The first time FROM BELOW came up in conversation was when we talked to Robert from Refuse Records about his ongoing projects this year. Back then, the band was just another name in a list of upcoming hardcore releases, an unknown force brewing beneath the surface. Now, that force is here, manifesting in raw, unrelenting sound and a lyrical weight that doesnโt just demand attentionโit crushes you under its reality.
FROM BELOWโs debut EP, The Deeds of Monsters, is a reckoning. The North Carolina-based outfitโMatt (guitar), Ernie (bass), Nathan (drums), and Fred (vocals)โbrings together decades of experience in underground music, with members whoโve cut their teeth in bands like CATHARSIS and POINT OF NO RETURN. But this isnโt a nostalgic rehash of past lives. Itโs a different beast altogether.
Recorded at Scenic Lab between November and December 2024, mixed by Kevin Chipman, and mastered by Scott Crouse at Formvaudio Studio in January 2025, The Deeds of Monsters is as calculated as it is visceral. The artwork, crafted by Brazilian artist Luciano Feijรฃo, is a nightmarish snapshotโferal teeth, raw aggression, an image that gnaws at the mind before the music even starts.
Full 7-inch to be released by Bitter Melody Records and Refuse Records on April 1, 2025.
The opening track, Teratomachia, is an immediate firestorm, a song that rips through the illusion of safety. Itโs specific, historical, targeted. The atomic horror that reshaped generations, the lies of justification, the inescapable aftermathโall crammed into two minutes and forty-nine seconds of relentless punishment. โBorn from the womb of atomic fireโThe deeds of monsters / Turning cities into funeral pyresโThe deeds of monsters,โ Fred spits, and thereโs no room left for interpretation. The weight of history drags through every line.
FROM BELOW is pissed, but itโs not just blind fury; thereโs intent, research, and precision behind their assault. The EP tackles the scars of imperialism, the ghosts of colonization, and the machinery of war that grinds people into dust. Thereโs no escapism here. These songs donโt offer catharsis, they sharpen knives.
In our conversation with the band, we delved into the genesis of FROM BELOW, the intersection of their personal histories with this project, and the brutal themes that define The Deeds of Monsters. We also talked about their connection to North Carolinaโs underground scene, their influences, and the process of carving out a new voice in an era where hardcore has become both more diverse and, at times, more toothless.
We also got an inside look at the recordโs creation, the significance of its artwork, and the weight of its themes. And for those looking beyond just this release, the band opened up about whatโs nextโfuture shows, new material, and the delicate balance of making hardcore music while navigating the rest of lifeโs demands.
Read the full interview below.
I first heard about FROM BELOW when I was chatting with Robert from REFUSE RECORDS earlier this year, and it sounded pretty wild. So how did you four end up going all-in on this project? Was there a single moment where you were like, โYeah, weโve gotta do this,โ or was it more of a slow burn?
Fred – Iโve known Ernie (bass) and Matt (guitar) since the late 1990s, when I visited North Carolina and hung out with them and the rest of their band, CATHARSIS. I got to know them better when I organized CATHARSISโs South American tour in 2000, and I stayed in touch with them through social media in the years that followed. Eventually, I moved to the U.S. and ended up in North Carolina. In the fall of 2023, Matt posted on social media about his desire to form a new band. I commented on the post, and he invited me to sing for the band. He also invited Nathan to play drums.
Back in the day, Nathan played in Bellafea, but now he was interested in something more hardcore punk. We started practicing around September 2023, writing new songs from the get-go. But since weโre all older and busy with other commitments, it can be hard to get everyone in the same room to practice. Still, weโve been meeting three to four times a month and already have about nine songs. In the end, writing songs and lyrics wasnโt the hardest partโthe real challenge was agreeing on a name for the band.
Matt – I moved from Philadelphia back to NC about 2 and half years ago. When planning that move I was already thinking about who I would tap for a new band. I knew Ernie and Fred were nearby, so I was thinking of them maybe two years before we all got in a room together. Shortly after I moved, CATHARSIS played two shows in Winston Salem – Fred was at one of them. I asked him then if he wanted to start a new band. Later that summer while on tour with CATHARSIS, Ernie and I were talking and I mentioned Fred. After the tour, Ernie and I met a few times, shared some songs and decided to go for it. Nathan replied to a “drummer wanted” social media post with, “Sounds like fun!”
The process has been a slow burn… We’ve all got families, jobs, and other lives so it’s difficult to practice sometimes.
