Description

Trap Them's influences include hardcore punk bands, such as Black Flag

Black Flag (band)

Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...

, Born Against

Born Against

Born Against was an American hardcore punk band from New York active between 1989–1993. In addition to their radical leftist politics, the group espoused a DIY punk message and challenged what they perceived as problematic within the punk subculture of their time.-History:The group was founded in...

, and Tragedy

Tragedy (band)

Tragedy is a melodic crust punk band originally from Memphis, Tennessee and formed in 2000.-Members:*Todd Burdette - Guitar/Vocals - Also of Deathreat, Severed Head of State, Trauma and Warcry, Formerly of Copout, Rueben James, His Hero is Gone, Funeral and Call The Police*Yannick Lorrain - Guitar...

; metal bands like Dismember

Dismember (band)

Dismember was a Swedish death metal band that formed in 1988. They are well known in the death metal underground. They split up in October 2011.-History:...

 and Entombed

Entombed (band)

Entombed is a Swedish death metal band which formed in 1987 under the name of Nihilist. Though Entombed began their career as an early pioneer of Scandinavian death metal which initially differed itself from its American counterpart with its distinct guitar tone, by the early 1990s their sound had...

 (whose "buzzsaw" guitar tone

Scandinavian death metal

Swedish death metal is a death metal music scene developed in Sweden. Many Swedish death metal bands are associated with the melodic death metal movement, thus giving Swedish death metal a different sound from other variations of death metal. Unlike American death metal groups, the first Swedish...

 create the main guitar sound for Trap Them), and experimental bands like Swans

Swans (band)

Swans are an influential American post-punk band initially active from 1982 to 1997, led by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gira. The band was one of the few groups to emerge from the early 1980s New York No Wave scene and stay intact into the next decade. Formed by Gira in...

. Ryan McKenney's lyrics

Lyrics

Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...

 tend to deal with issues both personal and political, while recent material has also contained a conceptual element to its lyricism. The group's musical style consists of complex and sometimes discordant guitar work and d-beat

D-beat

D-beat is a style of hardcore punk developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, for whom the genre is named. Discharge may have themselves inherited the beat from Motörhead. The first such group was The Varukers.The vocal content of D-beat tends towards shouted slogans...

 and grindcore

Grindcore

Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....

 drumming styles.

History

Trap Them began as a side-project for Ryan McKenney (former vocalist of Backstabbers Incorporated

Backstabbers Incorporated

Backstabbers Incorporated are an American hardcore/metal band based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.- History :...

) and Brian Izzi (guitarist of December Wolves

December Wolves

December Wolves are a Salem, Massachusetts - based black metal band formed in 1993. Their first demo appeared in 1994. So far December Wolves has released 3 albums. On newer material the group goes in a more experimental/industrial 'post-black' direction...

) in 2001 while Izzi was beginning his stint as second guitarist for Backstabbers Inc. The two met while working together at Newbury Comics

Newbury Comics

Newbury Comics is a New England-based music retailer. Newbury Comics began as a comic book vendor on Newbury Street in Boston. The company was founded in 1978 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology students John Brusger and Mike Dreese. Over the next few years, the focus of the company changed...

 in Salem, NH and immediately became close friends. The band grew into a full-time consideration years later after both men left BSI to focus on other things. McKenney and Izzi later became roommates and began focusing on new material for the band.

In 2006, the band reached an agreement with the Trash Art!

Trash Art!

Trash Art! is an independent record label from Providence, Rhode Island, specializing in loud music from punk and metal subgenres. The label was founded in 1997, annds-*Backstabbers Incorporated*Cursed*Disappearer*Forensics*Meltdown*Trap Them*XFilesX...

 record label to release a vinyl-only EP and a full-length album to be recorded with Kurt Ballou

Kurt Ballou

Kurt Ballou is the guitarist from Massachusetts-based band Converge. Aside from his role in Converge, he is a prolific producer, engineering and producing out of his own Godcity studio.- GodCity studio :...

 at the God City recording studio and released later that year. The resulting album and single, including a spoken word

Spoken word

Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....

 piece by McKenney, were released in January and April 2007. In late 2007, Trap Them signed with Converge's

Converge (band)

Converge is an American band from Salem, Massachusetts. Playing a blend of hardcore punk and metal since 1990, Converge has helped to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre.-Description:...

