With the Dead

The U.K. power trio With the Dead operates in the doom metal and stoner rock sphere and draws its members from longstanding participants in that world. Tim Bagshaw, who covers guitar and bass, maintains an additional role in A Serpentine Path. He and drummer Mark Greening once supplied the original rhythm section for Electric Wizard and later spent nine years together in Ramesses, an outfit Greening has continued to serve. Vocalist Lee Dorrian previously fronted Cathedral after his earlier stint leading Napalm Death; he also owns Rise Above Records, the label that housed Electric Wizard until the 2012 split.

Bagshaw and Greening had already begun shaping new material when they approached Dorrian about the possibility of issuing the songs. The demos impressed him enough that he accepted the invitation to join. With the Dead formally assembled on Halloween 2014, its sole stated aim being the creation of the heaviest and most punishing album feasible. Work started at once and produced an expansive six-track self-titled debut that Rise Above released in October 2015.

A disagreement with Dorrian prompted Greening’s dismissal in January 2016; former Bolt Thrower drummer Alex Thomas stepped in, while Leo Smee—previously of Cathedral and Firebird—took the bass chair on a permanent basis so that Bagshaw could devote himself entirely to guitar. The revised lineup released Love from with the Dead in late 2017 and followed the album with a supporting tour.