There’s a lot to consider before embarking on a quest. First up, you have to make sure you’ve got the right supplies. It wouldn’t do to get caught outdoors in a snowstorm without a cloak or be stranded far from home without provisions with a growling stomach. There’s also the matter of plotting the path you’ll take, as getting lost in the dark, foreboding woods isn’t a recipe for a successful voyage. Before leaving, you should probably make sure your weapons are loaded up and sharpened since it’s no use trying to cleave a goblin’s head with a dull blade. Most important, however, is finding who to accompany you on this long and dangerous quest.
If you’re looking for fellow adventurers for your party, you could certainly do a lot worse than Dethlehem. Formed in 2008, Pittsburgh’s Dethlehem has spent the last decade-plus throwing together killer records of Dungeons and Dragons-themed metal. With 2020’s Maelstrom of the Emerald Dragon, Dethlehem unleashed another epic quest upon the adventure-starved masses. For those who have been waiting for another journey, Dethlehem has good news. Roll for initiative and read on to find out the latest on everyone’s favorite D&D metallers.
First off, how did the band get started? Had you guys known each other long? What kind of band experiences had you guys had prior to Dethlehem?
Lord Bonecrush [Brian Urban, vocals]:The current drummer and prior guitarists were playing in a rock band and I had been hanging out with them at their place for quite a while. One of the guitarists and I had the idea, we wanted to do a metal band for a Halloween party coming up at a friend’s house. After practicing a few weeks and writing a few songs – we got the rest of the rock band involved and it started to come together.
Finally because of it being a Halloween party, we decided to wear costumes and be themed for the band. I was into a few GWAR albums and I liked the idea of being goofy as well as performing music [laughs]. Then I started to write a story and lyrics that built around that theme. I’ve been a lifelong gamer and the whole fantasy metal aspect was something that totally clicked with me. It was super loose at the time but I was having so much fun writing and playing that it didn’t matter.
This was my first “band experience” or getting involved in anything musically outside of just singing songs to myself. I’ve been in and out of a few bands (including this one) since then, but somehow I’m still a part of this thing we call Dethlehem [laughs].
Brutalitus the BloodBeard [Jeff Kerekes, vocals]: So, I met the Dethlehem guys after opening for them in a Dethklok Tribute band I had been a part of just for fun. 2009-ish I think? When I saw them I loved it and thought the whole schtick was great. I think the first person I connected with was JT (Overlord Brom). We were just casual acquaintances, but then I caught wind that their singer (Brian) was calling it quits because they wanted to tour more and his job at the time wouldn’t allow him to. I’d never been a frontman before, and only really sang karaoke here and there, but I figured hey….let’s give this a shot.
I tried out a few times and they all liked what I was doing. Plus, my personality fit in pretty well with everyone else. The first album I wrote was Destroyers of the Realm (2015) which was a pretty intense learning process [laughs], but we got through it after some hiccups and I’m still proud of my first Dethlehem release. Then, we did Maelstrom of the Emerald Dragon as a four-piece and I felt I really found my voice/style on that album…and now, Brian and I are finally going to be doing an album together which is pretty awesome!
Ranger Grimshaw Longfellow [Buddy Hoebler, bass]: I’d been performing and touring in DIY punk and pop punk outfits for a while and met the Dethlehem guys through some mutual friends. Funny enough, I was at the first Dethlehem show in a dingy basement back in 2008 well before I ever thought I’d be so involved. Somewhere around 2014 (maybe) the drummer posted on Facebook that they needed a merch person for their next tour. I jumped at the opportunity and almost lost my job because of it. Years later their bass player quit. I am not a bass player but do play drums. Essentially, I learned how to play bass in a matter of months and officially joined Dethlehem. Ten years later, except three months where I quit and came back, I’m still here.
Credit for pictures: http://www.ericproffitphoto.com/ Pictures provided to Metal Plague by the band.
How did you guys get into extreme metal and what were some of the bands and albums that were important to getting you guys into it?
Brutalitis: For me, it started when I picked up guitar. I was into bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Silverchair, grungy stuff since that was what I was being exposed to. I’d say the first HEAVY band I got into was White Zombie. Astro-Creep 2000 was like nothing I’d heard before.
Then I picked up a guitar and realized all of that stuff was pretty easy to play. I wanted something more challenging, and like many others before me, that started with Metallica, Master of Puppets specifically. I learned the title track all the way through and it made me a much better musician. Then I just kept seeking out more extreme versions of this music and haven’t stopped since! Funny enough, I have always played guitar in other bands. Dethlehem is my first stint (over a decade now [laughs]) as a frontman.
