Minsk

Taking their name from the Belarusian capital, Minsk nonetheless formed in Peoria, Illinois, where the musicians started laying down demos around 2002. Their sound drew from the era’s blend of ancient doom and futuristic post-metal, a style then gaining traction through acts such as Isis, Cult of Luna, and Rwake. What set Minsk apart was an unusually percussive sensibility rooted in the intricate exchanges between vocalist-keyboardist-conga player Tim Meade and drummer Anthony Couri, the latter eventually succeeded by Tony Wyioming. Guitarists Chris Bennett and Dustin Addis completed the lineup as the band entered the studio in 2005 to track its first album, Out of a Center Which Is Neither Dead Nor Alive. When the original bassist departed mid-session and Addis soon followed, producer Sanford Parker—also guitarist in Buried at Sea—filled the role and has since divided his efforts between the two projects. Minsk’s early promise and forceful shows alongside Brutal Truth, High on Fire, and Sunn 0))) secured a deal with Relapse Records, which issued the band’s second album, The Ritual Fires of Abandonment, in 2007. Further touring led, two years later, to a split EP with labelmates Unearthly Trance and then to Minsk’s third full-length, With Echoes in the Movement of Stone.