Toothgrinder

History

The band came together after high school when original members Wills Weller, Justin Matthews, Matt Arensdorf, Jason Goss, and Matt Mielke kept playing while attending ten different colleges. Their first three releases were EPs: Turning of the Tides in 2011, Vibration/Colour/Frequency in 2012, and Schizophrenic Jubilee in 2014. On January 29, 2016, Toothgrinder put out their debut full-length, Nocturnal Masquerade, which earned widespread critical praise.

Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo sang on the eighth track, “Diamonds for Gold.” The second album, Phantom Amour, arrived November 10, 2017, to largely positive reviews. A cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” came out September 21, 2018. On August 23, 2019, the band dropped the song “I AM” and announced a new album, I Am, for October 11 that year.

Two more singles followed: “My Favorite Hurt” on September 24 and “The Silence of a Sleeping WASP” on October 5. Produced by Matt Squire, I Am marked a stylistic shift that Max Morin of Exclaim! called nu metalcore. To promote the album, Toothgrinder opened select dates of Lacuna Coil’s fall 2019 North American tour alongside All That Remains. The title track made Loudwire’s list of “The 66 Best Metal Songs of 2019.”