Some of my favorite metal bands nowadays would have to be Black Dahlia, Soilwork, Blind Guardian, Khemmis, Killitorous, and Asunojokei. I’ve been jamming a lot of other styles lately too, like Gunship and a lot of lo-fi stuff while I work my day job.
Lord Bonecrush: I grew up liking a lot of rock bands but always steered towards Metallica and a lot of grunge when it came out. Then I’d say the big metal jump for me was Slipknot in high school (costumes? Are you beginning to understand?) – and after that it was just into Nu-Metal, then NWOBHM – thrash – melodic death – folk – the list just keeps going on and still does [laughs].
Big artists for me that inspired me for this band – 3 Inches of Blood – Fear Factory – Iron Maiden – Helloween – Children Of Bodom – Soilwork and a bunch of others that I will save you from listing [laughs].
Khult Headwind [Colt Dalmaso, guitars]: When I was like 10 or 11 years old I had a little AM/FM radio. I could just barely pick up this college radio station and on Saturday nights they would play metal bands. I had listened to bands like Metallica and stuff before but this was the first time I’d heard bands like Cradle of Filth and In Flames. I would sit every Saturday night next to my window with my little radio and try to listen to all the crazy bands. That was the beginning of my love affair with extreme metal bands.
Overlord Brom [JT Penderville, drums]: I come from a family of musicians, so when I was a kid, and it was “my turn” to pick an instrument to play in elementary school, I thought the drums would be cool when I signed up for music class. Not only are drums cool, but practically speaking, after elementary school, my little kid brain was thinking ahead – It’s much easier to be in a band as a drummer than a trumpet player, right? As I went through all the typically horrible middle school and high school rock band motions, a friend of mine said “screw this boring rock music stuff, you are a drummer right? Check out this band, Slipknot! They have 3 drummers!” Blew my mind! Of course, I learned later that they really have ONE drummer on the kit and two percussionists… but, whatever right? Slipknot was my gateway to metal, and then a door further opened to the extreme metal side of things when another friend introduced me to The Dillinger Escape Plan’s album, Irony Is A Dead Scene. It was another moment in my life where I was blown away with the skill the drummer had (mad props to Chris Pennie!) – While I never achieved that level of skill, it never stopped me from really connecting with the really heavy stuff.
Durok Magicfist [Curt Kunkle, guitars]: For me, I think some of the grungier bands like Alice in Chains and Nirvana were a gateway to heavier music. From there, I got into stuff like Metallica and Pantera and then just progressively liked heavier and heavier music. Some of my favorite albums along the way were Lamb of God – Sacrament, Mastodon – Leviathan, Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine, Black Dahlia Murder – Nocturnal, Meshuggah – Obzen.
Grimshaw: I LOVE metal and always have. I remember when Megadeth broke up briefly when I was in high school. I came to school the next day in a homemade “Rust in Peace Megadeth” t-shirt. It went from Megadeth, Overkill, Testament, to Lamb of God, Meshuggah, and The Black Dahlia Murder. More recently, I’ve been obsessed with melodeth. In my opinion, Be’Lakor is the best band to ever do it. Jeff totally agrees.
How did you guys initially get into playing D&D? Are you all big fans or did anyone need to be convinced? How active of players are you all still?
Lord Bonecrush: The funny part is that the idea of the fantasy aspects of this band really started with our love of RPGs and not tabletop directly [laughs]. When I started writing stuff, our guitarist was into Warhammer while I was into Diablo and a lot of 80s fantasy movies (Legend, Neverending Story, Conan, Princess Bride) – that plus a lot of classic “Heavy Metal” bands I loved fueled my ideas at the time to write about the story. Then the tabletop stuff just came out of that over time and funny enough I do play tabletop sometimes, but it’s usually horror based [laughs]. I have played my fair share of dungeon crawlers on PC/console growing up and I still love that stuff. WIZARD NEEDS FOOD BADLY!
Brutalitus: I joined the band after they were already established. I have only dabbled in D&D and honesty would love to play it more. I’ve always been a huge gamer though, and there are plenty of D&D themes and aspects in video games. That’s where most of my knowledge of it comes from. I think we are all still fans in our own ways. There’s always a story to make up and write about when D&D is the subject matter! It’s funny, cause I’d love to play D&D with the rest of the band, but when we get together, our sessions involve instruments instead of dice [laughs].
