metalcore
Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...
band formed in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, in 2004. The group consists of guitarist Marc Okubo, drummer Sam Applebaum, bassist Danny Hauser and vocalist Lukas Magyar. They are currently signed to
Sumerian Records
Sumerian Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.Mother
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
'', was released on May 12, 2023.
History
Formation and demo (2004–2006)
Veil of Maya formed in 2004 in Chicago, Illinois after
melodic death metal
Melodic death metal (also referred to as melodeath) is a subgenre of death metal that employs highly melodic guitar riffs, often borrowing from traditional heavy metal (including New Wave of British Heavy Metal). The genre features the heavines ...
band Insurrection broke up, which led members Marc (lead guitar), Sam (drums) and Kris (bassist) to start up the new project. Guitarist Timothy Marshall and vocalist Adam Clemans joined shortly thereafter.
After recording a self-released demo in 2005, guitarist Scott Okarma briefly joined the group, participating in local shows and early touring. At this point, Veil of Maya were a six-piece band with three guitarists, but this only lasted for a few months before both Marshall and Okarma left the band. Bryan Ruppell replaced them both on rhythm guitar thus reverting their lineup back to five members.
''All Things Set Aside'' and ''The Common Man's Collapse'' (2006–2009)
With this five member line-up (although rhythm guitarist Bryan Ruppell did not perform on the album), the band recorded, self-produced, and released their debut full-length album '' All Things Set Aside'' through Corrosive Recordings on November 7, 2006.
In early 2007 Ruppell left the band and the rest of the members decided not to search for a new rhythm guitarist, thus leaving Veil of Maya as a four-piece. In September 2007, vocalist Clemans also left the group, leading Veil of Maya to enlist the help of then 20-year-old Brandon Butler, former vocalist of the Indiana metal band Iscariot.
In January 2008, after heightened exposure from interviews and successful tours, Veil of Maya signed with
Sumerian Records
Sumerian Records is an American record label based in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and London. The label was founded in 2006 by Ash Avildsen.The Common Man's Collapse'' was recorded with Butler in 2008 and released the same year. Shortly after the album release, the band parted ways their original bassist Kristopher "Kris" Higler in 2009, and was replaced by Matthew C. Pantelis, formerly of
Born of Osiris
Born of Osiris is an American progressive metalcore band formed in 2003 in Palatine, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The band currently consists of drummer and sole remaining founding member Cameron Losch, lead vocalist Ronnie Canizaro, and guit ...
.
''Id'' and ''Eclipse'' (2010–2012)
After their second album's release, the following several months held extensive touring before the writing and recording for the group's third full-length, '' Id'' began. ''Id'' was released on April 6, 2010, and reached number 107 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The band worked again with producer Michael Keene from
The Faceless
The Faceless are an American technical death metal band from the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles. They released their debut album, ''Akeldama'', in November 2006, and a follow-up, '' Planetary Duality'', in November 2008. The band's third ...
for this album, who previously produced ''The Common Man's Collapse''. The album's name was derived from the main character of the PlayStation game ''
Xenogears
''Xenogears'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed and published by Square (video game company), Square for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It is the debut entry in the larger ''Xeno (series), Xeno'' franchise. ...
''; the album itself also holds several concepts and references to other topics in popular culture, especially television shows.
After the release of ''Id'', Pantelis as well left the band, which led to Danny Hauser replacing him in 2010; the band's current bassist. On January 13, 2012, Sumerian Records released a teaser for Veil of Maya's next album, ''
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...
''. On January 17, the single "Vicious Circles" was released onto the iTunes Store. ''Eclipse'' was then released on February 28, 2012 and was produced and co-written by Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor.
On November 11, 2013 the band released a digital-only single, "Subject Zero", with a lyric video uploaded on YouTube two weeks earlier, on September 30, 2013.
Recording of new album and Butler's departure (2013–2014)
Veil of Maya announced in 2014 that they had finished writing the follow-up to ''Eclipse'' and were recording with Taylor Larson. However, progress was stopped as long-time vocalist Brandon Butler left the band, citing creative differences with his bandmates. Butler moved on to join a band named Lost Origins, which features former members of I Declare War.
Magyar's arrival and ''Matriarch'' (2014–2016)
At Knotfest 2014, Veil of Maya were seen performing with a new vocalist, who is well known in the local music scene of the state of Wisconsin, on January 1, 2015 it was announced that Arms of Empire vocalist Lukas Magyar joined the band replacing the departed Butler. At the same time, the band released a new single, "Phoenix".
