Alterbeast is an American technical death metal band. Having come a long way from their days as a lowly opener with a silly name, they very quickly became a rising star in tech that even managed to survive a near-breakup and semi-hiatus before rewarding the patience of their fans with a triumphant return.
Formed in Sacramento, California as Gary Busey Amber Alert in 2010, they eventually changed their name to Alterbeast in 2013 after a major lineup change, with the initial Alterbeast lineup being Cam Rogers (vocals), Andrew Lamb and Rusty Cornell (guitars), Michael Zamora (bass), and Gabe Seeber (drums). They immediately recorded their full-length debut and signed a deal with Unique Leader Records, and in March of 2014, Immortal was released to solid reviews and created a fairly substantial amount of buzz. After various regional shows and tours, they managed to snag an opening spot on a fall tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, Suicide Silence, and Chelsea Grin, though Cam left shortly before the tour for personal reasons and was replaced by Monte Barnard. 2015 brought a spring tour supporting Boris the Blade and Abiotic, and Gabe also officially left after that tour (they had had a fill-in who joined full-time sometime after) and was replaced by Mikey Wilson (Mouth of the Serpent). The Devastation on the Nation tour came later in the year, and that was where their run of good luck came to an end. Due to various factors (some Andrew's fault, some due to the perils of being in a low-level touring act), the band started to fall apart, and after Mikey had to leave the tour early due to day job-related difficulties, the band flew Gabe in as an emergency fill-in to finish the remaining dates before they eventually cut their losses, dropped off the tour and went home early, and essentially broke up. Fans who asked what was up with the band were told that they were theoretically still a thing, but not much more than that.
A brief flicker of activity emerged in early 2016, when the band posted a brief snippet of a demo that they had been playing live, though the band remained relatively silent for a while after that. There was talk through the grapevine of Alex Bent tracking session drums for a new album and Cam returning to track vocals, but everything else had to be left to speculation. This changed around the end of the year, when Andrew Lamb announced their new live lineup: Michael Alvarez (vocals), Nate Graham (guitar), Chad Felix (bass), and Dylan Walker (drums), along with a headlining tour for the beginning of 2017. Walker wound up not working out, however, and Nathan Bigelow (Singularity) wound up taking the drum spot. Various other shows took place throughout the year, and that summer, they finally recorded their long-awaited sophomore album, with Alvarez tracking vocals. A fall tour with Arkaik and Inanimate Existence followed, and in November of 2017, they formally announced Feast, their followup to Immortal, which will be released on February 23, 2018. Various tours are apparently in the works and the band hopes to hit the road hard and make up for lost time. As of August 2018, however, Michael Alvarez and Nathan Bigelow have both left, and the band's status is once again in limbo.
Discography:
- Immortal (2014)
- Feast (2018)
The band contains examples of the following tropes:
- Addled Addict: Cam Rogers' longstanding drug issues were a significant contributing factor in his decision to step down, as he knew as well as anyone that with a kid on the way and the latter half of his twenties approaching, he desperately needed to get clean. These were largely chronicled by multiple lyrics of his in Wastewalker.
- Afro Asskicker: Michael Alvarez is occasionally a rare Hispanic example, though he currently has dreadlocks.
- Apocalypse How: "Into Oblivion".
- Ascended Extra: Mikey Wilson (before he had to quit if he didn't want to lose his day job), Michael Alvarez, Nathan Bigelow, and Allen Burton.
- Author Appeal: Andrew Lamb really likes wolves.
- Cover Version: "Where Dead Angels Lie".
- Frankenstein's Monster: "Mutilated Marvel".
- Irony: Their name is an obvious reference to Altered Beast (1988). Michael Alvarez would later go on to use "Rise From Your Grave" as a song title in Flub.
- Lead Drummer: While he is no longer a member of the band (though he is still very close with Lamb and the rest of the new lineup), Gabe Seeber is known for his great speed, technical prowess, power, and accuracy, as well as his frequent fill-ins and ability to comprehensively learn full sets on very short notice.
- Metal Scream: Cam Rogers was primarily a Type 3 with particularly shrill, screechy highs who could also pull off Type 2s, while Michael Alvarez is a Type 2 who can just as easily pull off Type 3s. Monte Barnard's lows were more of a hybrid of a Type 1 and a Type 2.
- Murder Ballad: "Flesh Bound Text" and "Vile Remnants".
- Nobody Loves the Bassist: Andrew Lamb tracked the bass on Feast himself, and they have not consistently had a bassist since Michael Zamora left and use isolated bass tracks live when they are not around.
- Revolving Door Band: Cam and Monte kept coming and going during the initial era, and it reached its logical conclusion when the entire band save for Andrew Lamb left in 2015. As of now, he is once again the sole member.
- Sequel Song: "The Maggot's Ascension" is this to "Throne of Maggots".
- Special Guest: Alex Bent tracked session drums on Feast.
- Start My Own: Cam formed Wastewalker (who are also John Abernathy's example of this trope, as he had previously been in Conducting from the Grave and later Soma Ras, who are mentioned below) sometime after his split with the band, while Flint Marshall (who was the main drummer back in their days as Gary Busey Amber Alert) helped form Soma Ras (who also included Monte in their ranks, as well as John Abernathy) and later went on to help form Tyrannocannon after Soma Ras folded.
- The Stoner: The entire band.
- Technical Death Metal: A fairly straightforward shreddy and somewhat deathcore-tinged variant.
- We Used to Be Friends: Andrew Lamb and Michael Alvarez stayed somewhat uneasy friends after the latter formally left in 2018, but various incidents that culminated in Lamb failing to return Brandon Busa's drum gear and ghosting and blocking him killed their friendship for good and led to a lengthy "The Reason You Suck" Speech on Alvarez's personal Facebook page.
