Denver, Colorado based band Messiahvore formed in mid-2018, but had been working the Denver scene individually for years previously.
Bart McCrorey started out in the punk rock outfit St James Gate then joined the local skate rock favourite Frontside Five. He played lead guitar and co-fronted the band for a 10-year stint. Jenn began playing bass when asked to join The Blackouts in 2008; the all-female hard rock band that still plays in Denver today.
The pair asked long-time friend Bailey Cecil to play drums for them. He had a strong background in the stoner and doom scene in the area hailing from fronting Bronze on guitar and drumming in Core of the Earth. Kevin Disney was the first and only guitarist the band tried out. They knew him from a band called The Worth.
The band’s intent was to play heavy groove intensive rock that draws from their favourite stoner, doom, and whatever else that pleased them sonically.
It was a fast start for the band, opening for Fu Manchu, Sasquatch, Nebula, Daikaiju and they were slated to play with Lord Dying then the covid pandemic hit the United States. This led to them buckling down and writing a seven song EP, the band signing to Coffin & Bolt Records that’s incorporated with the international mainstay Golden Robot Records.
They bought out ‘Blood and Guts’ as a single last year. Heavy, driving, short and to the point, the song is taken from their forthcoming self-titled debut album.
“Messiahvore‘s first album release features 9 tracks. All the music was recorded live in studio and then the vocals and some extras added after the fact.
“We were stoked to have tracked all in the same room with one another and bring the music with the natural energy, feedback and volume of our live performances,” said the band.
“The recording was done in Denver in our own commercially run studio known as The Crash Pad; Bart, the guitarist and singer engineered the recording. We simply set up and test tracked, locked in the tones and let it rip. The results speak for themselves. We are proud of our first effort and are looking forward to sharing it with all the heavy music fans of the world.”
Discussing the songs they commented:
“Thick guitars and bass combined with saturated vocals. Catchy hooks but not overly commercial. ‘The Last Word’ is an epic instrumental that supplies ambient vibe for days. ‘Betrothed’ hits hard and is either about overbearing control or Vampires. You can make the call. ‘Cult Worship’ is one of our favourites and ‘Doublecross‘ starts out with some Sabbath vibe then moves into desert rock territory. Messiahvore mixes elements of groove metal, doom, stoner rock and a bit of industrial to complete the sound.
You can still stream/buy ‘Blood & Guts’ here. The song is about putting yourself out in the world and giving it your all, facing the judgment and ridicule good or bad.
The band gained a new drummer in former Philadelphia death metal band Nefarious’s Brokk Dagaz, who met McCrorey when recording at the latter’s studio The Crash Pad, and was subsequently tapped for a collaboration project called The Bloodaxe released in 2018 that featured McCrorey on most all the strings and Brokk on drums. The collaboration part was 14 of Colorado’s aggressive vocalists writing and performing on the release. It was a sort step from there to joining Messiahvore.
You can pre-order/pre-save Messiahvore here.
The band has just released a new single from the album, ‘Cult Worship‘ that you can watch the video to here at RAMzine.
‘Cult Worship’ has an industrial vibe. Riffs are aggressive and tight, then open and noise-infested with sonic wind and feedback. Beginning with a stylistically tribal intro beat, bleeding into a minimalistic verse, listeners then receive a straight-forward driving chorus.
The song is meant to push and pull until its final bombastic summary. Lyrically, the song an introspective search and request for individuals to think for themselves. As the band comments:
“With the current state of the world and the mistakes of the past, many still find themselves sheepishly drawn to a cult of personalities that in their minds have all the answers that they are seeking and seem to blindly take them at face value.”
“Whether it’s a politician or religious figure, the world is saturated with those who would con you to your desired salvation, dogma or confirmation bias. ‘This well is poison, this life is toxic.’ Basically saying we’ve already facilitated our demise. This is as doom as it gets without playing slow.”
You can stream/buy ‘Cult Worship‘ here.
