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Sunday Old School: Lock Up

A few months back, Sunday Old School examined the career of Brujeria, a band which proved that not all super groups are disappointments. They featured amongst their ranks Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys, Dino Cazares of Fear Factory and Shane Embury of Napalm Death. Embury has never been one to shy away from side projects and collaborations, as his stints with Brujeria, Venomous Concept and partnership with the British hip-hop group, Gunshot demonstrates, but there was another project he worked on which gained considerable attention. Indeed, it could be considered another supergroup, this time going by the name, Lock Up.

Lock Up was formed by Embury and then Cradle of Filth drummer, Nicholas Barker (later of Benediction, Dimmu Borgir and also Brujeria, amongst others.) The seeds were sewn one night when the two were drinking together and listening to some of their favourite metal records, talking about how they’d like to do a band which encapsulated the fun and brutality of early Napalm Death records, as well as being influenced by the Terrorizer album, "World Downfall," whose founder, Jesse Pintado, was then also in Napalm Death and was brought in to the Lock Up ranks, along with Swedish musician, Peter Tägtgren, perhaps best known as the driving force behind the death metal band, Hypocrisy.

This respected quartet soon got to work on new material and in 1999, only a year after they’d formed, released their debut full length album, "Pleasures Pave Sewers" through Nuclear Blast Records. According to Sabbat guitarist Andy Sneap, who was the engineer for the album, the whole thing was recorded in only one day and was never mixed. The record received some positive reviews and became a favourite amongst grindcore fans at the time, which is unsurprising given the credibility of the members. Touring in support of the album was practically non-existent however, due to focus being required on main bands.

Two years later however, the group would reconvene to begin work on a sophomore album, although this time without Peter Tägtgren, whose place was taken by At the Gates singer, Tomas Lindberg, also of Sweden. This new lineup of the band wrote and recorded a second album, which was released in February 2002 under the title, "Hate Breeds Suffering." Touring for the album increased somewhat for this record, including a trip to Japan where they recorded the live album, "Play Fast or Die: Live in Japan."

Following the release of the live album, along with the tragic passing of guitarist Jesse Pintado in 2006, it was unclear whether or not Lock Up would return to the stage, or the studio again. However in 2009, the band announced that they would be performing at the Damnation Festival in England, which they claimed would be their final show before laying the band to rest. Thankfully, this would prove to be untrue. Perhaps due to the positive response they received at the event, Lock Up decided to carry on and booked more shows for the following year.

At the end of 2010, after they had finished touring, the band premiered their first new music for eight years in the form of a song entitled, "Life of Devastation," which was released as a split with Misery Index in 2011. It turned out that the song was recorded as part of a brand new full length album, "Necropolis Transparent," which was also released in 2011 and boasted some guest appearances from Jeff Walker of Carcass and former vocalist, Peter Tägtgren, as well as marking the Lock Up recording debut of guitarist, Anton Reisenegger, a native of Chile who founded the extreme metal group, Pentagram.

The album garnered some good feedback and allowed them to tour in the United States for the first time, although Embury was unable to make the tour, leaving Nuclear Assault and Brutal Truth bassist, Danny Lilker to temporarily take his place. Since then the band has continued to perform, mostly at festivals in Europe and early this year, promised that new material is on the way. When the anticipated fourth album will arrive, or even be recorded, remains to be known, but it will surely bring another slab of unforgiving grind to the table.

Lock Up - "Pleasures Pave Sewers"

Lock Up - "Hate Breeds Suffering"

Lock Up - "Cascade Leviathan"

Lock Up - "Discharge the Fear"

Lock Up - "Triple Six Suck Angels"

Lock Up - "Accelerated Mutation"