SKELETONWITCH

The drought is over. After years in the wilderness, homegrown heavy metal has finally returned. No longer the domain solely of our European forefathers, metal pure in both delivery and creativity is gaining momentum at breakneck speed in the Western Hemisphere. Leading the charge domestically are Ohio’s sons of Midwestern darkness SKELETONWITCH, who have emerged as forerunners of this new American sound. THE WITCH’s mighty sonic fortress is an amalgamation of classic Bay Area thrash, Scandinavian death/black metal and NWOBHM. Upping the ante from their Prosthetic debut, Beyond the Permafrost, these five gnarly longhairs show no mercy and take no prisoners on their latest, Breathing the Fire.

To lay this nasty, raging slab to tape, SKELETONWITCH traveled to Seattle and hooked up with legendary producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High On Fire). To make things extra filthy, THE WITCH enlisted Scott Hull of grind kings Pig Destroyer to handle the mastering duties. Tracks like “Crushed Beyond Dust” and the leveling album-opener “Submit to the Suffering” are sure to whip even the most jaded metal fan into a psychotic frenzy. “Breathing the Fire is a burning, fucking beast!” says guitarist Scott Hedrick. “The drums are monstrous; Chance’s sickening vocals sound inhuman and somehow retain amazing clarity; Evan’s bass sounds like Steve Harris, Lemmy and D.D. Verni in a blender; and the guitars sound like jousting chainsaws. A lot of people said that on Beyond the Permafrost, we married black and thrash metal. With Breathing the Fire, they banged and had a kid – and that baby’s a burner!”

THE WITCH’s vicious live show and fierce blue-collar ethic have helped to establish the band as torchbearers of today’s metal scene. They have logged countless miles on the road crisscrossing the nation with the likes of Municipal Waste, Job For A Cowboy, Amon Amarth and Dimmu Borgir, and most recently with Children of Bodom and The Black Dahlia Murder in fall of 2009 and currently with Cannibal Corpse and 1349! The band also made high-profile appearances at the 2008 and 2010 New England Metal and Hardcore Fest, last year’s inaugural Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta (along with Mastodon, High on Fire, etc.) and South By Southwest, and were handpicked by Glenn Danzig for his 2008 Blackest of the Black tour.

“White van, black t-shirt: that’s been my life since we started SKELETONWITCH,” adds Hedrick. “We love and live for the road. We’ll play the enormo-dome or we’ll play in your fucking closet – we don’t care as long as we get to play. Being out there on the road and mixing it up with all the metalheads is what it’s all about. We’re all one and the same, and if we weren’t fortunate enough to be on the stage, we’d be right in front of it banging our heads.”

SKELETONWITCH formed in 2003 and self-released their debut full-length, At One With the Shadows, in 2004. In 2006, after several underground tours, the band broke through musically with the self-released EP Worship the Witch (which included a limited, handmade edition by Baroness’ John Baizley). Worship the Witch peaked label interest and 2007 saw the band sign with Prosthetic Records and release Beyond the Permafrost. Permafrost received numerous accolades in the U.S. and overseas and landed on many year-end “Best Of” lists including Revolver, Decibel, and Pitchfork. The album also cracked the top ten of the CMJ Loud Rock Chart. Their latest, Breathing the Fire, released on October 13, 2009, debuted at number 151 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart and number 2 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart, and also received rave reviews in publications, worldwide, and ended up on many “Best of” lists.