In the summer of 2008 guitarist Ross Mallie and drummer Nate Boyd joined forces with Waco Jesus bassist Bruce Duncan to create Helmsplitter. Right away it was clear that there was good chemistry between the three musicians as they began to compose songs that effectively combined several styles of underground metal. Ross’ time as a roadie for Soilent Green left him with a desire to write music that weaved together a variety of genres. Black metal, doomy sludge, death metal, thrash, punk, and a touch of the blues were all stirred together to form the foundation of the band’s sound. Johnny Baker (former Waco Jesus and current Lizard Skynard drummer) joined on vocals shortly after and the band quickly began to play shows locally in the quad city area and throughout the Midwest.
It eventually became apparent that Johnny’s demanding schedule was going to make it near impossible for him to be in Helmsplitter full time, this resulted in an amicable split between he and the band. After a few months of searching for the proper replacement, Angelkill vocalist Blakk was added in September of 2010 and the lineup was complete.
After several shows with the new lineup under its belt, the band headed to Mercenary Digital Studios in July of 2011. After a month of hard work “Storms of Genocide” was complete. The result is an album full of unexpected twists and turns that are unpredictable but never take away from the emotional cathartic flow of the song. Blazing grind and blast beats underneath cold, relentless black metal riffs may suddenly give way to crawling doom but the songs never seem to lose their sense of direction no matter how drastic the change. Album opener Lions to the Lamb is a good example of this. Starting off with a jack hammering blast beat section that transitions straight into a crust punk beat underneath a blackened thrash riff, the song is loaded with a variety of riffs and styles but never loses momentum. There are no two songs on the album that sound the same however it always sounds like the same band, a band that is developing their own recognizable style.
Helmsplitter is determined to spread their dark form of art as far and wide as they possibly can. They only have one plan for the future: work as hard as possible to take the band as far as it can possibly go. “Storms of Genocide” marks just the beginning for a band with a long and bright (or perhaps they would prefer the term “dark”) future ahead of them.
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Email: helmsplitter666@yahoo.com
Ross Mallie : 563-299-3454
Helmsplitter
c/o: Ross Mallie
228 9th St.
Silvis, IL 61282
