Immortal Suffering

Immortal Suffering is a brutal death metal and death metal group from Queens, New York, active from 1992 to the present. The band forms in 1992 with Joe Provvisiero on guitars and vocals and Woodstock R.R. on drums, with the aim of making brutal death metal. Ray Lebron joins on bass and vocals in 1993, helping to develop the early material that appears on the first demo.

Early line-up changes and first releases

In 1994 Dave Zatuchney joins on guitar, and the band issues its first self-titled demo shortly afterwards. After a run of shows, Woodstock R.R. leaves and Rudy Lopez takes over drums. The band then releases Eternal Damnation as a demo in 1995.

Line-up changes in the mid-1990s

Dave leaves in 1996, after the band moves in a different direction. Ralph Spadafora, a longtime friend and former frontman of God For Bid, joins soon after. Joe stops handling vocals, while Ray moves from bass to share frontman duties with Ralph. The group then adds Sasha Abayev on guitar and Leo Bakman on bass, completing the line-up.

Albums, label and stage presentation

With the revised line-up, Immortal Suffering signs to Mortal Coil Records and releases Images of Horror in 1997. The band becomes known for crushing riffs, macabre vocals and elaborate live shows, including props such as a baby on a stick, goat heads, flying chop meat, baby brains and a six-foot dummy impaled on an inverted cross.

Break-up and return

Joe leaves the band in January 1998, and the other members end the group soon afterwards. After a long break, Immortal Suffering returns in 2013, when Joe, Ray, Rudy, Ralph, Sasha and Leo go back into the studio to begin a new chapter.

Later activities of members

After the split, Joe plays in several other bands, most notably ToeTag101. Ray fronts Internal Bleeding for several years, later moves to Milwaukee and eventually plays in Darisam. Sasha later plays in Deimos, takes a three-year hiatus after that band ends, and then joins Sex Dolls. Leo continues to play in several bands, including Grotesqueuphoria and Sex Dolls. Rudy and Ralph leave the scene but continue to listen to and support death metal.