THIS IS HELL To Team Up With BANE, MODERN LIFE IS WAR, OUTBREAK For U.S. Tour

Trustkill Records artists THIS IS HELL will be joining hardcore heroes BANE, MODERN LIFE IS WAR and OUTBREAK for a national tour this summer. Hailing from Long Island, THIS IS HELL features former SCRAPS & HEART ATTACKS vocalist Travis Reilly as well as scene vets Rick Jiminez (guitar),Joe Osolin (guitar),Jeff Tiu (bass/vocals) and Dan Bourke (drums). The group just completed their debut full-length, "Sundowning", to be released on Trustkill Records right before the tour. The music combines raw punky tones, a hardcore attack that references roots like early Touch & Go and Dischord Records-style bands (i.e. all aggression but no metal) and screamed but clear vocals.

The full-length, produced by Dean Baultolonis (SICK OF IT ALL, MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD),is a 29-minute blast through frustration and the cleansing of despair and loss. "The album was written during a period when the band lost three people we were close to, all within the span of several months," Tiu says. "All of the lyrics pretty much deal with it, it's not so obvious in the words but all of the emotion is dealing with that. The album starts out relatively positive and as it progresses we fall apart more." What is the significance of the album title? "My mom is a nurse and she has dealt with people who have the Sundowning effect. It's a condition in older people who become more disoriented as night falls. It's really a form of dementia. The album is kinda like that, it's reaching a point as time goes on where it's on the edge of something and things change."

This is reflected in the album art created by Jake Bannon (of CONVERGE) which contains a silhouette of the Twin Towers where the buildings used to be. "When we got the art back, we weren't sure if it would be taken in poor taste," Tiu says. "I was in Midtown Manhattan during 9/11 and the experience was so surreal it didn't fully register with me that day. Going back a few times I would look where the Towers were supposed to be and nothing was there. In that sense it relates to the lyrical theme of loss, you expect someone is always going to be there and then suddenly they are not and it takes a long time to accept that."

On the forthcoming tour, Tiu explains that is will be like a family reunion. "All of us have listened to BANE for years and every time we play with them is a thrill. We did a tour with MODERN LIFE IS WAR and clicked so well with them that a few of us have hung out with them after the tour. We have been talking for a year with OUTBREAK about doing a tour together, so it was a twist of fate when we found out that we had been booked on this tour with them."

For tour dates and more information, visit www.thisishell.org.