Youโve got members who were involved in CATHARSIS and POINT OF NO RETURN. Iโm always curious how different backgrounds mesh together when you start a fresh bandโdoes it feel like youโre drawing from everything youโve done before, or does FROM BELOW have its own separate kind of energy?
Fred – That is a great question. In late 2023 and early 2024, at the same time I was writing the lyrics for FROM BELOW, I was also writing the lyrics for POINT OF NO RETURNโs new record, โTHE LANGUAGE OF REFUSAL.โ
So, I see those lyrics as coming out of the same creative process, the same context. Of course, FROM BELOW is different from POINT OF NO RETURN because it is just me singing (in POINT OF NO RETURN, I am one of three singers), so I have to think about that when I try to put lyrics to the music. Also, because I am the only singer, I feel I can do something that is a little more idiosyncraticโe.g., focusing more on history and on the past, which I like, for example. But from my point of view, the final result, when we put everybodyโs input together, is very different and unique. The songs are the result of the creative input of all four members.
Matt – Musically, this is a fresh start from CATHARSIS. Brian is the main songwriter in CATHARSIS and I would describe his style of writing as theme and variation. Ernie and I grew up on 80s punk, hardcore, and metal, and FROM BELOW’s music reflects those influences and some more modern ones too – DISCHARGE, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, CRUMBSUCKERS, CHRISTIAN DEATH, CRO-MAGS, WOLFBRIGADE, DISFEAR, etc…
The cover of this EP, โTHE DEEDS OF MONSTERS,โ with those raw teeth, is definitely eye-catching. Whatโs the story behind that artwork? Is there a deeper symbolism to that ferocious grin?
Fred – The cover art was made by an old friend from Brazil, Luciano Feijรฃo, who sang for a Brazilian hardcore band OPOSIรรO back in the 1990s and eventually became a visual artist. When my bandmates and I started talking about recording, I knew I wanted Luciano’s artwork to be featured on the cover of whatever we put out. He is such a talented artist, always pushing the boundaries of visual arts. I knew he had in the past done the artwork for punk bands like MONGREL (Ireland) and BโURST! (Brazil).
So, I asked him if he had any artwork we could use for the cover of what would be either a demo or an EP (we hadnโt decided yet which it would be). He was very excited about the idea and generously sent me a bunch of options from his work we could use. I chose an image from a panel in a comic about maroons (escaped enslaved individuals) during the time of chattel slavery in Brazil in the 19th century. The story with the artwork first came out in 2022 in the Brazilian independent comics magazine RAGU.
Speaking of monstersโwho or what are these monsters youโre talking about? Are we looking at some metaphor for humanity, systems, or even personal demons, or is it something else entirely?
Fred – The title of the EP, โTHE DEEDS OF MONSTERS,โ comes from the lyrics of โTeratomachia,โ one of the tracks. In it, we follow the old peace-punk tradition of commenting on nuclear war. But instead of discussing the futureโthe looming threat of nuclear devastation and the post-apocalyptic reality it would unleashโwe focus on the past: the actual nuclear attacks that have occurred in history and the devastation and trauma they caused. The โmonstersโ refer both to the tropes people use to make sense of their trauma and to the actual men (and they were, without exception, men) who decided to launch such attacks, driven by an abhorrent and self-serving utilitarian rationale.
โTeratomachiaโ hit me like a sledgehammer. The aggression level and the pace is just crushing. Whatโs driving that anger and speed in it?
Fred – We are all deeply critical of the current state of thingsโas anyone involved in punk should be. That naturally seeps into our music. For me, personally, itโs a refreshing change of pace from POINT OF NO RETURN, which is also aggressive but not as fast as FROM BELOW. Itโs exciting to create music that overwhelms you, like a torrent during a storm.
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The lyrics dig into heavy themesโnuclear devastation, colonization, exploitation. Do you see these as direct reflections of our current reality, or are you also delving into historical wounds that still linger today?
Fred – We see them as both. Two of the songs deal directly with the past: โTeratomachiaโ (the atomic bombings) and โFeitoriaโ (colonialism, particularly the Portuguese in Africa and South America between the 1500s and 1900s). However, the threat of nuclear warโand the cultural, economic, and ideological structures that led to the WWII atomic bombings in Japanโremains very much present.
Likewise, colonialism casts a long shadow over the societies it affected, helping to explain much of what we see today. The other song, โEmpireโs Deceitโ, explores the seemingly contradictory yet intrinsically linked relationship between imperialism abroad and xenophobia at homeโan attitude that defines much of the rightโs politics today.
With everything going on politically where you are, do you see it in black-and-white, or are there more nuanced shades that shape your outlook and lyrics? How do folks around you deal with the constant churn of news and changes?
