Texas death metal group Tribal Gaze quickly garnered attention in the underground metal scene after unleashing their crushing debut EP, Godless Voyage, back in 2020, shortly after forming. Since then, the band has continued to make big waves in the form of hulking riffs and towering grooves – the kind that don’t just smash the listener, but proceed to pummel the living shit out of ‘em.
After releasing their debut full-length, The Nine Choirs, Tribal Gaze caught the eye of powerhouse metal label Nuclear Blast Records, who signed them in early 2025. Alongside the announcement came news of a freshly recorded album, soon to be revealed as the band’s second LP: the mosh-inducing Inveighing Brilliance, released this past October.
“It’s still fucking crazy to me,” states Tribal Gaze vocalist McKenna Holland as he reflects on how the whole signing to Nuclear Blast came together.
“We met Monte [Conner] outside our show in New York City on a tour we did with Frozen Soul and we were just talking to him, and he said ‘hey, you all played a great set,’ and we talked to him for a little bit then he said he’ll be in touch. Me and Quintin, our guitar player, walked off like smiling idiots, we couldn’t believe it – homie from Nuclear Blast just talked to us saying he’ll keep in touch was just insane…Monte’s the man. The last tour we did with The Acacia Strain, again, he was at the New York show, he came out and we just talked about music and got a slice of pizza down the street…Even right now just talking about it, I can’t believe it.”
He adds, “Behind me is 300 vinyl records of Inveighing Brilliance in boxes and it just blows my mind every time I step into my office. I can’t believe we did this, it’s huge to me.”
Long before Tribal Gaze was even a thought, Holland, who discovered heavier music by way of Slipknot back when he was a young teen, recalls Suicide Silence’s music video for ‘Bludgeoned to Death’ being a huge turning point for his vocal inspiration.
“I thought those low growls were – still to this day, when I’m trying to do lows, that’s what I’m going for. It just sounded so brutal to me, from there on it was a journey of trying to find my voice, I just got hooked on it,” explains Holland.
Expanding on his vocal inspirations that have allowed him to develop his bludgeoning growl over the years, he shares, “I take a lot of inspiration from Corpsegrinder. His vocals are so sick because he sounds so pissed off and monstrous, too…he just sound like a big ass dude, pissed the fuck off, about to kill you…Whenever I do like the yelling, higher pitch vocals, that’s more like a Scott Vogel [Terror] style, where he just sounds mad as fuck…Also, Glen Benton’s vocals that he has, that mix between the low and high pitch that sounds really fucking cool. I’ve tried to do those specifically, and made my throat bleed…I remember trying to do that and spitting up blood, thinking like, ‘oh, shit, I’m doing something wrong here.’ That’s when I realized I gotta figure out a different way to do this.”
Rounding out the Tribal Gaze lineup comes guitarists Quintin Stuats and Ian Kilmer, bassist Zachary Denton, and drummer Cesar De Los Santos, who conjure pure brutality through their instruments. Holland credits the creative minds of stringsmen Stuats and Kilmer for their contributions with crafting lyrics.
“The lyrics they write are so much cooler than anything I have to write,” Holland jokingly admits. “I’ll have plenty of songs with lyrics but then they’ll send me one song of lyrics and I’m just like, ‘that shit’s way cooler, I’m going with that.’”
He continues, “Ian can tell a good story with whatever he’s writing. He’ll base his lyrics off a lot of sci-fi movies, or video games like Dark Souls. I have no idea what the fuck that game’s about, but I’ll read the lyrics and they just sound awesome. Quentin’s lyrics are all just evil as shit. I could tell he’ll write a lot of lyrics while at work, pissed off at something…I’m like, ‘ you’re having a bad day, aren’t you? But the lyrics end up sick [laughs]. They both do a really good job at telling stories…I did write the lyrics for ‘Draped In Piercing Radiance’ – I’ll just get a gory image in my head, write it down and see what happens.”
On Inveighing Brilliance, Tribal Gaze expands their sonic vision, putting together a sound that’s more intuitive and more primal, plunging into new depths of neck breaking intensity. Holland explains that the band was still trying to figure out their sound on The Nine Choirs, whereas on the new record, they aimed to write music that would hit even harder during live shows.
“We realized we wanted to make more mosh parts. [The Nine Choirs] was still experimental for us, even though we knew more of what we were going for. We just wrote what we thought sounded cool.”
Helping hone in the band’s vision on Inveighing Brilliance came the recording process itself, which took place at The Pit, operated by veteran metal musician and well-respected producer Taylor Young. The experience of the band traveling and recording together in the same studio room was undoubtedly special for Holland and the rest of Tribal Gaze.
“We flew out to LA for about 10 days to record,” says Holland. “You know, Taylor has been in bands that I’ve been listening to for a long ass time, and he’s worked with bands that I’ve listened to since I was a teenager…It was cool watching these songs come to life, from being a demo, to seeing all the different things we’d add. Little accents and things that would make a huge difference. Taylor would also have suggestions that would just make things so much cooler. It felt awesome to have another head helping us work on it, especially since we felt comfortable around him.”
“I listen to this material and really enjoy what I’m hearing, I get into it more naturally. I’m really proud of the guys and I’m proud of myself for the vocals I laid down…Something about this album is that it’s more aggressive and we really wanted to bring that live experience into the mix – channeling mayhem out in the audience. These are all songs that I would wanna see a crowd of people just beating the shit out of each other and headbanging to…If you’re a heavy band playing music and people are beating the hell out of each other, you did something right.”
As Tribal Gaze continues to grow, balancing a day job while prioritizing touring, recording, and other opportunities for the band, has come with its expected challenges. Holland – who’s been able to sustain his most recent job as a package delivery driver alongside the band – shares that he’d love to make music a full time endeavor someday.
“It’s definitely a goal for us. We don’t know what to expect at all, like, anytime we get hit up for a tour, we can’t believe it. We’re pretty much all on the same page of if we could do this full time and pretty much pay our bills while doing it, then that’s what we’re going for…It’d be a grind for sure, but it’s better to be going through hell trying to do something you love to do, rather than doing some bullshit just trying to get by in life.”
Inveighing Brilliance is out now and you can order it from Nuclear Blast Records. Follow Tribal Gaze on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for future updates.
