athousandangelsandseven forge grind, mathcore, screamo, and sludge into an relentless, abrasive defiance

In late January 2025, Denver’s athousandangelsandseven drop their self-titled debut EP through Zegema Beach Records—a jagged, unrelenting 10-minute slab of sound that doesn’t so much invite you in as it drags you down with it.

Four tracks, clocking in just shy of a dime, hit like a sledgehammer swung in odd time signatures. A calculated assault, born from guitarist Mathew Meyer’s 2022 vision and now fleshed out by a five-piece crew: drummer Ryan Hunter, vocalist Elle Reynolds, guitarist Kendrick Lemke, and bassist Alex Gonzalez.

They pull from grind, mathcore, screamo, chaotic hardcore, and sludge, twisting it all into something that feels like a nightmare you can’t shake off—one that’s abrasive, chaotic, and deliberate in its refusal to let up.

The single “Clipped Wings” sets the tone. Grinding dissonance collides with rhythmic stutters that’d make The Sawtooth Grin or Cult Leader nod in recognition.

Elle Reynolds’ vocals don’t just ride the chaos—they claw through it, laying bare the weight of hopelessness and hypervigilance that marginalized folks in America know too well.

The band’s not here to comfort or coddle; they’re channeling a raw discontent with a world that’s gone rotten, and they’ve got no patience for pretense. That EP, released January 27, 2025, is a snapshot of a group that’s hit the ground running, already playing shows with acts like Frail Body and eyeing a Chicago debut at ZBR Fest in May. It’s fast, it’s furious, and it’s only the beginning.

 

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Talking to the band, you get the sense this wasn’t some overnight fluke. It started with Mathew and a bassist who didn’t stick, jamming in late 2022, pulling in Ryan—who hadn’t touched drums since his old outfit Full Bore folded in 2018—through a loose connection from a gig he’d booked.

By summer 2023, Elle came into the fold after their band Endless, Nameless collapsed, just as Mathew was about to join it. Kendrick’s old group Empire Demolition shared rehearsal space with them until it imploded in spring 2024, leaving him free to jump in—and later double up in Mathew’s other project, Fatalist.

Alex, the last piece, slid in that July after a gear nerd chat with Mathew at a show turned into an invite to try something “abrasive, loud, nonsense.” He’d never wrestled with weird time signatures before, but he stuck, and the lineup clicked. They’re tight now, friends who gel fast and push hard, and it shows in how quickly they’ve moved from demos to a debut that’s already turning heads.

Our chat with them digs into the guts of it all—themes of nihilism, societal rot, and personal struggle woven into tracks like “77 Years of Immeasurable Pain,” a gut punch about witnessing genocide and apathy, or “We Suffer (the Same Fate),” spitting venom at soul-crushing workplaces that peddle fake unity.

“Clipped Wings” cuts deepest, with Elle unpacking their life as a trans and disabled person pinned under a system that both sustains and strangles them. The music’s a vessel for that rage and despair, built from skeletons by Mathew and Kendrick, then torn apart and rebuilt by the whole crew.

They name-drop influences like Converge and Pageninetynine, but it’s not mimicry—it’s a foundation they’ve torched and reshaped into their own jagged edge. Plans for 2025 are already brewing: more writing, more recording, more shows. They’re not slowing down.

 

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The cover art, Jean Delville’s “Parsifal” from around 1890, fits like a glove—a figure peering beyond the veil, all murky perception and quiet menace. Kendrick’s handling the visuals in-house, from logos to merch, keeping it raw and real.

Denver’s scene gets a nod too, with shoutouts to heavy hitters like Ethan from Primitive Man and newer torchbearers like Lala at D3 Arts, alongside a slew of local acts worth your time—Spear Of Cassius, Cherry Spit, Thieves Guild, and more. It’s a gritty ecosystem that’s shaped them, and they’re giving back as they carve their spot.

