Only Living Witness was an American

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 from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1989 by members of dissolved

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Formicide. Across two studio albums, they developed a groove-oriented

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 ...

-influenced heavy metal sound. The band spilt up in 1995.

Career

The band was formed in 1989 in Boston, Massachusetts, by

Jonah Jenkins Jonah Jay Jenkins (born Jonah Moore, October 6, 1970) is an American vocalist, known for his work with bands such as Only Living Witness, Miltown, Milligram, The Northern Skulls and Raw Radar War. Biography Born Jonah Moore, his sister is K ...

(vocals) and Eric Stevenson (drums, ex-Formicide). Stevenson's brother Kevin (guitar) and former Formicide bandmate Roy Costa (bass) completed the lineup. In 1991, Kevin Stevenson and Costa were replaced by Craig Silverman and Chris Crowley. Kevin Stevenson and Costa went on to form

The Shods The Shods are a band from Lowell, Massachusetts who have released five albums and an EP to date. The Shods have a loyal regional following, and remain well known in their home state. Origins The Shods formed in 1993 in Lowell, MA with musicians S ...

. Only Living Witness released a few demos before being signed by

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 ...

. Their debut album, ''Prone Mortal Form'', was released in 1993. The band performed concerts in 14 countries including Sweden, England, France, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. In 1996, their follow-up CD ''Innocents'' was released, but the band had already split up. Following the band's dissolution in 1995,

went on to perform the vocal duties in

Miltown Meprobamate—marketed as Miltown by Wallace Laboratories and Equanil by Wyeth, among others—is a carbamate derivative used as an anxiolytic drug. It was the best-selling minor tranquilizer for a time, but has largely been replaced by the benz ...

Milligram The kilogram (also kilogramme) is the unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. It is a widely used measure in science, engineering and commerce worldwide, and is often simply called a kilo colloquially. ...

and Raw Radar War. Guitarist Craig Silverman went on to play in bands Blood for Blood, Ramallah,

Slapshot A slapshot (also spelled as slap shot) in ice hockey is a powerful shot. Its advantage is as a high-speed shot that can be taken from long distance; the disadvantage is the time to set it up as well as its low accuracy. It has four stages whi ...

, and

Agnostic Front Agnostic Front is an American hardcore punk band from New York City. Founded in 1980, the band is considered an important influence on the New York hardcore scene, as well as a pioneer of the crossover thrash genre. History First era (1980–19 ...

. Only Living Witness briefly reformed in 2008 for four reunion shows: June 14 and 21 at The Middle East in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

, August 22 in

Clinton, Massachusetts Clinton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 15,428 at the 2020 census. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Clinton, please see the article Clinton (CDP), Massach ...

, and the final show on August 30 in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022, Eagletribune.com
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– accessed August 2011

Legacy

Only Living Witness would prove to be influential to the wave of

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 grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

acts that also came out of Massachusetts some years later. Some of those bands include

Killswitch Engage Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999 after the disbanding of Overcast (band), Overcast and Aftershock. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joe ...

Shadows Fall Shadows Fall is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1996. Although Shadows Fall has experienced several line-up changes, for most of its recording career, Shadows Fall has been composed of Jon Donais (lead guitar, b ...

and

Unearth Unearth is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1998, the group has released seven studio albums. History Early career (1998–2002) Unearth was formed by Trevor Phipps, Buz McGrath, Ken Susi, Mike Rudberg, a ...

, to name a few. In 2014,

's cover of the Only Living Witness song "December" was used in the soundtrack of the film ''

Let's Be Cops ''Let's Be Cops'' is a 2014 American buddy cop action comedy film co-written and directed by Luke Greenfield. The film stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. as two friends who pretend to be police officers in Los Angeles. The film co-starred N ...

''.

Members

– vocals (1989–1995) * Eric Stevenson – drums (1989–1995) * Kevin Stevenson – guitar (1989–1991) * Roy Costa – bass (1989–1991) * Craig Silverman – guitar (1991–1995) * Chris Crowley – bass (1991–1995) ;US Reunion, Clinton, MA and Netherlands show 2008 *Bob Maloney – bass guitar ;Clinton, MA and Netherlands show 2008 *Benny Grotto – drums

Discography

Demos

;1990 : Self-titled demo (audio cassette) ;1992 : Prone Mortal Form demo (audio cassette)

Singles

;1991 * Complex Man 7" limited press of 1,000 copies (Look Again Records) ;1995 * Freaklaw 7" limited press of 3,000 copies
Chainsaw Safety Records

Compilation appearances

;1991 * Planned Obsolescence compilation (

RRRecords RRRecords is a record label and used and new record shop based in Lowell, Massachusetts. RRRecords was the first American record label to publish underground "noise music" in the early 1980s, and published the first American vinyl by Merzbow, Maso ...

) Have contributed with the track ''Bad Blood'' ;1993 * East Coast Assault compilation (Too Damn Hype Records) Have contributed with the track ''Twitching Tongues'' ;1994 * Case Closed?: An International Compilation of Husker Du Cover Songs (Snoop Records) Have contributed with the track ''Too Far Down'' ;1995 * Bloodlines: The Seeds of Rebellion compilation (

) Have contributed with the track ''Deed's Pride'' * Boston Hardcore '89-'91 (

Taang! Records Taang! Records is an independent record label with a roster of hardcore punk, punk rock, Oi!, power pop, ska, indie rock, psychedelic, and ambient artists and bands founded by Curtis Casella in Boston, Massachusetts in 1983. History Taang! ...

) Have contributed with the track ''Bad Blood''

References

{{Authority control Heavy metal musical groups from Massachusetts Musical groups established in 1989