Infant Annihilator

Infant Annihilator
The band's logo, which was drawn by guitarist Eddie Pickard.
Background information
Origin Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire, England
Genres Deathcore
Years active 2012–present
Labels Unsigned
Associated acts
Website Infant Annihilator on Facebook
Members Aaron Kitcher
Eddie Pickard
Dickie Allen
Past members Dan Watson

Infant Annihilator are an English/American deathcore band based in Hull, East Yorkshire. The band was formed in 2012 by drummer Aaron Kitcher and guitarist Eddie Pickard. They are known for their technical, eclectic and brutal musical style; graphic content and shock humour;[4] and music videos that feature sex comedy.[5][6] While members Pickard and Kitcher are England natives, their vocalist position has always been taken by an American. Their original vocalist Dan Watson recorded with the band via sending his vocals over the internet to the members, and their debut album with Watson (The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution) was released in late 2012. However, the band recorded with their second (and current) vocalist (Dickie Allen) in the same room. Their second album The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch was recorded and mixed by Jesse Kirkbride at his home studio Kirkbride Recordings and was released in 2016.

As a result of the members being separated in two different countries, they are regarded as an internet band.[1][5] Though they have stated that touring is a possibility, they are currently only a studio project.[3][7]

History

Infant Annihilator were formed in 2012 by friends Eddie Pickard and Aaron Kitcher who wrote and created some homemade recordings together on some “new recording software” for Pickard's computer, whom of which both (at the time) didn't expect to take the project seriously.[8] The goal between the two friends while using this home recording software was to "make the most silly intense music possible", they achieved this goal with the two songs “Immeasurable Fotal Muilation” and “Anal Prolapse Suffocation”, and continued to record even more after writing these two songs because they “sounded so good.” After only one week, they had finished writing, recording, and editing all of the instrumental tracks for their debut album The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution.[8] After releasing some instrumental songs online, they made it apparent that they were looking for a vocalist to perform the vocals on these instrumental tracks. They were approached by a handful of vocalists online who auditioned to record for them and were eventually discovered by American vocalist Dan Watson from Indiana (who previously was a part of Betrayer). Watson found Infant Annihilator via the metal promotion website Total Deathcore, contacted the band, and was then auditioned with an instrumental copy of their song "Decapitation Fornication". After hearing Watson's take on the song, Pickard and Kitcher were impressed with his performance, so they then asked him to do vocals for the entire album. Because Watson is from the US, they collaborated online, with Watson writing all of the lyrics and recording vocals during the lunch breaks he took from his day job.[2][3] They soon began garnering viral popularity online with the release of the music video for their song "Decapitation Fornication" (with 7.5 million views as of 2018).[5][9]
Following the release of the video, the group heavily promoted the release for their debut album The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution, which was released on 12 December 2012 (12/12 /12).

Watson left the band in late 2013[3] and publicly announced his departure from the band 22 February 2014.[10][11] He later explained that he left the band because he did not feel like an “equal” compared to the other two members, and also because he was upset over the two members agreeing to a contract without consulting his input first.[12] Shortly after leaving Infant Annihilator, Watson went on to form the deathcore band Enterprise Earth with guitarist BJ Sampson.
A year later, in late 2014, while he was drumming for fellow UK band Desolated during their first US tour, Kitcher met vocalist Dickie Allen in person for the first time. The tour line-up included the band Traitors, who had brought Allen, a close friend, along with them on the tour. Hearing Allen's vocals in person convinced Kitcher that he was a good fit for the band.[3][13][7] Infant Annihilator announced via social media on 1 June 2016 that they had brought on Dickie Allen as their new vocalist [14][15]

Their second album was leaked approximately five days prior to its official release date, prompting Infant Annihilator to choose to upload the official album stream to YouTube four days early.[16] Infant Annihilator's second album The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch was officially released 29 July 2016.

The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch was Infant Annihilator's first album to chart, making it onto several Billboard charts, including the Top Heatseekers, Independent Albums, Top Album Sales, Top Rock Albums, and Top Hard Rock Albums charts.[17]

Musical style and influences

Infant Annihilator plays the genre known as deathcore.[5][18][19] They have also been said to carry some influences from technical and brutal death metal.[3] Their lyrical content is purposefully extreme and covers controversial topics such as rape, paedophilia, murder, "mass programming", religion, cult,[3] and the Catholic Church.[1]

These topics are derived from the history of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.[1][5] At one point, their music was deemed "too offensive" and was removed from Spotify and iTunes as a result,[20][21] but was soon returned to both platforms three days later.[21]
They have listed various subgenres of death metal and hardcore punk to be influential to their music, including: deathcore, slam death metal, technical death metal, down-tempo hardcore, grindcore and mathcore.[8] Artists they have taken influence from include: Carnifex, Bring Me the Horizon (early deathcore era, à la Count Your Blessings), System of a Down, Slipknot, Chimaira,[3] Despised Icon, The Black Dahlia Murder, Beneath the Massacre,[8] Cattle Decapitation, Waking the Cadaver, and GG Allin.[7]

