Biography
Invent Animate emerged during the mid-2010s as a Texas metalcore unit whose elaborate, technically precise approach blended djent, ambient passages, progressive metal, and post-hardcore elements. Despite several lineup shifts, the group built a name for meticulous studio work on releases such as 2016’s Stillworld and 2020’s Greyview while establishing themselves as a formidable concert draw. Following three albums with Tragic Hero, they moved to Australia’s UNFD for 2023’s Heavener.
The band originated in 2011 in Port Neches, a coastal town in Texas. Vocalist Ben English, guitarists Logan Forrest and Keaton Goldwire, bassist Caleb Sherrada, and drummer Trey Celaya fused their influences into the 2012 EP Waves, which resonated in djent circles. They soon joined Tragic Hero Records and kept working with producer Brian Hood on a debut full-length. Issued in August 2014, Everchanger presented an ambitious, loosely conceptual collection focused on perpetual transformation. It remained the sole album by the original configuration, since guitarist Forrest exited later in 2015. On the 2016 successor Stillworld, drummer Celaya handled guitar parts in the studio yet continued performing drums live. The group maintained an intensive touring schedule over the ensuing two years until, in 2018, founding vocalist English was succeeded by Swedish singer Marcus Vik, previously of Aviana.
Vik’s first appearance came on Greyview, the band’s third and last Tragic Hero release; like its predecessors, an instrumental edition followed. After signing with UNFD, Invent Animate issued the three-song EP The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was, which examined themes of trauma and addiction. In 2022 founding drummer Celaya departed to join fellow Texans Fit for a King, prompting Satyr’s Brody Taylor-Smith to take the drum chair for Heavener, the group’s initial full-length on UNFD.
The band originated in 2011 in Port Neches, a coastal town in Texas. Vocalist Ben English, guitarists Logan Forrest and Keaton Goldwire, bassist Caleb Sherrada, and drummer Trey Celaya fused their influences into the 2012 EP Waves, which resonated in djent circles. They soon joined Tragic Hero Records and kept working with producer Brian Hood on a debut full-length. Issued in August 2014, Everchanger presented an ambitious, loosely conceptual collection focused on perpetual transformation. It remained the sole album by the original configuration, since guitarist Forrest exited later in 2015. On the 2016 successor Stillworld, drummer Celaya handled guitar parts in the studio yet continued performing drums live. The group maintained an intensive touring schedule over the ensuing two years until, in 2018, founding vocalist English was succeeded by Swedish singer Marcus Vik, previously of Aviana.
Vik’s first appearance came on Greyview, the band’s third and last Tragic Hero release; like its predecessors, an instrumental edition followed. After signing with UNFD, Invent Animate issued the three-song EP The Sun Sleeps, As If It Never Was, which examined themes of trauma and addiction. In 2022 founding drummer Celaya departed to join fellow Texans Fit for a King, prompting Satyr’s Brody Taylor-Smith to take the drum chair for Heavener, the group’s initial full-length on UNFD.
Albums
Singles
