Sylencer is an American
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, . ...
group from
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, formed in 2006 by
Markus Johansson
Markus Johansson (born December 22, 1984) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist and vocalist from Chicago. He is currently the lead guitarist for the international touring band THEM. Johansson is also the lead vocalist and guit ...
(vocals, guitar) and Johnny Rox (bass guitar). During recording of their debut album, ''
A Lethal Dose of Truth'', the band recruited drummer
Kevin Talley
Kevin Talley (born May 21, 1979) is an American heavy metal drummer for Sylencer and Feared. He was part of Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Six Feet Under, Nothnegal, Chimaira, Suffocation and Dååth, and toured with Battlecross in 2013.
Hist ...
on a session basis, although he became a full-time member in 2012.
History
In the summer of 2004,
Markus Johansson
Markus Johansson (born December 22, 1984) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist and vocalist from Chicago. He is currently the lead guitarist for the international touring band THEM. Johansson is also the lead vocalist and guit ...
sent a message to Johnny Rox via the
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...
message boards, to see if he would like to get together and jam. After working together in various projects for the next two years, the pair set out to record what would ultimately become the Sylencer debut album. By May 2006, the tracking of their debut album began, with Sylencer recruiting drummer
Kevin Talley
Kevin Talley (born May 21, 1979) is an American heavy metal drummer for Sylencer and Feared. He was part of Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Six Feet Under, Nothnegal, Chimaira, Suffocation and Dååth, and toured with Battlecross in 2013.
Hist ...
, and lead guitarist
Larry Tarnowski to round out the recording lineup. As the majority of the album was recorded by years end, hard economic times started to befall the band. But refusing to give up on the album, Markus and Johnny used their downtime to slowly but surely recruit more guests to the album's lineup, which grew to include members of Dream Theater, Anthrax, Dethklok, and nearly a dozen others.
As years passed and things for Sylencer started to rebound, they found themselves in a position to finally complete their debut accompanied by session members Talley (now a full member) and
Larry Tarnowski, the album soon turned into a full collaborative effort with a large number of established heavy metal musicians contributing to the effort, including
Dethklok
Dethklok is a fictional melodic death metal band featured in the Adult Swim animated television series ''Metalocalypse''.
The first official Dethklok album was released on September 25, 2007, entitled '' The Dethalbum''. The album debuted at n ...
's
Gene Hoglan
Eugene Victor Hoglan II (born August 31, 1967) is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his pla ...
and
Brendon Small
Brendon Small (born February 15, 1975) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, animator, writer, director, producer, and musician known for co-creating the animated series ''Home Movies'' (1999–2004, with Loren Bouchard) and '' Metalocalypse'' ...
,
The Heathen
"The Heathen" is a short story by the American writer Jack London. It was first published in ''Everybody's Magazine'' in August 1910, and later included in the collection of stories by London, ''The Strength of the Strong'', published by Macmillan ...
(of
Zimmers Hole
Zimmers Hole is a Canadian heavy metal band from Vancouver. The band formed in 1991, and features former Strapping Young Lad members Byron Stroud, Jed Simon and Gene Hoglan, along with vocalist Chris Valagao.
History ''Bound by Fire''
Zi ...
, with Hoglan),
Rob Caggiano
Robert Caggiano (born November 7, 1976) is an American guitarist and record producer. Since 2013, Caggiano has been the lead guitarist of the rock band Volbeat. He had formerly been guitarist of thrash metal band Anthrax and nu metal band Boile ...
(
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 ...
,
The Damned Things
The Damned Things is an American rock supergroup consisting of Fall Out Boy's Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley, Anthrax's Scott Ian, Every Time I Die's Keith Buckley, and Alkaline Trio's Dan Andriano. The band's name is inspired by the lyrics in Ram ...
) and
Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American musician, software developer and composer best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive metal supergroup Liquid Tension Experime ...
(
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of the ...
), amongst others.
In December 2011, the band landed a licensing and distribution deal with dPulse Recordings/Ovrtone Music Group, Inc. in association with Sony Music Entertainment Germany. This led to the album's finally
receiving a release date, September 4, 2012, some six years since the project's start. 2012 also saw the addition of drummer
Kevin Talley
Kevin Talley (born May 21, 1979) is an American heavy metal drummer for Sylencer and Feared. He was part of Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Six Feet Under, Nothnegal, Chimaira, Suffocation and Dååth, and toured with Battlecross in 2013.
