Metal Blade Records signs INTENSUS!

Metal Blade Records signs INTENSUS!

Project features performances from Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me), Robert Meadows (A Life Once Lost), Jesse Korman (The Number Twelve Looks Like You), Chris Alfano (East of the Wall / Postman Syndrome) and more!

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. – March 14, 2011 – Metal Blade Records is pleased to announce the signing of INTENSUS, an exciting and unique recording project masterminded by multi-instrumentalist Eli Litwin, drummer of Knife the Glitter, Burden, Normal Love and others. A resident of Philadelphia for many years, Litwin has been active in the local metal and underground rock scenes, as well as the avant-garde/improvised music scene. Through merging and reinterpreting these dynamic scenes, the vision for INTENSUS was born: an improvised extreme metal album with one goal in mind—intensity.

The first, self-titled INTENSUS album features vocals from Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me), Robert Meadows (A Life Once Lost), Jesse Korman (The Number Twelve Looks Like You), Chris Alfano (East of the Wall / Postman Syndrome), Jerry Jones (Trophy Scars), Travis Weinand (Burden / Tetsuo), Evan Moore (Gypsy Wig / Birth Screams), and Ruston Grosse. Also featured on the album, Alex Nagle (Satanized / ex-Normal Love) and Jason Herrmann (Burden / Tetsuo) lend their guitar shredding skills for 2 incredible solos.

Eli Litwin comments; “It is an incredible honor to be signed with Metal Blade Records. Cannibal Corpse’s The Bleeding was one of the first metal albums I ever heard so I feel as though things have really come full circle. I am beyond excited that such an important and influential label will be releasing my music to the world.”

Tommy Rogers of BTBAM, guest vocalist, comments: “Working on the INTENSUS record was a breath of fresh air. It was nice to take a totally different approach to writing and recording. When Eli sent me the songs he told me he had written a lot of the material through improv. So I decided to take the same route and write/record the vocals on the fly. It was a very exciting experience. My motivation: let go and destroy my fucking voice. This music is truly intense and I’m very happy to be a part of it.”

About the project:

INTENSUS can be described in one word: INTENSE. The visceral instrumental performance is enhanced by each vocalist who brings his own brand of intensity to the album, making for a varied, yet flowing musical journey. Within this strong and unique artistic vision, songs range from short, violent bursts of grind and death metal, to crushing doom grooves, to complex tech metal, to experimental noise freak outs.

The process of creating INTENSUS began with one recording session in which Litwin improvised drum tracks for the entire album; start to finish, in one take. Over the course of the next year, he simultaneously wrote and recorded guitar tracks to build songs out of the improvised drum parts. Some guitar sections were first take improvisations as well, while others were written and recorded within 5-25 minutes. The general idea was to keep everything as spontaneous as possible. After all guitars were recorded, Litwin learned everything on bass and went through the same process. Once all of the music was completed, Litwin enlisted a number of singers to contribute vocals to the project. Each singer wrote his own lyrics but the final vocal performances were largely a collaborative effort with Litwin in the producer chair.

INTENSUS personnel:

Drums, Guitar, Bass, Songwriter, Producer:

Eli Litwin

Guest Vocalists:

Tommy Rogers (Between the Buried and Me)

Robert Meadows (A Life Once Lost)

Jesse Korman (The Number Twelve Looks Like You)

Chris Alfano (East of the Wall / Postman Syndrome)

Jerry Jones (Trophy Scars)

Travis Weinand (Burden / Tetsuo)

Evan Moore (Gypsy Wig / Birth Screams)

Ruston Grosse