Emmure

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 Dan Steindler and guitarist Jesse Ketive, residents of New Fairfield and Queens, respectively, then joined when the three began another recruiting search for members. In 2004, Steindler left the band and was later replaced by Mark Davis. 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.

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. 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. 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 2010s 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. On February 9, 2011, the music video for "Solar Flare Homicide" premiered. 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 co-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.

On January 4, 2012, guitarist Jesse Ketive confirmed that the band began recording their fifth album with producer Joey Sturgis, who produced their previous release Speaker of the Dead. Four days following this, Lambgoat revealed that ex-Bury Your Dead and Crossfade drummer Mark Castillo had joined Emmure for the recording of their fifth full-length. Castillo later confirmed that he would be leaving Crossfade to drum for Emmure full-time. 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 re-signed with Victory Records after their previous four-album contract's expiration. On February 3, 2012, Emmure released a video for "Drug Dealer Friend". 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". A video was later shot and released for "Protoman". On May 25, 2012, it was announced that the band was filming a video for the track "MDMA", thus making it the third single from Slave to the Game.

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. 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. 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." The same month, rapper Riff Raff released a remix of his song "2 Girls 1 Pipe" that features Frankie Palmeri. Emmure also supported Parkway Drive on their Atlas 2012 European tour with The Word Alive and Structures also joining them From November 11 to December 12.

The band was also featured on the entire Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival in 2014 with bands like Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, Cannibal Corpse, Suicide Silence, Trivium, Asking Alexandria, Miss May I, Veil of Maya, Upon a Burning Body and Body Count.

On November 20, 2014, Emmure began their headline US tour, the Eternal Enemies Tour. In support were 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 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".

In February 2015, Emmure and Suicide Silence did a co-headlining tour in the United States with support from Within the Ruins and Fit for an Autopsy. However, vocalist Palmeri damaged his voice and was unable to perform for a leg of the tour. He was, however, able to return to singing again on March 13. A European tour with Caliban, Thy Art Is Murder and Sworn In was also announced. But it was canceled since Palmeri still had severe acute and chronic reflux laryngitis and a weak left vocal cord. Emmure began to tour again in September with Hatebreed at the UK's GhostFest. As well as two headlining shows in St. Petersburg and Moscow Russia with Born of Osiris as support. In October 2015, Emmure was originally going to support All That Remains and We Came as Romans on the Hardrive Live Fallout tour. But due to personal issues within the band, Emmure dropped off the tour.

On December 22, 2015, it was reported by mass sources including Alternative Press and Lambgoat that all members apart from vocalist Frankie Palmeri had departed from the group. While the details behind the members' departure was not officially disclosed, former bassist Mark Davis announced that they would be forming a project of their own. Palmeri later stated that he had already acquired a new full lineup and had already begun studio rehearsals, but ommited the identity of the new musicians. It wasn't until a late April performance in Oberhausen, Germany that the new lineup was revealed, which includes current and past members of Glass Cloud and the now-defunct Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza.

Emmure announced their departure from Victory Records on October 13, 2016 and had signed with SharpTone Records, while also releasing the first single "Torch" from their upcoming album, titled Look at Yourself. On December 16, 2016, the band released "Russian Hotel Aftermath", the second single.

Musical style

Emmure has been defined as metalcore, deathcore, nu metal, and alternative metal. The band has received both praise and criticism for the abundance of breakdowns in their music,. Spoken words, rapping and dissonant chords are also often incorporated in their sound. Despite being labeled by many as deathcore, they are often referred to as metalcore by fans and publications. The band occasionally incorporates clean vocals in their music.

Lyrical themes

Lyrical topics that Emmure touches upon usually focus on breakups, social indifference, philosophy, and religion. 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 metaphors involving Marvel Comics characters any longer as he felt that "those avenues are not the correct catharsis for the band anymore."

Influences

Frankie Palmeri has stated that he is influenced by Fred Durst, and Jonathan Davis. The band has been noted for being influenced by Limp Bizkit, Korn, Nine Inch Nails, Slipknot and Converge among many other 1990's bands.

Controversy

Emmure's frontman Frankie Palmeri was subject to controversy when a line of T-shirts under his name began being produced that depicted an image taken from the Columbine massacre with the phrase "Shoot First Ask Questions Last" and another line with a scene from American History X which states "Violence As A Way of Life". 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. 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.

With the release of a track-listing for their new album Eternal Enemies on February 18, 2014, 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, and referred to Palmeri as 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. Ultimately, Emmure changed the title of the song "Bring a Gun to School" (which was track 1 on the album) to simply "(Untitled)" due to the backlash.

Concert tours

Band members

Discography