Dive into the full interview below for the unfiltered scoop—how they came together, what each track’s tearing at, where they’re headed, and who’s keeping Denver’s underbelly alive.

How did this whole thing come together? What got you started, what fuels your creativity, and how do you feel about the way you’ve evolved as a band so far?

In late 2022/early 2023 Mat and a previous bassist started writing together. The previous bassist knew Ryan though playing in an old band that Ryan had booked. Ryan hadn’t played drums since playing in Full Bore which broke up in 2018.

Then, in the summer of 2023, Mat was about to join Elle’s old band Endless, Nameless on guitar, but when that band broke up, Elle started practicing with us on vocals instead.

For a few months, we shared a space with Kendrick’s old band Empire Demolition, which after they broke up in spring 2024 led to him playing guitar in this. Quickly following Kendrick joining, Mat’s other band Fatalist needed a fill-in guitarist, which Kendrick did and then became a permanent member of as well.

Around July of 2024, Alex saw that Mat had posted on social media of his band looking for a bassist. Alex had met Mat through talking about gear at a local show. Mat described it as being abrasive, loud, nonsense which Alex had never played before, but was interested. That night Mat sent over the demos and Alex realized that he had never played in different time signatures before.
Once Alex was welcomed as a part of the team, the crew felt complete and we all quickly became friends.

Very quickly after having our full lineup, Mat recorded the songs for our debut EP and we played our first show with Frail Body in Denver at 7th Circle. Elle reached out to ZBR in November 2024 after we finished recording and Dave has been awesome helping us get our release out into the world the right way and has allowed us to release, in our opinion, such an awesome first EP. This band has gotten further faster than any of us has hoped and we intend on pushing forward very hard. So far, we have been given very cool opportunities that some of us have never been able to be a part of until now and we are all very thankful to be a part of this band.

As for the creative process, originally the band started with Mat making demos at home and bringing them to practice to fully flesh out the ideas. We have all brought song ideas to the band, and the band is mostly song skeletons started by Mat or Kendrick (or both together) with the band fleshing out the ideas together. The inspirations for this band have been artists such as Cult Leader, Pageninetynine, Botch, KEN Mode, Sumac, and Converge.

Let’s dive deep into each song from the EP.

Mathcore is such an intense genre and I (Elle) really want to add to that chaos as much as possible both through my lyrics and my phrasing. Normally my process for lyrics is writing poetry on its own and figuring out what instrumentals to pair it up with but everything for this project is so hyper specific in terms of the rhythms and phrasing that I normally spend at least an additional few months fully finalizing lyrics after we’ve finished writing the tracks instrumentally.

77 Years of Immeasurable Pain:

I knew I wanted this project to be a vehicle for channeling all my most nihilistic emotions, and being witness – along with the rest of the world – to the genocide happening to the Palestinian people while next to nothing is being done has filled my heart with new levels of guilt, frustration, and disappointment in so many people around me. This song is all about the feelings of hopelessness experienced by seeing such atrocities presented to all of us so clearly and met with apathy, as well as the dread it brings up for me when thinking about my own future. I certainly know I would want someone to share my voice if I were ever in such a horrible situation.

I can’t understand how you never thought it would get to this point:

The title makes this one a little bit more self explanatory I think, but this song touches on a lot of similar thematic notes to the first track, while focusing more on the effects of consumerism from the perspective of someone unwillingly coming to terms with the consequences of their actions. It’s hard making do in a capitalistic society and at some point we’re all forced at some point to either face our decisions head on or stick our head in the sand.

We Suffer (the Same Fate)

This one is all about those awful work spaces (which is the majority of them) that call you their family, act like you’re all in this together, and throw aggressive amounts of positivity in your face so that they can just further manipulate and bleed you dry. A lot of the lines in the song come directly from quotes spat at me and other coworkers by past bosses.

