BloodBather
About
As Florida’s seventh-largest county, Broward County covers 24 cities populated by just shy of two million people. In the past decade, national headlines pointed to its inescapable impact on culture through a groundswell of genre-blurring chaos merchants such as XXXTentacion, Kodak Black, Ski Mask The Slump God, and more. However, a different kind of chaos beats at the heart of the region, flowing directly from Florida band Bloodbather. The group— Kyler Millo [vocals, bass] and Salem Vex [guitar, synths]—fuses airtight distorted guitars, chugging hardcore catharsis, and menacing industrial textures into a bold battering sonic ram praised by Invisible Oranges and streamed nearly half-a-million times in just a year. However, the bludgeoning begins on their 2020 debut EP for Rise Records, Silence.
“We’re doing what we’ve wanted to do all along,” exclaims Salem. “Kyler’s always had a lyrical style that I’ve admired as well as a great work ethic towards his vocals and even guitar playing. Those elements are shown throughout Silence. We aren’t trying to please any audience besides ourselves.”
Formed in 2018, Bloodbather burned a path of their own right out of the gate on the independent EP, Pressure. The EP racked up over 370K Spotify streams as the group shared the stage with everyone from Whitechapel and Carnifex to Of Mice & Men and Attila. Stirring up a buzz, they earned acclaim from SVBTERRANEAN, New Transcendence, Sputnik, and more as Invisible Oranges proclaimed, “Bloodbather swings their music like a battle-axe into naysayer faces, living up to their namesake with flying crimson colors.” Signing to Rise Records in 2019, they hit the studio in Tennessee alongside producer Tate Mercer [Better-Off, Chamber, Hampton]. Over the course of just eleven days, they recorded the six tracks comprising Silence, expanding the sonic palette in the process.
“Salem and I had a really easy dynamic when we actually got together to write these songs,” says Kyler. “Our musical compatibility made this a very seamless process. The overarching themes are the fragility of life, shifts in power, and planning to not allow the power stripped from you.”
The title track speaks directly to those themes. Hinging on a trudging groove, “Silence” dips between harmonic squeals before ramping up towards searing screams. It slips in and stalks like a villain under cover of night.
Kyler goes on, “In the context of the song, it means stripping away power from someone else who had it over for you for so long and the relief of quieting a once loud oppressive presence in your life.”
Skittering synths wrap around airy distortion on the destructive and dynamic “Disappear.” Everything steamrolls towards a pit-breaking hook. Meanwhile, “Void” snaps from a neck-breaking riff into searing screams and one final catharsis. “For ‘Void’ in particular, I wanted it to be about the looming presence of fear and how when the stalker comes for you in whichever form it takes, it won’t be in your control,” add Kyler.
Taking control, Bloodbather ultimately make a statement for Broward County and heavy music at large.