Internal Bleeding

Internal Bleeding

Internal Bleeding is an American brutal death metal and death metal group from Long Island, United States. Formed in 1991, the band is associated with New York’s death metal scene and is cited as one of the early pioneers of slam death metal and brutal death metal alongside Suffocation and Pyrexia. Its sound centres on abrupt tempo shifts, strong bass presence and palm-muted guitar riffs, and it also draws on hardcore punk and hip hop elements.

Formation and early releases

Guitarist Chris Pervelis begins the group after previously playing in the doom metal band Autumn Reign, which gradually moves towards a heavier, death metal-influenced style before ending. The original Internal Bleeding line-up includes Pervelis and Anthony Miola on guitar, vocalist Brian Richards, bassist Tom Slobowski and drummer Bill Tolley. Richards and Slobowski leave in the same year, and bassist John Colucco and Autumn Reign vocalist Eric Wigger join for the band’s self-titled demo. Wigger is later replaced by Wallace Milton, and Colucco by Brian Hobbie, and this line-up records Invocation of Evil. After Milton leaves, Tolley takes over vocals to record the 1994 EP Perpetual Degradation.

Albums and line-up changes

Frank Rini becomes the band’s vocalist and records the debut album Voracious Contempt, issued nationally through Pavement Records in 1995. The follow-up, The Extinction of Benevolence, appears in 1997 but receives little promotion as Pavement Records runs into financial problems, and the band tours rarely at this point. Rini then leaves and is replaced by Ryan Schimmenti. Schimmenti and Miola depart soon afterwards, with Ray Lebron and Guy Marchais taking their places, and this line-up records Driven to Conquer in 1999.

In 2000, Jason Carbon replaces Brian Hobbie, and in December that year Jerry Lowe becomes vocalist. In mid-2002, Frank Buffalino replaces Marchais on guitar. Chris Pervelis leaves briefly in 2003 and is temporarily replaced by Matt Ferrara. The band’s fourth album is eventually issued as Onward to Mecca in 2004 after an earlier title and release plan change, following a tour opening for Six Feet Under. The band then tours the United States for two months in 2005 with Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus and Strong Intention before splitting up.

Reunion and later activity

Internal Bleeding reunites in 2011 with founding members Tolley, Pervelis and Hobbie, joined by bassist Jason Liff and vocalist Keith DeVito. Their first album after the reunion, Imperium, is released in 2014. In 2016, Joe Marchese replaces DeVito and Shaun Kennedy replaces Liff. Bill Tolley, the founding drummer and the band’s only constant member, dies in 2017, after which Kyle Eddy takes over on drums. The group releases the single “Final Justice” the following day and issues the album Corrupting Influence in 2018. In 2019, Marchese and Kennedy leave and Steve Worley and Ryan Giordano take their places, and the band releases “Overthrow Creation” later that year.

Style and themes

Internal Bleeding’s music features breakdowns, rhythmic riffing, prominent bass and less technical song structures than earlier death metal acts. Its lyrics often focus on dark social and political subjects, and some songs include literary references, including “Anthems for Doomed Youth”, which refers to Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum est”. The band is also described as a US slam/brutal death metal act.