!T.O.O.H.!

!T.O.O.H.! (an acronym for "The Obliteration of Humanity") is a progressive death metal band from the Czech Republic formed in 1990. Early on, their lyrics focused mainly on gore, but in their later years more on politics and social matters.

History

!T.O.O.H.! was founded under the name Devastator by brothers Jan and Josef Veselý, but they changed it in 1993.^[2] The band was disbanded shortly after putting the finishing touches on the Řád a trest album due to financial difficulties caused after being dropped by Earache Records, who took the album out of print only two months after its release.

In September 2011 the band reformed as a duo.

In 2013, the band released their fourth album Democratic Solution, via their Facebook page for free download.^[3] Democratic Solution marks a major musical departure from their previous recordings, in the sense that they retain the progressive death metal/grindcore characteristics and complex song structures, but instead of instrumental background, Humanoid (Josef's pseudonym) and Schizoid (Jan's pseudonym) use electronic instrumentation & effects, electronic drums, clean vocals and ample use of keyboards throughout compositions, reminiscent of the brothers' other project, §§. Reception for this release has been very polarised as some review it as one of their worst, and some as one of their best works.^[4]

During this time the duo came forth publicly regarding the troubles of Humanoid's mental health, as he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia during the recording of Democratic Solution.^[3]

The band performed their last show on February 16th, 2013 in Ostrava and the following day announced their disbandment due to the issues of playing live, saying that "it is for him [Humanoid] too stressful" and that "to continue as a studio project would be pointless".^[3]

However, on April 1st, 2017 the duo posted an announcement via their Facebook page that they have been working on new material and plan to release an album somewhere in 2018, seemingly resurrecting the band. The brothers have laid groundwork for three songs already which will be done in a more traditional deathgrind style instead of the previous outing which featured an experimental and electronic take on grind, saying that "it will sound like proper deathgrind with pompous passages" and "we want to go into a professional studio, where we are going to record live acoustic drums and loud guitars, and thus ensure dynamic sound quality".

The band will continue not playing live shows, however, due to Humanoid's illness, with Schizoid saying that "We do not plan to play live, Jose's [Humanoid's] diagnosis doesn't allow it.".

Members

• Jan "Schizoid" Veselý - vocals, drums (1990-2005; 2011-2013; 2017-)
• Josef "Humanoid" Veselý - vocals, guitar (1990-2005; 2011-2013; 2017-)

Former members

• Pavel "Android" Slavíček - bass guitar (1996-1998)
• Petr "Wokis" Vokál - guitar (2004-2005) (also in Duobetic Homunkulus^[5][6])
• Petr "Freedom" Svoboda - bass guitar (2004-2005)

Timeline

Discography

• Vy kusy mrdacího masa ("You Pieces of Fucking Flesh") demo (1995)
• Sen to není, nesmí ("It's Not, Can't Be a Dream") demo (1997)
• Live in Prosek demo (1998)
• Z vyšší vůle ("From Higher Will") (2000)
• Pod vládou biče ("Under the Reign of the Whip") (2002)
• Řád a trest ("Order and Punishment") (2005)
• Democratic Solution (2013)

References

External links

• Official website
• !T.O.O.H.! official Myspace
• !T.O.O.H.! at Encyclopaedia Metallum
• !T.O.O.H.! at Last.fm