Overlord Brom: Like the other guys have mentioned, I really connected with video games first. Diablo led me into Baldur’s Gate I & II on the PC. From that point, tabletop had always interested me. One of our original guitarists, Hildor (Doyle Daigle II) was pretty big into Warhammer at the time. A group of guys at my work invited me to play D&D 5e after hours and that’s when I really got into it. It’s been a really long time since I’ve actually gotten together with a group to play though… I say Dethlehem is like my D&D campaign these days [laughs].
What kind of classes/races/characters do you guys gravitate toward in D&D? What has the response from D&D fans been like to the band? Metal and D&D has always been a natural fit!
Lord Bonecrush: Jeff plays video games with me all the time so he’ll probably laugh when he knows I pick the warrior/tank class every time. I usually build a big brute that looks like myself and I equip him with either a double handed sword or an axe/mace – shield combo [laughs] – It’s so funny when I build avatars of myself because I’m so plain looking that I am an avatar. In the band, my new role (that I’ve christened myself [laughs]) is HYPEMAGE – So that class in itself explains a lot of what I do in the band – I put some magic on the vocals for him and then I jump around with pure mana energy……that’s really just a lame excuse that I have a ton of adrenaline and enjoy making goofy sounds.
Overlord Brom: Honestly, I try to switch it up when I was playing regularly, but I think my favorite character was a dragonborn paladin I ran with a group years ago. I was really big into laying hands on everyone, ya know? When I have time for video game RPGs, I’m always picking the weirdest class and designing the ugliest character I can. My dude from Dragon Age: Inquisition looked like he fell off a mountain and hit his face on every rock on the way down.
Credit for pictures: http://www.ericproffitphoto.com/ Pictures provided to Metal Plague by the band.
How did getting to do that first album, The Ghorusalem Codex Vol I come about and what was it like to record your first one? What did you learn from that process?
Lord Bonecrush: So that was the first time I’ve recorded anything [laughs]. It certainly was a learning process from the get-go. Everyone has their own ceiling and lows when it comes to screaming, so personally over time I had to find that comfort spot to where it sounds “deece.” The first album has a lot of high nasal screams that I almost blew out my voice a few times [laughs] but over time I’ve figured out what I need to do to hit those same kind of vocals. And of course I don’t even want to talk about the singing vocals on SOME of those parts – let’s just say things have improved since then, I think [laughs].
Still that album is probably the fastest we went at the time and live shows were even faster because the drummer or guitarist would increase by 50bpm (exaggerated [laughs]). Eventually we all came together and locked in over time [laughs].
Oh and that was the first iteration of my “armor” – I had a rubber helmet I had cut into to see out of but I would go so nuts during our set that I wouldn’t be able to see half the time [laughs].
Overlord Brom: Ah man, those were good times. We self-recorded that first album without a click track, so the tempos are all over the place. But, we had a lot of energy at the time, and learned a lot during the recording process. It wasn’t my first recording experience, but it was a ton of fun. I remember recording the drums in my friend’s basement. It was a super tight space, and honestly not suitable for recording at all, but we made it work the best we could. We’ve tossed around the idea of remixing and remastering that album. Maybe one day! We definitely learned a lot about what not to do with that album. We also learned a lot more about what not to do on Vol. II. I feel like every album recording we do gets better and better, so at least we are on the right trajectory!
Going to the most recent album, Maelstrom of the Emerald Dragon, how has the band’s recording process changed over the years? What was the recording/writing process like for that album?
Brutalitus: We do 90% of it ourselves now, which is great. We can take our time and get things how we want them. The double edged sword of this is that it’s sometimes hard to know when to stop and say “ok, this is done.” We still have to send everything out to be mixed and mastered, but having the capabilities to do everything else in-house has been fantastic.
Overlord Brom: Over the years, self-recording has been becoming way more accessible and inexpensive to a degree. Because of that, we have learned to take our time and put more care into things. Like Brutalitus said, sometimes that becomes a problem though-we take too much time to write and record. You’ll notice that our album releases are pretty spaced out, and that’s due to a lot of reasons. Jobs, families, lineup changes… it always works out though. If Dethlehem were truly a full-time band, we could crank out tunes a lot faster, but we’ve all accepted the fact that we just have to move at our own pace and focus on having fun and writing songs WE want to hear and play. I’m glad people can still resonate with us though.
Grimshaw: DIY baby. As self-proclaimed producer of Maelstrom of the Emerald Dragon (check the liner notes), we did everything ourselves. I personally engineered every note of guitar on that album. With this album we really introduced more orchestration, which I was very excited about (see end of “Beware the Mimic”). We are continuing this into our new album as well.