Hist ...
as a permanent member of the band, as well as the founding of the band's label, Sylencer Records, Inc., which is handling the album's release in tandem with dPulse Recordings, and
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
Germany. Upon the release of their debut
album, "A Lethal Dose Of Truth," the band intends to take to road and tour just as relentlessly as they pursued their album's completion. On April 17, 2013 the band announced that a number of guest appearances for their sophomore album have been confirmed, including current and former members of
Chimaira
Chimaira () is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the group was a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene. The band's name is derived from the word Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek myth ...
,
Jag Panzer
Jag Panzer is an American power metal band from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
History
Jag Panzer came together in late 1981, being inspired by the onslaught of the new wave of British heavy metal. The original line-up consisted of Harry Conkl ...
,
King Diamond
Kim Bendix Petersen (born 14 June 1956), better known by his stage name King Diamond, is a Danish rock musician. As a vocalist, he is known for his powerful and wide-ranging countertenor singing voice, in particular his far-reaching falsetto s ...
,
Death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
,
Forbidden,
Korn
Korn (stylized as KoЯn, or occasionally KoRn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The band is notable for pioneering the nu metal genre and bringing it into the mainstream.
Originally formed in 1993 ...
and
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...
.
Members
;Full Lineup
*
Markus Johansson
Markus Johansson (born December 22, 1984) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist and vocalist from Chicago. He is currently the lead guitarist for the international touring band THEM. Johansson is also the lead vocalist and guit ...
- vocals, guitars
*Johnny Rox - bass guitar
*
Kevin Talley
Kevin Talley (born May 21, 1979) is an American heavy metal drummer for Sylencer and Feared. He was part of Dying Fetus, Misery Index, Six Feet Under, Nothnegal, Chimaira, Suffocation and Dååth, and toured with Battlecross in 2013.
Hist ...
- drums, percussion
;Session members
*
Larry Tarnowski - Lead Guitar
;Guests on ''A Lethal Dose of Truth''
*
Gene Hoglan
Eugene Victor Hoglan II (born August 31, 1967) is an American drummer, acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including use of abstract devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms. Though his pla ...
- Drums
*
Brendan Small - Lead Guitar
*
Andy LaRocque
Andy LaRocque (born Anders Allhage, 29 November 1962) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, and producer, best known as a member of the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band King Diamond (band), King Diamond since 1985.
Biography
LaRocque started in ...
- Lead Guitar
*
Michael Angelo Batio
Michael Angelo Batio (), also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He was the lead guitarist for the Los Angeles-based glam metal band Nitro (b ...
- Lead Guitar
*
Roland Grapow
Roland Grapow (born 30 August 1959 in Hamburg) is a German professional guitarist and music producer. Grapow is best known for his time in the power metal band Helloween, with which he played for 12 years after replacing founding member Kai Han ...
- Lead Guitar
*
The Heathen
"The Heathen" is a short story by the American writer Jack London. It was first published in ''Everybody's Magazine'' in August 1910, and later included in the collection of stories by London, ''The Strength of the Strong'', published by Macmillan ...
- Lead Vocals
*
Emil Werstler
Emil Werstler is an American guitarist and musician based in Nashville, Tennessee who is perhaps best known for his work in metal and gypsy jazz. In 2004, Werstler became lead guitarist for the metal band Dååth, whose second album '' The Hin ...
- Lead Guitar
*
Rob Caggiano
Robert Caggiano (born November 7, 1976) is an American guitarist and record producer. Since 2013, Caggiano has been the lead guitarist of the rock band Volbeat. He had formerly been guitarist of thrash metal band Anthrax and nu metal band Boile ...
- Lead Guitar
*
Metal Mike Chlasciak - Lead Guitar
*
Steve DiGiorgio - Bass Guitar
*
Sean Reinert
Sean Reinert (May 27, 1971 – January 24, 2020) was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic (band), Cynic until leaving the band in Septemb ...
- Drums
*
Jordan Rudess
Jordan Rudess (born Jordan Charles Rudes; November 4, 1956) is an American musician, software developer and composer best known as a member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater and the progressive metal supergroup Liquid Tension Experime ...
- Keyboards
*
Steve Smyth
''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen
Notable people with the name include:
steve jops
* Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people
* Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people
* Steve ...
- Lead Guitar
*
Christian Lasegue - Lead Guitar
*
Marco Minnemann
Marco Minnemann (born 24 December 1970) is a German drummer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.
Career
Marco Minnemann has released over a dozen solo albums as drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, and performed on over 100 studio alb ...
- Drums
Discography
*
A Lethal Dose of Truth (2012)
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official Website
Musical groups from Chicago
Heavy metal musical groups from Illinois
Musical groups established in 2006