“The rejection of systemic violence and oppression imposed on the human animal and non-human sentient beings designed and enforced for profit and power,” is how vocalist/guitarist Kyle House begins to describe the band’s statement of intent. There are no limits to how diabolical humans can be, and Portland, Oregon’s Negative Prayer express harsh opposition against this evil side of mankind on their debut, limited edition, self-titled 7-inch.
The two-piece d-beat/crust duo emit an aggressively punishing aura via their unique blend of punk and death metal. Influenced by classic albums like Cro-Mags’ The Age of Quarrel and Celtic Frost’s Morbid Tales, the instrumental aspect of Negative Prayer hits hard and fast like a drive-by, while House’s deep gutturals provide extra intimidation. The raw emotion present on the three tracks stems from, as House puts it, “rage, depression, anxiety, internalized violence, and isolation.”
The vocalist divulges further background elements to the project, saying, “My biggest influences are Driller Killer and Wolfpack from Sweden. Portland and Seattle have a long history of killer d-beat and crust bands and the current underground death metal scene is strong. I think the vibe of Negative Prayer is very much a Portland version of British and Swedish d-beat/crust.”
House is joined solely by drummer Charles Koryn. The two are also part of another band that formed just before Negative Prayer, Decrepisy, so they have a proven working relationship. The vocalist boasts about Koryn’s performance on their first release as Negative Prayer, raving, “Charlie is just a fucking monster drummer. A total pro and really cool dude.” He then accentuates Koryn’s professionalism and quick learning skills by adding, “We recorded the Negative Prayer songs in the end of 2020. He learned them on the spot, we ran through them like 2 times and then would record them.”
Carbonized Records and Seed Of Doom Records are co-releasing the duo’s opening salvo. House explains his intimate relationship with each label, first with Carbonized: “I’ve known Chad Gailey from Carbonized for over a decade from when I lived in the Bay Area. My old bands Acephalix and Vastum would play with his bands. We started playing music together with Luca Indrio which turned into Necrot.”
He built a connection with Seed Of Doom with the consumer in mind, specifying, “Decrepisy released our album on Seed of Doom to cut down on international shipping costs for people ordering overseas. I already had a working relationship with Steven Van Asch from Seed Of Doom and they (each label) were both down to release it.”
Even though Negative Prayer’s debut EP is a must-have for fans of the genre, they will be dropping their first full-length album, SELF/WOUND, in mid-2023 on Chaos Records in Mexico and Life After Death (Records) in the US. And as far as what to expect from their live show, he proudly forecasts, “TOTAL D-BEAT/CRUST DESTRUCTION!!!”
Photo courtesy of Sarah Nadine Lower.
