Emmure

Emmure
Emmure signing during the 2013 Mayhem Festival
Background information
Origin	New Fairfield, Connecticut
Genres	Deathcore, metalcore, nu metal
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Victory, This City Is Burning
Members	Frankie Palmeri Jesse Ketive Mark Davis Mike Mulholland Adam Pierce
Past members	Ben Lionetti Joe Lionetti Mike Kaabe Mark Castillo

Emmure /ɛˈmjuːr/ is an American metalcore band formed in 2003. Originally based in New Fairfield, Connecticut, but now residing in Queens, New York, the group has a total of seven releases. With their two demos entitled Nine Eleven Zero Four and Demo 2005 they attracted the attention of This City Is Burning Records through which the band released their debut extended play The Complete Guide to Needlework.

Victory Records took notice of the band after the release of their extended play and signed them. They released their first full-length album Goodbye to the Gallows in 2007. The band has been signed to the label ever since. Their second, third and fourth albums The Respect Issue (2008), Felony (2009) and Speaker of the Dead (2011) were all distributed through Victory. After the band's initial four-album contract with Victory expired, they signed again with Victory to distribute their fifth and sixth studio albums Slave to the Game (2012) and Eternal Enemies (2014) as well.

Formation

Emmure was started in 2003. Frankie Palmeri (from Queens, New York) met Joe and Ben Lionetti (from New Fairfield, Connecticut) through an internet message board. Palmeri then traveled to Connecticut to begin rehearsals together. Bassist Mark Davis and guitarist Jesse Ketive, residents of New Fairfield and Queens, respectively, then joined when the three began another recruiting search for members.^[1] Ketive was formerly in the band Warfix, in which he played guitar alongside Sean Murphy and Mike Kaabe of Endwell (Kaabe eventually Joining Emmure himself in April 2009) and Bryan Goldsman of Southside Panic (and co-producer of Felony). The band's name "Emmure" is a reference to immurement, a form of execution.^[2]

History

In 2008, the band finished a tour in the lower 48 US states supporting Misery Signals, August Burns Red, and Burn Down Rome. That summer was spent on their headlining tour with Endwell, On Broken Wings, Ligeia, Recon, Unite and Conquer, Carnifex and others.

On May 1, 2009, rumors of the Lionetti brothers' departure from the band, due to conflict between members, were confirmed in a statement from Joe Lionetti.^[3] According to its page on Victory Records' web site, Emmure found a new guitarist and drummer in Mike Mulholland and Michael Kaabe, respectively. Mike Kaabe formerly played with Warfix, Hulk Blood, and Endwell and is also the step-brother of Emmure guitarist Jesse Ketive.

On June 20, 2009 the music video of "False Love in Real Life" was broadcast on MTV's Headbanger's Ball, which was directed by Frankie Nasso. Nasso previously directed the video to "Sound Wave Superior" as well.^[4] Emmure completed their third studio album, Felony, released on August 18, 2009 on Victory Records. The band was announced as one of the groups to be featured on 2010's Warped Tour as well as The Bamboozle.

The group was included on Attack Attack!'s headlining This Is a Family Tour alongside Of Mice & Men, Pierce the Veil and In Fear and Faith. They embarked on the Reckless and Relentless Tour with Asking Alexandria, Chiodos, Miss May I, Evergreen Terrace, and Lower than Atlantis and have joined the Never Say Die! tour across Europe along with Parkway Drive, Comeback Kid, Bleeding Through, War From a Harlots Mouth, Your Demise and We Came as Romans. Emmure released their next album, Speaker of the Dead on February 15, 2011. On January 18, 2011, Emmure released a single from the album Demons with Ryu onto iTunes.^[5] On February 9, 2011, the music video for "Solar Flare Homicide" premiered.^[6] Speaker of the Dead debuted at number 68 on the Billboard 200 and number 11 on the top Independent Albums.

They toured in The Mosh Lives tour with Visions, We Set the Sun, Iwrestledabearonce, War from a Harlots Mouth, and Winds of Plague in Europe. The group also headlined the All Stars Tour in summer of 2011 with Alesana, Blessthefall, The Ghost Inside, In This Moment, Motionless in White, and many other bands. The band also co-headlined the Never Say Die tour with Vanna, The Human Abstract, As Blood Runs Black, The Word Alive, Deez Nuts, and Suicide Silence. In October 2011, drummer Mike Kaabe was fired from the band after multiple conflicts with the band's members as well as the band's manager.^[7]

On January 4, 2012, guitarist Jesse Ketive confirmed that the band began recording their fifth album with producer Joey Sturgis,^[8] who produced their previous release Speaker of the Dead. Four days following this, Lambgoat revealed that Bury Your Dead^[9] drummer Mark Castillo had joined Emmure for the recording of their fifth full-length.^[10] Castillo later confirmed that he would be leaving Bury Your Dead to drum for Emmure full-time.^[11] The album was announced to be titled Slave to the Game and would be released on April 10, 2012. Crossfade's old bass player also joined their lineup. Prior to the recording of Slave to the Game, Emmure resigned with Victory Records after their previous four-album contract's expiration.^[12] On February 3, 2012, Emmure released a video for "Drug Dealer Friend".^[13] On March 7, 2012, the band released their first single from Slave to the Game, entitled "Protoman", which was later released digitally, concurrently with the album's second single "I Am Onslaught".^[14] A video was later shot and released for "Protoman". On May 25, 2012, is was announced that the band was filming a video for the track "MDMA", thus making it the third single from Slave to the Game.^[15]

