Uncured

Uncured old lineup at Elb-Riot Festival - Hamburg, Germany. From left to right: Liam Manley, Zak Cox, Rex Cox and Jon Kita

### Labels

Conclave Studios (2016-2018), Seek & Strike/The Orchard (2018-Present)

### Associated Acts

Dusks Embrace, Diecast, Hate Storm Annihilation

### Members

* Rex Cox
* Zak Cox
* Liam Manley
* Spencer Metela

### Past Members

* Jon Kita
* Max Portnoy

**Uncured** is an American Progressive/Technical Death Metal 4-piece from New York City, New York. The band was founded in 2016 by brothers Rex Cox and Zak Cox. Both sing and play the guitars. Despite their young age at the time the band was initially founded (Rex was 16 and Zak was 18 years old) the original members of Uncured have left school to pursue a career as full-time professional musicians.

​Uncured has been growing reputation in the industry and the Metal scene for the unique aggressive, technical, yet highly diverse and energetic live performances. Respectable Metal media outlets like Metal Injection compared Uncured to *"old school Dream Theater with some modern tricks thrown in, such as full-on breakdowns and smoking guitar acrobatics."* and also stated that *"This band is comprised of extremely talented and promising young musicians."*

Uncured also has been building a loyal and active fan-base. In February 2018, a group of devoted fans founded the Uncured Street Team, which counts with leaders and members based in several States of the U.S. and Provinces of Canada, and representatives for some countries like Mexico and Brazil.

* Spontaneous Generation Era (Early 2016 - October 2016)
* Medusa Era (Nov/2016 - Aug/2018)
* Terminal Era (September 2018)
* New Album Recording and 2019 tour cycle
* Discography
* References

## Spontaneous Generation Era (Early 2016 - October 2016)

On **October 13, 2016**, Uncured, having Conclave Studios as record label, released their first 4-song instrumental EP Spontaneous Generation. The Cox brothers wrote all of the material and played both guitar and bass on the EP. Max Portnoy  (Next To None, Tallah) son of Dream Theater drumming legend Mike Portnoy played the drums as a special guest.

The EP quickly impressed metal critics - some of which compared Uncured to the Prog titans Opeth and Dream Theater - and fans across the world. Rex Cox explained that this is due, in part, to Uncured’s eclectic approach to song writing. *“Our fans have really enjoyed our exploration of various styles, from death metal riffs to psychedelic trips to big grooves to the occasional Spanish flamenco or raga”.*

BraveWords described Uncured as *“Rush on ‘roids”* and Rockwired defined Uncured as *“more than just another young rock band on the scene.”* also explaining that *“in an age where the pulse of rock ’n roll has seemed to slow, the band's debut EP Spontaneous Generation serves up the sort of revelry and musicality that is likely to make Uncured a force to be reckoned with for years to come."*.

## Medusa Era (Nov/2016 - Aug/2018)

On **November 29, 2016** Uncured officially announced a new line-up. The Cox brothers recruited Liam Manley (formerly of Dusks Embrace) from Portland, Oregon as the official drummer. Jon Kita from Boston, Massachusetts, who previously played with metal stalwart Diecast, rounds out the Uncured line-up on bass.The band also announced that they were already in studio recording their first full-length album, Medusa and their debut as touring artists: a North American tour with Katatonia and Caspian.

On **March 10th 2017** Medusa was released, introducing Rex Cox and Zak Cox vocals. It didn't take long for the album draw even more attention to the band, not only for its unique style, but also for the impressive guitar shredding by young Rex and Zak combined with the talent and experience of the veterans Liam and Jon. Medusa was named by AXS.com one of the *"10 Best Metal Albums of 2017"*, which also stated that "The future of metal is safely in the hands of brothers Rex and Zak Cox" and that *"The group's debut album Medusa can easily be mistaken for a release from grizzled veterans. With youth on their side (Rex is 17, and Zak is 19), you can expect them to reach arena status in the future."*. According to Shockwave Magazine, *"Medusa is truly an album with a little bit of everything in it. There is no way you can call it progressive metal, but it doesn’t fit in the death metal genre either. UNCURED have defiantly made a unique album. When it comes down to it, the melting pot of styles all come together to make a solid album."*.

On **July 21st 2017** Uncured released Stygian Valley initially as a Sirius XM Liquid Metal exclusive single and later released on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and in CD format. The song is described by Vocalist/Guitarist Rex Cox as "*Stygian Pit on steroids*". In an interview to AXS.com, Rex explained that the formula used to make the original song heavier was *“a) add vocals and then, b) we restructured the song without losing any portions, cause we knew what we wanted to keep"* adding that the vocal tracks in Stygian Valley sound better than *Medusa* because at that time they already had *"a) more experience and, b) the ability to really produce the vocals in a unique way.”*. The official video clip for Stygian Valley was released on **August 17th 2017** with the direction of David Brodsky, which had previously worked with Diecast (Jon Kita's band).

