson Professional. We both used an Ampeg VH140C head, with a BBE sonic Maximizer, Boss Noise Reduction pedal and a rack EQ. The basic setting on the Ampeg was Level: 4, High: 6, Ultra Mid: 2, Low: 7 and Gain: Max. No distortion pedal was used. Those who know this head, know that it provides completely crushing sound without the use of pedals. The BBE was set to Contour: 6 and Process: 6. As for the EQ, it was set at a soft wave, with the highs and lows slightly boosted and the mids “scooped” or cut out slightly.


I think Brian used his Fender Bass and plugged in directly, but I could be totally wrong and I will let him correct me. As usual, he put in a solid performance with nary a mistake. Anyone who knows Brian knows this one thing—the man is solid as a rock, reliable and always gets it done.


Bill used his chrome Pearl Export set. I remember it taking a while for bill to really warm up, but once he did, he put in a great performance. I think he had a case of the nerves like me. I can remember both of us swilling that damn coffee the whole time we were there. It was just so goddamn good. But the caffeine content was off the charts.


Frank, well, there is nothing to say, his vocals just were sweet and right on the spot. I admire his perfectionism and I think he turned in a hell of a performance.


My favorite part of the recording was adding the gong to the end of the song “Humanicide.” I can remember just thinking “Damn, that just is the perfect accent for that riff.” I was so excited about that. I guess looking back that’s kind of dumb, but I was thrilled by it.

After the recording was complete, Pavement got a hold of it and wasn’t too keen on it. They wanted to send it to Scott Burns in Florida to do a remix. We were pretty psyched by that, but one of us needed to go to Florida to be there while he did it so we could make sure it came out right. Pavement wouldn’t pay for anyone to go and we were totally broke, so Scott had to do it on his own. It came out better than what we had done, but he completely fucked up something on Epoch of Barbarity. That long middle part isn’t supposed to be like that at all. It was totally different. But how would Scott know? No one was there to guide him. Needless to say, we were pretty disappointed by that.


Overall, I am happy with the release. Just wish it was stronger in the production department. The songs hold up well, but the production just doesn’t give it justice in my opinion.


I don’t know who came up with the name for the album. We knew we wanted the name to express pure hatred, and Voracious Contempt, seemed like an apt title. It was either Frank or me who came up with the name. I lean towards Frank coming up with the name. I do know we all totally dug it.


We wanted to stray away from the typical oil paintings of the day, so Frank got in touch with his friend PJ who was an artist attending Parsons school of art (or Pratt, not sure). Anyway, the first album cover he delivered was brutal as hell. We loved it. Well, Pavement didn’t. It was too over the top for them. We went back to PJ and he sent us what was to become the cover. I personally think it matches the album title perfectly, even though it is less graphic than the original cover.

Release day was pretty exciting, especially since the album had BMG distribution. It was pretty much everywhere you looked. It was all very exciting. We had actually made it through the demo process, got signed and put out an album. Doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re young and in your 20s, its a big deal. For me especially. I have wanted that since I was a little kid air guitaring to Black Sabbath in my bedroom!


I would absolutely love to get the chance to re-record Voracious and give it the due it deserves. The fans have been so damn supportive of this release, and they—and we—deserve to give it justice.







BRIAN HOBBIE





Preparation for Voracious Contempt was pretty cut-and-dry as far as having enough material, getting things in order, artworks, etc. During the early 1990’s, a lot of folks were into what we had going on, which in a way made it easier to create the Voracious Contempt artwork. From time to time we would receive artwork from fans. When we got the artwork that is end it as the Voracious Contempt cover—that is what made it work, it fit the music perfectly, and it felt right. As for the music itself, we wanted to have material that was fresh without using any of our early stuff. In Extinction of Benevolence (our 2nd release), there is some older material that we re-recorded. We still played shows, did our normal routines and rehearsals before recording. I think the most that happened was when one of our gears exploded.




The five of us were on same wave-length and shared like-minded chemistry during the Voracious Contempt days. We went in as a band on a mission to do the best job we could and we had a blast doing it. Looking back now, I must say that all personal habits and personalities did not get in the way. We all showed up on time and jammed the tunes. We were focused on getting the album done. It was truly a very learning-based atmosphere. Most of the tunes were written the in practice room and we wanted to have them done before recording. Chris and Anthony would lay down their riffs for the rest of the band and then the rest of us would write our parts/lyrics for the tunes. Our writing process was pretty basic.
We never had some mystical way of writing or had to be in some mood—being into the style that we were creating made the riffs flow. As long as the song structure was there, everything is became second fiddle.


I used my Fender P Bass and a Peavey Mark 4 head. The studio had an in-house 8x10 Ampeg cabinet, which I used and also an Ampeg STV4 as a back-up. Ampeg VH 140/150 guitar heads were (and still are) the amps of choice for recording. Ampeg, at one point in early 90s, started making transistor and tube guitar heads. The transistor ones have this gain that is unexplainable. No other head or even pedal had this gain/distortion tone at the time—it was perfect for Death Metal. Some bands today still use the Ampeg VH series and live by them, if they have one that works. Bill uses Pearl Drums and still has the same kit in collection to this day. As for guitars, old Charvel strats, the ones Jackson stopped producing years ago. I wish they would make them again because they were perfect for this kind of music. They just fit the style and performed strong. Chris used his Crate 4x12 cab that weighed a ton, but made up for in heaviness. Anthony used Ampeg and Marshall cabinets for recording. BBEs and Boss Noise Suppressors were the only effects used. We had no need for modulators, reverbs, or delays—not for what we wanted to create. Regardless, anything we could get our hands on that would provide massive amounts of girth and heaviness we spared none.





Cove City Sound Studios in Glen Cove,New York was the home base for Voracious. Also, Despise The Sun by Suffocation was recorded at this studio two years later in 1998. The story behind choosing this building for recording Voracious Contempt was that at the time, the band was on this odd Billy Joel kick. We had heard by accident a b-side to one of his hits on the radio and thought it was the greatest We found out that the song was recorded at Cove City Studios. The founder and co-owner of Cove City Studios is Richie Cannata,Billy Joels' sax player and long-time comrade/band-mate from the neighborhood. He is a very cool and professional guy that has one hell of a studio. It is not common that Death Metal bands record in a same building with gold records on the walls that exceed 4 million copies and some even 10 million—mostly contemporary rock and pop. it was awesome to be in that building as the band we were. On top of it all, Mr.Cannata treated us great and like pros. It was different for him, music wise, but he was into what we did. It was rare for him to work with death metal bands. He showed us a lot of old school pictures with people he jammed with and quizzed us. His office was like a shrine of music icons. This place helped give us all a positive outlook about the sessions and it worked for us and at the same time keeping the music brutal in its original nature. The only bad time we had there was that even in a 9 million dollar complex a band/artist can always manage to mess up the toilet and leave their mark. Once the mop and bucket were put away it was back to business!


