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Merauder

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New York's own Merauder were on the forefront of the metalcore wave in the early '90s, and few bands have had the pleasure of receiving the worldwide attention and embellishing the genre's conviction as they have. With their formation in 1990, the band's early days were spent playing live shows with other old-school hardcore and metal notables such as Sick Of It All, Carnivore, Motorhead, Morbid Angel and the Cro-Mags, and along the way they released a pair of demos and contributed a track to the now legendary 1992 compilation, East Coast Assault. Realizing that they would not be able to fully progress with their original singer, Merauder sought out and recruited a young vocalist by the name of Jorge Rosado from the band Full Contact, which was the best decision they could have ever made. After a few more years of gigging and writing material, the band released a split 7" with fellow New Yorkers Stigmata in 1995, and immediately began an east coast tour with Biohazard despite still being unsigned. Their third overall demo (and first with Jorge fronting the band) showed that this band was ready to step up to the next plateau. By mid-1995 the band was signed to Century Media Records and quickly began work in the studio with Parris Mayhew, founding Cro-Mags guitarist and long-time friend.

Before their Century Media debut Master Killer was released the band were hand-picked by Fear Factory as the opening act for a string of 20 US dates. All in all, Master Killer has seen worldwide sales of over 30,000 copies, and Merauder have started to gain a rabid fanbase that carried over into their second studio release. Recorded at various periods and sessions throughout '98 and '99, Five Deadly Venoms (the title of course was inspired by the famous kung-fu movie) delivered in-your-face vocals combined with creative playing and song arrangements making this a unique, forceful and at times quite melodic metalcore album. The band did not do much touring for this release except for a few shows on the east coast and in Europe and this just led to fans’ anticipation of a new studio release. They would soon find out that this wait would be longer than they had expected, but also well worth it.

With the rise of the “nu metal scene” in the past few years, along with the so-called “fashion core” movement in the hardcore scene, Merauder are coming back with a new piece of musical intensity that shows they will take no part in any of these current trends. It has now been three long years since Merauder’s last studio release and they are finally prepared to unleash Bluetality upon the masses. With the main lineup that recorded Master Killer in tact, along with Dave Chavarri of ILL NINO filling in on drums, Bluetality delivers a strong message and also shows that Merauder have not lost sight of their roots. Merauder's Brooklyn upbringing allowed them early on to learn the dual meaning of survival, while coming up within local gangs helped them get through the treacherous neighborhood in which they were raised. Recorded and mixed at Big Blue Meenie studios and engineered by SOD’s Billy Milano, this ten-track slab of bluetality takes an in-depth look into US police brutality. Tracks such as “No Warning” and “Payback” show just how much the police forces control on our lives and make the decisions whether we live or die. The track “41 Shots” also focuses on the excessive force that police use everyday and how citizens must fight to take back some of their power.

With many of the old NYC hardcore bands such as Biohazard, Madball, and Sick Of It All are either breaking up or adopting a new sound it is a relief to see a band such as Merauder sticking to what they do best. Filled with aggression, angst, and controversial lyrical content Bluetality will proceed to beat you to a bloody mess. Merauder played one of their first live shows in months at Hellfest 2002 (along with other noteable acts such as Hatebreed, Killswitch Engage and 18 Visions) and they showed all the younger fans, as well as developing bands, where metalcore originated. This is a record made for Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags fans, but it is sure to gain many news fans as well. Bluetality is a brutally honest record from a band that holds back no punches. This is Merauder, and this is what NYC metalcore is all about.

Merauder - God is I

20 August 2009 · Being one of the first bands to merge streetwise New York style hardcore with a real metallic sound, culminating into 1996’s unquestionably classic album 'Master Killer', Merauder paved the way for... »

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