Beneath The Sky

In the middle of 2004, Cincinnati musicians who had previously played in several local groups—most prominently Blind Judgment—came together to launch Beneath the Sky, fusing death metal, hardcore, and melody into a single project. The lineup featured vocalist Joey Nelson alongside guitarists Jeff Nelson and Chris Profitt, bassist Nick Scarberry, drummer Brandon Sowder, and keytar player Matt Jones. Early 2005 saw the release of their first recording, a four-song demo that, thanks to nonstop promotion and repeated regional shows, moved more than 5,000 copies before the year closed. The band kept performing across the Midwest and Eastern states, then tracked a second EP titled More Than You Can Handle, which they issued themselves in spring 2006. Local audiences responded strongly, prompting a rapid sequence of events that led to a contract with Victory Records that same summer. Their first full-length for the label, What Demons Do to Saints, arrived in January 2007. The next year brought their second album, The Day The Music Died. After a short split in 2009, the group regrouped just in time to cut their third record, In Loving Memory.