Around January of 1996 when Voracious Contempt was completed and shipped off to the people of Pavement Records, I guess they did not like it because it got shipped to Scott Burns for re-mixing right after. I will admit that the band was having some over-indulged low-end snags. When you are a Death metal band recording your first release on a real record label and able to afford recording in a multi-million dollar studio, you can feel musically invincible. But some of us, mostly Anthony, soon realized that too much low-end on the board does not work. It can make everything sound broken. Once we got the Scott Burns mix and listened to it, we tried to figure out if it was the same guy who is like this wiz at recording Death Metal by judging the final mix-down. If you have the album, some of the mixes regarding the instruments is off, as well as an error in track listing. All that we knew was that it wasn't the same mix that left Cove City. The sound engineer at Cove City, who went by the name Dug, and simply Dug, did a killer job and worked with us until the end, A trooper indeed! The way it came out from Cove City was insane, and gave Voracious Contempt the brutal sound it was supposed to have. If the label thought by sending it to a more "well-known" studio for this kind of music would have helped, that is truly a gamble that doesn't always work. Im not doubting Scott Burns works, past or present, or trying to insult him. Recording at Morrisound Studios maybe would of not have worked out for us—never rule out anything. Being that our style would get tagged as Mosh Metal or Slam Metal, and Black Sabbath being a main influence opposed to influences that were considered common for most of the icons then; should the band have flown down to Tampa to oversee things? Most bands that care about their work would have done so and we do. Receiving infomation on time helps also and not finding out after the fact. In the end the album got released and sold the best it could.




The possibility of ever re-recording Voracious Contempt? Honestly,I don't know. In someways,it wouldn't be the same or seem like Voracious Contempt. The way it come out,even with it's bumps and grinds, cemented itself, as-is,with no point of return or going back. If we ever did try and remaster it,a process it would be. Been like almost 15 years since the day we walked into Cove City, but I would think the masters are there, or with the people of Crash Music(post Pavement records). A re-recording could happen but most fans have told us that they love it, so why ruin a good thing. Sometimes a remastering can destroy the whole thing. Some remastered albums that I've obtained over-time have pissed me off with the way they did it again. I have some favorites that I can only listen to in original format now-a-days. People get big-heads and mess it all up for the old school, screw that!, if it works, don't fix it! Bill and myself were stoked that Scott Burns made us very loud in the album. Much bass and drum compliments indeed have come our way. Hails to ya Scott! It wasn't a total catastrophe, greats like Steve Harris would be proud of you!





This era of Internal Bleeding was definitely a milestone for the entire band. Not only us, but for all the other awesome brutal bands of the time. All of us have experienced the rewards, failures, trials and errors of the business then. You had a very strong Underground Metal scene and awesome bands. The Voracious Contempt album got us our first U.S. tour and established our Death Metal notoriety in the world. We did a lot of out-of-state shows with my black pick-up van and it got the job done for 10 years. Hails to that Death Metal battle tank of a vehicle! Eternally thanks to all that have supported us at that time, and I wish the best of everything and fortune for those who have taking damage for us during our shows, and to anyone who took a serious hit, we do hope that who-ever is in charge of this thing called "life", may it bring you healing and better fortune. The press then too was full throttle and you couldn't read the amount of fanzines that was coming out quick enough to keep up (and done with paper and pen). In that era Death Metal and Black Metal ran rampant and on the loose. The Roxy Music Hall in Huntington, New York WAS the Metal scene, and no place has lived up to what it was about since then. A lot of show flyers that might have had some crazy shit happen at that show, a cool memory on paper, along with getting to play or co-headline with some killer national acts like Cannibal Corpse, Gorguts, Immolation, Broken Hope, Six Feet Under, and every great band that we played Metal festivals with. Some underground bands of that era too, Dying Fetus, Lividity, Drogheda, Mortal Decay, Deaden, Sodomized, Necrosis(NY), Reefer Hut,Ton, Fleshgrind, Oppresser, Cryptopsy, Hot Stove, Waco Jesus, the list goes on. We thank them for jamming with us! It was the best of times I have never forgotten them! Thank you!







FRANK RINI





After Internal Bleeding’s initial Milwaukee Metal Festival appearance in the summer of 1994, Pavement Records wanted to sign us and they sent us a contract—we negotiated with them a three album deal. While returning from a show we were discussing the album title and wanted something that had hate in it. I mentioned Voracious and then I think it was Chris Pervelis that said Contempt. We put it together, hence the album name. Now a lot of the record was already written. We re-did three songs off the Invocation of Evil demo and three off the Perpetual Degradation demo. The new songs were Languish in Despair, Humanicide, Reflection of Ignorance and God of Subservience. We were rehearsing three times a week and the songs were coming along fine. It was just a matter of tightening them up. When I first joined the band, I had told the guys that I would leave the music up to them and I wanted to just do the lyrics. They were cool with that and Chris Pervelis would come up with lyrical ideas/suggestions from time to time. At that time, I would get the music on a tape that we recorded in our rehearsal space and take it home to write the lyrics. Then I would see what lyrics went with each song to then construct the phrasing while listening to each part of the song. I would then come to practice and we would hammer out the song and I took in all suggestions from the fellas. Maybe a growl needed to be taken out, added, increased in length etc—it would all be put in place. I took great care in coming up with phrasing that was catchy and that went along with the song in a coherent manner.





Now it was up to us to find a studio. The music was done and we contacted Cove City studios in Glen Cove, New York. We had to actually have an interview with them before they decided they wanted to record us. They liked us and said ok. We had to load in the equipment at night due to Taylor Dane being there recording and not wanting to be seen. She was a pretty popular pop/rock singer at the time. I can remember after we loaded in the equipment Bill and I were waiting near the steps inside and she comes strolling along, without make-up on with her entourage and she struck up a conversation with us. She asked “Do you know who I am?” I did not recognize her at all, she looked rough and I said “No”. She then told us and we were like “oh wow, that’s just great” and then we just moved on. It was an awkwardly funny moment.