 Jacob Bannon's

Jacob Bannon

Jacob Bannon is the vocalist, lyricist, and graphic artist for the American metalcore band Converge. He is also the founder and owner of the label Deathwish Inc...

 music label, Deathwish Inc.

Deathwish Inc.

Deathwish, Inc. is a independent record label founded by Jacob Bannon and Tre McCarthy. The label was originally used to release early albums by Bannon's own band Converge starting in late 1991. It wasn't until late 1999 that McCarthy and Bannon discussed turning Deathwish into a full-fledged label...

. They toured Europe in early 2008 with The Ocean

The Ocean Collective

The Ocean is an experimental metal band from Berlin, Germany. Their work combines elements of progressive metal and electronic soundscapes, occasionally incorporating strings to create their aggressive post-metal sound. The band often describes its sound as "ambient soundtrack doomrock".- History...

 and Rotten Sound

Rotten Sound

Rotten Sound is a grindcore band from Vaasa, Finland, formed in 1993. The band comprises vocalist Keijo Niinimaa, guitarist Mika Aalto, bassist Kristian Toivainen and drummer Sami Latva...

.

Trap Them worked with crust punk

Crust punk

Crust punk is a form of music influenced by anarcho-punk, hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the mid-1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills...

 band Extreme Noise Terror

Extreme Noise Terror

Extreme Noise Terror are a British crust punk / grindcore band originally formed in Ipswich, England in 1985. The band are widely considered one of the earliest and most influential European grindcore bands, and particularly the forefathers of the crustgrind subgenre.Notable for one of the...

 for a split EP and toured the U.S. with Napalm Death

Napalm Death

Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...

.
A new full-length album, Seizures in Barren Praise

Seizures in Barren Praise

Seizures in Barren Praise is the 2nd full length album by extreme metal band, Trap Them. It was released on November 11, 2008. It continues the days in a now non-linear fashion in the fictional area of Barren Praise.-Track listing:All tracks by Brian Vincent Izzi & Ryan...

, was released in November 2008. In May 2009, the band played on the years bill for the annual Maryland Deathfest

Maryland Deathfest

Maryland Deathfest is an annual extreme music festival held in or near Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The festival mostly features death metal and grindcore bands. It has always occurred during Memorial Day weekend each year....

 music festival in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. The band on went of US tours with Victims and Black Breath in May and June 2009, and Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch is an American heavy metal band from Athens, Ohio formed in 2003. The band currently consists of drummer Dustin Boltjes, vocalist Chance Garnette, bassist Evan Linger, and guitarists Nate Garnette and Scott Hedrick...

 and Saviours

Saviours (band)

Saviours is an American stoner metal band. The band was formed in 2004 in Oakland, California. Since then, they have released four full-length albums and two EPs.-Members:*Austin Barber - vocals, lead & rhythm guitar...

 in mid-July.

In 2010 the band released the EP Filth Rations, initially only as a strictly limited cassette release restricted to just fifty copies available at their appearance at the Scion Rock Festival. The EP was later released on Southern Lord Records on 12" vinyl featuring an etching on the B-side by artist Justin Bartlett, who also drew the main cover.

In late 2010, it was announced that in March 2011 the band would release their third full-length Darker Handcraft through Prosthetic Records - their first for the label since signing for them in mid-2009.
In April 2011 the band will also embark on a European tour to promote the album as main support for the Finnish grindcore band Rotten Sound

Rotten Sound

Rotten Sound is a grindcore band from Vaasa, Finland, formed in 1993. The band comprises vocalist Keijo Niinimaa, guitarist Mika Aalto, bassist Kristian Toivainen and drummer Sami Latva...

.

Monikers

Trap Them take their name from the 1977 film by Joe D'Amato

Joe D'Amato

Joe D'Amato, was a prolific Italian filmmaker who directed roughly 200 films, usually at the same time acting as producer and cinematographer, and sometimes providing the script as well...

 called Trap Them And Kill Them, known also as Emanuelle E Gli Ultimi Cannibali and Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals. The movie features European exploitation queen Laura Gemser

Laura Gemser

Laurette Marcia "Laura" Gemser is a Dutch-based actress of Indo descent, now Italian citizen. She is known for her work with director Joe D'Amato and Bruno Mattei, in particular, for doing a set of exploitation-style and Black Emanuelle films.Gemser has also been credited as Moira Chen, most...

