Kylesa | |
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![]() Kylesa performing at Roskilde Festival 2011 | |
Background information | |
Origin | Savannah, Georgia, U.S. |
Genres | |
Years active |
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Labels |
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Members | Phillip Cope Laura Pleasants Carl McGinley |
Past members | Eric Hernandez Chase Rudseal Jeff Porter Brandon Baltzley Christian Depken Brian Duke Corey Barhorst Tyler Newberry |
Website | kylesa |
Kylesa is an American sludge metal band that was formed in Savannah, Georgia. Their music incorporates experimentalism with heavy riffs, drop-tuned guitars and elements of psychedelic rock. [2] The group was established in 2001 by the former members of Damad, with the addition of guitar player Laura Pleasants who is from North Carolina. [3]
The band has since undergone lineup changes; the remaining original members are Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants. In 2006, the band added two drummers, Carl McGinley and Jeff Porter. Eric Hernandez joined in 2008 to replace Porter. In April 2016, the band announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus. On August 20, 2024 Roadburn Festival announced a reunion of Kylesa at their 2025 edition.
Kylesa formed in Savannah in 2001, [4] taking their name from "kilesa mara", a Buddhist term denoting delusory mental states. [5]
Guitarist and singer Phillip Cope, bassist Brian Duke, and drummer Christian Depken were former members of the Savannah sludge metal act Damad, which had released two albums in the '90s. Philip Cope has been described as the Savannah "metal scene's godfather". [6] He began playing in hardcore punk groups in the late 1980s, and in 1992 booked groups such as Buzzoven and Neurosis at a local all-ages club. [6] From 1993 to 2001, Cope played in the group Damad, which included vocalist Victoria Scalisi. Pat Mathis of the Passive Fist label said that Damad "established a sound that's stuck-- that whole heavy, doomy Southern kind of metal. When you've got these old punk guys who listen to the Allman Brothers and start a metal band, that's kind of what you get." [6] Damad changed their name to Kylesa in 2001 with the addition of Laura Pleasants, a native of North Carolina who attended the Savannah College of Art and Design. [6]
After recording the majority of their first record (self-titled Kylesa on Prank Records) in May 2001, the band played their first show with Mastodon and Cream Abdul Babar in Savannah, Georgia on June 2, 2001. On June 6, 2001, Brian Duke died from an epileptic seizure during the course of the night. The band decided to finish the recording in his honor, wrote and recorded two more songs (where local bass player and friend Michael Redmond stepped in and played bass). The self-titled record was released about one year later when artwork by Pushead was completed. Prior to the full LP, a single limited 7-inch was released on Prank Records, also using artwork by Pushead. The Pushead-designed band logo from these releases has been used on all the band's merchandise and releases ever since.
Replacing Duke with bassist and singer Corey Barhorst, the band wrote and recorded a split 7-inch with Memento Mori on Hyperrealist, and a split full-length with Cream Abdul Babar from Florida on At a Loss Recordings. These records came out immediately following the release on Prank despite being recorded much later, due to the long wait for artwork by Pushead delaying the release of the self-titled LP. More singles and a placeholder EP, 2004's No Ending 110 Degree Heat Index, followed right before Depken left the group.
Kylesa signed with the independent metal label Prosthetic Records and released their second proper album, To Walk a Middle Course , in 2005 with drummer Brandon Baltzley.
Following the release of that album, Baltzley left the group, replaced by a pair of drummers, Carl McGinley (of Unpersons) and Jeff Porter. [5] Kylesa's third album, Time Will Fuse Its Worth , was released on Halloween 2006. Eric Hernandez (of Capsule) replaced Porter and appears on Static Tensions , released in 2009. [7] Two songs on this album were inspired by the shooting of Jason Statts, a Savannah musician. [6] They toured with Mastodon after the release of this album, whose guitarist, Bill Kelliher, said that
We took Kylesa on tour because we love those guys and have been hanging out with them for years. They blew a lot of people's expectations out of the water. [6]
As of 2010, Kylesa had sold 75,000 albums. [8] In 2010, they signed with Season of Mist to release the album Spiral Shadow on October 26 that year. [9] A rarities compilation album titled From the Vaults, Vol. 1 was released later that year. [10]
Their sixth album, Ultraviolet , was released through Season of Mist in May 2013. The record is said to be darker lyrically and sonically than previous works, containing more vocals from singer/guitarist Laura Pleasants. [11] The band embarked on a full North America headlining tour to promote the release with direct support from Blood Ceremony, White Hills and Lazer Wulf. [12] In October 2015, the group released their seventh album, Exhausting Fire , through Season of Mist. [13]
In April 2016, the band announced in a Facebook post that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus. [14]
In August 2024, the band announced they had returned from their hiatus and announced they would perform at the 2025 Roadburn Festival. [15]
Kylesa is most often classified as a sludge and stoner metal band. [16] AllMusic stated that the band borrows "elements of hardcore punk, psychedelic stoner rock, technical speed metal, and good old-fashioned Black Sabbath sludge." [4] The dual drum tracks are often panned strongly to the right and left. The band has two singers, Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants.
