*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*
This month’s State is Maine!
Lewiston, Maine. North of Portland, South of Augusta and Bangor. It is the second largest city in Maine with a population just South of 40,000. Only about 92 square miles and sits squarely in the middle of Androscoggin County. A quaint, historic town founded in 1854. Sigh. That is until you start digging around. Back in the corner, where the dust and cobwebs reside (and what is that aweful smell?!?) and it is found that this town is not immune from a brutal form of Melodic Death Metal outfit called RipFence.
Founded somewhere in the 1999/2000 time-frame, RipFence has been tearing up this sleepy, little town in Maine for at least sixteen years now. Digging the “underground” moniker, they play what they want to hear. Like it, love it, hate it. Perfect! It’s not for you anyway. As they say (sic): “We make brutal metal for no one to listen to…”. Thankfully, what they have to offer is amazing. If this is what they want to hear, they have great taste in music! While their sound is absolutely melodic, it is also oppressively heavy and abusive. Definitely not “Death Metal Lite”. Lyrical subject matter is dark, frustrated, angry and extremely mature in its writing style. The bright light at the end of the tunnel remains just out of view when listening to RipFence. Spend a little time and look a little further, and you find something a little different though. These are friends doing what they want with a sense of humor and energy usually saved for shows in front of tens of thousands in Europe. Zombies, classic comedies and horror movies along with a dick joke and shot of Jagger and you are off to the races with these guys. Members of RipFence include Matt Desrosiers on vocals, Aaron Desorsiers and Mike Gignac on guitars, Aaron “Ace” Emery on drums and John “Pipes” Hodgkiss, Jr. on bass. Vocals are barked out with a low and menacing growl while fast and ominous rhythms are layered with oftentimes dissonant, yet melodic leads. Really, really cool material from this band!
Photography by Michael Cox
Photography by Nicole Hodgkiss Photography
RipFence has been putting out music since 2006, with singles like “Acid Rain”, “Merchants of Death”, “Dead Rotting Earth” and “Bloodstained Souls”. By 2012, RipFence released their original, self-produced EP containing: “Betrayed By Mortality”, “Our Disgrace”, “Bloodstained Souls”, “Merchants of Death”, “Degrees of Blame”, “Serpent” and “Dead Rotting Earth”. A couple of months ago, they made a huge leap forward with their new, self-titled album. While it is also self-produced and engineered with the help of Evan Sammons in post-production, this album has a much higher sound quality and polish. Songs are: “No Halos” (which had been teased around for quite some time), “For Dead Ideals”, “Dark Days”, “Our Failure”, “Our Disgrace”, “Betrayed By Mortality”, “Crushed Beneath” and “Without Death”. It should definitely propel these guys to the next level. Really stellar work. (see below for a full stream of both of these killer albums!).
All Artwork by Mike Gignac
RipFence plays often around Lewiston and all over Maine, even recently opening for the legendary band, Green Jello. Go out and see them if you are in the area. Definitely worth your time. If you are not in the area, check out their CD’s online and then buy them. These are the bands that bend and mold Metal from the inside out and need your support to continue doing what you love hearing. As stated in an online profile, RipFence is “Metal for the Massive!”…
For music and more information on RipFence, check them out on MySpace, BandCamp and Facebook
