The Amenta

The Amenta
Origin	Sydney, NSW
Genres	Death/black/industrial metal
Years active	2002 – present
Labels	Listenable
Associated acts	Malignant Monster, Paindivision, Crucible of Agony, Psycroptic, Ruins, Infernal Method, Centaur, Pathogen, Switchblade, Psi.Kore, Lord Kaos, Dimmu Borgir, Norse, Synperium, Rituals of the Oak, The Seer, Mortal Sin
Website	http://www.theamenta.com
Members	Cain Cressal, Dave Haley, Ryan Huthnance, Dan Quinlan, Erik Miehs, Tim Pope
Past members	Astennu, Scott Bernascone, Cessium 137, Joe Haley, Chad Halford, Dale Harrison, Nathan Jenkins, Jarrod Krafczyk, Andrew Lilley, Robin Stone

Band members

• Current line-up
  • Cain Cressal (vocals)
  • Dave Haley (drums)
  • Ryan Huthnance (guitar)
  • Dan Quinlan (bass)
  • Erik Miehs (guitar)
  • Tim Pope (keyboards)

• Former members
  • Robin Stone (drums) 2009 - 2013
  • Endrin (Dale Harrison) (bass) 2008 - 2009
  • Chad Halford (drums) 2008
  • Scott Bernascone (guitar) 2007 (live)
  • Jarrod Krafczyk (vocals) 2006 - 2009
  • Joe Haley (guitar) 2004 - 2007
  • Nathan Jenkins (bass) 2002 - 2007
  • Cessium 137 (vocals) 2002 - 2006
  • Astennu (guitar) 2002
  • Andrew Lilley (guitar) 2002

Band information

The Amenta is an extreme Sydney act with a sound encompassing death, black and industrial elements. The band evolved from an earlier act called Crucible of Agony that featured Erik Miehs and Nathan Jenkins. Members were drawn from several other well known bands. Andrew Lilley of Psi.Kore and Infernal Method and journeyman guitarist Astennu were members for brief periods, and Dave and Joe Haley from Psycroptic were also members for a number of years up until 2007 when other commitments forced them to step down.

The Amenta had their debut album released through French label Listenable in 2004 almost a year before playing live for the first time. Occasus was voted into the top five Australian metal albums of 2004 by the listeners of the Triple J network's Full Metal Racket program and The Amenta won Best New Band at the Australian Heavy Metal Music Awards in February 2005.

The Amenta played live for the first time in mid-2005 and then toured with Alchemist and played shows with Dismember and Nile. Early in 2006, the original vocalist left The Amenta, but the band continued to work on the follow-up album originally due for release in September 2007. After this the band toured nationally with Festival of the Dead, with the guitar role being filled by ex-Switchblade member Scott Bernascone.

The long-awaited album nOn was released on October 20, 2008 and features contributions from various former members as well as others including Jason Mendonca from Akercocke, Alex Pope of Ruins and Nergal from Behemoth. In January 2009 The Amenta toured Europe with Deicide, Samael and Vader before returing to Australia for a three-month national tour with The Berzerker. Following that, the band then headed around Australia with Psycroptic. Dan Quinlan from Paindivision and Cain Cressal of Malignant Monster joined The Amenta in 2009. In April 2010 the band toured nationally with Behemoth, Job For a Cowboy and Goatwhore. The EP/DVD "VO1D" was released as a free download in March 2011, followed by an Australian tour with Ruins and a subsequent European tour with Deicide and Belphegor, then an Australian tour in May with Morbid Angel. A second downloadable recording, "Chokehold", was released in June 2012.

Robin Stone announced his departure and Dave Haley returned to the band, with Ryan Huthnance (Mortal Sin/The Seer) on second guitar. In early 2013, the Flesh is Heir album was released and The Amenta went to Europe as well as touring nationally with Cradle of Filth before making an appearance at the Hammersonic Festival in Indonesia. That was followed by an east coast tour with Ruins and an appearance at the Sonic Forge Festival.

Discography

Albums:

	2004	Occasus	Listenable
	2008	n0n	Listenable
	2013	Flesh is Heir	EVP

EPs:

	2002	Mictlan	self release
	2011	V01D	self release
	2012	Chokehold	Listenable