The Wicker Man Wiki

== History ==
The Wicker Man originally formed on the rich musical landscape known as the Sunset Strip, in 2006. Back then, the line-up consisted of Charlie Haner (Drums), Brian Hanson (co-Lead Guitar), Jonas Stark (co-Lead Guitar), David Osvaldo (Vocals) and Pedro Rentor (Bass), pumping out a fusion of hard core punk, thrash and the occasional bit of Number of The Beast era riffing. They secured a shaky deal with V-records, and released a semi-succesful debut album, entitled 'Trial of Bones', but they were soon dropped by the label, with more issues to follow. David Osvaldo soon left due to drug issues, and Pedro wasn't far behind, being condemned to 7 years in jail for the assult of 3 children. Vinny Styxx, long time friend and roadie for The Wicker Man, took up the role of lead vocals, adding a much grittier, yet somehow more melodic sound to the band, fusing gravely clean vocals with Machine Head yells and growls reminicent of Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder. Zack Garcia carried the torch as bassist for the band, throwing in some added savagery. The band idependently released their sophomore attempt, 'Darkest Hour', which would go on to sell 1 and a half million records, although they abandoned their original punk sounds for a more intense death metal/thrash fusion that was heavily groove oriented. The band embarked on their first headlining tour, selling out stadiums across the US, an impressive feat for such a young band. Impressive enough that it drew the attention of Molotov Records, who signed them on in early 2008. Jonas and Zack left for creativity reasons, and were replaced by Matt "Moose" Haner (co-Lead Guitar) and Mike Demmel (Bass), who where immediatly immersed in touring and the writing process for one of the 21st centuries biggest metal gems, the soon to be epic double disc album Call to Monstrosity. Once again, The Wicker Man adapted their style, finally finding their niche writing proggy and uber technical 10 minute epics that took the combination of Sumerian Core at its finest, melodic death metal and technical thrash into mind blowing materpieces with acoustics, Latin influences, Middle Eastern scales, Spanish Flamenco and many other twists. Recently, the group has been nominated for 'Best Newcomer' at the Birdies and has sold 7 million records worldwide.