Shortly after the announcement, the band headed out on the "Slow Your Troll and Know Your Role" tour with Upon a Burning Body, Volumes, Gideon and The Last Ten Seconds of Life. They also took part in the Ashes to Ashes European Tour with
Chelsea Grin
Chelsea Grin is an American deathcore band from Salt Lake City, Utah. Formed in 2007, the group have released two EPs and seven full-length albums. Since 2018, no founding members remain in the band. Despite not being in the original line-up, ...
,
Oceans Ate Alaska
Oceans Ate Alaska are a British metalcore band hailing from Birmingham formed in 2010. The band was signed to Fearless Records and are known for "uniting boundaries between multiple genres in modern metal" and for "fusing unpredictable polyrhy ...
and Black Tongue (Black Tongue pulled out within the first few shows due to an injury sustained by frontman Alex Teyen).
On March 23, 2015, Veil of Maya officially announced the release of a new album, ''
Matriarch
Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of power and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, ...
'', and released a new single, "Mikasa". The album was released on May 12, 2015 through Sumerian Records. It is the band's first release with Magyar, and represents somewhat of a departure from the style of the band's previous releases: it is less focused on technicality and is their first work to incorporate clean singing and replaces
growling
Growling is a low, guttural Animal communication, vocalization produced by animals as an aggression, aggressive warning but can also be found in other contexts such as playful behaviors or mating. Different animals will use growling in specific ...
with hardcore-style
screaming
A scream is a loud/hard speech production, vocalization in which air is passed through the vocal cords with greater force than is used in regular or close-distance vocalisation. This can be performed by any creature possessing lungs, including h ...
.
''False Idol'' , ''Mother'' and hiatus (2017–present)
On September 13, 2017, the band released a music video "Overthrow" on YouTube, and announced the album '' False Idol'' for October 20, 2017. The music video for the band's second single "Doublespeak" was added to YouTube on October 3, 2017. On September 12, 2019, they released the single "Members Only" off a future unknown album. On May 3, 2020, the band released a music video for the single "Outsider" and an animated music video for their single "Viscera" on February 27, 2021, from the presumed unannounced album. On October 6, 2021, their single "Outrun" was uploaded to YouTube as a music video.
On April 20, 2022, the band released the first single, "Synthwave Vegan". On February 8, 2023, the band unveiled the second single "Godhead" and its corresponding music video. On March 7, 2023, the band premiered the third single "Red Fur" with a music video. At the same time, they officially announced that their upcoming seventh studio album, ''
Mother
A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
'', is set for release on May 12, 2023 while also revealed the album cover and the track list. On April 12, one month before the album release, the band published the fourth single "Mother, Pt. 4" along with a music video. The music video for "Disco Kill Party" was released May 12, 2023, coinciding with the album release.
On September 19, 2024, the band announced they would be going on hiatus to "reassess our future".
Musical style
Veil of Maya's early work is generally considered
deathcore
Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore Breakdown (music)#Heavy metal and punk rock, breakdowns. While there are some precursors ...
Eclipse
An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...
'' blended the genre with
metalcore
Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...
and
djent
Djent () is a subgenre of progressive metal, termed for an onomatopoeia of the guitar sound that characterizes it. While sources such as ''The Guardian'' and ''Guitar World'' describe djent as a Music genre, genre, some notable musicians includi ...
. Their later work, beginning with the album ''
Matriarch
Matriarchy is a social system in which positions of power and privilege are held by women. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege, and control of property. While those definitions apply in general English, ...
'', discarded their deathcore roots and continued their metalcore and djent direction, even being labelled
progressive metalcore
Progressive metalcore (also called technical metalcore or ambient metalcore) is a fusion of progressive metal and metalcore characterized by highly technical lead guitar, "atmospheric" elements, and complex instrumentation. Some notable practiti ...
.
Members
Current
* Marc Okubo – lead guitar (2004–2024); rhythm guitar (2007–2024); programming (2014–2024)
* Sam Applebaum – drums (2004–2024)
* Danny Hauser – bass (2010–2024)
* Lukas Magyar – vocals (2014–2024)
Former
* Kristopher Higler – bass (2004–2009)
* Adam Clemans – vocals (2004–2007)
* Timothy Marshall – rhythm guitar (2004–2006)
* Scott Okarma – guitars (2006)
* Bryan Ruppell – rhythm guitar (2006–2007)
* Brandon Butler – vocals (2007–2014)
* Matthew C. Pantelis – bass (2009–2010)