Faces Of Annihilation

Music Monday is ready to head bang and destroy a venue with an amazing death metal band from Twin Falls, Idaho, Faces of Annihilation​

This band formed because of some old-fashioned concert networking, and some new school Facebook posting! This formed a different project that would later become Faces Of Annihilation. Let’s start from the beginning. The original drummer, Cameron, had met Walter Pruitt​ (Guitar, Drums, Vocals) at a local show and stayed connected. During that same time Cameron had met Kendall Joyner​ (Guitar). Cameron soon posted on Facebook that he wanted to start a goregrind band called Deletus Fetus in which Walter responded. During the formation of Deletus Fetus, Walter brought Ollie Thompson​ (volcals, drums, guitar) along to join the band. These 3 guys started playing covers of Acid Bath songs and got the idea to switch instruments and roles during their set (which we will talk about later in this blog.) Sadly, Cameron had to move to Spokane WA, due to a fantastic job offer but thankfully they all still stayed friends to this day. But knowing he was going to leave he suggested that Kendall join as a guitarist. For a about a month the band was drum less. Walter suggested the band bring on Zachary Fisher​ (drums, guitar, bass) to play the drums. The final piece of the puzzle is Alex Zion​ (Bass, Vocals) who joined after an impromptu audition, which Alex didn’t know was an audition, and from there Faces Of Annihilation was born!

Now as mentioned above the band, during their live sets, change out positions and instruments depending on the songs they play! Ollie said “We all knew Acid Bath songs; but we all knew how to play them on the instruments we weren't gonna play for the band. I knew how to play some songs on guitar that Walter knew how to drum, and Cameron knew how to sing.” This adds a very rare touch to their performances. As the band switches around their positions you get a different feel and energy from the band. This is something Music Mondays has never seen any other band do, which makes it very cool! The band states: “We are unique in the sense that we rotate members, our sound is very different from the other bands in the scene, and we bring 5 dudes who want nothing more than to have a thriving scene. We bring passion, we bring intensity, and we bring an unquenchable thirst of creation."

Each band member found their love of music at a very young age. Ollie: “I've been around music my whole life, My dad played guitar a lot when I was younger, and my oldest brother played drums.” Ollie has officially only learned the Bass Clarinet the “proper” way, but he is able to play the drums, guitar and sing like a straight up rock star. Walter started music around 9 years old “I always loved music growing up and dreamed of writing music for people to hear. I had an idea to my very supportive mom that I maybe wanted to try guitar.” He said. Growing up Walter had the idea he was not very good at much; he tried sports, drawing, painting and clubs but nothing stuck. One faithful Christmas in 2007 his mother bought him his first guitar and signed him up for lessons. Even though he faced, and still faces, a lot of self-doubt he has learned and grown a tremendous amount in the past 12 years. Kendall started playing around 7 years old saying “I was playing hide & seek with some friends. Went into my parents closet & found my dad's guitar. I asked for lessons after that, had two teachers.” Between the two teachers he learned how to play the scales, music theory and the love of class rock music. Kendall on stage is a force to watch! Alex started practicing metal vocals and guitar around the age of 13. He said ”most of my musical influence comes from a root of blues and nwobhm, bit varies from this to power metal and melodic death metal. I began playing bass approximately 7 months ago." Which Music Monday could not tell about just learning the bass as he kicks ass at it. Zach started learning guitar at the age of 8 and the following year started the drums! He wanted to join bands later on but either people didn’t take him seriously or they had way too high of expectations. But Zach States “I met Walter. He was really cool and nice. He came over to jam, and that started a great friendship”

The band’s songs/lyrics derive from a wide range of life influences and games! Their song Eldrazi is a direct reference to the Magic: The Gathering universe, and the lyrics involve that. Avian, however, is personal to Ollie. It originally started about an indie game by the same name; but Ollie made it more about his personal struggles with depression and anxiety. The band currently has 6 unreleased songs, all ranging somewhere else on the scale; one of them heavily inspired by early Thy Art is Murder, another is about trying to survive a natural Cataclysm. Others are about board games, or zombies. The band states: “The band as a whole doesn't really put personal situations into the music we play, we just let it control us and we perform that way.”

The band faces a common hardship that all bands face at one point or another saying “One constant hardship is all of our personalities; as we as a band have a very volatile mix. This reared its head when we lost Zach as our drummer for a few days, but that has been resolved.” Music Monday hopes this band can find the common thread of their creativity and use their volatile mix to create music for years to come! On a brighter note the band has had some great triumphs! They are almost at 1000 likes on Facebook and they are one of the most popular bands in Southern Idaho!

Music Monday has found a new favorite band when it comes to metal! These guys are extremely passionate about their music and it shows every time they perform! Not only are they all amazing musicians but they are even better people. Go see their show and afterwards say hello to them as they love interacting with their fans!

Final message from the band: “Kendall has the biggest”