Band name

The name "Infant Annihilator" came from a song bearing the same title that was composed by Kitcher's previous band As the Blessed Fall, and was chosen as a parody of death metal band name stereotypes.[3][8] In a 2016 interview, they explained "We wanted the song names and band name to be as completely over-the-top as our music..."[3]

Members

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Year Album details Peak chart positions
US
Hard Rock
[22]		 US
Rock
[23]		 US
Top Sales
[24]		 US
Ind.
[25]		 US
Heat.
[26]
2012 The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution
  • Released: 12 December 2012
  • Label: Self-released/Total Deathcore
  • Format: CD, LP (limited-print re-release), digital download
 — — — — —
2016 The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch
  • Released: 29 July 2016
  • Label: Self-released/TuneCore
  • Format: CD, CS, LP, digital download
 7 22 90 14 4
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.

Singles

  • "Decapitation Fornication" (23 July 2012)[27]
  • "Motherless Miscarriage" (22 June 2016)

Promotional releases

  • The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution – Promo (2012)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Alex Lee (2012). "Infant Annihilator - The Palpable Leprosy... (2012)". www.MegustaReviews.com. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 hammer (27 May 2013). "Interview with Dan Watson (Infant Annihilator): A Christian Missionary Family child crucifies Christ | Everything Guttural". Everything Guttural (in English and Slovak). Blogspot. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 sin23ou (1 August 2016). "NEW DISC REVIEW + INTERVIEW 【INFANT ANNIHILATOR : THE ELYSIAN GRANDEVAL GALERIARCH】 | Marunouchi Muzik Magazine" (in English and Japanese). Marunouchi Muzik Magazine. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  4. ↑ Mike (28 February 2017). "Infant Annihilator – NSFW Animated Music Video | The Circle Pit". The Circle Pit. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Jonty Simmons (2 August 2016). "INFANT ANNIHILATOR // Is The Best Deathcore Band You're Not Listening To - Hysteria Magazine". Hysteria Magazine. Hysteria Media. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Rock Feed (22 June 2016). "INFANT ANNIHILATOR Just Released The Most Outrageous Music Video Of All Time". Rock Feed. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Dan Cece (29 June 2016). "INTERVIEW: Dickie Allen of INFANT ANNIHILATOR". It Djents. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Micah (6 November 2012). "Interview with Infant Annihilator! | Pig Squeals and Breakdowns". Pig Squeals and Breakdowns. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  9. ↑ Islander (11 October 2012). "NO CLEAN SINGING » INFANT ANNIHILATOR: "DECAPITATION FORNICATION"". No Clean Singing. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  10. ↑ erizen 826 (22 February 2014). "Infant Annihilator Vocalist Leaves | Sputnikmusic". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  11. ↑ Ty A. (xFiruath) (22 February 2014). "Infant Annihilator Splits With Vocalist - in Metal News ( Metal Underground.com )". Metalunderground.com. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  12. ↑ Micah (11 September 2015). "Dan Watson Reveals Why He Quit Infant Annihilator | Pig Squeals and Breakdowns". Pig Squeals and Breakdowns. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  13. ↑ "Aaron Kitcher - Posts". Facebook. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "Say hello to our new vocalist x - Infant Annihilator". Facebook. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  15. ↑ "VOCALIST ANNOUNCEMENT - INFANT ANNIHILATOR 2016". YouTube. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  16. ↑ "We found out that the album has been leaked, so we thought fuck it! You might as well listen to it in good quality with the lyrics! So here you are guys - The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch 4 days early! The links for physical and digital pre-orders are in the video's description. \m/". Facebook. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  17. ↑ "Infant Annihilator | Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  18. ↑ Connor Welsh (24 July 2016). "REVIEW: Infant Annihilator – The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch [2016] | New-Transcendence". New-Transcendence. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  19. ↑ Islander (14 November 2012). "NO CLEAN SINGING » BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR: INFANT ANNIHILATOR". No Clean Singing. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  20. ↑ Greg Kennelty (14 September 2017). "Spotify Removes INFANT ANNIHILATOR Catalog, Deem The Band Too Offensive". Metal Injection. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  21. 1 2 Tommy Gimler (18 September 2017). "Spotify Has Removed 'Infant Annihilator' From Its Site". Mandatory. Evolve Media. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  22. ↑ "Infant Annihilator Chart History: Hard Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  23. ↑ "Infant Annihilator Chart History: Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  24. ↑ "Infant Annihilator Chart History: Top Album Sales". Billboard. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  25. ↑ "Infant Annihilator Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  26. ↑ "Infant Annihilator Chart History: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  27. ↑ "Infant Annihilator - Decapitation Fornication (2012) [Single] - Metal Kingdom". Metal Kingdom. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
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