Formed in 1995 in Peterborough, Canada, the hard rock trio Thousand Foot Krutch began when Trevor McNevan, Joel Bruyere, and Steve Augustine fused a praise-and-worship perspective with the prevailing nu-metal style. Local audiences across Ontario responded strongly to their live performances and the demo titled That's What People Do, leading the group to secure a deal with Diamante and release their first album, Set It Off, in 2000. That record included a version of EMF's "Unbelievable" alongside material that echoed the approach of P.O.D. and Papa Roach. Two years later the band moved to Tooth & Nail, which issued Phenomenon in September 2003. The album displayed a sharper, more cohesive rock direction reminiscent of Chevelle and Finger Eleven. During the same period McNevan and Augustine launched the pop-punk side project FM Static. The 2005 follow-up The Art of Breaking intensified the rock attack while emphasizing introspection, angst, and raw emotion; Arnold Lanni, known for his work with Our Lady Peace and Finger Eleven, handled production, and the set became the band's first entry on the Billboard 200, reaching number 67. Subsequent releases continued the upward commercial trend. The Flame in All of Us, their fifth studio album, arrived in 2007 under the guidance of producer Ken Andrews, whose credits include Beck, Chris Cornell, and Pete Yorn. Welcome to the Masquerade, released in 2009 and marking the final Tooth & Nail project, debuted at number 35 on the Billboard 200 and climbed to number two on the Christian rock chart, establishing it as their strongest seller to that point and generating the live document Live at the Masquerade. The End Is Where We Begin followed in 2012 as the first entirely independent release; it opened at number 14 on the Billboard 200 while claiming the top position on both the hard rock and Christian charts. Late the next year the band issued the retrospective Made in Canada: The 1998-2010 Collection, which contained two previously unreleased songs. Still operating independently in 2014, Thousand Foot Krutch used crowd-funding to deliver the energetic Oxygen: Inhale, the opening installment of two consecutive hard rock chart leaders. Its heavier counterpart, Exhale, surfaced in 2016 and secured the group's third straight Christian number-one album.
