Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
We originally started as a 4 piece instrumental band in 2016, founded by Vito Bellino and Brad Dose on guitar, Eddie Dec on drums, and myself, Matt Watkins, on bass . We recorded a short demo EP promptly and released it in 2017. Since then, we’ve been playing a lot of shows around Chicago and trying to build a name for ourselves. During this time we played shows opening for Mushroomhead, Scale the Summit, Angel Vivaldi, Oh, Sleeper, Product of Hate, and more. We tried out a few vocalists and found Smedy, who perfectly complemented our death metal elements, in 2019, as we were recording our debut album. The final stages of recording were put on hold by Covid, but we were able to finish everything not too long after. While we did part ways with both of our guitarists during this period, we found two new talented guitarists that perfectly fit our style. Steve Bacakos and Mike Hisson have rounded out our lineup and we’re about to start playing shows again.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
At its core, our music is melodic death metal, but we also have a lot of classical and progressive influences. A lot of people have called us a combination of The Black Dahlia Murder and The Human Abstract, and we also take a lot of influences from In Flames, At the Gates, Arsis, and Between the Buried and Me.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
We really place an emphasis on thoughtful composition and tight, technical performance. No “riff salads” here. We try to structure our songs so that the parts flow naturally into each other, and we have lots of melodic leads and solos over our rhythm sections. Other musicians have often been drawn to our music, and especially with the addition of our vocalist, Smedy, there’s a little something for all kinds of metal fans.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Our demo EP fulfilled its purpose as far as giving people a taste of what we sound like and getting us on shows, but didn’t see much critical press. Our first single from our upcoming album, which is a re-recorded version of one of our demo songs, has been received really well so far. We’ve seen a lot of coverage of it, and we hope our next single will do even better.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We haven’t played any shows since before Covid, but we plan to change that soon. Our new revamped lineup is great and feels even more natural than the initial lineup, and we can’t wait to get out there and play some venues in Chicago again.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We have a high-energy, tight, and technical stage performance and love having fun while doing so. There’s a lot of layers to our music, and the more you dig into each individual track, the more you’ll find. We combine the raw aggression of death metal with the melodic and at times haunting themes from classical music and progressive metal, and tell a story while doing so.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
We plan on playing a lot of shows in 2022 and upping our merch game. We are also working on new material and want to get to recording the next album as soon as possible.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
As of right now, you can listen to our material and buy music/merch at burnedineffigy.bandcamp.com!
Answers by Matt Watkins (bass)
March 2022