We all were getting along quite well during the recording. Tempers flared a little when maybe someone had to keep redoing a part over to get it right. The engineer Andy Tarr was pretty cool and Dug was the producer on scene. All the music was written and then it was up to me to lay the vocals down, which was daunting, since this was my first time in a recording studio. I prepared by drinking a lot of tea and eating tons of honey—it thickened up my vocal chords a lot. It was very strange wearing these big heavy earphones and singing into a pea shooter and microphone and all you can mainly hear is your voice. We just put a little reverb and equalized to the vocals to thicken them in the studio, nothing was done to enhance deepness or anything like that. Miola kept pushing me to hold out the growls longer and longer. I think I nearly collapsed on growls during Languish in Despair, Anointed in Servitude, Reflection of Ignorance and God and Subservience. In the long run, it was for the better and all the guys were very supportive of my vocals and were very helpful in the studio. But I banged out the vocals quickly and when we listened to the entire record we loved it. They even gave us a tape that we took home and we loved it. It was shipped to Pavement and they despised the mix. At that time Scott Burns at Morrisound Studios in Florida was the big name producer in Death Metal. He remixed the entire album. The album came out more compressed and I do like the version better, it does sound tighter; however, since we were not there for this mixing, some things were screwed up. The mastering is iffy. In the cd, where Gutted Human Sacrifice starts, but it shows on the cd as Epoch of Barbarity while it is still on. Also, the mix on Epoch of Barbarity is screwed up. What happened was that both the original mix and Scott Burns mix got combined towards the end, so when Bill is hitting the snare I can hear almost like a double snare being hit. I do have the original Voracious Contempt recording on a dumpy old tape. It was very raw sounding and it actually captured the live energy better than the final mix. The guitars were more upfront, but when I play them back to back, the Scott Burns mix actually sounds more cohesive. During the recording Pavement Records stiffed on some recording reels that we actually had to front. The album was recorded in analog, so that kind of stunk. Anthony came up with the intro, the weird carnival music that goes into Languish in Despair. We would open up a lot of the shows/tour with that and then go into Languish in Despair and the pits were like nuclear eruptions!


The reviews from the fanzines were incredible, however not everything was positive. Voracious Contempt came out in the summer of 1995, the same year as Pierced from Within, from Suffocation. Since they were around longer some reviews compared us to them and said we copied some of their sound. I was quite confused because 6 of the 10 songs were written from 1992-1994 during the demo days and the four new songs on the record were so slam filled and not technical, unlike Suffocation. But in the long run it may have helped us sell more records because it was NY Death Metal and a lot of people loved the sound at the time. Some fans thought the album did not sound as good as our live shows, but you can never please everyone. Pavement Records sent the cd to labels with bigger bands and Metal Blade’s Six Feet Under wanted to tour with us since their debut Haunted just came out and Immolation was on the bill too. We toured for 5-6 weeks across the entire U.S. and Canada. On the tour with Six Feet Under and Immolation, we made a lot of new fans and the album sold pretty well, with promotion being done more on our end then Pavement Records, although they did try and were able to get us a few full page ads in magazines and even got us a full page ad with picture and album cover in the BMG catalog.



During the recording we found an artist named PJ Loughran who did illustrations for the New York Times magazine. He was a young guy who was artsy fartsy. He heard our music and came up with many different interpretations of what Voracious Contempt meant. I have all the original drawings still. One piece was two guys in three piece suits carving up a lady. The finished work was incredible and Pavement denied it due to censorship. It did remind us a bit of Butchered at Birth from Cannibal Corpse. Another drawing was just people killing themselves and each other. Finally, he came up with the finished piece and we loved it and I still love it to this day. Voracious Contempt means intense hatred and nothing is more evil than killing or about to kill someone. I felt sorry for PJ, Pavement Records screwed him with paying him and did not give him his full fee. He kept harassing me and I was like dude if you want to sue us, go ahead, we are a Death Metal band making no money, which was true. In the end, he was just happy to get something like that published. We were also in touch with a guy named Sean Carr who came up with the sicko Internal Bleeding tribal symbol and that is in the cd. Chris Pervelis, a graphic designer, by trade did the layout and did a stellar job. The back picture of the band was taken at some local scrap heap/junkyard. The live pictures, on the inside, were taken from various shows and the cd tray is a live shot of us at the Roxy and it captures the band in its live glory and the pit as a swarming mass of bodies. Miola is cut out of the picture, because the entire picture could not fit. So it’s got Chris, Brian, Bill’s drums and me bending down growling, while stomping across the stage.




I think that does it. I am proud of Voracious Contempt and do not think it needs to be re-recorded, but a remastering of it and our second full length, The Extinction of Benevolence would benefit from today’s technology. We were young at the time and I think for the budget and our experience Voracious Contempt came out a good recording. It was released in CD and Cassette format and was available at all record chains when it came out. 1995/1996 was a good year for Internal Bleeding and we were at the top of our game. I would like to thank you Lou for your dedication to this NY Death Metal project and for keeping the Internal Bleeding name alive. I would also like to thank the fans that consider Voracious Contempt a classic death metal record, that means a lot and the Internal Bleeding fans from NY were the most dedicated and amazing fans. By and large, I will always have fond memories of Internal Bleeding fans that were there for us. You all crush!

.Total.Fucking.Slam. III

In death metal history there has been a multitude of powerful vocalists but only a handful have stood out that have established the foundation for future vocalists. Death Metal demands a powerful and energetic front-man that can command the crowd with the highest of mastery and deliver a devastating lyrical onslaught that can annihilate the masses. The vocalist is one of the most important and most integral components of any death metal band and I believe that Frank Rini was one of these people. He was the reason for Internal Bleeding's evolution into higher levels of intensity and supreme display of brutality. This is what death metal is suppose to be all about. Once again, it is with great honor that I now present to you Frank Rini's recollection of his experience in New York Death Metal and Internal Bleeding.

