Himsa was an American heavy metal band from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. Formed in 1998, their band name is from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

word himsa, which means "harm" or "violence". The group released four full-length studio albums, two EPs and one DVD before their disbandment in 2008.

History

The band formed in 1998 and released an independent EP and full-length album in 1999 on

Revelation Records Revelation Records is an independent record label focusing originally and primarily on hardcore punk. The label is known for releases by bands such as Youth of Today, Warzone, Sick of It All, Quicksand, Side By Side, Chain of Strength, Shelte ...

. Before being signed to

Prosthetic Records Prosthetic Records is an American record label specializing in heavy metal recordings, founded in Los Angeles, California in 1998 by E.J. Johantgen and Dan Fitzgerald. Prosthetic Records released the first two albums by Lamb of God and Animals ...

, the band released one more EP in 2001, which was also on Revelation. 2003 saw Himsa record and release their album '' Courting Tragedy and Disaster''. Following the release of the album the band toured extensively throughout the US and other parts of the world. They spent the latter half of 2005 in

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, recording their follow-up album, '' Hail Horror''. In November 2006, Himsa announced that they have signed with

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

. On April 23, 2007, Himsa entered the studio to work on their new album, '' Summon in Thunder'', which was released on September 18, 2007. This was their only studio album released on Century Media Records. This album added a more

melodic death metal Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...

sound to the band. In the summer of 2016 they reunited and played a few practice shows opening for other bands. They played under various names including Crushpile and Metalmucil. Their official reunion show was October 31, 2016, at El Corazon. They are set to play Northwest Terror Fest May 31-June 2, 2018. The reunion lineup is all of the final lineup except Chad Davis on drums. John Pettibone has stated the band won't do any touring other than playing in the Seattle area.

Touring

In early 2006, Himsa toured with Darkest Hour,

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 ...

, A Life Once Lost, and

Dead To Fall Dead to Fall is an American metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and ...

. During November 2006, Himsa toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

with

Parkway Drive Parkway Drive is an Australian metalcore band from Byron Bay, New South Wales, formed in 2003. As of 2018, Parkway Drive have released six studio albums, one EP, two DVDs, a split album and one book, titled ''Ten Years of Parkway Drive''. The b ...

and Cry Murder.

Disbandment

Himsa advertised that their August 16, 2008, at El Corazon in Seattle was to be their last show ever. On June 20, 2008, bassist Derek Harn issued a statement as follows: "After 10+ years, four releases, countless tours and almost incomprehensible (yet constant) upheaval, the last three years of the band have been relatively stable. Having sacrificed everything we had in order to ensure the band's survival it's time to let it go. We made a great CD (Summon in Thunder/Century Media); reportedly, our best. We've got a great label. We're getting along, we've toured and we're fine. It's all good. We're leaving it at that." Vocalist John Pettibone said that he will devote all his time to side bands such as The Vows and has said he is done with touring. Pettibone has since joined Seattle band Heiress, which has released a self-titled 7-inch and a split 7-inch with

Narrows A narrows or narrow (used interchangeably but usually in the plural form), is a restricted land or water passage. Most commonly a narrows is a strait, though it can also be a water gap. A narrows may form where a stream passes through a tilted ...

Discography

;Studio albums *'' Ground Breaking Ceremony'' (1999) *'' Courting Tragedy and Disaster'' (2003) *'' Hail Horror'' (2006) *'' Summon in Thunder'' (2007) ;EPs *''

Himsa Himsa was an American heavy metal band from Seattle, Washington. Formed in 1998, their band name is from the Sanskrit word himsa, which means "harm" or "violence". The group released four full-length studio albums, two EPs and one DVD before ...

'' (1999) *'' Death Is Infinite'' (2001) ;DVDs *'' You've Seen Too Much'' (2005)

Personnel

Current lineup

*Derek Harn - Bass (1998–2008, 2017–present) *Kirby Charles Johnson - Guitar (2000–2008, 2017–present) *John Pettibone - Vocals (2000, 2000–2008, 2017–present) *Josh 'Sammi Curr' Freer - Guitar (2003, 2005–2008, 2017–present) *Chad Davis - Drums (2003–2007, 2017–present)

Former members

*Christian Schmitt - Vocals (1998–1999) *Brian Johnson - Guitar (1998–2000, 2000–2002) *Henry - Guitar (1998–1999) *Aaron Edge - Guitar (1998–1999) *Mike Green - Drums (1998–2000) *EJ Bastien - Guitar (1999–2000, 2000) *Chris LaPointe - Vocals (2000) *Tim Mullen - Drums (2000–2003) *Clay Layton - Guitar, Samples (2000–2001) *Matt Wicklund - Guitar (2003, 2003–2005) *Joe Frothingham - Drums (2007–2008)

Timeline

Imagesize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:115 bottom:80 top:0 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1998 till:07/01/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:1998 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1998 Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:lguitar value:teal legend:Lead_Guitar id:rguitar value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_Guitar id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards,_turntables id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:studio value:black legend:Studio_Album LineData = layer:back color:studio at:10/01/1999 at:06/17/2003 at:02/28/2006 at:09/18/2007 BarData = bar:CS text:"Christian Schmitt" bar:JB text:"John Pettibone" bar:BJ text:"Brian Johnson" bar:SC text:"Sammi Curr" bar:MW text:"Matt Wicklund" bar:AE text:"Aaron Edge" bar:H text:"Henry" bar:EJ text:"EJ Bastien" bar:KJ text:"Kirby Charles Johnson" bar:CL text:"Chris Layton" bar:DH text:"Derek Harn" bar:MG text:"Mike Green" bar:TM text:"Tim Mullen" bar:CD text:"Chad Davis" bar:JF text:"Joe Frothingham" PlotData= width:11 bar:CS from:start till:10/01/1999 color:vocals bar:JB from:04/01/2000 till:09/01/2008 color:vocals bar:JB from:09/01/2017 till:end color:vocals bar:BJ from:start till:07/01/2002 color:lguitar bar:BJ from:10/01/1999 till:04/01/2000 color:vocals width:3 bar:SC from:07/01/2002 till:09/01/2003 color:lguitar bar:MW from:09/01/2003 till:09/01/2005 color:lguitar bar:SC from:09/01/2005 till:09/01/2008 color:lguitar bar:SC from:09/01/2017 till:end color:lguitar bar:AE from:start till:08/01/1999 color:rguitar bar:H from:start till:01/01/1999 color:rguitar bar:EJ from:08/01/1999 till:08/01/2000 color:rguitar bar:KJ from:06/01/2000 till:09/01/2008 color:rguitar bar:KJ from:09/01/2017 till:end color:rguitar bar:DH from:start till:09/01/2008 color:bass bar:DH from:09/01/2017 till:end color:bass bar:MG from:start till:12/01/2000 color:drums bar:TM from:12/01/2000 till:09/01/2003 color:drums bar:CD from:09/01/2003 till:11/01/2007 color:drums bar:JF from:11/01/2007 till:09/01/2008 color:drums bar:CD from:09/01/2017 till:end color:drums bar:CL from:08/01/2000 till:09/01/2001 color:keys

References

{{Authority control Metalcore musical groups from Washington (state) American melodic death metal musical groups American deathcore musical groups Musical groups from Seattle Musical groups established in 1998 Musical groups disestablished in 2008 Musical groups reestablished in 2017