Infant Annihilator are an English

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 breakdowns. While there are some precursors to the concept of death metal fused with met ...

band formed in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

in 2012 by drummer Aaron Kitcher and guitarist Eddie Pickard. The band are known for their technical, eclectic and extreme musical style; parodistic and

satirically Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

graphic lyrical content and

shock humour Shock humour is a style of comedy intended to shock the audience. This can be achieved through excessively foul toilet humour, overt sexual themes, mocking of serious themes (otherwise known as black comedy), or through tactlessness in the aftermat ...

; and music videos that feature ribald themes. Their debut album '' The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution'', which features the American vocalist Dan Watson, was released in late 2012. After replacing their vocalist with

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

-native Dickie Allen, their second album '' The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch'' was recorded and mixed by Jesse Kirkbride at his home studio Kirkbride Recordings and was released in 2016. Their third album, ''

The Battle of Yaldabaoth ''The Battle of Yaldabaoth'' (abbreviated as ''The BOY'') is the third studio album by the British deathcore band Infant Annihilator. It was released on 11 September 2019. Background The band released a music video for the album's single "Thr ...

'', was released on 11 September 2019. Infant Annihilator were described by the ''Hysteria Magazine'' as an

internet band An Internet band, also called an online band, is a musical group whose members collaborate online through broadband by utilizing a content management system and local digital audio workstations. The work is sometimes released under a Creative Com ...

and even though they have stated that touring is a possibility, they have performed only as a studio project so far.

History

Formation and ''The PLOP'' debut album (2012–2013)

Infant Annihilator were formed in 2012 in

Hessle Hessle () is a town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Kingston upon Hull city centre. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area consisting of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of ...

near

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from ...

by guitarist Eddie Pickard and drummer Aaron Kitcher. The name "Infant Annihilator" came from a song bearing the same title that was composed by Kitcher's previous band As the Blessed Fall, and was chosen as a parody of death metal band name

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for exampl ...

s. In a 2016 interview, they explained "We wanted the song names and band name to be as completely over-the-top as our music..." Pickard and Kitcher wrote and created homemade recordings together using a form of recording software on Pickard's computer. They wrote, recorded and edited the

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

tracks for their debut album, '' The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution'' (abbreviated ''The PLOP''). After releasing instrumental songs online, the pair met American vocalist Dan Watson from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

online, who discovered Infant Annihilator on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

. Pickard and Kitcher were impressed with his performance, and asked of him to perform vocals for the album. They soon began garnering

viral Viral means "relating to viruses" (small infectious agents). Viral may also refer to: Viral behavior, or virality Memetic behavior likened that of a virus, for example: * Viral marketing, the use of existing social networks to spread a marke ...

popularity online—growing to around 20,000 "likes" within a month—with the release of the music video for their song "Decapitation Fornication". Following the release of the video, the group promoted the release for their debut album '' The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution'', which was released on 12 December 2012 (12/12/12). The idea to release the album on 12/12/12 was an idea pitched by Watson, which the band loved. However, Watson retrospectively has expressed regret for such a release date as it caused him to rush his work in order to get the album released on time, leaving him ultimately unhappy with the end result of his vocals. Watson left the band in late 2013 and publicly announced his departure from the band 22 February 2014. He later explained that he left the band because he did not feel like an

equal Equal(s) may refer to: Mathematics * Equality (mathematics). * Equals sign (=), a mathematical symbol used to indicate equality. Arts and entertainment * ''Equals'' (film), a 2015 American science fiction film * ''Equals'' (game), a board game ...

compared to the other two members, and also because he was upset over the two members agreeing to a contract without consulting his input first. After his leaving, Watson would later form the Washington-based deathcore group

Enterprise Earth Enterprise Earth is an American deathcore band from Spokane, Washington. Former members, vocalist Dan Watson (formerly of Infant Annihilator) and guitarist BJ Sampson (formerly of Takeover), formed the band in mid-2014. At the beginning of the ...

with guitarist BJ Sampson.

