Harlots

Not to be confused with the similarly named glammy power pop outfit from Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Harlots operate as a heavy grindcore act incorporating progressive post-hardcore and death metal elements and are based in Dayton, OH. Guitarist Eric Dunn and drummer Jeff Lohrber—who perform respectively with Kenoma and Today Is the Day—established the group in December 2002. A stable configuration eventually took shape with the addition of singer Christian Fillippo and bassist Joshua Dillon. Before their arrival, however, the Harlots issued their debut album, The Woman You Saw Is the Great City That Rules Over the Kings of the Earth, on the Feeling Faint label in 2004, with Dunn handling nearly every instrument aside from Lohrber’s drums while both supplied lead vocals. Once Fillippo and Dillon came aboard, they supported the first album on tour, after which the complete lineup delivered its initial proper recording, This Is the Second Death. A label switch to Corrosive Recordings postponed the second album from its planned late-2005 release until summer 2006. In summer 2007 the Harlots unveiled their third album, Betrayer.