Monstrosity (band)

Last updated

Monstrosity
Monstrosity, Dec 2012, Barge to Hell.jpg
Monstrosity performing in 2012
Background information
Origin Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.
Genres Death metal
Years active1990–present
Labels
Members
  • Lee Harrison
  • Justin Walker
  • Mark Van Erp
  • Edwin Webb
  • Matt Barnes
Past members
Website monstrosity.us

Monstrosity is an American death metal band formed in 1990 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, [1] out of the Florida death metal scene. The band's original lineup included George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, who found greater success in 1995 as frontman of Cannibal Corpse.

Contents

History

Vocalist George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher and drummer Lee Harrison and bass player Mark Van Erp were the founders of Monstrosity. Harrison had just left the band Malevolent Creation and George Fisher gave up a band in his hometown of Maryland and came to Florida in 1990. Jon Rubin who had played guitar in Malevolent Creation also joined to form Monstrosity. Mark Van Erp played bass in the band Cynic and he left Cynic to join Monstrosity. The four members of Monstrosity signed with Nuclear Blast (Germany). Jason Gobel who was a member of Cynic helped Monstrosity record Imperial Doom when they entered the recording studio. He was never a member of Monstrosity. The album was released in 1992 by Nuclear Blast. Monstrosity toured Europe in support of the band Pestilence for this album.

After a number of problems with the label, Lee Harrison formed his own music label, Conquest Music, in 1996. Now signed to Conquest Music, the band entered the studio again to record Millennium . Guitarist Jon Rubin was replaced by Jason Morgan and bassist Mark Van Erp, by Kelly Conlon. George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher performed vocals and Lee Harrison was on drums. The album was licensed to Nuclear Blast Germany in 1996 for Europe and later re-released in 2002 by Hammerheart Records (Netherlands) for Europe. After completing the recording of the album Millennium, Fisher joined Cannibal Corpse. Jason Avery (Eulogy) replaced Fisher on vocals.

In 1999, Monstrosity went back in the studio and this time they recorded In Dark Purity . The album was produced by Monstrosity and recorded at Morrisound Studios, Tampa, Florida. Conquest Music licensed the album to Olympic/Slip Disc/Century Media for better distribution in the US and licensed the album to Metal Age and then Hammerheart Records in Europe. Jason Avery was the vocalist, Lee Harrison, the drummer, Tony Norman, the guitarist and Kelly Conlon, the bassist. In 2001, Conquest Music released a two-CD Monstrosity package. One CD was a live album Monstrosity recorded while on tour in the US. Included in the CD was Monstrosity's infamous Horror Infinity demo and their Slaves and Masters demo. CD two features slightly different re-recordings of songs from their first album. The double CD was licensed to Hammerheart Records in Europe.

By 2004, Monstrosity was in the process of recording Rise to Power with members Jason Avery (vocalist), Lee Harrison (drums), Tony Norman (guitar), Sam Molina (guitar) and Mike Poggione (bass). The album was recorded at Audio Hammer Studio, Sanford, Florida. It was produced by Lee Harrison and Monstrosity and engineered by Jason Suecof. Conquest Music licensed the album to Metal Blade Records in Europe. Monstrosity toured the US in support of the album and they were invited by the Bogotá, Colombia government to headline a musical festival in Bogotá. 85,000 people were in attendance.

Avery was replaced in December 2005 by Brian Werner (Infernaeon). Werner performed vocal duties on the band's 2006 European tour, and subsequent U.S. shows. In December 2006, Werner was replaced by Mike Hrubovcak (Divine Rapture, Imperial Crystalline Entombment, Vile) and Mark English (guitar) joined Monstrosity. Monstrosity is now Mike Hrubovcak (vocals), Lee Harrison (drums), Mark English (guitar) and Mike Poggione (bass). They returned to Morrisound Studios. This time to record Spiritual Apocalypse . Conquest Music licensed the album to Metal Blade in Europe and it was released in 2007. Additional solos on Spiritual Apocalypse were done by Matt LaPorte (Jon Oliva's Pain). The ending solo on "Bloodline Horror" was performed by Jason Suecof and James Malone. Back-up vocals on "Inhuman Race" and "Firestorm" were provided by Kelly Schaefer of Atheist. The album was released in the US in 2008.

In the summer of 2009, Monstrosity spent six weeks touring Peru and Chile and then flew to Europe to do the Brutal Assault festival in Czech Republic and Party San festival in Germany. On November 22, 2011, the band announced in their Facebook that they were to release a live DVD, Live Apocalypse, in early 2012. On October 2, 2015, the band played its first show in Central Florida for nearly fifteen years at West End Trading Company in Sanford Florida. During the show it was announced that the band had begun writing a new record. Released on September 7, 2018, was the band's sixth and first studio album in eleven years, The Passage of Existence .

Band members

Timeline

Monstrosity (band)

Discography

Studio albums

EPs and singles

Compilations

Live albums

DVDs

Demo albums

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannibal Corpse</span> American death metal band

Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1988, now based out of Tampa, Florida. The band has released sixteen studio albums, two box sets, four video albums, and two live albums. The band has had little radio or television exposure throughout its existence, although a cult following began to build with the releases of their early albums, including Butchered at Birth (1991) and Tomb of the Mutilated (1992). As of 2015, they achieved worldwide sales of two million units for combined sales of all their albums. In April 2021, Cannibal Corpse received their best "first week" sales of all-time and first Top 10 on the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart as Violence Unimagined entered at No. 6 with 14,000 copies sold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death (metal band)</span> American death metal band

Death was an American death metal band formed in Altamonte Springs, Florida, in 1983 by guitarist Chuck Schuldiner, drummer/vocalist Kam Lee and guitarist Rick Rozz. Death is considered to be among the most influential bands in heavy metal music and a pioneering force in death metal. The band's 1987 debut album, Scream Bloody Gore, has been widely regarded as one of the first death metal records, alongside the first records from Possessed and Necrophagia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Control Denied</span> American progressive metal band

Control Denied was a progressive metal band formed by death metal musician and Death founder Chuck Schuldiner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Fisher (musician)</span> American death metal vocalist

George Fisher, better known by his stage name Corpsegrinder, is an American death metal vocalist who is the lead singer of Cannibal Corpse, Paths of Possession and the supergroup Serpentine Dominion.

