Elysia was an American

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with me ...

band from Shingle Springs, California. Originally called Elysium's Revenge, the band was started in 2003 while the members were in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. Since 2003, they have released two EPs and one full-length album, and have completed two US tours despite almost constant line-up changes. Having settled into a more solid line-up, the band released ''Lion of Judas'', on June 10, 2008, through

Ferret Records Ferret Music was an American independent record label turned Warner Music Group subsidiary, founded in 1996. The label is owned by NORA's vocalist, Carl Severson, and based in West Windsor, New Jersey. Ferret recently started an imprint called ...

. The band disbanded in 2008, but announced their reformation in 2013. They have toured and performed with acts like

Arsonists Get All the Girls Arsonists Get All the Girls was an American avant-garde metal band from Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 2005, the band was known for taking influence from varying genres, particularly in their early years for fusing extreme metal with variou ...

Knights of the Abyss Knights of the Abyss are an American deathcore band from Glendale, Arizona, United States, formed in 2005. Biography Knights of the Abyss was formed in 2005 after drummer Andy Rysdam had left his former band Job for a Cowboy. They have recorde ...

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

Emmure Emmure () is an American metalcore band formed in 2003. Originally based in New Fairfield, Connecticut, before moving to Queens, New York, the group has released eight albums, with their first public release being a 2006 EP entitled '' The Comp ...

, Heavy Heavy Low Low,

Impending Doom Impending Doom is an American Christian deathcore band from Riverside, California. The group has released six full-length studio albums and are currently a five piece with lead vocalist Brook Reeves as one of the two original remaining member ...

, Killwhitneydead,

Suicide Silence Suicide Silence is an American deathcore band from Riverside, California. The band was established in 2002, and has released six studio albums, three EPs, and nineteen music videos. They were awarded the ''Revolver'' Golden God award for "Bes ...

and This Is Hell. They also have performed at the Saints & Sinners Festival in 2007.

History

Formation and early years

Elysia started as ''Elysium's Revenge'', while the band members were still in high school. The band gained notoriety in the Shingle Springs-Cameron Park area with their empty shows at the Shingle Springs Community Center. By the end of 2003, they shortened their name to ''Elysia'' and added a second vocalist, Justin Chambers, who helped them record their first EP. Months later, they penned "Incinerate", a song that has grown to become a staple in their setlist. In the spring of 2004 they recorded a second EP with the first occurrence of "Incinerate". The release show for this EP features Suffokate and

The Frontline The Frontline is an American rap duo from Richmond, California, consisting of Left and Locksmith, also known as Lock.Hildebrand, Lee (2005)RICHMOND VIOLENCE FUELS HIP-HOP DUO, ''San Francisco Chronicle'', June 26, 2005, retrieved 2010-07-06 T ...

. That summer and fall, they would write "Triumph" and "Filthy".

''Masochist''

Out of the Masochist writing sessions came their first full album,

Masochist Masochist may refer to: * Sadomasochism, giving or receiving pleasure from the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation Music * The Prophet (musician) (born 1968), Dutch DJ and producer who has recorded as The Masochist Albums * ''Masochis ...

. Originally planned to be released on the This City Is Burning Records, problems arose and it became a

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

effort. It was during this time that they started to become more known, touring with killwhitneydead. Around this time, most of the band graduated, and Kevin Marquez left the band to move to

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 eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. After several band member changes, they toured along the west coast. In the spring of 2007, the band planned to rerecord the album for a re-release on

Tribunal Records Tribunal Records is a heavy metal and hardcore punk label that started in 1999. The label also has a subsidiary entitled Divebomb Records. Tribunal has hosted bands such as From the Shallows, Scarlet, and Century, while Divebomb hosts bands such ...

, with

Jamie King Jamie King (born 1972) is an American creative director, choreographer, and producer. His work directing concert tours for pop stars has grossed over $2 billion. Early career King started his career in entertainment as a dancer. He appeared on ...

as the producer. However, Joey Rommel, drummer at the time, left the band right before they went into Castle Ultimate Studios for the recording. Due to this they never re-released the album, although they are on a Tribunal Records sampler. They found drummer Jacob Durrett (now playing drums in Fate) to fill in for a 10 Day tour with Impending Doom and Moria. After returning home they found Steven Sessler to play drums, who is still a member of the band. Alex Porte left the band in the summer of 2007, less than a month before their first full US tour. With Zak Vargas the sole original member, the band almost broke up, but continued due to contractual obligations to perform. They toured with

and

, and during the tour got jumped for a second time. In the low point of the band, when they were about to break up, Elysia got signed to

. Elysia signed into a three-day mini-tour, and the day it started Mark Underwood, Alex's replacement, leaves the band. Once again, the fate of the band was at stake, but Zak agreed to continue and they found a replacement guitarist. To save the band, after the mini-tour Zak talked Garrett Gilardi, a highschool friend, into joining the band again, as well as Jon joining the band again as the bassist.

''Lion of Judas''

In December of 2007, the band sat down to write their second album, ''Lion of Judas'' released through

. They consider their new music to be "a new era for Elysia, so please do not expect the same band." They were on a tour with This Is Hell, where it concluded with a trip to

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

where the new album was recorded with

Kurt Ballou Kurt Ballou (born February 1, 1974) is an American musician and producer based in Massachusetts, best known as the guitarist for hardcore punk band Converge and for his prolific recording and production work at his own GodCity Studio. Early an ...

for a week. They dropped off the tour with

Shai Hulud Shai Hulud is an American metalcore band formed in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1995, and later based in Poughkeepsie, New York. The band is named after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert's novel ''Dune''. The two mainstay members of Shai Hul ...

and Full Blown Chaos because of medical issues with Zak.

