Picking a name for a hardcore band is more difficult than naming your child. It’s got to live up to their sound, image, and musical delivery, and what will remain even when the group isn’t around anymore.
So when you come with a name like Heavyweight you really have to live up to it. Luckily, these New Hampshire head-crackers earn it within the first moment you hear their music.
Taking cues from many of the greats from the heavy hardcore world, including Suburban Scum, Incendiary, and Expire, Heavyweight sought taking their heaviness into the next realm. Achieving their rightfully destructive sound through crunchy guitar riffs, menacing breakdowns, and the viciously pissed-off delivery of vocalist Cam the band has earned a decent reputation in New England for relentlessly violent shows.
Since releasing their debut EP, 2022's Shattered Soul, Heavyweight have had a couple lineup changes.
just dropped a new EP entitled Sinking Feeling. The collection shows them going into even harder territory assisted by members of Permanent Disfigurement and ex-members of Hivemind:
Speaking with vocalist Cam on Heavyweight's influences, he stated:
“I’m an old-head when it comes to the heavy stuff, Trapped Under Ice, Suburban Scum and all that stuff that I saw going to shows early on and we used those as influences for the first EP. I’m also a huge metalcore guy and just love ignorant breakdowns."
Cam came up attending shows at the now legendary Haverhill, Massachusetts-based hardcore venue, Anchor’s Up! “I met this kid Steven King and he was like, ‘Dude, you gotta check out this band Revenge from Western Mass’ and he gave me a copy of their first EP.
"I was immediately hooked on this sound. Eventually, I started going to shows at Anchor’s Up! and saw bands like Watchfire, Word For Word, and Rude Awakening and never looked back. I went from metalcore right into hardcore, didn’t really stop at the punk stuff, so you’ll hear that in our music.”
As I mentioned earlier, Sinking Feeling definitely finds Heavyweight taking their sound into a new level of heaviness, injecting some death metal influence, a product of drummer James’ background. Coming from playing in bands like Permanent Disfigurement and Torn In Half, his death metal-informed playing style is a potent addition to Heavyweight's sound.
Lyrically speaking, vocalist Cam looks toward his own life experience for inspiration throughout Sinking Feeling:
“When I take a step back and read the lyrics, I realize what I say is pretty dark and sad but also something that’s almost motivating. I’m not really a tough guy so I don’t go into that territory but I just play the music and let the pen go and it seems like the music takes me in that direction often.”
Heavyweight stands amongst a flock of acts coming from their home state giving Boston’s scene a run for its money. More and more hardcore bands are making stops in New Hampshire and some even skip over Boston in favor of the Granite State. Thanks to bands like TFR, Ten to One, Tossed Aside, Guillotine, and many others, the scene in New Hampshire seems to be on the uptick as more and more Boston locals drive up to the state for their wealth of venues.
Speaking on the matter Cam added: “We have the Jewel which is a bigger spot for a lot of the touring bands but we also have the Grange in Concord and that place is sick, it’s like a closet but there’s a ton of great shows coming up at that place.”
As many venues in Massachusetts seem to be disappearing, it’s no surprise more shows have been cropping up as you go further north. It reminds us that the New England scene will always find a way to thrive no matter what pressure you put on it.
To promote Sinking Feeling, Heavyweight will be playing shows in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, including a massive show with Gumskab, Hard Target, Cold Case, and Search Warrant this November in Waltham:
It seems New Hampshire is becoming a hotbed for the heaviest and darkest music the New England scene has to offer and Heavyweight are part of the wave. There must be something truly evil lurking in the woods up there.
Heavyweight would like to shout out: Gumskab, Iron Gate, TFR, Blood Tithe, Search Warrant, Shot Down Media, and anyone who supported us from the early days and is still here now.
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Heavyweight on social media: Instagram
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