Its time to feast on the flesh of man... -Lou









I was the vocalist for Internal Bleeding from 1994-1997. I was there for the beginning of New York Death Metal. It all really started out with bands playing thrash metal and then shortly after bands began to get heavier and faster. I attended tons of shows back in the day. I saw Carcass open up for Death and many of the greats. I remember seeing Suffocation play when they were unsigned along with Winter who were a incredible doom/death band that played the slowest music possible. When I first saw Suffocation back in 1989, I was like what the hell is this! It was not something that I had ever heard before and they were pretty raw back then but the vocals, for me, stood at the most significant, since I always wanted to be in a band. I would go to shows at the Sundance and supported the local scene. You had Apparition, who later became Sorrow, Human Remains from New Jersey always played, as well as Ripping Corpse from New Jersey and then you also had Pyrexia and Immolation. Talk about a show at Sparks on the Island! In one night it was Immolation, Suffocation, Pyrexia and Human Remains. I bought the Pyrexia demo, Human Remains and tons of Suffocation and Immolation shit. I believe that Pyrexia and Suffocation are the pinnacle of the slam death metal. Shows were not always packed, which was a shame but we all pitted and stage diving was mandatory. Back in the early 90' no one gave a shit about that, no bouncers, nothing. I had a blast. I had long hair and had a denim jacket with Entombed's Left Hand Path airbrushed on the back and I would mosh while smoking the biggest cigars. The scene was united at that point. I would go to shows with my friends the McGuirk brothers and Bill Tolley, who went on to drum for IB. I went away to college in 1992 and when I came back, I would go back to the shows and growl. One day at a sparks show, Bill said that I should be a singer, but I had to finish college first. I saw Internal Bleeding first open for Cannibal Corpse and Sinister in 1993. I bought the “Invocation of Evil” demo from Chris Pervelis and hung out with him for a while. I loved their show and thought the pit was pretty devastating. Never had a death metal band create so many breakdowns but still play death metal and not hardcore. When I graduated from college in the summer of 1994, I went to Slipped Disc Records near my house, and saw that Internal Bleeding were looking for a new singer. Chris Pervelis came over to my house and we talked for a while and I had to learn “Prophet of the Blasphemes” and “Anointed in Servitude” from the “Perpetual Degradation” EP demo that was due to be released in about 2 months. It was tough and my vocals were raw, but the band liked what I had to offer. Anthony Miola was really pushing me to hold out the growls longer and was killing me in the rehearsals, but in the long run it made me better. So I think it was after the 3rd try-out that they basically said they wanted me in the band and I went home and shaved my head. I had a shaved head in college, but grew it back. When I was first trying out for Internal Bleeding they were probably going to say that this alternative hairstyle had to go, but I knew all along if I got in I was shaving my head. They loved the look and then I had to learn all the songs from both demos. We headed out that summer and played the Milwaukee Metal Fest, some other Midwest shows then we went up to Canada and tore it up. The scene was tight and I had become friends with Mortician, Afterbirth, Necrosis and a lot of other NY bands. I received a great reaction from the fans and they liked my live rants where I told people to rip up the floorboards and I wanted to see body bags get carried out of the club. I bought a cordless microphone and sang in the pit for probably 2/3 of the shows. I loved the community and I was such a supporter of the scene that I would buy everything in site.


Pavement Records enjoyed our Milwaukee Metal Fest performance and signed us. We reworked some older demo songs and coupled them with the newer songs that were released on the “Voracious Contempt” full-length. The purpose of my vocals was to growl but to punctuate and make at least some of what I was growling to be understandable—I think that I achieved that to some degree. Pavement Records did not like the original recording mix of the first album and sent it to Scott Burns for remixing that compressed everything. I actually still have the original “Voracious Contempt” mix on a crappy cassette tape. The guitars were more upfront in the original mix, but in reality the Scott Burns mix was better. The original was just too raw and did not sound as tight. It sounded a little sloppy (I just listened to it last year). It was my first time in a recording studio and some may say the overall sound did not capture our live sound fully. But, hey back in 1995 for a first full-length recording, I think that “Voracious Contempt” sounds pretty good still. They got the tape to Chris Barnes who was now singing with Six Feet Under and I spoke to Chris at Milwaukee and he liked it. We got booked on the Six Ft Under “Haunted Tour” with Immolation. It was an amazing experience. We sold tons of merchandise and met all our friends that we had been keeping in touch with. There were no emails back then and I remember-all snail mail. After that tour I did some vocals on Immortal Suffering's second demo, along with Kelly from Deathrune and also did vocals for Dystopia 1 on their second record. Things were going really well. We then started to write “Extinction of Benevolence” in between playing shows. The music was getting heavier and I was had began to experiment with my vocals more. I had been taking vocal lessons before the tour because I was having problems with my throat. The teacher trained Tony Bennett. He was this little old guy who thought I was insane to be singing death metal. But, he helped me out and I never had a problem ever again. I learned to do the inhale growling singing and hold my growls for over 2 minutes and I incorporated that onto the second record. The problem at this time, around 1996, was that I had moved down to Maryland to live with my girlfriend, who is now my wife. Playing shows was not happening a lot and I could not get to New York as much as I wanted to since I was working and supporting myself. Yes, you can say this was the old cliche of a chick breaking a band apart. What was I to do? I worked on my vocals really hard and I think they came out great on “Extinction of Benevolence.” They carried a lot more range and were angry sounding. The music was killer too and it was so heavy. The production was marred by Anthony, who was listening to a lot of rap and wanted to put 808 bass drops everywhere. The album is overloaded with those bass booms. I guess you can say that we were the first death metal band to do that. Now, “deathcore” bands do it all the time. But “Extinction of Benevolence” is the first record to include those sonic bass parts and that was back in 1997. Once “Extinction of Benevolence” was recorded, I was promoted at the Correctional Facility that I was working at and knew that my days in the band were over. I went up to New York and had a nice steak dinner and smoked cigars at Chris Pervelis’ house. We both had tears in our eyes because he and I were close friends. When I told the rest of the band that I was leaving, they were upset and Anthony was pretty angry that he even tried to get my vocals removed from the recording. Let's just say that he and I had a little talk and he understood how important the vocals were to me and they were left alone. By this point I was a little bitter. The band had been sued for $10 million. It was a ridiculous lawsuit from someone that was hurt at an Internal Bleeding show. It turned out that I was named in the lawsuit, but the incident happened in early 1994, when I was not in the band. At the time, I was in upstate New York attending college. I had to shell out over $2000 to clear my name, while some of the other members in Internal Bleeding did not put in any money. So I was a little bitter, but that is not why I left, it was because of the job and I knew it was not fair to the fans and the band. We parted on good terms. Ryan from Disfigured filled in for me when I left and then the band got Ray from Immortal Suffering to sing and he was also on the “Driven to Conquer” record. I knew my name was bad mouthed by some of the Internal Bleeding members for a while, but I still bought “Driven to Conquer” and thought it was a killer record. I loved Ray's vocals. A few years later, Chris Pervelis and I were back in touch and the summer of 2005 was the Maryland Death Fest where Chris was playing his last show with the band and wanted me to do some vocals. They had Jerry in the band at the time and he was cool with it. He complimented me by saying he could not really sing too much off “Extinction of Benevolence” because my phrasing was pretty complicated. That made me smile. I was introduced during Internal Bleeding's set and the place went wild! We ripped into “Languish in Despair” and the pit became an NY style pit instantly. I cried after the show, no one knows that. It brought back a lot of memories and I signed posted and autographed the entire weekend. Internal Bleeding then released “Onward to Mecca” and not a lot of people like it due to Jerry's hardcore style but I think Internal Bleeding released an amazing record with the best production they ever had. I loved Jerry's vocals on the record and think the songs were killer. Chris Pervelis and I then began talking of reforming the old band. I wrote an entire album worth of lyrics. Matt from the Illinois Death Fest had us headlining the 2007 summer death fest that we were planning to do, but I got another promotion at work and my wife was pregnant with our daughter. I could not do it. I know it pissed Chris Pervelis and Brian Hobbie off as well as Matt and a lot of fans. I felt really bad. I had memorized all the music from the first two Internal Bleeding albums again and was practicing at my house three times a week and my vocals sounded really good. Unfortunately, I was entering another new stage of my life in fatherhood and could not pursue the music. I tried to get into a metalcore band over here in Maryland about 5 years ago, but my vocals were too “heavy” for them. I still miss playing live and would love to do some singing again. I want to be back in a band that plays a form of Death Metal, but with alot of Grindcore influences. As a father of two and working in corrections for over 13 years now I have never stopped listening to death metal and Grindcore. I actually do love all the deathcore bands, maybe because they took a page or two out of the Internal Bleeding book. I love Whitechapel, I Declare War, Impending Doom, Suicide Silence, Oceano, Carnifex, Acacia Strain, Chelsea Grin, and Despised Icon. I do not like melodic Death Metal. The music has to be brutal as shit, whether it's Defeated Sanity from Germany, Tech bands like Braindrill, Origin, Gorod, Ulcerate, Fleshgod Apocalypse, or Grindcore like Defeatist, Captain Cleanoff, Wormrot, Misery Index, Mumakil, Squash Bowels, Napalm, Insect Warfare, and bands playing an older style like Asphyx, Hail of Bullets, etc. I still listen to the bands from the 1990's, and I still love Suffocation, Dying Fetus, Scattered Remnants, etc. My wife complains that at 38 years old I still buy records and shirts and ruin family pictures with my Pig Destroyer or Krisiun shirts. She knows it's a non-winning battle since Death Metal will always be in my blood. I will be 90 years old sick and decrepit but I will still listen to death metal.

