Fed up with both the broader music business and the direction of punk following the Suicide Machines’ dissolution in 2006, vocalist Jason Navarro resolved to vent his frustration publicly by launching Hellmouth. Remaining anchored in Michigan, he assembled the group with Detroit-based guitarist Alex Awn, bassist Jeff Uberti, and drummer Justin Malek, formerly of Fordirelifesake. Drawing from the raw extremity of early thrash acts such as Celtic Frost and Venom alongside hardcore forebears Black Flag and Agnostic Front, the quartet fuses hardcore punk’s urgency with heavy metal’s unrestrained force, evoking the formative era of metal while avoiding any trace of imitation. The band issued its initial demo in 2008; months later, in January 2009, Ferret Music put out the debut album Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing. Their second full-length effort, Gravestone Skylines, appeared the next year through Paper + Plastick, and after an extended absence the group resurfaced in 2017 with Oblivion on the Fastbreak label.
