Vanna

Formed in Boston with sonic inspirations drawn from outfits including As I Lay Dying, Norma Jean, and Every Time I Die, the metalcore group Vanna secured a contract with Epitaph Records during the autumn of 2005 after existing for little more than twelve months. The lineup at that stage included Joe Bragel on vocals, Nick Lambert and Evan Pharmakis handling guitar and vocals, Brandon Davis on drums, and Shawn Marquis on bass, while their songs moved fluidly between melodic passages and raw, aggressive growls. Personal circumstances prompted Bragel’s departure in February 2006, after which Chris Preece joined as the new lead vocalist. The band’s first EP, The Search Party Never Came, surfaced in June 2006. That summer they crisscrossed the United States on tour, including several shows alongside Epitaph labelmates Escape the Fate, before retreating to a Seattle studio with producer Matt Bayles, whose credits encompass Mastodon and Norma Jean, to track their debut full-length. Curses arrived in April 2007 and was promoted through spring dates with Lovehatehero. The follow-up, A New Hope, also appeared on Epitaph in 2009. Two further releases, And They Came Baring Bones and The Few and the Far Between, both came out in 2011 via the Sacramento imprint Artery Recordings. In 2014 Pure Noise Records issued the band’s fifth album, Void, produced by Will Putney. An EP of covers titled ALT followed in 2015, and All Hell emerged the next year.