Regarding Slam Death Metal, New York Style: Prime songs to listen to are Suffocation “Liege of Inveracity,” Pyrexia “God,” Internal Bleeding “Anointed in Servitude” or “Ocular Introspection,” Repudialtion, and Skinless. New York Death Slam music usually has a “rat a tat tat” type of blast beat that abruptly goes into a slow breakdown made to incite mass riots and violence. With respect to what we did, we loved the hardcore breakdowns of hardcore bands and incorporated that type of breakdown into the music that then had hardcore bands/fans loving us. I listen to a band like Braindrill and I love them, but seeing that live, not sure how that would translate. In a death metal band with slam, you are going to have group participation from the fans, where people are pitting and feed off the energy of the bands performance. New York Death Metal has influenced a lot of other countries. For example, Germany’s Defeated Sanity, are similar to a more brutal 1990's version of Suffocation and their slowdowns are NY Death Metal inspired, then you have Deranged From Sweden who used to incorporate a lot of NY Style influences. The NY Style is very recognizable.



Heavy vocal contenders of the 1990's in the tri-state area were obviously Frank Mullen from Suffocation, Daryl from Pyrexia, John from Mortal Decay, Will from Mortician, Matt from Afterbirth, Sherwood from Skinless, Repudilation. I would like to think that I also had an impact on the scene as well. When preparing for the second Internal Bleeding record, my prime vocal influences were John from Mortal Decay, Rick from Embalmer (Ohio), and Will from Mortician. That is why my vocals were deeper on the second record. I just developed my singing from doing lots of growls, listening to bands, accepting feedback from the guys in Internal Bleeding, and the vocal lessons I was taking. Take note that breathing is an integral part for any singer.

I have to say that being in Internal Bleeding in the 1990's was one of the highlights of my life. I felt Chris, Brian,, Anthony and Bill were my brothers and we would try and give the crowd the best show possible, even if it was in front of 30 people, and yes we had shows that you could hear crickets sometimes. We toured together, were in car accidents together, fought together, and we hung out together as friends which is why I cherish those moments and will do so for the rest of my life. I buy records, shirts, but only go to maybe 1-2 shows a year now. The scene is younger now. They don't know what unity is, the way it was in the 1990's. Yet, I am still happy to see that heavy music is so popular. So what if a “deathcore” band sells 7000 records on their first week, the fact that so many people are into heavy music makes me smile. Sure, we were all competitive as bands and there was some shit talkers, but by and large, we were all friends having a good time. I looked at myself as a fan first and band member second.

I love death metal and still listen to my older records. My death metal collection, both new and old tops at 1000. As I convert them into my hardrives, the records will still adorn my house and I always need to look at the lyrics and see the record for myself. The newer bands today are using better technology and are faster than they were years ago. But a show back in the 1990's in New York would tear your head off. The pits were so vicious. Look on the inside tray card of “Voracious Contempt” and there is a picture of one of our pits, while we are playing live. Just a sea of bodies smashing into each other, that's how it was and all the New York fans were the best, most down to earth muthafuckers, and I love them for supporting Internal Bleeding and the bands in the scene.

I will end by saying thank you to Lou and to all you crazy death metal maniacs. Support your death metal and help stop the building of the muslim Mosque near ground zero in NYC!

.Total.Fucking.Slam. II

The saga continues. My journey to unfold this special part of death metal history has now led me to another man that was an integral part of the Internal Bleeding sound. His name is Brian Hobbie and he is the original bassist of the band. It was great to learn his side of the story as he shared some memorable moments from the early days of NY death metal. If my mind serves me right, he was the youngest member of the band and was responsible for delivering the subsonic low end emissions for the massive slams that are Internal Bleeding. He tells us of his time in the band when he joined in the beginning of 1993. This guy was there for the birth of some of our favorite and most cherished bands of all time. It is with great appreciation that I now present to you Brian Hobbie's recollection of his experience in NY Death Metal.


