Beartooth

Frontman Caleb Shomo launched the Ohio metalcore outfit Beartooth, adding a punk bite, while still handling lead vocals for Attack Attack! as a parallel creative channel. The project moved away from that group’s dense electronicore production on its opening EP, the 2013 release Sick, which supplied a direct, visceral punch that carried through the band’s later albums Disease in 2018, Below in 2021, and The Surface in 2023.

Original members were guitarist Taylor Lumley, bassist Nick Reed, and drummer Brandon Mullins. The group secured a deal with Red Bull Records in 2013 and put out Sick that same year. Kamron Bradbury, formerly of City Lights, came aboard on rhythm guitar in 2014 just as Beartooth delivered its first full-length, Disgusting. Reed and Mullins later exited and were succeeded by Oshie Bichar and Connor Denis. The 2016 follow-up Aggressive contained the soaring title track, which opened at number one on the Billboard Alternative chart and number 25 on the Billboard 200. A deluxe version appeared the next year, adding acoustic and live recordings captured in London and the band’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

Shomo’s struggles with depression fueled the raw third album Disease in 2018, which also introduced ex-Like Moths to Flames guitarist Zach Huston in place of departing Taylor Lumley and featured Connor Denis in his first studio role with the group. The 2019 EP B-Sides preceded a deluxe edition of Disease that added two new studio tracks. Longtime guitarist Kamron Bradbury stepped away in 2020; his replacement, the band’s former guitar tech Will Deely, made his recorded debut on the harder-rocking Below in 2021. That heavier direction continued on the brighter, more pop-inflected The Surface in 2023, which reflected Shomo’s move to Los Angeles and his recent sobriety. Like its predecessors, the record performed strongly on both pop and hard-rock tallies, topping the latter and landing at 42 on the former. A deluxe edition of The Surface arrived in September 2024.