From July 13 – August 28, 2012, Emmure took part in Metal Hammer's "Trespass America Festival" headlined by Five Finger Death Punch with additional support from Battlecross, God Forbid, Pop Evil, Trivium and Killswitch Engage.^[16] The band also confirmed they had once again re-signed with Victory Records for their sixth album, which will be recorded towards the end of 2013 with a planned release for Spring 2014.^[17] On February 18, they announced the release of their sixth album, Eternal Enemies, which will be released via-Victory Records on April 15, 2014. It was officially announced on July 2 that drummer Castillo quit the band "under amicable circumstances."^[18] The same month, rapper Riff Raff released a remix of his song "2 Girls 1 Pipe" that features Frankie Palmeri.^[19]

On November 20, 2014, Emmure began their headline US tour, the Eternal Enemies Tour. In support are The Acacia Strain, Fit for a King, Kublai Khan, and Sylar. The tour ended on December 21, 2014 in New York. Stray from the Path was originally slated to also appear on the tour, but dropped off weeks before its commencement to allow them to finish an upcoming album. It was simultaneously announced that Sylar would take their place on the tour. The Eternal Enemies Tour was much anticipated, due to the fact that Emmure and The Acacia Strain once had a well publicized feud back in 2009, which has since cooled, and both co-headlined of the tour. The two bands' former feud was often parodied by promotional posters for the tour, including a bill and a teaser video both advertising that the tour was "Emmure vs. The Acacia Strain".^[20]

Musical style and lyrical themes

Musical style

While commonly regarded as deathcore,^[21] Emmure has been defined as and shows influence of metalcore^[22][23] and nu metal, among other genres.^[24] The band has received both praise and criticism for the abundance of breakdowns in their music,.^[25] Spoken words, rapping and dissonant chords are also often incorporated in their sound.^[26][27] Despite being labeled by many as deathcore, they are often referred to as metalcore by fans and publications.^[28][29][30] The band occasionally incorporates clean vocals in their music.^[31][32][33]

Lyrical themes

Lyrical topics that Emmure touches upon usually focus on breakups, social indifference, philosophy, and religion.^[34] Many of the band's songs contain references to video games and comic books, particularly from Street Fighter and Marvel Comics, of which vocalist Frankie Palmeri is an avid fan. However in a 2013 interview with Get Your Rock Out, Palmeri explained that he would not be writing songs based on Marvel Comics any more as he felt that "those avenues are not the correct catharsis for the band anymore".^[35][36]

Influences

Frankie Palmeri has cited that he draws influence from Fred Durst, and Jonathan Davis.^[37] The band has been noted for being influenced by Limp Bizkit, Korn, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot and Converge among many other '90s bands.

Controversy

The band's frontman came under fire when a variety of T-shirts they designed sparked outrage for depicting the Columbine massacre with the phrase "Shoot First Ask Questions Last" and another with a scene from American History X which states "Violence As A Way of Life".^[38][39] Numerous journalists and bloggers observed the efforts as "poorly designed", "awful taste" and "terribly offensive" while lacking any redeemable purpose or social commentary other than to stir controversy.^[39][40][41] Additionally, Palmeri has been quoted in a variety of online rants in which he uses the words "faggot" and "nigga" repeatedly, moves which have caused some observers to label him a racist and homophobic.^[42][43][44]

With the release of a track-listing for their new album Eternal Enemies on February 18, 2014,^[45] the band sparked another bit of controversy based around the name of the first track, "Bring A Gun To School", leading their ex-rhythm guitarist Ben Lionetti to post a statement regarding his former band and addressing the track, calling Frankie a "disgusting human being". He has decided he may file legal action against the band, the label that holds them and their management in order to get back what they owe him and his brother Joe, a former drummer of the band.^[46][47]

Band members

Current Frankie Palmeri – vocals (2003–present) Jesse Ketive – lead guitar (2003–present) Mark Davis – bass (2003–present) Mike Mulholland – lead guitar (2009–present) Adam Pierce – drums (2014–present)

Former Ben Lionetti – rhythm guitar (2003–2009) Joe Lionetti – drums (2003–2009) Mike Kaabe – drums (2009–2011) Mark Castillo – drums (2012–2014)

Timeline

Discography

Full-length albums

• Goodbye to the Gallows (2007)
• The Respect Issue (2008)
• Felony (2009)
• Speaker of the Dead (2011)
• Slave to the Game (2012)
• Eternal Enemies (2014)

Filmography

Title	Year	Director
Enemy Lines	2014	Cole Dabney[48]

References

External links

• Official website
• Facebook profile
• Merchandise page

Emmure Jesse Ketive Mark Davis Frankie Palmeri Mike Mulholland Adam Pierce Mark Castillo Studio albums Goodbye to the Gallows (2007) The Respect Issue (2008) Felony (2009) Speaker of the Dead (2011) Slave to the Game (2012) Eternal Enemies (2014) EPs The Complete Guide to Needlework (2006) Related Discography Enemy Lines (documentary)