BIO & HISTORY
THOU SHALT NOT was founded in 2003, as the new brainchild project of Don Wolff shortly after his departure from the recently broken-up Dislimb. This new project was originally dubbed PAZUZU, in light of Don's infatuation with ancient civilizations/cultures/religions. The concept of the name PAZUZU was taken to signify the worship of the entity of the northwestern plague winds, in a metaphorical sense, that forbidden knowledge contained within the lyrics was "a pestilence or plague of enlightenment". Even under its current moniker, THOU SHALT NOT holds the true to the same ideals. The music was to be written in a style that was never able to be fully explored in any of Don's previous efforts, mostly due to lack of like-minded individuals. The music was to be heavily influenced by the Florida scene of the early 90s with the attitude and some of the theatrics and attitudes of the early Norweigan black metal scene, something Don felt was completely lacking in the Cleveland,OH scene. Riffs and lyrics were compiled for approximately 3 or 4 songs and Don enlisted Van McGhee on drums to begin this march down the left hand path towards oblivion.
The band continued on for a few months as just a two piece, for lack of locating appropriate musicians, and rehersals and writing persisted. During this time the music for the entirety of the first two demos (2005 Demo, Dechristianizing Humanity) was completed, despite not being released until a few years later. Intermittently, Rob Lesniak was available and took on the bass duties. A few unreleased 4-track basement demos were compiled from this time, but never released. Shortly thereafter, it was decided that an additional vocalist would become necessary in order for Don to concentrate more on the intesity of the guitar work, while still doing vocals about 1/3 of the time. Enter Dan Mustar whose raw sounding voice and stage persona fit to a "T" exactly what Don and Van were looking for in a singer. Rehersals continued and the bands name was changed to THOU SHALT NOT in 2004 sometime after Dan joined the band. Also the band would see it's first live performance by way of the OHIO DEATH FEST 2005, thanks to a last minute cancellation by another act. That summer and fall of 2005 the band played a handful of gigs, sharing the stage with the likes of Suffocation, Cryptopsy, Fully Consumed, Blood Coven, and Shotgun Sodomy to name a few. Late summer of 2005 Rob left the band to persue other opportunities, playing bass for Cleveland,OH grind legends, Embalmer. During the fall of that year, the band entered Jason Chamberlain's home studio to record the 4-song 2005 Demo.
In the summer of 2006 unfortunately THOU SHALT NOT went on hiatus as Don accepted the lead guitar spot in Embalmer for some festivals, shows, and recording of their 13 Faces of Death release. Some rehearsals were still regular but not many live appearances, save an opening spot for Deicide. A few other shows followed after Don de-camped from Embalmer and Decrepit in 2007 to focus fully and completely on THOU SHALT NOT, and the recording of a new demo was imminent. Cody Markusic performed with the band on bass for a summer Cleveland, OH show but unfortutely left the band after that single show. THOU SHALT NOT began the recording during the late fall and winter of 2007, as their core three piece lineup, on some of Van's newly purchased recording equipment. Three of the older songs were recorded for the band's newest release, DECHRISTIANIZING HUMANITY, and it was self-released in april 2008 to an eager underground following.
DEVOUR THE KNOWLEDGE
THOU SHALT NOT
Shemhamforash! Hail Satan!
