As the name would imply, this is a death metal band to the utmost! In 2008, I contacted Glenn Wilkes over MySpace and mentioned the idea of working on some songs together. I had known him since about 2001 or so when our old bands played shows together. He actually was a big influence on me guitar playing wise and also with acquiring a seven string guitar for myself so I could write some heavy shit. His band, Double Veteran, had two guitarists that tuned to B. Bryan, the other guitarist, had a six string (a beatup Gibson SG, if I remember correctly) and would tune it down, but Glenn had a seven and completely dominated on it. I remember watching Double Veteran in a tiny little bar in Deland, Florida right before they had put out their CD. The stage was too small for the whole band to fit on, so Glenn just played on the floor in front of everyone in the pit. I remember being blown away by the fluidity of his playing, just totally inspired to go home and practice.

Fast forward about five years later and I'm standing in a garage in Ormond Beach trying out for Glenn's new death metal band called Nailshitter. As he was showing me how to play his songs, I was getting all nostalgic about when I saw them (him and Robbie, the drummer for DV and now Nailshitter) in Deland so long ago, remembering how impressed I was then. And here's Glenn, humbly destroying my ego as a guitarist as he shows me another "this one isn't that tough" riff, and then Adam the bassist walking up going "Yeah, like this," and then shredding the same thing on bass, thoroughly making sure that I would completely shit my pants rather than just slightly soil them. Due to another bandmate's insistence of bringing back a prior project, I didn't go back for another practice, which turned out great because the guitarist they did get was WAY better than me anyway. But I always wanted to do something with Glenn cause I knew it would come out pretty awesome. After I contacted him again in 2008, he was very open to the idea, so it started with me just programming some random drum parts together and sending it to him. He sent it back with the guitars over it and I was totally floored by what he did! What seemed like just some random bullshit drum programming turned into a catchy, brutal track! I came up with the torture scenario lyrics and recorded them in my basement in Ohio and sent it back to Glenn and he was totally stoked. And that's how Rape Festival (and the first track we wrote, "Instant Infection") was born!

The writing went back and forth a lot. Both of us had a hand in writing lyrics, guitar parts, and even drum programming. Glenn even got Adam from Nailshitter to play bass on his tracks. At some point, we talked about trying Rape Festival as a live band and even did a rehearsal. And there I was again, Glenn showing me how to play the riffs to "Abyssic Descent" and the outro to "Rape Festival" which has a 6 fret stretch run played at upwards of 280bpm or something and Adam going "Yeah, like this, it's not so tough," and doing the exact same thing without any hint of difficulty...on bass!....arrrghghghg!

This album was my attempt at a "modern" death metal production (which I am not really a fan of), and I think I got pretty close to it, minus the part where I limit it to the point where there is zero headroom left. I wish we had written another song or two as well, but this is still a mean little release that I am quite proud of.