Cleric is an American

avant-garde metal Avant-garde metal (also known as avant-metal, experimental metal, art metal and experimetal) is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation and innovative, avant-garde music, avant-garde elements, including non-stan ...

band based out of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, United States. Formed in 2003, their initial lineup consisted of guitarist Matt Hollenberg, drummer Larry Kwartowitz, vocalist Nick Shellenberger and bassist Chris Weindel. After their first EP Chris Weindel was replaced by James Lynch, who was succeeded by bassist Daniel Ephraim Kennedy in 2012. Informed by metal pioneers such as

Meshuggah Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band formed in Umeå in 1987. Since 2004, the band's lineup consists of founding members Jens Kidman (lead vocals) and Fredrik Thordendal (lead guitar), alongside rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, drumm ...

Converge Converge may refer to: * Converge (band), American hardcore punk band * Converge (Baptist denomination), American national evangelical Baptist body * Limit (mathematics) In mathematics, a limit is the value that a function (or sequence) app ...

Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...

, and

Neurosis Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...

, the band is known for their experimental approach to

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, 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, e ...

doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (1934–2020), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitche ...

and

. Cleric has released four studio albums: '' Regressions'' (2010), '' Retrocausal'' (2017), '' Chokhma'' (2018) and ''John Zorn's Bagatelles volume 12'' (2022).

History

Formation and early success (2003–2010)

Cleric was formed in 2003 and quickly debuted with an

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

titled '' The Underling'', which was recorded for $200. The band began composing music for film, working with a slasher film series called Punk Rock Holocaust and the alternative porn outlet Burning Angel. In 2008, the band received a nomination for Best Music at the

AVN Awards The AVN Awards are List of movie awards, film awards sponsored and presented by the American trade magazine ''AVN (magazine), AVN'' (''Adult Video News'') annually to honor achievements in the global Sex industry, adult entertainment industry. ...

for their contribution to a

pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...

parody of '' Party Monster'', titled ''Porny Monster''. Their demo ''Allotriophagy'' and 7" single ''Cumberbund'' also garnered some favorable reviews and critical notice. Afterward, the band was signed to Web of Mimicry run by Trey Spruance, best recognized for his work in

Secret Chiefs 3 Secret Chiefs 3 (or SC3) is an American experimental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance (of Mr. Bungle and formerly, Faith No More). Their studio recordings and tours have featured different lineups, as the group performs a wide ...

and

Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle is an American experimental rock band formed in Eureka, California, in 1985. The band is known for its eclecticism, cycling through several musical genres, often within the course of a single song, including heavy metal, avant-garde ...

''Regressions'' and tour (2010–present)

The band released their full-length debut album, titled '' Regressions'', on April 27, 2010. It was produced by

Colin Marston Colin Marston (born September 13, 1982) is an American record producer and musician residing in New York City. He graduated from New York University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music technology in 2004, and owns Menegroth The Thousand Cav ...

, who credited the album with being the most time-consuming and challenging job in his career due to the density and complexity of the compositions. The album received positive markups from critics, who praised the band for their aggressive demeanor and willingness to experiment. In describing the band's sound, Philip Montoro of the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'' said "the music this Philadelphia four-piece plays is a kind of metal the way '' Lost Highway'' is a kind of movie. It's an elastic tissue of creepy electronic noise and barely human screaming, impregnated with patches of riff-salad grind and hypercube mathcore." In September 2010, the band was robbed of a substantial amount of equipment and gear after a show in Brooklyn, effectively halting their recording and touring momentum. They managed to recoup some of their losses by tracking down a portion stolen goods in pawn shops and asking fans to donate to the band's Kickstarter. In 2013, the band announced the delayed tour in support of their debut album and released the ''Resumption'' digital single. Cleric also returned to the studio with producer Colin Marston and entered pre-production on a new album. Also planned is a compilation of music they have composed for films over a past three period. In early November, Cleric began their first country-wide tour, which lasted until December. The band's second album was titled '' Retrocausal'' and released on December 8, 2017, by Web of Mimicry. In August of the following year the

John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

'' The Book Beri'ah'', containing Cleric's third album '' Chokhma'', was released by

Tzadik Records Tzadik is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-p ...

Band members

; Current members * Matt Hollenberg – guitar (2003–present) * Larry Kwartowitz – drums (2003–present) * Nick Shellenberger – vocals (2003–present), keyboards (2006–present) * Daniel Ephraim Kennedy – bass (2012–present) ; Past members * James Lynch – bass (2006–2012) * Chris Weindel – bass (2003–2006) ;Timeline ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2003 till:05/31/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals,_keyboards id:Guitars value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:2003 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:2003 LineData = at:03/27/2010 color:black layer:back at:12/08/2017 color:black layer:back at:08/17/2018 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Nick text:"Nick Shellenberger" bar:Matt text:"Matt Hollenberg" bar:Chris text:"Chris Weindel" bar:James text:"James Lynch" bar:Daniel text:"Daniel Kennedy" bar:Larry text:"Larry Kwartowitz" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Nick from:01/01/2003 till:end color:Vocals bar:Matt from:01/01/2003 till:end color:Guitars bar:Chris from:01/01/2003 till:06/01/2006 color:Bass bar:James from:06/01/2006 till:06/01/2012 color:Bass bar:Daniel from:06/01/2012 till:end color:Bass bar:Larry from:01/01/2003 till:end color:Drums

Discography

;Studio albums *'' Regressions'' (2010) *'' Retrocausal'' (2017) *'' Chokhma'' (''The Book Beri'ah'') (2018) * ''John Zorn's Bagatelles volume 12'' (2022) ;Extended plays * '' The Underling'' (2003) ;Singles * ''Cumberbund'' (2008) * ''Resumption'' (2014)

References

External links

*
Cleric
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cleric Musical groups established in 2003 2003 establishments in Pennsylvania Musical groups from Philadelphia Hardcore punk groups from Pennsylvania Heavy metal musical groups from Pennsylvania American avant-garde metal musical groups American experimental rock groups American experimental musical groups American noise rock music groups American post-hardcore musical groups American mathcore musical groups Drone metal musical groups Noisecore musical groups Musical quartets from Pennsylvania Web of Mimicry artists