Autophagy are the latest death metal gang from Portland. They are as unhinged as they are brutally heavy, and that makes for a dangerous combination. Turns out this gnarly concoction has been brewing for some time now . . .
Before Autophagy formed, Kevin and Andy played together in a crust band called Vastation, formerly Night Nurse. But, as Andy tells it, Vastation “was on the death metal side of crust already.” Vastation took an Amebix-inspired approach to Grave-style death metal. Autophagy come off far gloomier. Vastation covered Nausea. But on their demo, Autophagy cover Nihilist.
“We all have a love for punk and metal,” Andy says. “We just all agreed that [death metal] was our favorite style and what we were all wanting to play.”
He goes on to talk about how “Autophagy started out with Kevin and Justin on guitars and Cole on drums.” Then they asked Andy to join up on vocals. Andy also drew Autophagy’s logo, as well as the twisted cover art. The artwork was originally intended for Vastation, but after “some minor adjustments,” Andy says he believes it fits Autophagy’s demo much better.
On the demo, according to Andy, “Justin and Kevin split bass duties.” Missing from the band photo, then, is Autophagy’s bassist.
“It wasn’t until after [recording the demo] our friend Adam (ex-Ritual Necromancy, ex-Weregoat, ex-Burials, ex-Sempiternal Dusk, etc.) took over on bass.” If they were looking for someone to help push them deeper into macabre territory, they found the right guy in Adam.
Now Autophagy are in full force and will soon begin playing shows. If you’re in the Portland area, don’t miss—not that you would anyway—Autophagy opening for Petrification and Sadistic Intent.
“This will be our first show,” Andy says. “We are all super excited and honored to be asked to have this be our live debut. We all decided to try something new for us and have recordings before playing live.”
Recorded at Underworld by Charlie Koryn, mastered by Joel Grind, the self-titled demo from Autophagy will see a cassette release soon through Headsplit. According to Andy, those tapes should be out very soon.
Meanwhile, Autophagy show no sign of relenting. In fact, they’re already writing their LP.
“We’ve been discussing a mini tour of the northern west coast . . .,” Andy says. “Definitely planning on doing more shows and marching forward as a band.”
