When Florida extreme metal band Dark Sermon announced a hiatus recently after 2 full-lengths on EOne records, vocalist Johnny Crowder was at a crossroads of sorts. Having also quietly formed the decidely more accessible (but somehow heavier) alt/nu-metal project Prison a couple years before, the journey of the band is certainly an interesting one. Dark Sermon, after all, was a band that he spent almost a decade in, literally building it from a local band (In Reference To A Sinking Ship) to one that toured with Thy Art Is Murder, and almost any other extreme metal act you can think of. By and large, even if Dark Sermon never becomes a “thing” again, it was a successful journey that certainly cultivated a solid fanbase.
That being said, Prison (which also features members of Adaliah and In Alcatraz 1962) is talking about traditionally taboo subjects that aren’t typically discussed in the metal scene. Sexual abuse. Rape. Addiction. Psychosis. All of these themes and more are packed into the band’s new EP, N.G.R.I., which managed to sell hundreds of first-week copies. This is all without a record label or even management, and until recently, the band didn’t even have a booking agent (they’re now represented by JJ at Circle Talent Agency).
Prison’s dark, unsettling alt-metal sound might be comparable to Korn (lyrically) and early Deftones/Coal Chamber musically, but the band presents themselves as a unique entity within the scene, given the band members’ other work. They certainly didn’t get the opening spot on Suicide Silence’s The Cleansing 10 year anniversary tour by buying onto it – their talent is pretty obvious as a band with real crossover potential. Prison is a tribute to hard work, determination, and reaching into dark places to find light at the end of the tunnel, all distilled through an alt-metal and nu-metal sound that deserves to be heard.
Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity.