Fred – The political situation in the United States right now is very dire. But growing up under a military dictatorship in Brazilโone that was supported by the U.S.โI am well aware that things can get even worse. Still, trying to see things for what they are without being consumed by the daily barrage of depressing news should not lead to despair or, worse, paralysis. We live in a time when there is much we can do to counter this wave of reactionary politics.
One small example is using our art and this little community we have in hardcore punk to push back against those ideas and offer a vision of a world that is radically differentโand liberatingโfrom the status quo.
Does the environment around youโyour local scene, your day-to-day contextโend up in your writing? Are there specific things about North Carolina (or wherever each of you is based) that seep into the riffs and words?
Fred – We are based in North Carolina, in the Triangle area, formed by the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill and their suburbs. Nathan, Ernie, and Matt are originally from North Carolina (although Matt lived for over two decades in Philadelphia but is back now).
In that regard, I am the outsider, as I am originally from Sรฃo Paulo, Brazil, where I was born and lived most of my adult life. I think I have a very different view of the area than they do. I come from a megalopolis, the largest metro area in the Americas, so the type of (sub)urban landscape I live in now feels somewhat alien to me.
There is no public transportation here, as everything is a suburban sprawl, with small pockets of urban density and walkability here and there. One has to drive to most places, which I am not fond of for various reasons, but I do it anyway.
There is a lot of nature aroundโor at least the type of manicured, heavily managed green pockets common in East Coast U.S. suburbs. North Carolina experienced industrialization and deindustrialization, with industries such as tobacco processing, furniture making, and textiles moving out of the state after the 1970s, leaving warehouses, industrial plants, and industrial villages in their wake. In the Triangle, the remnants of such activities are not as visible as in other parts of the state, as cities like Raleigh and Chapel Hill have always relied more on government and education jobs than on industry. Durham, perhaps, is the most post-industrial city of the three that comprise this metro area.
I sense that my bandmates, being locals, take pride in being from hereโnot because of the mainstream history of the place (after all, this is the U.S. South, with its deeply complicated history of slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation)โbut because their life experiences are rooted in a community of cultural resistance. This is a place that, within the U.S., is far from the traditional centers of countercultural production in the Northeast and California.
Howโs the local hardcore/punk scene doing on your turf these days, anyway? Any new bands or artists that people should keep an ear out for? I love hearing about fresh stuff that might not be on everyoneโs radar yet.
Matt – I’m probably best equipped to answer this… The Triangle and Triad areas of NC have varied scenes. Raleigh and Greensboro seem to have a lot of hardcore – the metalcore kind that I’m not really into these days. Chapel Hill and Durham have a lot of punk; my favorites are SNIDE (reverbed-out freaky punk), and CHIROPTERA (a bunch of high-school kids totally killing it).
Also, if you’re not on SORRY STATE RECORDS’ mailing list, you’re missing out. The weekly updates are extensive, with news about new bands, new releases, tours, etc… Not just from North Carolina, but from all over the world.
REFUSE RECORDS and BITTER MELODY are involved in this project. How did you decide to team up with them in the first place?
Fred – Right after we formed the band, Matt (guitar) mentioned it to Grant from BITTER MELODY, who was very curious and asked to hear something whenever we had a recording. Months later, I was talking frequently with Robert from REFUSE RECORDS because he was putting out the new POINT OF NO RETURN record, and I mentioned this new band with people from CATHARSIS. Since his label had released records for both bands, he was naturally interested in FROM BELOW.
Once we had a recording in hand, we brought them together in the same (virtual) room and proposed that the two labels release the EP together. They were stoked because they loved the songs, and we were stoked because we love both labels. Win-win!
Matt – Grant from BITTER MELODY reached out to me after seeing the same “drummer wanted” post that Nathan answered. We kept in touch. Robert/REFUSE and CATHARSIS have worked together a lot in the past, so it seemed like a no-brainer to ask Robert too. We proposed the idea to the both of them, and they were cool with it.
Whatโs the game plan for the rest of the year? Any shows lined up, tours brewing, or is this more of a studio project right now?
Fred – We have a couple of shows for April, May, and June here in the Triangle area, and we are also writing new songs. We havenโt discussed yet what we are going to do with the songs, if another EP or a full-length album. We will also try book weekend shows in other parts of the US South this year. We are very busy with other things, some of us have little kids, so it is hard for us to go out on a long tour.
I would like to thank IDIOTEQ for the opportunity to talk about our music. I also want to leave our contact info: drop us a line via email [email protected] and follow us on Instagram and Bandcamp.
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