Dickie Allen and ''The EGG'' (2014–2017)

In late 2014, while he was drumming for fellow UK band Desolated during their first US tour, Kitcher met vocalist Dickie Allen in person for the first time. The tour line-up included the band Traitors, who had brought Allen, a close friend, along with them on the tour. Hearing Allen's vocals in person convinced Kitcher that he was a good fit for the band. Infant Annihilator announced via social media on 1 June 2016 that they had brought on Dickie Allen as their new vocalist. Infant Annihilator's second album '' The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch'' (abbreviated ''The EGG'') was officially released 29 July 2016. The album was Infant Annihilator's first to chart, making it onto several

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

, including the

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

, Independent Albums,

Top Album Sales Top Album Sales is a music chart published by ''Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas suc ...

Top Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

, and

Top Hard Rock Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

charts.

Third album ''The BOY'' (2019–present)

On 25 July, Infant Annihilator posted a music video for their first single "Three Bastards" to YouTube, along with the upcoming album’s release date, title, art, track list, and preorder information. ''

'' (abbreviated ''The BOY'') was released on 11 September.

Musical style and influences

Infant Annihilator's musical style has been described as both

and

technical death metal Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting. Techni ...

. Their lyrical content is intentionally extreme and covers controversial topics such as

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

paedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...

, murder,

infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose is the prevention of resou ...

, " mass programming",

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural ...

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...

, and the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. These topics are derived from the history of

sexual abuse in the Catholic Church There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, ac ...

. In September 2017, their music was deemed "too

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

" and was pulled from the online music streaming platforms

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

and iTunes as a result. They were soon returned to both platforms after three days. They have listed various subgenres of

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...

and

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 ...

to be influential to their music, including: deathcore,

slam death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

, technical death metal, “ down-tempo hardcore”,

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. ...

and

mathcore Mathcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk and metalcore influenced by post-hardcore, extreme metal and math rock that developed during the 1990s. Bands in the genre emphasize complex and fluctuant rhythms through the use of irregular time signatur ...

. Artists they have taken influence from include: Carnifex,

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon (often abbreviated as BMTH) are a British rock band formed in Sheffield in 2004. The group consists of lead vocalist Oliver Sykes, guitarist Lee Malia, bassist Matt Kean, drummer Matt Nicholls and keyboardist Jordan ...

(early deathcore era, à la '' Count Your Blessings''),

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, v ...

, Slipknot,

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 m ...

Despised Icon Despised Icon is a Canadian deathcore band from Montreal, Quebec. Formed in 2002, the band is noted for the talent of its drummer, Alex Pelletier, who makes frequent use of the blasting technique, as well as for its dual lead vocalists; Alex E ...

Thy Art Is Murder Thy Art Is Murder is an Australian deathcore band from Blacktown, Sydney, that formed in 2006. The band consists of vocalist Chris "CJ" McMahon, guitarists Sean Delander and Andy Marsh, drummer Jesse Beahler and bassist Kevin Butler. Thy Art I ...

, The Black Dahlia Murder,

Beneath the Massacre Beneath the Massacre is a Canadian technical death metal band from Montreal, Quebec. Their debut EP '' Evidence of Inequity'', was released in 2005, under Galy Records. In early 2006, the band signed with Prosthetic Records and released their fi ...

Cattle Decapitation Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band from San Diego, California, formed in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, bassist Olivier Pinard, and drummer David McGr ...

Waking the Cadaver Waking the Cadaver is an American death metal band from Sayreville, New Jersey, formed in 2006. Originally called Death to Honor, the band released one demo in 2004 before changing their name to Waking the Cadaver in 2006. The band has released ...

, and

GG Allin Kevin Michael "GG" Allin (born Jesus Christ Allin; August 29, 1956 – June 28, 1993) was an American punk rock musician who performed and recorded with many groups during his career. Allin was best known for his controversial live performances ...

Members

Current * Aaron Kitcher – drums (2012–present) * Eddie Pickard – guitar, bass (2012–present) * Dickie Allen – vocals (2016–present) Former * Dan Watson – vocals (2012–2014)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums Singles *"Decapitation Fornication" (23 July 2012) *"Motherless Miscarriage" (22 June 2016) *"Three Bastards" (25 July 2019) *"Swinaecologist" (31 August 2019) Promotional releases *''The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution – Promo'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{Authority control British musical trios English deathcore musical groups Deathcore musical groups Musical groups established in 2012 Musicians from Kingston upon Hull English death metal musical groups 2012 establishments in England