Dim Mak

The self-described “cobracore” metal band Dim Mak formed in the later ’90s in the ashes of death metal cult favorites Ripping Corpse, a band where three of Dim Mak’s members — vocalist Scott Ruth, guitarist Shaune Kelley, and drummer Brandon Thomas — played (another member is bassist Dennis Carrol). And in addition, Dim Mak’s music is basically a continuation of Ripping Corpse’s, but with a somewhat even more hardcore-ish feel towards the vocals and, lyrically, an overriding fighting techinques theme that also contains frequent personal references to snakes. (The name “Dim Mak” itself originates from a kind of Chinese fighting techinques.) Their 1st recording, Enter the Dragon, arrived in 1999, but because it was released on the Singapore-based label (Dies Irae Productions) without excellent distribution, it had been not widely noticed within the U.S. Their second Compact disc, Intercepting Fist, arrived within the even more broadly distributed Olympic label in 2002. Made by Morbid Angel guitarist (and previous Ripping Corpse member) Erik Rutan, it offered even more listeners an opportunity to hear their upset, ultra-heavy, and musically imaginative variance on death metallic. Knives of Snow arrived in Apr 2006 within the Willowtip label.