As for the tour cycle, Uncured had been extensively touring across North America and Europe with several powerful names of the Metal scene like DevilDriver, Katatonia, Children Of Bodom in 2017 and Soulfly, Cradle Of Filth and Jamey Jasta (of Hatebreed) in 2018.

## Terminal Era (September 2018)

Uncured's single "Terminal" was written during the Tour with Children Of Bodom. The song made its stage debut at the Soulfly Tour replacing "Opium Den" as the last song of their set list. It was recorded at the Conclave Studios along with a Making-of style Documentary between the end of the tour with Cradle Of Filth and the beginning of the tour with Jamey Jasta.

The fact that the band had extensively played "Terminal" live before recording it, contributed to Uncured's decision of adding live aspects (such as asking the crowd to clap their hands) and making it as close to the live version as they could. Rex Cox describes the recording process to Revolver Magazine: *"When we hit the studio to record 'Terminal', we wanted to capture the excitement and intensity of an Uncured show. We even recorded all of the mosh calls that we use onstage when crowds are going crazy! We are back in the studio now, and our new record is building upon everything you hear in [the track]."*

Terminal was released through Seek & Strike/The Orchard] on **September 14th 2018**, followed by the Lyric video recorded live during the tour with Jamey Jasta , released on **September 20th 2018**, a series of tutorial/play through videos and the Making-of style Documentary**,** released on **November 28th 2018.** The song made a great impression by the fans and the media outlets.Metalsucks states that*“'Terminal' is essentially four minutes of unrelenting groove with layers of proggy shredding, approaching a crossover sound that lies somewhere in the uncharted territory between Machine Head and BTBAM."*

## New Album Recording and 2019 tour cycle

In October 2018 **Uncured** was back to Conclave Studios to start recording their new album. Even though the album is yet to be released, in January 2019 the band announced they will be playing at the Chaos and Carnage 2019 tour with Whitechapel , Dying Fetus among other bands. Uncured also announced they will be playing at the **Where the Owls Know My Name** tour with Rivers of Nihil, and two shows **The Simulation Tour** with Born Of Osiris

On **February 7th 2019**, Uncured released an official statement in their official social media pages announcing that Jon Kita was leaving the band, also revealing that Spencer Metela (from the band Hate Storm Annihilation) as their new bassist for the upcoming tours:

*"We are pleased to announce that Spencer Metela will be joining Uncured as our new bass player. Spencer is an exceptional musician with extensive touring experience. He will be joining us on our upcoming shows with Born of Osiris, Rivers of Nihil, and of course on the Chaos And Carnage Tour with Whitechapel and Dying Fetus.*

*Our good buddy Jon Kita is returning to his full-time gig as a mixing engineer and sound designer. When we launched our first album 'Medusa', Jon agreed to join us on the road as our bass player to help us get started. After 6 major tours in 7 countries, we thank him for all of his hard work and wish him the very best!"*

Jon Kita, also released an statement on his personal Facebook profile page:

 *"I’m excited to be able to pass the torch of the **Uncured** Bass duties over to our good friend Spencer. We played with his band Hate Storm Annihilation at the Palladium on the Cradle Of Filth tour and everyone became fast friends. He even looks like part of the Cox family! Thank you all for reaching out and sending along your best since the announcement was made."*

On **February 22nd 2019**, Uncured released on Sirius XM Liquid Metal's **Corridor Of Covers** the cover for Slayer's first Grammy nominated track named "Disciple" (from the album "God Hates Us All")

## References

1. ↑ http://www.metalinjection.net/show-recap/seeing-katatonia-live-was-an-emotional-experience
2. ↑ http://bravewords.com/news/uncured-releases-spontaneous-generation-ep-worldwide-today
3. ↑ http://www.rockwired.com/rockwiredmagazine54.html
4. ↑ https://www.axs.com/10-best-metal-albums-of-2017-126587
5. ↑ https://shockwavemagazine.com/uncured-medusa/
6. ↑ https://www.axs.com/interview-uncured-s-cox-brothers-share-tales-of-medusa-121485
7. ↑ https://www.revolvermag.com/music/hear-rising-tech-metal-act-uncureds-punishing-new-song-terminal
8. ↑ http://www.metalsucks.net/2018/09/17/groove-your-face-off-with-uncureds-terminal/