Brutal Truth was an American

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, formed by ex-

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

, Nuclear Assault, and Stormtroopers of Death bass guitarist Dan Lilker in 1990. The group disbanded in 1999, but reformed in 2006 and continued to release music until 2014.

History

Brutal Truth was formed in 1990 in

. The band was originally signed to

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by rel ...

, on which they released two albums, '' Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses'' and ''

Need to Control ''Need to Control'' is the second studio album by American grindcore band Brutal Truth, released on October 25, 1994 through Earache. Background ''Need to Control'' is the first album to feature drummer Richard Hoak who would remain in this pos ...

'', as well as an EP entitled ''

Perpetual Conversion Brutal Truth was an American grindcore band from New York City, formed by ex- Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, and Stormtroopers of Death bass guitarist Dan Lilker in 1990. The group disbanded in 1999, but reformed in 2006 and continued to release mus ...

'', and 7-inch singles for the songs "Ill Neglect" and "Godplayer". During this time, music videos were made for the songs "Ill Neglect", "Collateral Damage" and "Godplayer". Brutal Truth were frustrated with Earache Records and switched to

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

, known for its roster of

acts, with whom they stayed until the band's demise. With Relapse, they released the mini album ''

Kill Trend Suicide ''Kill Trend Suicide'' is a mini-album by grindcore band Brutal Truth. It was labelled as a "mini-album" due to it being longer than an EP but not as long as a standard album. This release shows a shift from the grindcore sound that the band ha ...

'', a full-length release entitled '' Sounds of the Animal Kingdom'' and a

double CD A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ' ...

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

called ''Goodbye Cruel World''. The band has also released many split 7-inch singles on smaller labels, with most of these being out of print and difficult to find. The songs from these 7-inch singles were collected on the second disc of ''Goodbye Cruel World''. The band disbanded around 1999 due to internal financial and management conflicts. In 2001, the ''

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' awarded Brutal Truth the record for "shortest music video" for their video "Collateral Damage", which is 2.18 seconds long and consists of 48 still images in rapid succession followed by a clip of an explosion. BrutalTruth by Christian Misje

Drummer Richard Hoak also provides vocals and drums for a project titled Total Fucking Destruction.

Kevin Sharp Kevin Grant Sharp (December 10, 1970 – April 19, 2014) was an American country music singer, author, and motivational speaker. Sharp came on the country music scene in 1996 with his first single: a cover of Tony Rich's " Nobody Knows", which to ...

released an album with

Venomous Concept Venomous Concept is an American hardcore punk band formed by Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth and Shane Embury of Napalm Death in 2004. Sharp and Embury were joined by Danny Herrera and Buzz Osborne, who was later replaced by Danny Lilker. They have ...

in 2004, a

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

band featuring members from the Melvins and

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...

. He was also a member of Australian grind band

Damaged Damage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance".Farrar, C.R., Sohn, H. ...

for a little over a year in 1999. He is also currently involved with the Atlanta-based hardcore-metal, grindcore band, Primate, with guitarist Bill Kelliher from

Mastodon A mastodon ( 'breast' + 'tooth') is any proboscidean belonging to the extinct genus ''Mammut'' (family Mammutidae). Mastodons inhabited North and Central America during the late Miocene or late Pliocene up to their extinction at the end of th ...

. Dan Lilker now plays for a host of bands and is currently bassist for the re-united Nuclear Assault. Brutal Truth re-formed in 2006 with three-quarters of the final line-up returning (Lilker, Hoak and Sharp); Erik Burke (of

Lethargy Lethargy is a state of tiredness, sleepiness, weariness, fatigue, sluggishness or lack of energy. It can be accompanied by depression, decreased motivation, or apathy. Lethargy can be a normal response to inadequate sleep, overexertion, overwo ...

) replaced Brent McCarty on guitar. On July 8, 2008, four new Brutal Truth tracks were released on the ''This Comp Kills Fascists'' compilation. This is the first new material from the band in almost ten years. On January 21, 2009, it was announced that Brutal Truth had finished recording a new album, entitled '' Evolution Through Revolution''. It was released on April 14 in North America, April 17 in Germany and on April 20 worldwide. The band have also made the entire album available via

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

from their website. A video for "Sugardaddy/Branded" was released on July 17, 2009. On September 27, 2011, Brutal Truth released ''

End Time The end time (also called end times, end of time, end of days, last days, final days, doomsday, or eschaton) refers to: * Eschatology in various religions—beliefs concerning the final events of history or the destiny of humanity End Time, En ...

'' on Relapse. In 2012, the band participated in the

Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival The Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival (LUFF) is a film festival and music festival devoted to underground film and music. It is held each year in Lausanne, Switzerland. The festival is organized by a non-profit organization (APCI � ...

, performing material composed by Robert Piotrowicz. In October 2012, Dan O'Hare took over guitar duties. Brutal Truth will release a split with Bastard Noise on November 11, 2013. On January 10, 2014, Lilker announced that he would be retiring from being a full-time recording and touring musician on October 18, 2014, which was his 50th birthday. As a result, Brutal Truth disbanded on this day.

Band members

*Kevin Sharp –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

* Dan Lilker –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, backing vocals *Brent "Gurn" McCarty –

guitars The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Scott Lewis – drums *Richard Hoak –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Jody Roberts – guitars *Erik Burke – guitars *Dan O'Hare – guitars

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses'' (1992, Earache Records) *''

'' (1994, Earache Records) *''

'' (1996, Relapse Records) *'' Sounds of the Animal Kingdom'' (1997, Relapse Records) *'' Evolution Through Revolution'' (2009, Relapse Records) *''

'' (2011, Relapse Records)

Extended plays

*''The Birth of Ignorance'' demo (1990) *''Ill Neglect'' (1992, Earache Records) *''Perpetual Conversion'' (1993, Earache Records) *''Godplayer'' (1994, Earache Records) *''Machine Parts +4'' (1996, Relapse Records) *''Split 7-inches'' 7-inch release with the songs from the split with Converge on one side and the songs from the split with Violent Society on the other side (2008, Relapse Records)

DVDs

*''For the Ugly and Unwanted – This Is Grindcore'' (2009, Season of Mist)

Splits

*split with Spazz (1996, Bovine Records) *split with

Rupture Rupture may refer to: General * Rupture (engineering), a failure of tough ductile materials loaded in tension Anatomy and medicine * Abdominal hernia, formerly referred to as "a rupture" * Achilles tendon rupture * Rupture of membranes, a "wate ...

(1997, Relapse Records) *split with Converge (1997, Hydra Head Records) *split with

Melvins Melvins (sometimes The Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Initially, they performed as a trio but later also sometimes appeare ...

(1997, Reptile Records) *split with Violent Society (1997, Relapse Records) *split with Narcosis/Total Fucking Destruction (2007, Calculated Risk Records) *''The Axiom of Post Inhumanity'' split with Bastard Noise (2013, Relapse Records)

Other releases

*''Goodbye Cruel World'' (compilation of live material and rarities) (1999, Relapse Records) *''For Drug Crazed Grindfreaks Only! Live at Noctum Studios + 1'' (2008, Relapse Records) *'' This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 1'' (2008, Relapse Records)

References

External links

Brutal Truth on Relapse Records

interview
* Brutal Truthat

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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brutal Truth Deathgrind musical groups American grindcore musical groups Political music groups Death metal musical groups from New York (state) Musical groups from New York City Relapse Records artists Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 1999 Musical groups reestablished in 2006 Musical quartets Earache Records artists