It was a slam filled era... -Lou




It has been forever since I’ve been asked about my time in Internal Bleeding. I must say that the best years took place almost 20 years ago. I know that you are looking for evidence that are fact—the real deal. Sometimes a certain question might get me going or make me have to think. I did the best job I could for the reader and I apologize if I took long. I remember a time when I used to do a lot of interviews at once and would be on a roll. Regardless, I am very excited to describe to you all my experience in Internal Bleeding and the entire New York Death Metal community.





The early days of NY Death Metal were very active and fresh. It seemed as though a lot of new Death Metal acts from the early days had an easier shot at reaching a pivotal point due to the new movement of death metal that was going on in New York. The basics made you work harder and you gained strong potential from it if you had your shit together as a band. Those days were the beginnings of Immolation, Cannibal Corpse (relocated to Tampa, Florida), Baphomet, Mortician, Demolition Hammer, Sorrow, Malignancy, Suffocation, Morpheus Descends just to name a few. Malevolent Creation and Deicide, who were based in Upstate New York, relocated to Tampa also in the early days too from what I recall. Around 1991-1992 that bands like Embrionic Death, Pyrexia, and many others came to be throughout the decade. Communication and Press activity was a big part of the times and was personal too. Fanzines, demos, and any source of mass communication through mailed letters made it work. The bands were also heavily networking throughout the world and traded live media of the shows. There are bands that still do it today but just not as many. Atleast not in the same fashion as it used to be, I've noticed. Today, NY Death Metal bands rely on the internet. In the early days, there were times when I would actually get hand written letters from fans that lived no more than 20 minutes away. These letters were to buy a demo tape, merchandise, and to correspond with the band. I do not see if that truly happens anymore but at the time it showed how active and involved the NY Death Metal community was. It was more fun with less distractions and bullshit. It was one state under brutality.




I must say that Internal Bleeding is the best band I've ever played in. I started working with them in early 1993. I was about 19 years old at the time. It was a great time to be playing NY Death Metal during the early 1990's. One of the coolest things was getting a plaque-like award for the sales of the “Perpetual Degradation” record. A record store in California called Wild Rags Records, the label that released it, had the award made for us. This achievement made the band work harder to reach high potential. I learned many of the do(s) and don’t(s) from being in Internal Bleeding also. It was the first time I started corresponding with people around world and the experiences in the whole music business. The 1996 U.S. Tour with Immolation and Six Feet Under during the “Voracious Contempt” days was incredible! We used to practice in this two level auto-mechanics warehouse. We had rented it from a friend and had five bands in there later on. It was big enough to pull off a show and brought out some out-of-state bands to jam with. Needless to say, it got insane and had a lot of cops showing up. People ran everywhere to get away. It was truly great, something out of a movie.


There was a venue called The Roxy Music Hall that was our second home because we played there all the time. We got to open up for alot of awesome acts such as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Overkill,Broken Hope, Morbid Angel, and Forbidden. We had more out of state friends than local. Sometimes, we would drive to New Jersey or even Maryland to hang out with bands and people. Don't get me wrong, we hung out we with a lot of people at home too. Most of them either moved or got into different things. People came and went all the time. I still talk to some of the old school fellasthrough internet. I have even made some new friends that we never got to jam for but they are die-hard Internal Bleeding fans since the “Invocation of Evil” days.





I believe that slam has many different forms. What many of Death Metal, Thrash Metal, or even some Black Metal bands don't realize or don't want to admit is that everyone has some slam parts in their music in one way or another. I think that just about every band that plays brutal music wants to see people go nuts in the pit. Slams are heavy grooves and heavy rhythms to make people move. Black Sabbath was a heavy and headbanging band with slam parts in almost every song. They are a major influence to everything we listened to. Metal bands all over the world express slam metal in their own way or style. The NY style just has a very well-known presence in the metal community for being the style it is. NY Slam is an extreme force of rhythm and groove as opposed to flat-out speed and intensity all the time. For Internal Bleeding, grinds and fast stuff was just filler for the slams—this was the priority in our style. A completely different approach from what everyone else was doing. During this time every band from Long Island (and still today) was getting by default, tagged as a "Suffocation clone", which was at the time expected. So, it sort of gave us a reason to just experiment with the slam riffs and less technicality to avoid that. It worked for us.












Here is a review tagging Internal Bleeding as a Suffocation clone.
Taken from http://www.metal-archives.com/

These are the roots of... something... - 42% out of 100%
Written by Noktorn on January 31st, 2008

Once upon a time, Internal Bleeding was a crappy Suffocation clone instead of a uniquely crappy death metal/hardcore hybrid, and in this style, they turned out one album called 'Voracious Contempt'. The year of this album was 1995, which was the height of both death metal sucking and second-string underground death metal labels like Pavement being willing to put out just about anything in the wake of Roadrunner offering up their roster of DM groups as a sacrifice to the Gods Ov Capitalism. This is a very important thing to remember, because I can assure you that in NO OTHER YEAR would Internal Bleeding ever be signed by a decent label. At least, that's what I like to think. I love to pretend that there aren't labels who will release such mind-numbingly mediocre music onto the metal public. With this capacity for self-deception you'd think I would have liked the latest Obituary album!

Musically, 'Voracious Contempt' sounds almost exactly like Suffocation's 'Pierced From Within' (which was conveniently released five months prior to this album). Granted, it lacks the very convoluted riffing and song structures and abstract themes of that band, but every track on this album is pretty much a straight-up clone of 'Thrones Of Blood'. Remember that song's breakdown? Remember how it became the prototypical breakdown for just about every NYDM song that came out for, oh, a decade after it? Well, Internal Bleeding was clearly riding that wave hard, because every track has that same, sludgy "CHUN... CHUN... CHUN..." break. There are some blasting sections with mostly inaudible tremolo riffing, lots of midpaced, hardcore-inspired grooves, and lots of guttural, somewhat burping growls. There's also a constant procession of start/stop chug riffs over double bass that all sound pretty much exactly like each other.

One of the big things that prevents this from being a mediocre yet enjoyable piece of brutal death metal is the production. It's got that mid to low level studio production of a lot of mid-'90s DM groups, with decent sounding drumming, somewhat submerged vocals, and way overly distorted guitars recorded at too high a volume to preserve any modicum of tone. Same thing happened to Suffocation on, surprise surprise, 'Pierced From Within'; the distortion gets to the point where you can't actually, you know, hear the difference between notes, preventing coherent riffs from being composed. This alone pretty much damns the album from ever being in regular rotation from me. Mortician can get away with it. Internal Bleeding can't.

