Amass the Grave

Amass The Grave is a Des moines based band dedicated to creating a vile mixture of new/old school Death metal stylings featuring elements of Thrash and Grind complimented by disgusting Hardcore chug.LOOK FOR AMASS THE GRAVES EP RELEASE A MASSACRED WORLD WINTER 2011. Amass The Grave is a Death Metal band from Des Moines, Iowa that was formed in 2005 by guitarist John Ira, and drummer James Laxton. It was started with one thing in mind, to have fun and fulfill their passion. For the first year John Ira and James Laxton wanted to get their own unique style of death metal, so they quit listening to music all together. After getting the sound they liked, they started practicing everyday to perfect it. In 2006 they began the journey of finding a second guitarist and bassist. In late 2006 Kelly Assleson started playing bass for Amass The Grave. She stayed with the band until early 2007 when she had to move to St. Paul, MN. Shortly after that long time friend of John Ira, Denis Reese was looking for a new band, so they tried him out with success. The second guitarist position was now filled. Dennis Reese was the right choice for the direction John Ira and James Laxton were going in. The three played for around 6 months, writing and putting songs together. Their intentions at this point were to get a vocalist and bass player to start playing shows. In late 2007, local band Kill Pact broke up leading the vocalist John Tulk straight to Amass The Grave. After a short tryout it was clear he was the man for the job. With John Tulk now in the band they began to practice more and more. Finally the newly formed four piece played a number of shows, destroying every stage they could. In the summer of 2008 Dennis Reese parted from the band via personal reason. Just as this happened, John’s long time friend Patrick Scott a promising bassist ended up joining the band. With Patrick Scott joining and Dennis Reese leaving they were again on the search for another guitarist. In fall of 2008 Amass the Grave posted a myspace add looking for a new guitarist. Within a week Patrick Halferty responded and slayed his tryout. He was in the band for only two months before Amass the Grave started playing shows again. In the spring of 2009 John Ira’s coworker Pete Gumina had a recording studio with Sid Wilson the DJ of Slipknot. Pete Gumina was a producer and wanted to record Amass the Grave’s first full length album. With this type of opportunity John and James wasted no time and started recording right away. Shortly after they started recording, vocalist John Tulk didn’t think it was a good idea leading him to quit the band. Now down a vocalist and without any prospects, Patrick Halferty also parted ways moving to southern Iowa. Despite the loss of two key members they still kept recording and writing for the album. To top things off in the summer of 2009 bassist Patrick Scott also quit the band due to personal reasons. Amass The Grave is now back to the original two members. For the rest of the year they focused on finishing the album. In doing so they desperately needed a vocalist to finalize their creation. With new local prospects, vocalist Jordan Greiner of Stand United and Randall Miller of Infandous tried out but didn’t have the time the band needed. Having no luck with vocalist, John Ira started talking to Patrick Halfery about joining the band once again. Winter of 2010, Patrick Halferty joined the band once again. Immediately after joining he started to learn all the new songs John Ira had written over the past three years. With time passing and no luck with vocals John Ira happened to see a YouTube video of a vocalist from the same state he lived in. In the spring of 2011 Jeff Feaker came to Des Moines, Iowa to tryout for Amass The Grave. He was the vocalist John Ira and James Laxton were looking for three years. With Jeff Feaker, and old guitarist Patrick Halferty back in Amass the Grave, they were ready to finish their first album. Early summer of 2011 the four of them went into overdrive and recorded their debut album, A Massacred World. It was recorded at Sound The Slaughter Records by Amass The Grave’s guitarist John Ira and was finished by the fall of that year. Dustin miller of Audio Aggregate Recordings, mixed and mastered the whole album and it was released world wide on 11/11/11. In January of 2012 John Ira found bassist Kc Dales and tried him out. Kc Dales joined the band that month and shot Amass The Grave’s first music video within the first week of being in the band. Amass The Grave was now complete for the first time in three years. The first part of 2012 Amass the Grave practiced until mid summer. They then wanted to get back to playing shows so guitarist John Ira and friends Charlie Hoag and Mark Schmitt started Sound The Slaughter Fest. It would be Amass The Grave’s come back show and first show in three years. Amass The Grave is now stronger and heavier than ever and playing as many shows as possible. They are reaching out to thousands of fans world wide and aren’t going to stop for nothing. OUR DEBUT FULL LENGTH ALBUM -A MASSACRED WORLD- IS OUT NOW.