Anagnorisis

The Greek word "anagnorisis," originally meaning "discovery" or "self-realization," was used to illustrate to the critical moment of recognition in a tragedy. What does such an esoteric concept have to do with death metal? Everything.
Anagnorisis began in 2003 as a solo project by founding member Austin Lunn, originally taking the form of a hybrid between power and thrash metal. Lunn soon met with Zachary Kerr, bass player for the quickly dying band Cast From Eden, who was interested in a heavier, more extreme project. They recruited drummer Adam Pierce and slowly began putting together the ideas that would eventually debut on Overton Trees. Lunn began writing long, emotional pieces, yielding songs like The Weakness and Overton Trees. But slowly a new style began to develop within the band—an aggressive edge with blastbeats and a firm black metal influence. When guitarist Zak Denham joined in 2005 the band was able to capitalize on the dual guitars, streamlining the aggressive sound with more speed and ferocity.
Denham also brought the element of synthesizers to the band, and while they added much to the band's recordings, reproducing them live proved difficult. Keyboardist Samuel Hartman was brought in during the beginning of 2007 to fully recreate the album's sound live. With the album completed and in pre-production by March of 2007, the band began looking for record labels and found a match with Shiven Records, out of Chicago, IL. After several shows in Louisville throughout 2006 and 2007, the band hit the road in May and June of 2007, touring the Midwest and Southern United States. The band headed to Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, FL during the month of July to re-record Overton Trees, this time in a professional studio.
The album was released on November 24, 2007, showcasing the band's new sound: a mixture of black, death, and doom metal with highlights of emotion and melody. The album's concept dealing with mental illness, depression, and inner struggle provided the perfect lyrical backdrop to the brutal sounds of Anagnorisis. Clearly, a realization had occurred. Anagnorisis continued to dominate the Louisville metal scene in 2007 and embarked on another Midwestern tour in the beginning of 2008. Vocalist Nathan Bowling was recruited for the tour to replace Lunn who had left the band in early January to pursue other musical endeavors. With Denham handling both guitar duties the band is currently working on full US tour for May, this time reaching the Eastern seaboard.
As they prepare for the tour, new material is being written, continuing in the vein of the most extreme tracks off Overton Trees. The band has a renewed effort to craft their own mixture of black and death metal, laced with keyboards and epic melodies, certain to top the sounds present on their debut. Each new song is a discovery for Anagnorisis, one that brings them closer to taking the metal world by storm.