The only other real detail to speak of when it comes to this album is of influence. While listening to 'Voracious Contempt', you can actually pick out a lot of riffs that seem very ahead of their time; many of the groove riffs sound like modern slams that a band like Devourment would use, and many people do suggest that Internal Bleeding is one of the bands that really coined the concept of slam death, if not the name or a real grasp of what the style was. At the same time, though, I don't know how much of this is slam death and how much of it is just overblown Suffocation worship that sort of blindly stumbled into the 'slam' sound by accident. Internal Bleeding sounds like slam death in a lot of ways, but slam death doesn't really sound like Internal Bleeding; I'd argue that the biggest thing here is the fusion of hardcore and death metal (though more limited than on later albums).

Internal Bleeding got somewhat better from here, but this really wasn't a promising start. If you're trying to start a museum for random Suffoclones, you might as well pick it up, but I don't see a real reason why. You'll never remember any of the songs, riffs, or lyrics, and it's not even that pleasant when it's going on. It's easy to ignore, and doing so isn't really a bad idea.











The NY Style of Death Metal is credited to Suffocation for being one of the originators of the N.Y./Long Island style. With their influence, it got taken to the next level trying to be as original as possible. Just like when Motorhead and Venom influneced just about every Thrash band in California in the early 80's and beyond. When Internal Bleeding first started, the local Death Metal scene at first wasn't the first influences we had. Whoever we were trading demos with at the time were. Underground bands like Mortal Decay, Dying Fetus, Tyrant Trooper, Exmortis, anything underground were influences. You just couldn't ignore it because it was a form of slam too. East Coast Death Metal got as far as the other coasts too. No matter what, it was all extreme and brutal metal. Even if not all of them had a lot of slam riffs, the tradition was upheld in their music still. Vital Remains from Rhode Island has their own style of slam parts, I've always thought. The East Coast scene has come a long way and has offered plenty. All of the coasts of the U.S. have had their own legacies and histories of playing Death Metal.





On an ending note, one of my best times was when we got to play a festival in the same building as Slayer in 1994 and again after their five year hiatus. These were great times to play Slam metal. Somewhere out there, there is four or five seventeen year old kids in a practice room playing slam metal in some form and they just may be the next best thing if they do it right and keep it real. We'll see what the future brings and can hopefully fill the void we have in Death Metal today.




Thank you all. It has been some of the best times of my life.




Internal Bleeding is forever.

.Total.Fucking.Slam.

Sup Fellas!

It is with the greatest pride and pleasure that I now create this blog. My name is Lou and I am a native of New York. How should I begin? There was a time... I have dedicated a better part of my life to a form of ear obliterating music known as Brutal Death Metal and after all of my experiences with this horrendous music, I felt that the time has come for me to create a place to preserve an important part of the history of this incredible music. Brutal Death Metal has taken many forms over the decades and one of its originating seedlings known as Slam has captivated me so deeply that it literally changed my life. I can safely say that the creature responsible for the birth of slam is New York's very own Internal Bleeding. These NY natives of a land filled with thugs, light-speed lifestyles, and much "kawfee" consumption have laid out the foundation that remains a major factor in the evolution of modern brutal death metal. They took it upon themselves to create a style of death metal that centralized around the element that would normally be used in a climatic moment of your favorite death metal tune aka Suffocation's Liege of Inveracity. You know what I am talking about. That beastly moment, that part of the song that is so hyped up it literally implodes, that chuggy chug moment that feels like a sawed-off buckshot to the face, or better yet that slammable onslaught moment that sends the savages in the pit into an endless frenzy of annihilation. Yeah, now you know. Internal Bleeding is responsible for taking that element of a death metal tune and making it universal; where every song is a stream of perpetual groove drenched pit riffs. The purpose of this blog is to provide to you, the reader, a place to learn all about this monster known as slam. Its history and the fine gentlemen responsible for creating timeless tunes that to this day remain unmatched. They shadow just about every new modern death metal band while continuing to leave you wanting more. These forefathers have develop something special, something immortal, that all of us avid death metal listeners can still look back on and say to ourselves, "Oh shit! no way!" I will focus on the birth of it all in the East Coast of North America and its critical peripheral influences all around the world. I will bring to light the relationships between these gentlemen and their correspondence that transcended state-lines, coast-lines, and international oceans. I will not forget about that foul monster from Texas known as Devourment, a most digusting beast that it is and the immortality that is Molesting the Decapitated. I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I will enjoy digging up the remnants of slam death metal history straight from the thoughts and memories of these savages responsible. What better way to initiate this blog of slam death metal history than to start by presenting to you an anecdotal recollection straight from the core of slam itself. The man himself, Chris Pervelis. It is an honor to have dissected his memories and the end result will serve as the foundation for the modus operandi of this blog.

Stay tuned for more intensive updates an revisions! Enjoy!



TOTAL FUCKING SLAM
By Chris Pervelis







I must confess that my memory may be a little hazy; time can do that to you. If I have omitted or incorrectly identified certain people, places, bands and time frames, I am truly sorry.


When Internal Bleeding first started in 1991, there were handful of bands out on Long Island and in the New York area and naturally they were a big influence on us. Particularly Bill and Anthony; they were more tuned in to what was going on in NY than I was. I had been more into slow, heavy and groove oriented sounds from bands like Black Sabbath, Obituary and others. Tom (original bassist) and Brian (original vocalist) were more into European and Floridian stuff. At first we struck a pretty good balance with these influences and our first two songs "Invocation of Evil" and "Genocide" reflect that mix.





One night, Bill, Anthony and I were at a diner after practice. We had a long discussion about the direction of the band. I can remember this day like it was yesterday. Anthony and Bill weren't happy with the sound, and I wasn't either. We started talking about what we should sound like and we all pretty much came to the conclusion that we wanted to be a band that concentrated on writing heavy riffs with groove to them and throw a few blast beats in to separate the grooves.





We thought most bands concentrated more on the blasting and grinding, so we decided to go the other way. That's basically how our sound was born. Is it completely original? No. But I think it is an approach that some bands hinted at but no one took to the level we did.





We always hated the word "mosh" so Bill had suggested we use "slam riff" instead of "mosh riff" and so "TOTAL FUCKING SLAM" was born. It became our standing philosophy to write music that would always be centered around slam riffs and we held ourselves to a very high standard. We slaved over every riff we wrote, dumped songs that didn't make the cut and we really worked hard on arranging things for maximum tension and release. On top of that, we marketed ourselves pretty well, defining ourselves as "Total Fucking Slam." That gave use something that other bands didn't have...a marketing slogan (it's the ad man in me. I own an ad business).





