Nequient

NEQUIENT is a four-piece metallic hardcore band from Chicago, Illinois. Building on a foundation of thrashing d-beat, they draw influences from a broad spectrum of aggressive styles including grindcore, crust, sludge, death metal, black metal, and noise rock. The result is a uniquely punishing sound that emphasizes percussive intensity and razor-sharp hooks.

Formed in 2014, NEQUIENT’s first official release was 2015’s Infinite Regress EP, the start of a longstanding collaboration with producer Pete Grossmann (Immortal Bird, Something Is Waiting, Warforged) at Bricktop Recording in Chicago. Following a few personnel shifts, the group settled on its current configuration and forged a debut full-length, Wolves At The Door, issued in 2018 by Nefarious Industries. Decibel Magazine lent the album its “enthusiastic stamp of approval,” declaring, “NEQUIENT comes blazing in on a misanthropy-fueled ICBM missile.” Ghost Cult Magazine described the band as, “astute musical assassins,” driven by the powerful drumming of “human tornado” Chris Avgerin.

NEQUIENT set out on a campaign of DIY touring in support of Wolves At The Door, playing every dive bar, basement, community center, banquet hall, and benefit festival that would have them. Those travels culminated in a late 2019 run with Danish avant-hardcore technicians, labelmates Oxx.

A few months later, NEQUIENT reconvened at Bricktop to track a new album, once again helmed by Grossmann, not realizing that the global pandemic would soon slow all further progress to a maddening crawl. In 2021, the band released the succinct but damaging EP Collective Punishment, offering two exclusive tracks from the early 2020 sessions and two live performances from the late 2019 tour, which is now followed by their second full-length, Darker Than Death or Night.

On Darker Than Death or Night, NEQUIENT set out to embrace even more diverse sounds than before without sacrificing their tightly honed focus or capacity for vicious sensory assault. This is a singular breed of heavy music: tightly controlled yet satisfyingly grimy, attuned to the anxieties of an uneasy era and unconcerned about fitting into the preconceived boundaries of subgenre. Mixed by Sanford Parker (Voivod, Yob, Eyehategod) and mastered by Collin Jordan (Harm’s Way, Windhand, Pelican), the album features artwork and design by Scott Shellhamer (American Heritage, Buried At Sea, Coffinworm) as well as a guest vocal turn from Eddie Gobbo of Something Is Waiting.