Inhuman

Inhuman emerged in New York City’s punk and hardcore community during the summer of 1995. Michael Scondotto took vocals, Larry Neiroda handled guitar, and Nick Angileri sat behind the drums; Jay Nakleh joined shortly afterward on bass. Based in Brooklyn during a stagnant stretch for the broader hardcore movement, the quartet faced repeated setbacks from shifting personnel and repeated failures to land contracts for 7" singles.

Once tracks appeared on a series of compilations and a few 7" singles finally surfaced, the band drew favorable notices and was routinely measured against the Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, and Negative Approach. Two full-length albums stood completed by the close of 1999.

A cassette demo was pressed as a 7" single for Rick Ta Life’s Back Ta Basics Records in 1996 and has remained one of that label’s strongest sellers. Inhuman material also landed on Too Damn Hype Records’ 1997 anthology East Coast Assault 2: The Second Coming, an album later rebranded under the CHORD imprint.

Neiroda and Nakleh departed and were succeeded by occasional roadies Walter Cardenas and Joe Porfido. Porfido’s tenure proved brief; Justin Rowand stepped in next. Further visibility arrived via Victory Records’ Only the Strong compilation and through shared bills with Shutdown, All Out War, Kill Your Idols, Brutal Truth, Indecision, and Hatebreed. These appearances placed Inhuman among respected peers of longstanding N.Y.C. punk and hardcore acts such as Madball, Sick of It All, and Vision of Disorder.

Eyeball Records issued the debut full-length Evolver in August 1997, earning widespread praise throughout the punk and hardcore press. Rowand exited that same month, allowing Porfido to return. Angileri left in November 1998; Joseph Fogarty assumed the drum chair in February 1999. By autumn 1999 the lineup stabilized as Scondotto, Cardenas, Fogarty, and bassist Joseph James. Exit Records released the second album, Rebellion, in October 1999.