Veteran Los Angeles Death Metal band Awake for the Autopsy have celebrated their sixth studio album by posing for the same promotional photo that they’ve been doing for a decade.
Looking to drum up support for their new album ‘Buried Alive’, Awake… did a few interviews with local metal magazines and websites. They all asked the band to repeat the same ‘stare at the camera with a serious face while wearing various black metal band t-shirts.’
“We thought that pose was pretty badass when we started in 2012,” said vocalist Peter ‘Goregrinder’ Chapman. “We thought it made us look serious and brutal as f***! Just like our favourite death metal bands that we all grew up listening to.”
But that pose became expected of the band for all promotional interviews, with the only variant being the location: sometimes it’d be in the woods, sometimes in an abandoned church or abbattoir, and sometimes infront of a simple brick wall.
“We got sick of it after a few years. We grew up and realised we didn’t need to look serious and brutal all the time: our music would do that for us,” said Peter.
While he tried to get the band to do more light-hearted photos (including wearing brightly coloured shirts for a change), they never made the cut, so Peter eventually accepted that they’ll be stuck with that same photo forever.
In an attempt to branch out, Peter is planning a side project called Heavy Soul, with hard rock and metal covers of classic Motown songs.
“I’ve been trialling a few songs on my personal YouTube and TikTok channel; they’ve gone down fairly well and opened me up to a new audience. Awake… fans hate it, but I don’t care. I actually get to sing in this band as well as scream. I’m looking forward to it.”
Everyday News is a brand new general news/parody section of The Gurgler, and definitely not a lame rip-off of ‘The Betoota Advocate’. We swear.
