Only Living Witness
| Only Living Witness | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | Boston , Massachusetts , United States |
| Genre (s) | Hardcore punk , metal , crossover |
| founding | 1989 |
| resolution | 1995 |
| Last occupation | |
| Chris Crowley | |
| Eric Stevenson († 2011) | |
| Craig Silverman | |
| Jonah Jenkins | |
| former members | |
Electric bass |
Roy Costa |
Electric guitar |
Kevin Stevenson |
Only Living Witness was an American hardcore punk and metal band from Boston , Massachusetts that was formed in 1989 and split up in 1995.
history
The band was formed in 1989 after the breakup of the band Formicide and consisted of singer Jonah Jenkins, guitarist Kevin Stevenson, bassist Roy Costa and drummer Eric Stevenson. Singer Jenkins explained the band's name by stating that he was allegedly the only surviving witness to have seen Slapshot's early appearances . After two demos and a self-financed single, the band reached a contract with Century Media . Guitarist Craig Silverman and bassist Chris Crowley were new members of the band. The label released their debut album Prone Mortal Form in 1993 . This was followed by appearances in the USA in the support act of Prong and Corrosion of Conformity and in Europe together with Mucky Pup . In September a tour followed in the opening act of Cro-Mags . About half a year later, another tour with a total of 19 appearances in Germany , Austria and Switzerland was completed together with Leeway . The band also played together with Sick of It All . The second album Innocents followed in 1996 . The band had already disbanded in October 1995, on the one hand because it was not very successful commercially and on the other hand because the drummer Stevenson, who wrote a large part of the songs, no longer wanted to go on tour. The latter also led to the personal rift between the two pillars of the band, whereupon Jenkins withdrew completely from music, backed up by his main job as a librarian in the Harvard library.
style
Eduardo Rivadavia from Allmusic described the music on the demo Only Living Witness and Complex Man as a mixture of Thrash Metal and Hardcore Punk. On Prone Mortal form should include not only pure hardcore punk: The guitar riffs are the metal , which beats the Industrial and the song the Grunge loan. Barbara Diekmann saw the subline in a similar way , namely between the hardcore of the Cro-Mags and the grunge of Alice in Chains . Markus Kavka from Metal Hammer compared Innocents with Ugly from Life of Agony and Deliverance from Corrosion of Conformity. The album is "full of chubby monster riffs, humble plaintive vocals, dry rock rhythms". In the song Placid Hill , instruments such as a western guitar , a violin and a harmonica can also be heard. Hanno Kress from Rock Hard found the work simply boring and criticized the fact that "eight people did the same thing" on the neo-folk ballad Hank Crane .
Discography
- 1990: Only Living Witness (demo, self-published)
- 1991: Complex Man (single, Look Again Records )
- 1993: Prone Mortal Form (Album, Century Media )
- 1995: Freaklaw (single, Chainsaw Safety Records )
- 1996: Innocents (Album, Century Media)
Web links
- Only Living Witness on Facebook
- Only Living Witness at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Eduardo Rivadavia: Only Living Witness. Allmusic , accessed December 2, 2013 .
- ^ A b Matthias Mineur: Only Living Witness. Information from the crypt . In: Metal Hammer . April 1996, p. 132 .
- ^ A b Matthias Mader: This Is Boston ... Not New York. A hardcore punk encyclopedia . 3. Edition. IP Verlag / Jeske Mader, Berlin 2010, ISBN 3-931624-19-6 , p. 109 f .
- ↑ Jan Jaedike: Only Living Witness. The big bang . In: Rock Hard . July 1996, p. 123 .
- ^ Barbara Diekman: Only Living Witness. Prone Mortal Form . In: Sub Line . July-August, July 1993, p. 56 f .
- ^ Markus Kavka : Only Living Witness. Innocents . In: Metal Hammer . March 1996, p. 60 .
- ^ Hanno Kress: Only Living Witness. Innocents . In: Rock Hard . March 1996, p. 93 .