Clipped Wings

Clipped Wings was the first set of lyrics I wrote for this record, and it’s the track that has the most of my own personal experience directly inserted, as opposed to a lot of the other tracks which are largely observatory. It’s all about my experiences as a trans and disabled person living in the US, and how the systems in place keep me trapped and dependent on our government for the resources I need to survive, and how often times those very things keeping me going are also destroying me. It also touches on trauma and times when I was hesitant to even leave the house due to fears of experiencing even more transphobic violence. This track was definitely an outlet for so many of my most negative intrusive thoughts, and it’s always cathartic to perform.

What’s on the horizon for you? Got any plans locked in for 2025, or is it all still taking shape? And when it comes to this release—what’s the bigger picture? Any overarching themes or messages you hope people pick up on?

We are very stoked to be venturing out of Colorado for the first time to play ZBR Fest in Chicago IL May 3rd, and will be playing some dates around that. We are writing a lot right now and trying to record some soon, as we have varying plans for multiple releases we would like to hit the ground running with. We would also like to get out and play as much as we are able to.

 

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Additionally, if there’s a connection between the music and visuals, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the cover art.
The art for the EP uses Jean Delville’s “Parsifal” from 1890(ish), depicting a being perceiving deeply beyond normal perception
Visually it just clicked and felt right for this band. We had been sending art ideas and artists back and forth for a while and this one elicited a strong response from everyone immediately and just felt like THE ONE for our first release. So far we have kept everything visual for the band in-house with Kendrick doing our logo and putting together art for merch and the layout for this release.

What’s your take on your local scene? How have things shifted since you first got involved, and are there any bands, labels, or people really making an impact right now?

As far as we can tell, Denver wouldn’t be what it is without Ethan (Primitive Man, Vermin Womb, & Many Blessings) laying the groundwork for heavy music to thrive here. Utilizing that groundwork, Adam Croft (Convulse Records, Destiny Bond) has been able to turn Denver into one of the major hardcore scenes in the country. He has brought out diversity in the scene, and is very welcoming of new people. For the next generation, Lala (D3 Arts) has picked up the torch. In recent years, she has been one of the most hard working supporters of the Denver scene. For example, she has hosted Alex’s bands countless times in the early stages of D3 Arts. D3 Arts has also motivated a lot of the newer audiences to show out way more than ever before and we genuinely think it’s pretty cool.

It’s worth also mentioning that the Ostrow brothers, Bryan and Sean, have completely transformed the Colorado Springs music community by hosting shows at 2 locations (Vultures and What’s Left Records). They’ve been in lots of bands, here’s a few: 908, Upon a Field’s Whisper, Alone, & Night of the Living Shred. The Lent brothers in Denver are similar in that they have a rad store called Chain Reaction, and are keeping crust alive with Roac as well as their many other bands throughout the years: Rotstrotter, Dripfed, Clusterfux etc.

When a lot of DIY spaces shut down after the Ghost Ship fire, almost all shows were routed to the bars and venues on South Broadway. Some houses and other art spaces existed but only briefly. Aaron Saye (7th Circle Music Collective) has kept his afloat for over 10 years now (since around 2012), but we’re also starting to see some of those venues that went away because of Ghost Ship come back (we played our release show at one).

Some of our favorite locals include:

Spear Of Cassius – very fun and tight old school metalcore. They always put on an incredible show and are really good people that do a lot for the scene.

Cherry Spit – super crazy mathy noise punk. One of the bands in Denver doing something truly original and their bassist/vocalist books for Squirm Gallery, one of the best DIY venues around here.

Thieves Guild – dark post metal/screamo, the band name is sick, they always have such an incredible atmosphere and they perform with everything they’ve got.

Ukko’s Hammer – Straight up badass hardcore punk from colorado. This band is always insane to see live, a true force to be reckoned with.

Asbestos – Grimey Hardcore punk, always high energy, always dropping jaws.

Direct Threat – Hardcore punk, super intense and always with good energy.

The Consequence – Hardcore, Hard hitting, fast pace and heavy riffs.