“SPITE are on a rampage, but we’re here for the carnage.” – REVOLVER

Disgusting, destructive, bitter, and angry are but a few of the foul words thrown around in conversations about SPITE, alongside “peerless” and “dangerously addictive.” The Californian miscreants deal in crushing death metal and raw, explosive extremity with conviction and are equally adept at swinging groove. Darius Tehrani’s vocals are devilishly on edge, learning the proper lessons from similarly unhinged nü-metal singers without slipping into novelty or gimmickry. Brutal anthems like “LIGHTS OUT” and “Kill Or Be Killed” have elevated SPITE’s music to masterclass status. 

Metal Injection hailed Dedication to Flesh as one of the Top 20 Albums of 2022, alongside records from a host of metal luminaries, including Ghost, Lamb Of God, Meshuggah, and Lorna Shore. MetalSucks placed the album’s “Caved In” on a list of 10 Songs That Remind Us Why Deathcore F*cking Rules, alongside classics from Bring Me The Horizon, Whitechapel, and The Red Chord.

The band’s follow-up, NEW WORLD KILLER, is a blast furnace of intensity. SPITE’s fifth album fearlessly mines the depths of pain and tragedy (Darius and his brother, guitarist Alex Tehrani, lost their father), with storytelling grandeur, weaving tales of justice, consequence, and total violence.

The agonized gutturals from Darius are always moments away from total nervous breakdown, alternating between self-immolation and outward aggression at every step. Alex’s guitars are hella nasty, but never at the expense of the song; SPITE isn’t just heavy for the sake of heaviness. Longtime bassist Ben Bamford and powerhouse drummer Travis Regnier anchor the proceedings with fluid dexterity and agonizing crunch in equal measure. Collectively, the four men constitute a furious beast.

Produced by the GRAMMY-nominated Will Putney (Knocked Loose, The Amity Affliction, Vein.fm), New World Killer eschews the robotic soundalike techniques of modern albums in favor of authentic vigor, sounding massive without sacrificing the spirited essence of a real band destroying a room.

Much of the inspiration for New World Killer originated in Joshua Tree, the same Mojave Desert that inspired landmark albums from U2, Gram Parsons, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Arctic Monkeys. From there, they moved into a lockout in the San Fernando Valley, before teaming with Putney.

New World Killer is a sort of reset and rebirth. It was in Joshua Tree where they asked themselves: if Spite started today, what would we sound like? “We didn’t want to repeat ourselves,” Darius explains. “What would SPITE do if we just got in a room and started ripping? That’s where the record started.”

The album captures the raw, unrestrained vibe of their shows, the type of devastating performances that earned diehard fans on tours with The Black Dahlia Murder, Fit For A King, Whitechapel, August Burns Red, Dying Fetus, Chelsea Grin, Suicide Silence, The Acacia Strain, and Thy Art Is Murder.

“When we play live, it’s 30 minutes straight through, no pauses,” Darius says. “This record feels the same. It doesn’t stop, but it has its dynamics, places where you can catch your breath. It feels alive.”

Though now located in Southern California, the brothers formed SPITE together roughly a decade ago in Northern California’s Bay Area, the same stomping grounds as thrash metal pioneers such as Metallica, Exodus, and Testament. The band’s eponymous debut was followed by Nothing is Beautiful (2017), The Root of All Evil (2019), and the critically acclaimed Dedication to Flesh (2022).

Central to SPITE’s identity is the bond between Darius and Alex. The Tehrani brothers have been making music together since childhood, growing up in a household that wasn’t musical but finding community at a local venue. “We always followed each other wherever we went,” Darius says. “Every band we started, we did it together. With Spite, the intensity can be overwhelming at times because we’re both so driven, but the quality of our work is better because of it.” 

Alex adds, “Of course, we fight. We’re brothers. But there’s nobody else I’d rather do this with. We respect each other and know how to cut through the noise. He’s the best at what he does.”

When their father died, both brothers processed their grief through music.  "It uprooted everything in our lives,” Darius shares. “Writing about it was my way to purge, to dedicate something to him.”

 “Looking Glass,” featuring Matt McDougal of Boundaries, carries that weight. “It was important to have that on the record,” he says. “Every song on here comes from something real. Nothing is filler.”

New World Killer is not just a sonic assault; it’s an album of stories, each track a focused strike. “Lights Out,” accompanied by a wildly NSFW video, confronts the culture of reckless online discourse. “People feel safe saying whatever they want behind a screen,” Alex explains. “But some people have nothing to lose. You might say the wrong thing to the wrong person and face consequences.”

The title track is the album’s most aggressive cut, incorporating biblical and serial-killer imagery. “The lyrics and the artwork tie directly together,” Alex notes. “It encapsulates the whole record thematically.” “Shallow” pushes into new territory, confronting domestic violence with stark honesty. “We’ve never touched on something like that before,” Darius says. “It’s genuine, it’s real.”

New World Killer is a violent rebuke to complacency, and a document of anger, grief, and survival. In one devastating barrage, SPITE is reborn in the fires of their past, blazing into the future.