.

Discography

Title	Format	Date of Release	Label	Notes
77K7	3" CD demo	2002	Self-released
People Don't Take Pictures Of Things They Want To Forget (As Trap Them & Kill Them)	7"	2003	Broken Press	Split with BSI Backstabbers Incorporated Backstabbers Incorporated are an American hardcore/metal band based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.- History :... , Advocate, Purity's Failure, and Transistor Transistor
Cunt Heir To The Throne	7" EP	January 2007	Trash Art! Trash Art! Trash Art! is an independent record label from Providence, Rhode Island, specializing in loud music from punk and metal subgenres. The label was founded in 1997, annds-*Backstabbers Incorporated*Cursed*Disappearer*Forensics*Meltdown*Trap Them*XFilesX...
Sleepwell Deconstructor Sleepwell Deconstructor Sleepwell Deconstructor is the first album by Trap Them, released on April 3, 2007 on Trash Art!. Like the last recorded output from core members Ryan McKenney and Brian Izzi, Backstabbers Inc's Kamikaze Missions , Sleepwell Deconstructor is produced by Kurt Ballou...	CD & LP	April 3, 2007	Trash Art!
Séance Prime Séance Prime Séance Prime is Trap Them's Deathwish Inc. debut, released on October 30, 2007, making it their third release of the year. Like Sleepwell Deconstructor, Séance Prime was produced by Kurt Ballou at Godcity Studios...	7" & CD	October 30, 2007	Deathwish Inc. Deathwish Inc. Deathwish, Inc. is a independent record label founded by Jacob Bannon and Tre McCarthy. The label was originally used to release early albums by Bannon's own band Converge starting in late 1991. It wasn't until late 1999 that McCarthy and Bannon discussed turning Deathwish into a full-fledged label...
Extreme Noise Terror Extreme Noise Terror Extreme Noise Terror are a British crust punk / grindcore band originally formed in Ipswich, England in 1985. The band are widely considered one of the earliest and most influential European grindcore bands, and particularly the forefathers of the crustgrind subgenre.Notable for one of the...  / Trap Them	7"	2008	Deathwish Inc.	Split release
Seizures in Barren Praise Seizures in Barren Praise Seizures in Barren Praise is the 2nd full length album by extreme metal band, Trap Them. It was released on November 11, 2008. It continues the days in a now non-linear fashion in the fictional area of Barren Praise.-Track listing:All tracks by Brian Vincent Izzi & Ryan...	CD & LP	November 11, 2008	Deathwish Inc.
Filth Rations Filth Rations Filth Rations is an extended play by the American rock band Trap Them. It was released on June 1, 2010 through Southern Lord Records. Filth Rations was described by Blow the Scene as "a tasty appetizer" for the group's follow-up release, Darker Handcraft. Jason Heller of The A.V...	CD & LP	May 2010	Southern Lord	Initially released on cassette at Scion Rock Fest limited to 50 copies
Darker Handcraft Darker Handcraft Darker Handcraft is the third studio album by the American rock band Trap Them. The album was first released in a vinyl LP format on March 1, 2011 and on CD and digital formats two weeks later on March 15, 2011 through Prosthetic Records. It's also the group's first release through Prosthetic after...	CD & LP	March 8, 2011	Prosthetic Records

External links

• Trap Them artist page at Prosthetic Records
  Prosthetic Records
  Prosthetic Records is a record label specializing in heavy metal recordings. Founded by E.J. Johantgen and Dan Fitzgerald both former employees of Columbia Records, in Los Angeles, California in 1998...
  
  
• Trap Them at Deathwish Inc.
  Deathwish Inc.
  Deathwish, Inc. is a independent record label founded by Jacob Bannon and Tre McCarthy. The label was originally used to release early albums by Bannon's own band Converge starting in late 1991. It wasn't until late 1999 that McCarthy and Bannon discussed turning Deathwish into a full-fledged label...
  
  
• Ryan McKenney interviewed on The Bone Reader