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Achievement unlocked: Teen metal band finally releases its debut album

Achievement unlocked: Teen metal band finally releases its debut album
Photo by Jordan Rathkopf

Chaos is no longer a theory!

The trio of teens who make up Brooklyn thrash metal band Unlocking the Truth released their much-anticipated debut album “Chaos” last week, and are currently on tour and doing what they love — ripping blistering solos and pounding out super-tight rhythms. But in May, when the three Crown Heights teenagers chatted with this newspaper, they were still trudging through the school year and eager to get back on the stage.

“It’s not fun, the normal life — as in no shows and all that,” frontman Malcolm Brickhouse said.

“We just have to wait and deal with the pains of going through high school,” bassist Alec Atkins said.

The album is filled with the speedy metal that first got the group viral attention during its sidewalk shows in Times Square in 2014. The biggest difference is tht the formerly-instrumental act now has Brickhouse growling grim lyrics over each track.

To support the album, the rising high school sophomores have played shows in Manhattan and Los Angeles, and released videos for the songs “Take Control” and “Monster.” The band has no scheduled concerts in its home borough, but the members confidently predicted they would be on stage at Barclay’s Center within the next three years.

The past year has been much quieter than the last few, when the band performed at festivals South by Southwest, Coachella, and Bonaroo, and played on numerous television shows. But the quiet just meant that the band members were hard at work, they said.

“Nothing has really changed since the last time you heard from us, you’d be surprised, it’s just died down,” said drummer Jarad Dawkins, who spent his school year studying music in a local public high school.

“The band really slowed down because we had to deal with things with the record deal,” Atkins said. “We slowed down — but not completely because we recorded the album over the majority of last year.”

Some of the time was occupied with legal wrangling. The band signed a $1.7 million contract with Sony, but realized that much of that money would be locked up unless “Chaos” sold more than 250,000 copies — a feat only achieved by three metal albums in 2015. So the group hired lawyers to get them out of the deal.

“It was a very long process, we hired O.J. [Simpson]’s lawyer,” Dawkins joked.

The album’s title refers to the dizzying whirlwind of contractual obligations, fame, and success the found themselves in. As draining as it was, these guys are ready to get back on the road and in the studio, Brickhouse said.

“I’m not trying to be back in school hanging out, blah blah blah. I wanna be on tour,” he said.

Unlocking the Truth’s album “Chaos” is available now on iTunes. $9.99.

Reach reporter Dennis Lynch at (718) 260–2508 or e-mail him at dlynch@cnglocal.com.
The sonic youth: The three teens that make up Unlocking the Truth have played Bonnaroo and South By Southwest, and will release their debut album on June 17, but they have not let go of their youth just yet.
Photo by Jordan Rathkopf