Masterminded by underground music fixture Domenic Romeo (Integrity/Pulling Teeth/A389 Recordings) and featuring an all-star cast of musicians and contributors, END REIGN fuses apocalyptic hardcore with vicious metal in a deadly collision of the classic and the modern.

Taking musical inspiration from ’80s linchpins Amebix, Bathory, Slayer and Cro-Mags, END REIGN is the result of Romeo’s astonishing lockdown ‘song-a-day’ writing spree. “When the first wave of Covid hit and everyone was stuck at home, I ended up writing a ton of new material,” he says. “I started sending them to my friends without any real intention of doing anything more than having a personal mixtape with different songs / contributors on it.” He sent a demo of the song “House Of Thieves” to Mike Score of New York metalcore kings

All Out War. “The song was musically meant to be nothing more than an homage to Best Wishes-era Cro-Mags,” Romeo explains. “Mike did such a great job, I kept sending him more songs and this project just came to life.”

Romeo hand-picked the rest of the END REIGN lineup accordingly. On drums, he enlisted the supreme talents of Adam Jarvis, known for his blast work with grind titans Pig Destroyer, Misery Index and Lock Up. “Jarvis and I always talked about doing a band together in between work hijinks and our own bands,” Romeo explains. “Years later, I found out that he lived a few blocks away and was stuck at home too. We started getting together, and next thing you know, we were in the studio recording.”

Then he hit up elusive ex-Bloodlet bassist Arthur Legere. “When it came time to think about the bass tracks, Art was the first person I thought of,” Romeo says. “I always loved his playing in Bloodlet. I literally asked him the week we were booked to record. He learned the songs in three days and did the album with us.”

The final piece of the END REIGN puzzle was Noisem/Exhumed shredder Sebastian Phillips. “We split the solos on the album Hanneman/King style,” Romeo explains. “I’m usually overly OCD about any deviation to the plan, but everything he contributed to the album fit perfectly”

Meanwhile, Score’s lyrics explore the psychological torment of being trapped between opposing realities. “Most of the album, especially songs like ‘The Hunger’ and ‘Death Comes Crawling,’ deal with being caught between two worlds—the living and the dead, heaven and hell, what was and what is to come,” the vocalist explains. “Those two songs specifically address the anxiety of leaving this plane of existence and entering another. Both songs convey an overall feeling of being lost and desperate within the void. This is a recurrent theme throughout the album.”

The aforementioned “House Of Thieves”—soon to be released as a Decibel magazine flexi disc—takes a different tack. “The song deals with the disillusionment with the constructs of our current existence while emphasizing how these constructs mask chaos as order,” Score says. Recorded over a year at Landmine Studios with Len Carmichael at the helm, END REIGN’s full-length debut features vocal cameos from Romeo’s longtime collaborator and Integrity bandmate Dwid Hellion, Full Of Hell’s Dylan Walker and—incredibly—Ed Ka-Spel from avant-rock fabulons The Legendary Pink Dots. “Dwid and I are always bouncing ideas back and forth. He usually appears on most records I’m involved with in some shape or form,” Romeo explains. “And I’ve watched Dylan evolve into one of the most formidable vocalists in extreme music… I’ve always wanted to do something with him.”

As for Ed Ka-Spel? “The Legendary Pink Dots are one my all-time favorite bands,” Romeo reveals. “So, I just wrote Ed Ka-Spel out of the blue: ‘I know this is going to sound weird. I’ve loved your band since I was in high school, and I was wondering if you’d be opposed to being on a heavy metal song.’ He did it in a day, wrote his own part, and it was above and beyond what I anticipated.”

Last but not least, END REIGN’s debut boasts cover art by acclaimed fine artist Michelle Eddison (Starkweather, Below the Frost, and more,) with contributions from Voivod drummer and visual commander Away. “I’ve been a huge Voivod fan forever,” Romeo explains, “so getting him to contribute an illustration is something that has been on my bucket list.”

It all adds up to your new favorite ripper. “This album is like riding a rollercoaster in a theme park based on all the extreme music I’ve enjoyed throughout my life,” Romeo says. “I hope that any fans of our musical family tree will enjoy the ride as much as we did.”