I really dug the story mode version of that album too! How did doing two versions of that come about and what has the response been like?
Brutalitus: Glad you enjoy it! In the past, we have heard varying things from fans. Some LOVE the story elements and some….not so much. So last time around, we tried something new. We offered a version of the album for both audiences. When I write the lyrics, I do my best to make the songs stand alone. I don’t want the story’s plot to interfere with the music too much, and vice versa. At the end of the day, I want the story to supplement the songs for those who want to dive a little deeper. The response to having two versions has been positive, and silenced some of the story/interlude haters [laughs].
Overlord Brom: Back in the Ghorusalem Codex Vol. I and II days, the interludes/voiceovers were relatively short and were kind of an afterthought. We spent about two minutes writing them, and Lord Bonecrush recorded them quickly. I’m thinking one or two takes, at most. We’ve upped the length and effort put into those since, and it made sense to separate them into their own tracks. Because of how long they end up being, it can really change the pacing of the album, especially if you just want to listen to the tunes. It was an experiment to run two versions of the album (one with and one without the interludes) and I think overall the reception for allowing people to have the choice on which version to listen to has been positive.
Credit for pictures: http://www.ericproffitphoto.com/ Pictures provided to Metal Plague by the band.
The album art for your records always does a great job of setting the stage for the music and story. Who does your album art and how much direction do you give them ahead of time? I imagine getting the final product must always be pretty exciting.
Brutalitus: We have been fortunate to know some really talented artists. The first three albums were done by our guitarist at the time, Hildor (Doyle). He’s still a great friend of the band, and has since moved to Sweden to further his career in the gaming industry. For the last album, we enlisted an amazing Pittsburgh based artist named Joe Mruk (https://redbuffalo.org/) and he absolutely crushed it!
I would be remiss to not mention my brother-in-law, Nicholas Rocco (https://www.instagram.com/walteratwaltco/) . He has helped with artwork since I have joined the band and is one of the most talented artists I have ever met. He did the bestiary for the last album as well as the inside artwork for the vinyl. If he had the time, we would love him to do everything for us! It just so happens, he DOES have the time now and has been given the direction we want to go for the next album already….so he will be the main artist for the next one which is super exciting! Love you Nic!
I wanted to ask about the musical and thematic inspiration for a few of the songs on the last record. What was the inspiration behind “Mind Flayer?” That’s such a classic monster to do a song about and the music totally fits.
Brutalitus: You pretty much hit the nail on the head! I wanted to feature more of the classic D&D monsters last time around, so Mind Flayers, Mimics, and even Gelatinous Cubes make an appearance on Maelstrom of the Emerald Dragon. It’s easy enough to write those classics into the story, and I feel it worked out well. Plus, it’s super fun to write those songs. They have so much to pull from and always seem to write themselves. Expect some more of that this next time around too!
How about the story behind “Escape From Wolf Mountain?” The composition itself is killer and you always manage to fit the story elements into the tracks really naturally.
Brutalitus: Why thank you! When I start writing, I always come up with the story first so I can chronologically make it make sense for people who want to dive in some more. “Escape From Wolf Mountain” is pretty much a side quest we had to do to get some information from the three-headed bog witch of the woods (who actually started out as three separate witches, and morphed into one three headed being after the studio (https://jamrollstudios.com/home/) animating the music video (https://youtu.be/4uyRWTxEkJY?feature=shared) suggested it!). The name of the track came from my love of cheesy action movies, specifically the Escape From NewYork/LA series with Kurt Russell. From there, it was just determining what we needed to do during that quest and then writing about it.
Generally, the guys will have already written songs based around loose story elements. Then I write lyrics, ask for adjustments (like making a part shorter or longer), then we all take a listen and adjust again and again.
What about the story behind “Gelatinous Cube Labyrinth?” It’s such a goofy monster that actually kills you in such a horrific way that it’s perfect for a metal song.
Brutalitus: [Laughs] pretty much nail on the head again! I was trying to get it to be a Wayne’s World reference initially, “Gelatinous cube eats village, I think it’s terrific!” but I decided that pigeonholed me too much and then filled a labyrinth with them. And yeah, the way it just slowly digests you [laughs], so brutal, so metal. D&D is a treasure trove for metal lyrics.
Credit for pictures: http://www.ericproffitphoto.com/ Pictures provided to Metal Plague by the band.
