Earlier this month, Bay Area guitar riff crew Doomsday announced the forthcoming release of their debut album, Never Known Peace. Specialists of a sound steeped in the core sonic elements of hardcore and thrash metal, the Oakland outfit formed in 2018 and found a worldwide audience via their 2022 Depictions of Chaos EP.
Doomsday worked the release through steady live work, including West Coast runs with Extinguish, Upon Stone, and Mutually Assured Destruction, and Darkness Everywhere. Last year, the quintet released a killer self-tltled EP, and continued playing on both metal and hardcore bills.
On the Never Known Peace sessions, Doomsday collaborated with Zack Ohren (Machine Head, Immolation) who recorded, mixed, and mastered the LP. "We wanted this to be a love letter to every record we grew up listening to, while still being us at the core," says singer Charlie D. "We hope that you love it just as much as we did making it.
To celebrate the forthcoming release of Never Known Peace, No Echo asked Doomsday vocalist Charlie D. and guitarist Ryan Calaveras to hit us with a list of some of the band's biggest influences.
Check out their picks below!
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Iron Age, Constant Struggle (2006)
"This is the blueprint for Doomsday; this is a record and more importantly a band that we are not shy to say is the only reason we decided to start our own. Absolute perfection. Rest in peace, Wade Allison."
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Slayer, South of Heaven (1988)
"This one is completely unfair to Slayer because any album could take this place. We have no idea how a band could write music this good back to back so many times. I love trying to imitate some of Tom Araya’s vocal style and putting my own twist on it. The eternal GOATS."
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Sepultura, Chaos A.D. (1993)
"Another seminal band that could have had any album on this list and its impact on us would be equally as important. But this album has 'Propaganda' on it, and that’s the dopest song ever written."
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Machine Head, Burn My Eyes (1994)
"Machine head is such a huge influence on us when writing the record. I wanted to go in the direction of those heavy hardcore roots while still tying my thrash influence. The way the drums sound huge combined with the perfect guitar saturation is unmatched here. Sure. the record is heavy as heard in 'Davidian,' but maintains that Bay Area thrash feel in 'A Nation on Fire.'"
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Trapped Under Ice, Big Kiss Goodnight (2011)
"Trapped Under Ice has always been a staple ever since I accidentally Googled them looking for tabs for the Metallica song back in 2011. There’s something about this record that sticks out from the rest and I believe it’s the percussive vocal delivery and the subtle melodic guitars that weave in here.
"It’s also one of those records, like 'Stay Cold' and 'Secrets of the World,' that captures the energy of a live show perfectly into a recording. Zack (our producer) and myself try to capture that feel with this Doomsday record as well."
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Terror, One with the Underdogs (2004)
"I think it’s unfair for me to cite one record from the Terror catalog to talk about as an influence when I take a lot of elements from each. But if I had to choose, One with the Underdogs is my go to. It’s the one I heard first and the one that got me into Terror in the first place.
"The guitar work is well written and has intricate parts that have a very trashy feel to it, especially in this record. I try to combine my hardcore/metal roots as much as possible and I find that Terror is a perfect influence for that."
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Avenged Sevenfold, Waking the Fallen (2003)
"Okay, aside from Guns N' Roses, this band is one of the reasons why I wanted to play guitar solos in the first place. While Slayer has chaotic guitar solos, A7X has a melodic sense to it that I feel is under appreciated or overlooked.
"The drums and guitars in 'Chapter Four' have that bounce to them that I always need to have in every Doomsday song. Also, they have harmony solos and I wanted to add those into the Doomsday record."
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Never Known Peace will be out on March 28th via Creator-Destructor Records (pre-order).
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