Knights of the Abyss was formed in 2005 after drummer Andy Rysdam had left his former band Job for a Cowboy. They have recorded two full-length albums, which were released by Siege of Amida Records and Ferret Records. Early songs featured the original vocalist Phil Noriega, and later his replacement, Mike Manheimer, but whilst recording their first album, Juggernaut, Manheimer injured his throat.[1] Dustin Hadlock, a friend of the band who had provided some guest vocals on some older tracks, stepped in to record the rest of the album and toured with the band throughout January 2008, until Manheimer returned.[1] The band announced its signing to Ferret Records.[2] A new song, titled “A New Darkened Faith”, from their first Ferret albumt, Shades, was posted on the band’s MySpace page in early April. All vocals on Shades were by Dustin Curtis of the band A Breath Before Surfacing from Tucson, Arizona. The band has toured in the United States and the United Kingdom, playing alongside bands such as Elysia and Arsonists Get All the Girls. Elysia’s vocalist, Zak Vargas, was featured on the song “Decaying Waste” from the album Juggernaut.
With the start of 2009, many of the original members of Knights of the Abyss had left, many to return to school. Dustin Hadlock was once again appointed vocalist, and drummer James Gillespie, guitarist Brian McNulty, and bass guitarist Griffin Kolinski were added as well. Kolinski and McNulty also play in the Arizona metal band The Blood Countess. Hadlock and Gillespie were recruited from Nick Florence’s side project, entitled Decessus. Florence is currently the only original member of the band. Knights of the Abyss recently announced that they had returned to the studio to demo and record a follow-up to Shades. [1] On May 3, 2009, at 10:25 p.m., the band posted a new song in pre-production dubbed as Pandemic, as a sign they are now recording their newest album. As of May 1, 2010, the band has completed recording their 3rd full length album entitled The Culling Of Wolves.
Knights Of The Abyss launched the first single for The Culling Of Wolves entitled, “Deceiver’s Creed” on both their myspace and facebook page in July of 2010. As stated by their social networking sites, the album will be released August 17th, 2010 via Ferret Records. [3] They have also announced two seperate U.S. tours for the fall. “The Culling Of Wolves Tour” will feature Conducting From The Grave, The World We Knew, and Enfold Darkness. [4] “The California Blood Tour” includes Cattle Decapitation, Devourment, Burning The Masses, and Son Of Aurelius.
‘The Culling of Wolves’ contains 11 blistering, crushing tracks and, while a concept record, not your typical concept LP. There’s no story that runs through the disc, but there was definitely a major inspiration behind songs like “The House Of Crimson Coin,” “The Swine Of The Holy Order,” and the first single, “Deceiver’s Creed”: The U.S. Treasury Department.
“I am afraid it probably is a very opinionated record, but we’re not slamming anyone; we’re just making our opinions known,” the bassist says, before explaining that some songs focus on the creation of the Federal Reserve while others revolve around The Bilderberg Group (an unofficial, invitation-only conference of men of influence in the fields of politics, banking, business, the military and media) and Bohemian Grove, a 2,700-acre campground in California that hosts an annual three-week encampment of some of the most powerful men in the world.