What’s your local metal scene like out in Pittsburgh? Is it pretty active and do you feel like it has had an effect on the band?
Brutalitus: We love Pittsburgh and love playing shows here! The city has been good to us and even voted us as “Best Metal Band” in the city quite a few times! Touring is great, but it’s always fun playing a home town show. The scene itself fluctuates quite a bit, but there are plenty of great metal bands around that we have either played with or would love to play with! Our one guitarist, Khult Headwind (Colt) is actually in another great local band named Greywalker (https://www.instagram.com/greywalker_pgh/) . Very influenced by early Darkest Hour. Then there’s a ton more active ones like Strangers (https://www.instagram.com/strangersbandpgh/) Riparian (https://www.instagram.com/riparian_pgh/) , Vicious Blade (https://www.instagram.com/vicious_blade/) Lady Beast (https://www.instagram.com/ladybeastofficial/) Post Mortal Possession (https://www.instagram.com/postmortalpossessionofficial/) , there’s OwlBear ( https://www.facebook.com/OwlbearMetal ) who aren’t entirely from Pittsburgh, but I definitely felt they were worth mentioning since they are another D&D themed group, and a bunch more…. but I’d be here all day listing them.
Khult Headwind: The local metal scene is very active with a ton of shows happening all the time. We’re all pretty close with each other and we like to keep it fun. Being in another local band (Greywalker) has a pretty big effect on me because it keeps my chops up! I’m always riffing and a lot of the time get to do double duty when both bands play together.
You guys have had a pretty consistent lineup as well. What do you guys do to keep such a healthy band dynamic?
Brutalitus: It’s funny you say that, because HALF of the current lineup has quit and come back at some point [laughs]. Granted, we have been around for some time. I think now that we are all a bit older, we all have the same goals with the band. We all have full-time careers, some of us have kids, we all do other extracurricular stuff aside from the band. We just do it because it’s fun as Hell! I’m so beyond grateful for what I’ve been able to experience because of this band, and I’ll do it for as long as it’s fun and I’m physically able to.
Khult Headwind: In my opinion, our current healthy dynamic stems from us all being on the same page. We’re here to have fun and have some laughs together. None of us take ourselves too seriously.
Overlord Brom: I always joke that there are enough ex-Dethlehem members out there that they could start a tribute band [laughs]! But, it is true that we have three current members that had at one point left, and rejoined after some time. As with everything in life, dynamics can change, and there are never any hard feelings to the guys who have permanently moved on. However, the current lineup does seem to be the most productive, and the most on the same page as we’ve ever felt. So, I am excited to see how our fifth album comes together. I say it for every album, but I’m legitimately very pumped to drop these new tunes we’ve been working on. I’ve also been the only member since the beginning that hasn’t quit and rejoined, so basically I have full tenure and my opinion on everything clearly counts the most. :)
Grimshaw: We’ve been doing this forever. I like to think of Dethlehem more as an art collective than a band and so many people have come and gone (including myself). Even though I’m not a founding member, I’ve personally been through several iterations of Dethlehem. I guess once you’re in it for a decade you’re considered a core member…so here I am writing an answer to an interview question.
Credit for picture: http://www.ericproffitphoto.com/ Picture provided to Metal Plague by the band.
Lastly, what’s next for Dethlehem? What are the band’s plans for the rest of 2024 and beyond?
Brutalitus: We have a couple shows in the pipeline! We just played an awesome local fest called the Millvale Music Festival (https://www.millvalemusic.org/). We played RPM Fest (https://www.rpmfest.org/) last year and Mad With Power Fest (https://madwithpowerfest.com/) the year prior, which were all absolutely amazing experiences and if you have the opportunity to go to them…you won’t be disappointed! But we aren’t doing any extensive touring this year to focus on our next album.
That being said, we are hard at work and have some super cool ideas this time around that will take some time and coordination, but it’s coming along nicely. As of this interview, the story is written and we have all of the music ready-ish, pending any tweaks and instrumentation that just naturally happen during the process. We have three songs completely written, and one song that will serve as a single to help push our Kickstarter once that gets announced. I don’t want to give a final song count just yet because who knows what the future holds, but I can guarantee there will be more tracks on this next album than any other album we have done before.
Grimshaw: Write a new fucking album. Make each other laugh and don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Editor’s Note: Dethlehem will be also be at Lil’ Fest II: Welcome to Metal Vale on August 10th! Get your tickets here to the event by clicking here!
Logo at top provided to the site by the band.
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