Brutus is a Belgian rock band from

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, formed in 2013. The trio consists of vocalist and drummer Stefanie Mannaerts, guitarist Stijn Vanhoegaerden and bassist Peter Mulders. Originating from multiple local bands, Brutus performed often in Belgium before internationally releasing their debut album ''Burst'' in 2017 and signing with the record label

Sargent House Sargent House is an American management company and record label based in Los Angeles. It was founded in June 2006 by Cathy Pellow, who is a music video commissioner for Atlantic Records and also owns a music video production company called Ref ...

. The band followed it up with ''Nest'' in 2019 and ''Unison Life'' in 2022.

History

The members of Brutus met each other playing in different bands around Leuven. Drummer and vocalist Stefanie Mannaerts and bassist Peter Mulders played together in Refused Party Program, a Refused tribute band playing ''

The Shape of Punk to Come ''The Shape of Punk to Come: A Chimerical Bombination in 12 Bursts'', often shortened to ''The Shape of Punk to Come'', is the third album by Swedish hardcore punk band Refused, released on 27 October 1998 through Burning Heart Records. Although ...

'' in full, while guitarist Stijn Vanhoegaerden and Mannaerts were both in the band Starfucker since the late 2000s. In 2014 and 2015, Brutus played at various festivals, such as

Pukkelpop Pukkelpop is an annual music festival that takes place near the city of Hasselt, Belgium, in mid- to late August. It is held within a large enclosure of fields and woodland—adjacent to a dual carriageway called ''Kempische Steenweg''—in the ...

, Rock Herk, and

Dour Festival Dour Festival is an annual music festival in the municipality of Dour, Belgium. Since its creation in 1988, the festival has grown to an attendance of about 225,000 in 2015 (over 5 days). The first year, only five bands were programmed (includin ...

. The band released a trilogy of two-song EPs throughout 2015. In 2016, the band left for Vancouver to record their debut album, enlisting the help of Vancouver-based producer Jesse Gander, who was known for his work with

Japandroids Japandroids are a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting of Brian King (guitar, vocals) and David Prowse (drums, vocals).Lindsay, Ca"No Fun City Rockers" ''Exclaim!'', May 2009 accessed November 10, 2010. Formed in 2006 ...

and

White Lung White Lung were a Canadian punk rock band. The band consisted of Mish Barber-Way (vocals), Kenneth William (guitars) and Anne-Marie Vassiliou (drums). They have released two albums on Deranged Records and their latest two on Domino Recording C ...

. At this point, the band was still unsigned. Brutus' debut album ''Burst'' was released on 3 February 2017, on Hassle Records in Europe. Shortly after, the band signed with

, who distributed the album in the United States and worldwide. The album received positive co-signs from The Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato and

Thrice Thrice is an American rock band from Irvine, California, formed in 1998. The group was founded by guitarist/vocalist Dustin Kensrue and lead guitarist Teppei Teranishi while they were in high school. Early in their career, the band was known ...

drummer Riley Breckenridge, as well as

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

drummer

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician best known as the drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica. The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his ...

, who played the single "Drive" on his

Apple Music Apple Music is a music, audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users select music to stream to their device on-demand, or they can listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the Internet radio stations Apple M ...

radio show. To promote the album, the band toured with labelmates Chelsea Wolfe and

Russian Circles Russian Circles is an American instrumental band based in Chicago, Illinois. The band was originally formed by childhood friends Mike Sullivan and Dave Turncrantz after their previous musical projects dissolved. After parting ways with their ori ...