Disbanding and re-forming

After the drop-out of the last tour, there were hints of Elysia's then current state including their MySpace design removed and Zak's blog entries which included Elysia breaking up. Members including Zak, Steven, and Garrett looked into working together on a new project but nothing surfaced. Through many sources, it was confirmed the band had reformed. Plans fell through with the other members, thus putting to rest of any plans of reformation. Zak Vargas would later form black metal outfit VRTRA.

Musical style

Elysia's lyrics cover a wide range of topics, such as homophobia and failed

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell Ency ...

. The band admits that they sometimes have a hard time accurately portraying the meanings they want to put across, mainly because of "immaturity". For example, the lyrical content of "Incinerate" and "Filthy" has had the band criticized. They have also been banned from playing at venues because of their lyric's graphic violent content. Their sound has encompassed several facets of hardcore and metal. Their early material, to include ''Masochist'', was of the deathcore style. Their second and final album, ''Lion of Judas'', was of a style reminiscent of 90s hardcore in its sound; however it continued the band's socially minded lyrical themes, albeit in a more seasoned manner. The band's first studio album ''

'' pulls heavily on metalcore and death metal influence (the two genres that make up deathcore). Although with breakdowns inspired directly from 90's hardcore rather than the typical metalcore breakdown. Some of the band's influences include Entombed, Immolation,

Dying Fetus Dying Fetus is an American death metal band originally from Greater Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Formed in 1991, the group is known for their consistently hook-laden song structures, characterized by blast beats, complex riffing, slam riffs and ...

The Acacia Strain The Acacia Strain is an American metalcore band originally from Chicopee, Massachusetts. They are currently signed to Rise Records. The band has released ten full-length albums. History Forming in 2001, The Acacia Strain was started by h ...

Converge Converge may refer to: * Converge (band), American hardcore punk band * Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body * Limit (mathematics) * Converge ICT, internet service provider in the Philippines *CONVERGE CFD s ...

and Pantera.

Band members

Final line-up *Zak Vargas – vocals *Alex Porte – guitars *Mark Underwood – guitars *Danny Lomeli – guitars (2006-2007) drums *Chris Lemos– bass guitar, backing vocals Former members *Justin Chambers – keyboard, vocals *Andre Vocino – guitar *Pat Guild – bass *John Sontag - bass *Kevin Marquez – drums *Joey Rommel – drums *Chris Cain– guitar *Jeremy Chavez – bass *Garrett Gilardi - guitar *Jon Malanowski – bass, backing vocals *Steven Sessler – drums Timeline ImageSize =width:800 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea =left:100 bottom:80 top:0 right:0 Alignbars =justify DateFormat =mm/dd/yyyy Period =from:01/01/2003 till:10/01/2008 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2004 ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2003 TimeAxis =orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend =orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4 Colors= id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:backing value:yellow legend:Backing_Vocals id:studio value:black legend:Studio_album id:other value:gray(0.5) legend:EP/Demo id:bars value:gray(0.95) LineData= layer:back color:studio at:01/01/2006 at:06/10/2008 color:other at:12/01/2004 at:01/01/2005 at:03/01/2003 at:10/01/2003 at:07/01/2004 BackgroundColors= bars:bars BarData= bar:Zak text:"Zak Vargas" bar:Alex text:"Alex Porte" bar:Mark text:"Mark Underwood" bar:Andre text:"Andre Vocino" bar:Garrett text:"Garrett Gilardi" bar:Chris text:"Chris Cain" bar:Danny text:"Danny Lomeli" bar:Pat text:"Pat Guild" bar:Jon text:"Jon Malanowski" bar:Jeremy text:"Jeremy Chavez" bar:Chris2 text:"Chris Lemos" bar:Justin text:"Justin Chambers" bar:Kevin text:"Kevin Marquez" bar:Joey text:"Joey Rommel" bar:Steven text:"Steven Sessler" PlotData = width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Zak from:01/01/2003 till:10/01/2008 color:vocals bar:Alex from:01/01/2003 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar bar:Mark from:01/01/2007 till:05/01/2007 color:guitar bar:Garrett from:05/01/2006 till:04/01/2008 color:guitar bar:Chris from:04/01/2008 till:10/01/2008 color:guitar bar:Andre from:01/01/2003 till:04/01/2006 color:guitar bar:Pat from:01/01/2003 till:04/01/2006 color:bass bar:Jon from:04/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:bass bar:Jon from:10/01/2007 till:10/01/2008 color:bass bar:Jeremy from:01/01/2007 till:10/01/2007 color:bass bar:Justin from:01/01/2003 till:10/01/2004 color:keys bar:Justin from:01/01/2003 till:10/01/2004 color:vocals width:3 bar:Kevin from:01/01/2003 till:04/01/2006 color:drums bar:Joey from:04/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:drums bar:Steven from:01/01/2007 till:10/01/2008 color:drums bar:Danny from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2007 color:guitar

Discography

As Elysia

Studio albums *''

'' (2006) *'' Lion of Judas'' (2008) EPs *''Killing Grounds EP'' (2004) *''Tease Her, Please Her, Stick Her in the Freezer'' (2005) Demos *''Demo'' (2003) *''04 Demo'' (2004)

As Elysium's Revenge

EPs *''Demo'' (2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elysia (Band) American deathcore musical groups Death metal musical groups from California Ferret Music artists Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Musical quintets Metalcore musical groups from California