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. ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, 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 s ...

Nuclear Assault Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the main bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast along with Overkill, Whiplash, ...

, and

Stormtroopers of Death Stormtroopers of Death (abbreviated to S.O.D.) was an American crossover thrash band formed in New York City in 1985. They are credited as being among the first bands to fuse hardcore punk with thrash metal into a style sometimes referred to as ...

bass guitarist

Dan Lilker Daniel A. Lilker (born October 18, 1964) is an American semi-retired musician best known as a bass player, but also guitarist, pianist, drummer and vocalist. He was the bassist for the thrash metal band Nuclear Assault and was a founding member ...

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 r ...

, on which they released two albums, ''

Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses ''Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses'' is the debut full-length album by American grindcore band Brutal Truth, released in September 1992 via Earache Records. Release Music videos were made for "Collateral Damage" (which once held the G ...

'' and '' Need to Control'', as well as an EP entitled '' Perpetual Conversion'', 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 w ...

, 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'', a full-length release entitled '' Sounds of the Animal Kingdom'' and a double CD live album 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 released an album with Venomous Concept 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 pu ...

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 William Breen Kelliher (born March 23, 1971) is an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist of heavy metal band Mastodon, and being the only band member who doesn't share the lead vocal duty. Early life Kelliher is an Irish citiz ...

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

. 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, overwor ...

) 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 ''Evolution Through Revolution'' is the fifth studio album by grindcore band Brutal Truth. This was the band's first album since 1997, recorded after an eight-year hiatus. ''Evolution Through Revolution'' was released on April 14, 2009. It sold a ...

''. 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 i ...

from their website. A video for "Sugardaddy/Branded" was released on July 17, 2009. On September 27, 2011, Brutal Truth released '' End Time'' on Relapse. In 2012, the band participated in the Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival, 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 witho ...

–

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 s ...

, 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 strin ...

*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 auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

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

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (1992, Earache Records) *'' Need to Control'' (1994, Earache Records) *'' Kill Trend Suicide'' (1996, Relapse Records) *'' Sounds of the Animal Kingdom'' (1997, Relapse Records) *''

'' (2009, Relapse Records) *'' End Time'' (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 (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 appe ...

(1997, Reptile Records) *split with

Violent Society Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

(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 This Comp Kills Fascists Vol. 1 is a compilation album released by Relapse Records focusing on grindcore and powerviolence bands. The LP was released by Deep Six Records. A limited edition box set of 7 7" records was released in January 2009.

'' (2008, Relapse Records)

References

External links

Brutal Truth on Relapse Records

interview
*

Brutal Truth 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 music ...

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 dat ...

{{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