Ex-ENFORSAKEN Guitarist Launches 'Trend-Free Death Metal' Band THE SHOTGUN SUICIDES

Former ENFORSAKEN guitarist Steve Stell has resurfaced in the Chicago, Illinois-based band called THE SHOTGUN SUICIDES.

Commented Stell: "When ENFORSAKEN broke up in August of 2006, I took a few months off from the music thing. After eight years of playing with and managing ENFORSAKEN, I definitely needed a break. I wasn't planning on starting a new project anytime soon, but in January 2007, I started playing around with some old ENFORSAKEN riffs…. guitar stuff that never made it on to any of our albums...just for fun. It wasn't long before I found myself with a full album's worth of new material. If I had made only a couple of songs back in January, they would have probably never seen the light of day. At best, they probably would have just shown up on a shitty MySpace page at some point. However, I really like how these songs came out, so the only right thing to do is to release them as a full length album. So, that's what is going to happen! THE SHOTGUN SUICIDES is a complete death metal project. It's got a lot of early '90s metal influences like DISMEMBER, CARCASS, SENTENCED, GRAVE, PESTILENCE, IMPALED NAZARENE, DARKTHRONE, AUTOPSY, DEATH, KREATOR, EDGE OF SANITY, ENTOMBED etc… the metal music I grew up with. The stuff that was going on before metalcore ruled the world, haha. We've also incorporated a bit of the classic 'chainsaw guitar tone' made famous by Swedish death metal pioneers ENTOMBED, CARNAGE, DISMEMBER etc. into our guitar sound. We've blended a modern, high-gain guitar tone with that old-school chainsaw sound, and the end result is pretty damn cool. Many of the riffs on the album were originally intended for ENFORSAKEN, so I think fans of that band will probably enjoy what they hear in this new project. It's basically in the vein of ENFORSAKEN with a little less melody, and a little more brutality. Straight-up, to-the-point death metal. The album is called 'A Glorious Tragedy' and will be released in the fall of 2007. I will be initially releasing this album in the USA on my own label, Soulside Records. I plan on licensing this album to Europe and Japan. Any interested labels can contact me directly."

Regarding the name choice of THE SHOTGUN SUICIDES, Stell said, "It's just a sick name I've had in my head for years. It is obviously a horrifying thing, so there you have it. When you think of a guy that has blown his brains against the wall, the image in your head isn't very pretty, is it? It's truly brutal and that's the way i feel about this project. No whimpering clean vocals or weak choruses are allowed in this band, haha. There are no songs about holding hands and going to the movies with your girlfriend on this album. It's done in the spirit of how it was done back in the day. 100% raw, in-your-face, trend-free death metal. Before the scene was flooded with cheap, paint-by-numbers mallcore bullshit."

THE SHOTGUN SUICIDES will enter Studio One (MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO, SOIL, NOVEMBERS DOOM, ENFORSAKEN, JUNGLE ROT) in Racine, Wisconsin on July 14 to begin recording "A Glorious Tragedy". Chris Djuricic (NOVEMBERS DOOM bassist and Studio One owner) will produce and engineer the project. Cover artwork for "A Glorious Tragedy" was recently completed by acclaimed metal/prog artist Mattias Noren (EVERGREY, JOHN PETRUCCI, INTO ETERNITY, KOTIPELTO, DEREK SHERINIAN). Underground artist Brian Guther created THE SHOTGUN SUCIDES logo. Brian also did the ENFORSAKEN logo way back in 1998.

Stell's former band ENFORSAKEN was active in the metal scene from 1998 until its break-up in 2006. ENFORSAKEN released three critically acclaimed albums over their eight-year history: "The Forever Endeavor" (Century Media/Olympic, 2004),"Sinner's Intuition" (Crash Music, 2006) and "Embraced By Misery" (Lifeforce Records, 2001).

For more information on THE SHOTGUN SUICIDES, click here.