For more than 20 years, Frank Hetzel has been a staple of the Seattle metal scene. He first established himself in the music business by booking national and international touring bands. On the side – at least at first – he was the guitarist and main songwriter for Beltfed Weapon, a Pacific Northwest band influenced by speed, thrash, and death metal.
Over the years, the group released three critically-acclaimed EPs, and along the way, Beltfed Weapon played shows with metal luminaries including Testament, Over-Kill. Death Angel, Nevermore, Mushroomhead, Nile, God Forbid, Nuclear Assault, Cryptopsy, and Agnostic Front. More recently, Hetzel teamed with ex- Metal Church vocalist Ronny Munroe to release the single and video “P.O.W.” Proceeds helped cover medical expenses for Munroe’s wife and manager, who was battling cancer.
Now, following five difficult years of interpersonal turmoil, external obstacles, and pandemic-induced complications, Beltfed Weapon have returned with their best, most ambitious, and most creative offering. Instead of writing, recording, and releasing a new batch of songs with the same musicians, Hetzel spent years writing five new songs and tracking them with an all-star lineup that includes members of Morbid Angel, Control Denied, Arch Enemy, Black Label Society, Testament, Into Eternity, and Heathen. And now that the new Beltfed Weapon songs are done, Hetzel plans to gradually release them – one every six to eight weeks – along with a series of explosive lyric videos.
After the new Beltfed Weapon songs are released – either as single tracks or vivid lyric videos – all five will be issued as the EP “Darkened Demise.” Hetzel wrote the title track as an apocalyptic thrash-death number that features Morbid Angel’s growling vocalist Steve Tucker (who also handles vocals on the fierce “Killing Machine”). While Aymar is the dominant voice on the EP (singing on “Headfirst into Hell,” “Eternal Fire” and “Accept Your Insanity”), Tucker offers a stark, compelling contrast to Aymar’s more tuneful approach.
Combining four or more styles of metal into a single batch of songs is no small accomplishment. And “Darkened Demise” is packed with abrupt tempo shifts, staggered rhythms, extended middle-eights, and other musical hairpin turns that keep the music exciting and unpredictable.
“One day the words darkened demise just came into my head. I didn’t know what the meaning was, but I thought it sounded cool, so I looked it up and demise has a few meanings, one which is a person’s death. With darkened at the beginning I thought the concept of death to a powerful corrupt leader would fit, and that mixed well with the war concept which has been the root of Beltfed Weapon. I have enjoyed watching a lot of war documentaries, so this song is back to the root, and what Steve Tucker did with the vocals on this song, he absolutely crushes! I am very honored to have the opportunity to work with him, as well as everyone else on the “Darkened Demise” EP.” – Frank Hetzel
“Being involved with Beltfed Weapon has been a killer time with killer friends. The songs are heavy and still maintain a hook as well. I’m super proud of what we’ve done and I for one am looking forward to bringing the stuff to the live stage in the future” – Jason Viebrooks
“My good friend, Jason Viebrooks, mentioned this project he was involved in, Beltfed Weapon and asked me if I would be interested in doing vocals on a couple songs. After hearing the material and talking to Frank, I thought it sounded really good and I liked the idea of doing some vocals on this thrash project. Not only does the music sound great, it was a lot of fun doing something a bit different.” – Steve Tucker
Beltfed Weapon‘s EP “Darkened Demise”, mixed by Juan Urtega, also features Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel), Jason Viebrooks (Exhorder/Grip Inc), JD DeServio (Black Label Society), Tim Aymar (Control Denied), Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy), Kragen Lum (Heathen) Bryan Newbury (Into Eternity) and Dagna Silesia (Ghost Ship Octavius