<i>Eaten Back to Life</i> 1990 studio album by Cannibal Corpse

Eaten Back to Life is the debut studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on August 17, 1990, through Metal Blade Records.

<i>Vile</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Cannibal Corpse

Vile is the fifth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse. It was released on May 21, 1996 through Metal Blade Records. It is their first album to feature vocalist George Fisher and the last album featuring guitarist Rob Barrett until 2006's Kill. It was also the last Cannibal Corpse album to feature Scott Burns as producer. This album also marks the first time the band ever tuned down, from previously playing in Eb to Bb Standard, although a few of the songs on Vile are in Db.

<i>Gallery of Suicide</i> 1998 studio album by Cannibal Corpse

Gallery of Suicide is the sixth studio album by American death metal band Cannibal Corpse, released on April 21, 1998, by Metal Blade Records. It is the first Cannibal Corpse album to feature former Nevermore guitarist Pat O'Brien. It is also the band's last album to be recorded at Morrisound Recordings in Tampa, where the band made their music since 1990's Eaten Back to Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witchcraft (band)</span> Swedish doom metal band

Witchcraft is a Swedish doom metal band founded in 2000.

Jason Göbel is an American guitarist, best known for being a member of the progressive metal band Cynic during their original run.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vile (band)</span> American death metal band

Vile is an American death metal band, formed in 1996 in Concord, California by guitarist-producer Colin E. Davis and singer Juan Urteaga, recruiting the rest of the band from the ranks of disbanded groups such as Lords of Chaos, Entropy, Sporadic Psychosis and Thanatopsis. Vile toured the United States and Europe several times since their inception in 1996 including with Cannibal Corpse in 2004. Their most recent tour was of Japan in December 2013.

<i>Imperial Doom</i> 1992 studio album by Monstrosity

Imperial Doom is the debut album by American death metal band Monstrosity. It was released on May 26, 1992, through Nuclear Blast. The album sold 40,000 copies worldwide and received excellent ratings in the press. The album was supported by a European tour, but a little later, following disagreements regarding royalties, Monstrosity left Nuclear Blast.

<i>Millennium</i> (Monstrosity album) 1996 studio album by Monstrosity

Millennium is the second studio album by death metal band Monstrosity, released in 1996 and produced by Scott Burns. Millenium is the band's final album to include George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher on lead vocals, as he went on to join fellow death metal band Cannibal Corpse.

<i>In Dark Purity</i> 1999 studio album by Monstrosity

In Dark Purity is the third studio album by American death metal band Monstrosity. The first version of this album was released by German Metal Age Recordings. However, the label was a rip-off label and therefore Monstrosity later re-released it through The Plague Rec. as LP and CD. This album was recorded at Morrisound Recording Studio in Tampa, Florida. This is also the first album to not feature George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher on lead vocals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynic (band)</span> American progressive metal band

Cynic is an American progressive metal band formed in Miami, Florida by Paul Masvidal in 1987. Masvidal originally served solely as the band's guitarist, but later took over as lead vocalist and chief songwriter. Cynic incorporates elements of progressive rock, alternative, and metal.

<i>Spiritual Apocalypse</i> 2007 studio album by Monstrosity

Spiritual Apocalypse is the fifth full-length album by Floridian death metal band Monstrosity. Critics were overwhelmingly positive. The album cover art is by David Ho.

Diabolic is an American death metal band from Tampa Bay, Florida, United States, founded in 1996 by bassist/vocalist Paul Ouellette, drummer Aantar Lee Coates and guitarist Brian Malone.

<i>Rise to Power</i> (Monstrosity album) 2003 studio album by Monstrosity

Rise to Power is the fourth studio album by the American death metal band Monstrosity. The album was recorded at Audio Hammer studios in Sanford, Florida, with the engineer Jason Suecof and was released on September 23, 2003, by Conquest Music.

Florida death metal is a regional scene and stylistic subdivision of death metal. Some of the most significantly pioneering and best-selling death metal acts emerged in Florida, especially in the Tampa Bay area. As a result, Tampa is unofficially known by many death metal fans as the "capital of death metal." The scene coalesced in the mid-1980s through early 1990s around the output of bands such as Death, Nasty Savage, Deicide, Monstrosity, Morbid Angel, Atheist, Obituary, and others. The producer Scott Burns and the studio Morrisound Recording were also instrumental in developing and popularizing the Florida scene. Some bands which originated outside of Florida, such as Malevolent Creation and Cannibal Corpse, relocated to the state in order to participate in this burgeoning scene. The Florida bands featured a more technical approach to the evolving death metal sound, a style which spread beyond the confines of the state, and some were instrumental in creating the progressive death metal subgenre. The death metal genre as a whole, including the Florida scene, declined in popularity in the second half of the 1990s, but many bands within the Florida scene persisted and the scene resurged in popularity in subsequent decades. Although the scene attracted more media attention, it continued to be underground due to its extreme nature.

<i>Aggressor</i> (Ektomorf album) 2015 studio album by Ektomorf

Aggressor is the thirteenth studio album by Hungarian heavy metal band Ektomorf, released on 30 October 2015.

References

  1. "Monstrosity Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic. Retrieved June 24, 2023.