In 2006 four kids from Germany, the youngest being 13 and the oldest being 17 years old, decided to start a band.
Within the next three years, this bunch grew from kids playing music together into a Death Metal band, that released two albums on one of the most respected Heavy Metal labels worldwide.
Meet Hackneyed after the jump.
2006 in Abtsgmünd, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Philipp Mazal (vocals) starts a band with his friends Tim Cox (drums), Felix Papp (bass) and Lydia (guitars). The youngest of these four is 13 years old, the oldest 17 years old. After playing their first concert together, Lydia leaves the band, which leaves them without a guitarist.
During their search for a new guitarist, they find Alex Büttner. Alex isn’t a guitarist but a bassist. He joins the band anyhow and former bassist Felix plays the guitarist from that time on. The 14 year old Devin Cox, drummer Tim Cox’s little brother, then joins the band as a second guitarist to complete the line-up.
Hackneyed - Death Prevails
With this line-up, the band goes on playing numerous concerts, including the Winter Freeze festival, that also includes German underground giants Debauchery, End of Green and Fear My Thoughts. During this gig, Achim Ostertag, head of Silverdust and organizer of said festival, spots the band and talks them into recording their first full-lenght album ‘Death Prevails,’ which was completed in 2008. The album mainly features the band playing Old School Death Metal, with lots of Deathgrind influences, that remind me of mid-career Six Feet Under and at times Mortician.
Ostertag then sent the album to numerous Heavy Metal labels, including the German Nuclear Blast Records. Nuclear Blast, one of the most respected and biggest Heavy Metal labels worldwide, then signed the band, which made them the youngest band to ever be signed to Nuclear Blast Records, with none of the five bandmembers being 20 years old.
Hackneyed - Gut Candy
In July 2008, the first album got a worldwide release. Hackneyed went on playing some of the biggest metal festivals in Germany, including Rock Harz and Summer Breeze. In early 2009, former bassist and then guitarist Felix Papp left the band and was replaced by Juan Kevin Sierra.
Hackneyed - Burn after Reaping
With Juan playing the guitars, alongside Devin Cox, the band went back to the studio to record the follow-up to ‘Death Prevails,’ entitled ‘Burn after Reaping’.
The album was released in August 2009 and featured the first single ‘Detholution,’ for which the band also shot a music video. ‘Burn after Reaping’ features more melodic songwriting, but also showcases the band’s signature sound, as also heard on ‘Death Prevails’. This time, the band also played faster songs, like the almost Hardcore sounding ‘Kingdom of Thoughts’. This second album doesn’t feature as gruesome and brutal lyrics as the first album.
The band then went on to tour with such acts as Death Metal heavyweights Nile. In June 2010, Alex Büttner left the band and Tini, a longtime friend of the band, joined the band on bass. She already played with the band prior to that, as a replacement for Alex at various concerts. The band then played concerts all over Germany, at their first headlining tour, the Burn to Ashes Tour with Undertow supporting them.
Hackneyed - Detholution
And here we are now, in 2011. Hackneyed are still signed to Nuclear Blast Records and already released 2 full-lenght albums. The oldest member of the band is 22 years old and they still have plenty of years ahead of them, so look out for this band because, if you believe rumours, the band is supposed to go back to the studio this year to record the follow-up to ‘Burn after Reaping’.