Journalist David Peisner of Spin described Kylesa as "dark psych-metal titans", practicing an "aggressive [sound], but with a hazy, stoner vibe that suggests a strange amalgamation of Black Sabbath, Black Flag, and early Pink Floyd." [17]
Sludge metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that combines elements of doom metal and hardcore punk. The genre generally includes slow tempos, tuned down guitars and nihilistic lyrics discussing poverty, drug addiction and pollution.
Neurosis is an American post-metal band from Oakland, California. It was formed in 1985 by guitarist Scott Kelly, bassist Dave Edwardson, and drummer Jason Roeder, initially as a crust punk band. Chad Salter joined as a second guitarist and appeared on the band's 1987 debut Pain of Mind and then Steve Von Till replaced him in 1989. The following year, the lineup further expanded to include a keyboardist and a visual artist. Beginning with their third album Souls at Zero (1992), Neurosis transformed their hardcore sound by incorporating diverse influences including doom metal and industrial music, becoming a major force in the emergence of the post-metal and sludge metal genres.
Church of Misery is a Japanese doom metal band from Tokyo, formed in 1995. Church of Misery's musical style melds early Black Sabbath-style doom with psychedelic rock; most of the band's songs are about serial killers and mass murderers.
Cream Abdul Babar is one of the longest-standing bands in the Tallahassee scene. The band formed in 1994, combining elements of punk, metal, industrial, and noise to create their brand of experimental rock. The band's name is a play on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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Crippled Black Phoenix are an English dark rock band, founded by Justin Greaves in 2004. They have released 12 albums and toured internationally. Besides Graves, several musicians have contributed to Crippled Black Phoenix's albums and played with them during their live shows.
Static Tensions is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Kylesa, released on March 17, 2009, by Prosthetic Records. The artwork and layout was created by John Dyer Baizley of the band Baroness. Like its predecessor, Time Will Fuse Its Worth (2006), the record features two drummers.
Time Will Fuse Its Worth is the third full-length album by American sludge metal band Kylesa. It was released October 30, 2006 by Prosthetic Records.
16, stylized as -(16)-, is an American sludge metal band from Los Angeles, California. The band is currently signed to Relapse Records. In November 2022, the band released their ninth full-length album, Into Dust.
Black Tusk is an American sludge metal band from Savannah, Georgia, formed in 2005.
Spiral Shadow is the fifth full-length album by American sludge metal band Kylesa, released by Season of Mist on October 25, 2010 in Europe and October 26, 2010 in the United States.
To Walk a Middle Course is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Kylesa. Released on March 22, 2005, by Prosthetic Records, it was produced by English record producer Alex Newport, who is known for his projects Fudge Tunnel and Nailbomb.
Taste the Sin is the third full-length album of the sludge metal band Black Tusk. It was released on May 25, 2010 through Relapse Records. It blends elements of sludge metal, stoner metal, thrash metal and hardcore punk combined with vocals by all band members to create a sound similar to Kylesa and Baroness, contributing to Savannah's Sludge music scene.
Year of No Light is a French post-metal band formed in Bordeaux in 2001. On their 2006 debut album Nord, the band combined a dark and aggressive sludge metal sound with psychedelic atmospheres inspired by post-rock and shoegazing. In 2008, they underwent a significant line-up change, replacing their vocalist by a third guitarist and a second drummer to become an instrumental sextet. Thereafter, Year of No Light integrated black metal, doom metal, drone and dark ambient influences on the albums Ausserwelt (2010) and Tocsin (2013).
Kylesa is the debut album by American sludge metal band Kylesa. It was released on April 2, 2002 by Prank Records and is also available for download on iTunes and Amazon.
Ultraviolet is the sixth full-length studio album by American sludge metal band Kylesa. It is the group's third album to be released through Season of Mist.
From the Vaults, Vol. 1 is a compilation album by American sludge metal band Kylesa, collecting previously unreleased tracks, alternate versions of released tracks and one new track. It was released on November 16, 2012 in Europe and November 20, 2012 in North America through Season of Mist. The collection features a newly recorded track titled "End Truth" as well as a cover of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and Buzzoven's "Drained".
Whores is an American noise rock/sludge metal band based in Atlanta, Georgia. It currently consists of vocalist and guitarist Christian Lembach, bass guitarist Casey Maxwell and drummer Douglas Jennings Barrett. The band has released two records through Brutal Panda Records and is known for its "intensely cathartic live shows".
Exhausting Fire is the seventh full-length studio album by American sludge metal band Kylesa. It is the group's fourth album to be released through Season of Mist.
Victoria Scalisi was an American punk, sludge, and heavy metal vocalist and artist from Savannah, Georgia.
Georgia's pretty damn good at producing great stoner sludge metal: In addition to Mastodon and Baroness there's Kylesa, who fuses basement punk and biker metal on Ultraviolet.