, also supporting Thrice's European tour. The band recorded with producer Gander again in Vancouver for their second album ''Nest''. Lead single "War" was released on 23 January 2019, and the album came out on 29 March. The title refers to the band's network of close friends and family. Brutus' first United States tour took place in fall 2019, including a stop at Deftones' annual Dia de los Deftones festival in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. In order to make up for the absence of live music during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the band released their first album, ''Live in Ghent'', on 23 October 2020, a recording of a sold-out May 2019 show in their hometown. Brutus was supposed to play the 2020

Roadburn Festival Roadburn Festival is an international music festival held in Tilburg, Netherlands every April since 1999. It was set up as a spin-off from the Roadburn music blog founded by Jurgen van den Brand and Walter Hoeijmakers. Originally focused on stone ...

in the Netherlands, but it was cancelled. On 28 July 2022, Brutus announced the release of their third album ''Unison Life'' on 21 October, preceded by four singles: "Dust", "Liar", "Victoria" and "What Have We Done". The band made their delayed Roadburn debut in 2023, also playing the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, Download,

Copenhell Copenhell is a heavy metal festival held annually at Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, Denmark, since 2010. It was one of the first open-air heavy metal festivals in Denmark. The festival started in 2010 with two stages, the main stage Helviti and se ...

, Pinkpop,

2000 Trees 2000trees festival is an independent music festival held from Wednesday to Sunday on the second week of July at Upcote Farm, Withington, near Cheltenham in Gloucestershire. It offers a diverse selection of more than 120 acts across five stages, ...

and

ArcTanGent In mathematics, the inverse trigonometric functions (occasionally also called arcus functions, antitrigonometric functions or cyclometric functions) are the inverse functions of the trigonometric functions (with suitably restricted domains). Spec ...

festivals in the summer, completing a busy tour schedule.

Musical style and influences

Brutus has been labeled as a

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

, post-metal and

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

band.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's John D. Buchanan said that the band combines "elements of post-rock,

mathcore Mathcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk and metalcore influenced by post-hardcore, extreme metal and math rock that developed during the 1990s. Bands in the genre emphasize complex and fluctuant rhythms through the use of irregular time signatur ...

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

, and

prog Prog may refer to: Music * Progressive music ** Progressive music (disambiguation) ** Progressive rock, a subgenre of rock music also known as “prog” *** Progressive rock (radio format) * Prog (magazine), a magazine dedicated to progressive ...

." ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' wrote that the song "Sugar Dragon" is "an exercise in slowburning

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

euphoria."

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

described their music as containing "huge Godspeed guitars with even-huger

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

choruses." Mannaerts listed her five favorite drummers as

Ben Koller Ben Koller (born July 29, 1980) is an American drummer who has played with Converge, Mutoid Man, Killer Be Killed and All Pigs Must Die. He started playing a full drum kit at age 14. Musical career Early bands (1997–1999) Koller played i ...

of Converge,

Levon Helm Mark Lavon "Levon" Helm (May 26, 1940 – April 19, 2012) was an American musician who achieved fame as the drummer and one of the three lead vocalists for the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. H ...

of The Band, Joris Casier of

Stake Stake may refer to: Entertainment * '' Stake: Fortune Fighters'', a 2003 video game * ''The Stake'', a 1915 silent short film * "The Stake", a 1977 song by The Steve Miller Band from '' Book of Dreams'' * ''Stakes'' (miniseries), a Cartoon Netw ...

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Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

and John Bonham of

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

. She has mentioned being inspired by Karin Dreijer,

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasi ...

and

Emma Ruth Rundle Emma Ruth Rundle (born October 10, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and visual artist based in Portland, Oregon. Formerly of the Nocturnes and Marriages, she has released five solo albums and is a member of Red Sparowes. Early ...

Band members

* Stefanie Mannaerts – vocals, drums * Stijn Vanhoegaerden – guitar * Peter Mulders – bass

Discography

Album

* ''Burst'' (2017) * ''Nest'' (2019) * ''Unison Life'' (2022)

EPs

* ''Brutu Guru'' (2015) -

Split album A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from "var ...

with The Guru Guru.

Live albums

* ''Live In Ghent'' (2020)

Singles

* "All Along" (2016) * "Drive" (2017) * "Horde II" (2017) * "Justice de Julia II" (2018) * "War" (2019) * "Cemetery" (2019) * "Django" (2019) * "Sand" (2020) * "Dust" (2022) * "Liar" (2022) * "Victoria" (2022)

References

Belgian rock music groups {{Commonscat