Funny story, when Anthony wrote the big breakdown in "Anointed in Servitude," we almost dumped it because it was a little too happy sounding (we used to say riffs like that sounded "bouncy"). I am glad we changed our mind, but it took a lot of internal arguing with each other to keep it in the song. It wasn't originally in the place it is now and with some creative arranging, we got it into a spot that made the riff really powerful and dynamic.





In all fairness, I think Dying Fetus was taking this approach as well and I think that's why we sparked up a great friendship with those guys. We shared such similar values musically. I can remember getting the "Bathe in Entrails" demo in the mail, popping it in, listening to it and saying "Fuck! These guys get it!" I took the tape right to the studio to let the band hear it and we all freaked. I can remember Anthony totally loosing himself and throwing a garbage can against a wall and kicking the couch in our studio when he heard it. Pretty soon after that we went down to Maryland to play with them and Ripping Corpse.





The ONE DOLLAR DEMO was just a rehearsal tape that we put together because one of our buddies liberated a bunch of blank tapes from a law school. I had a four-track, so I figured lets record something so we can sell at our first show. It came out horrible, but we sold it for a dollar, so the price was fair. I listen to it now and laugh. I can hear our sound developing, but it wasn't quite "there" yet.





I think the sound we were looking for came to fruition on INVOCATION OF EVIL. The production was good, the playing was good, albeit a tad sloppy in places, and the songs I think were excellent. When it came out, people went totally nuts for it. I couldn't believe it. We packed our asses in a van and went anywhere and everywhere to play and sell demos. We met so many great down-to-earth people and bands and their hospitality was amazing. Eventually we put the demo out with Wild Rags and it took off even more. A lot of people didn't like Richard at Wild Rags, but I loved the guy. All business all the time. He taught me a lot and I owe him a lot for his guidance and the boost he gave the band.





The pinnacle of our demo days were reached with PERPETUAL DEGRADATION. We went back to the same recording studio (Legend in Islip NY) and worked hard on making it sound heavier and less thin than Invocation of Evil. I think we achieved that. It was a bit of a panicked time for us because we dumped Wallace, who was a great frontman, but he just wasn't serious enough. Instead of waiting till we got a new vocalist, and cutting off our momentum, Bill stepped up and delivered a great vocal performance. Perfect for that demo.





We found Frank shortly after that and we all just knew we had something really special. We hit the road, played hard and busted our ass. Frank was just unreal as a frontman. He took the band to such an incredible level. Now, not only were we putting out what we thought was good stuff, but we were all working our asses off to give listeners a hell of a stage show too. It all just clicked. Pretty soon Pavement signed us.





We went into the recording of VORACIOUS CONTEMPT confident and ready to put out a great album. We had new songs, plus the demo songs and things felt so right. Unfortunately, poor production obscured the quality of that album. I think we were overwhelmed with being in a big 24 track studio and we lost sight of the production aspect. Scott Burns did what he could to it, but I just think it would have been a great success if it had better production. Our tour for that album with Immolation and Six Feet Under was great though. We couldn't believe how many people knew the material. Some shows were just nuts, with our pits generating blood and broken limbs!





Although it never got the exposure that it deserved, I think THE EXTINCTION OF BENEVOLENCE was our best release as far as all-out heaviness is concerned. It suffered in the production department, but the songs and Frank's vocals were just insanely heavy. I wish more people got to see us perform these songs on tour and that the album got greater exposure.





From a production and songwriting standpoint, DRIVEN TO CONQUER took IB to new heights. The addition of Guy Marchais on guitar really pushed me and the rest of the guys to play harder and better. Guy is the consummate musician. He was a total pro when he joined us and I think we were still really good amateurs. I think the lyrics on that album are my personal best, and I think Bill's drumming on that is his best as well. This release also had a lot of Brian Hobbie's touch on it, which is great. He is a great bass player, and he got to show it on this album and in some of the riffs he put together.





I think we've made a place for ourselves in deathmetal history. I am really proud of that. We weren't the best technically, but we made the most out of our concept of how deathmetal should be and pushed ourselves to the limit on every song. I am glad people recognize our music and our hard work. It's a source of endless pride for me, and I'm sure, my bandmates.







The best part? The fans and friends. I still talk to many today, and all IB fans and bands we've played with are encouraged to contact me. I'd love to hear from you. At one point in the mid-1990s, I think Long Island and NY was the place to be. We had such incredible bands floating around. Suffocation, Afterbirth, Necrosis, Pyrexia, Dehumanized, Baphomet, Immolation and so many others. Places like the Wetlands, Castle Heights and the Roxy were constantly packed for underground bands. National acts did even better, and one of the best shows I ever attended was the Hangman's Ball at the Ritz. The place was packed and all the bands just ruled. Suffo, Grave, Ripping Corpse, etc. Man what a show!


There was always an element of competition amongst underground bands (though many didn't talk about it), but I think that made each band better. Call it friendly competition if you will, but the level that underground bands got to was unreal. Tight, precision playing, excellent vocals and stage presence were the norm, not the exception.








Basically, I think its the level of brutality that sets NYDM apart. It was never all about blasting. NY bands all had riffs you could remember. And in a scene where blinding speed is highly prized, the memorable riffs are a breath of fresh air. I cannot help but think the aura and reputation of NY has something to do with it too. NY is filled with thugs, tough-guys, etc. and I think that helps all the NYDM band's reputations.



I still listen to a lot of deathmetal and the music has progressed greatly. However, call me a child of the 90s, but I still am constantly listening to great releases from that era: "Effigy" from Suffocation, "Sickening Erotic Fanaticism" from Mortal Decay (NJ band, but godly), "Sermon of Mockery" from Pyrexia, "The Dead Shall Inherit" from Baphomet, and so many more. Bands such as Dehumanized, Afterbirth, Malignancy, Damonacy (NJ I know, but they ruled), Mortician, Repudilation, Embryonic Death, Immortal Suffering, Necrosis and so on...I cannot keep up with all the greats from that era!








I wish I could find the time to put a band back together and play some old-school style IB, but with kids and a business to run, my time is so limited. I have about 100 riffs to go, but it's hard to get things together. I know Bill is into doing it, just need to find some others. It'll happen, just will take some time.