Arkaea was a
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
band formed in 2008 featuring members from
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...
and
Threat Signal
Threat Signal is a Canadian heavy metal band from Hamilton, Ontario. The band has had numerous lineup changes, with only Jon Howard remaining from the original incarnation. Their music is often classified as metalcore, melodic death metal, groo ...
.
History
The band was formed by
Raymond Herrera
Raymond Herrera is an American musician and entrepreneur, best known as the former drummer and founding member of the heavy metal band Fear Factory. He is the former drummer for his previous band Brujeria and for industrial metal band Arkaea. He ...
(drums) and
Christian Olde Wolbers
Christian Olde Wolbers (born 5 August 1972) is a Belgian musician, songwriter, and producer who is the bassist and backing vocalist of the heavy metal band Powerflo. He is the former bassist, guitarist and backing vocalist of the heavy metal b ...
(guitar), who had just left
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...
. They recorded a demo, sent it to
Threat Signal
Threat Signal is a Canadian heavy metal band from Hamilton, Ontario. The band has had numerous lineup changes, with only Jon Howard remaining from the original incarnation. Their music is often classified as metalcore, melodic death metal, groo ...
vocalist
Jon Howard
Jonathan Michael Howard (born April 27, 1985 in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur. He was the lead guitarist for the rock band Dizmas from 2003 to 2009, leaving after they went on ...
and Arkaea was spawned. They tried to obtain
Sam Rivers for bass, but he declined due to location.
Ryan Martinie
Ryan Martinie (born August 6, 1975) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Mudvayne.
Early life
Ryan Martinie was born on August 6, 1975, in Peoria, Illinois.
Career Mudvayne
In 1996, Mudvayne was formed. The ...
of
Mudvayne
Mudvayne is an American heavy metal band formed in Peoria, Illinois in 1996. Known for their sonic experimentation, face and body paint, masks and uniforms, the band has sold over six million records worldwide, including nearly three millio ...
offered his services but could not tour due to Mudvayne commitments. Finally, another Threat Signal member, Pat Kavanagh, joined on bass.
Their debut album was 13 tracks, most of which were originally intended for a new
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1989. Throughout the band's career, they have released ten full-length albums and have evolved through a succession of sounds, all in their main style of industrial metal. ...
album. ''Years in the Darkness'' was released on July 14, 2009. A five-minute sampler was released, the band posted the opening track "Locust" on their
Myspace page and a video was released for "Gone Tomorrow". It sold 980 copies in its first week, but was not particularly well received by critics.
Beginning in January 2009, Arkaea toured heavily through the US and into Europe, continuing to tour through November 2010. In July 2009, they played Germany's heavy metal festival
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and su ...
.
Despite releasing a short pre-production demo in 2012 and promising a new album later that year, the band has not been publicly active since. In 2011, Olde Wolbers moved on to the band
Beowülf
Beowülf is an American crossover thrash metal band formed in Venice Beach, California, in 1981 by Michael Alvarado, Dale Henderson, Mike Jensen and Paul Yamada. The group never gained a large mainstream success, but is considered one of the f ...
; Herrera on to entrepreneurial ventures. In December 2019, Wolbers noted in an
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
post that he had started working on a new Arkaea album, but also noted that Herrera would be "too busy" to contribute.
Discography
Sources
External links
Official Facebook
Musical groups established in 2008
Musical quartets
Heavy metal supergroups
American industrial metal musical groups
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