The Berzerker is an Australian industrial grindcore band from Melbourne. The band's music, largely influenced by the first generation of death metal and grindcore, mixed with speedcore and gabber>. Founding member Luke Kenny describes the band's style as industrial death metal>.
The Berzerker has a total of five studio albums, The Berzerker (2000), Dissimulate (2002), World of Lies (2005), Animosity (2007) and The Reawakening (2008), all distributed by the Earache Records label, with the exception of the last album, auto -produced to their independent label, Berserker Industries. During their early career as a live band, band members are uniquely identified by their role - The Vocalist, The Guitarist, The Bassist and The Drummer - and distinguished from the masks they wore. However, the group quickly abandoned this concept because the masks were crumbling and to avoid being compared to the Slipknot group. A documentary DVD, The Principles and Practices of the Berzerker (2004), includes hours of concerts on stage, and the first images of the band without their masks.
The Berzerker becomes popular in the world metal scene with remixes of death metal songs originally composed by Deicide and Morbid Angel. Earache Records have them signed, and are accompanied by Luke Kenny as DJ / programmer. Kenny was previously a drummer in bands from Melbourne, including the death metal band Mystic Insight. Earache's official website explains that the album was to be recorded at Devin Townsend's studio in Vancouver, Canada, with the help of metal musicians David Vincent (Morbid Angel), Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth, Damaged), Dan Lilker (Brutal Truth, Nuclear Assault), and Jed Simon (Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole) before they all hurt each other in mysterious circumstances. After some disagreements and money problems, Kenny returns to Australia and works alongside his friend Sam Bean, who is responsible for recording guitar pieces and choirs.
Guitarists Jason and Ed Lacey, members of the local metal band The Wolves, are recruited, and release their first album The Berzerker . The album is well received by the underground metal press, and the band is compared to Napalm Death and Strapping Young Lad.
