Descension Rate

After 3-Hole Face disbanded, Jeff Jordan and Ryan Postlethwait decided to start writing some industrial rock tunes. They got a 5-piece together for live shows, including live electronic drums by Stanislav of Beloved Dead. In March 2005, they spent a couple of sleepless nights in New York City to record five demos which they would independently release under the title Level 12. "Independently released" is defined as just burning the CDs and printing out the covers themselves. Although they theyre pleased with the work of engineer Peter Burke, they would later decide to re-record the songs as some of the tracks matured over the next year.
Descension Rate played around in this "dance metal" genre for a couple of years and released their first album Deadly Elegance in 2006. The five songs from Level 12 theyre re-recorded for the album. To promote the album locally, they released the song "Tin Cradle" as a single, for which they asked their friends in the music community to do remixes. Librarians, Beloved Dead, and Maximum Headlessness were among those that offered their very original take on the tune. The original song along with six remixed versions were released as a single E.P. in 2006.
Soon after, Descension Rate's rhythm guitarist departed, leaving Ryan to take care of all live guitar duties. They acquired Mike Beck (Dirt Star) to play live keyboards. This line-up did not last long, and Descension Rate ended this cycle as a 3-piece playing shows in the Richmond and Virginia Beach area in July 2007. Jeff and Ryan began to become bored with this sound and and Jeff went on to form V.I.A., a strictly electronic dance band (think EBM), for which Ryan played keyboards and guitars in 2008.
Fast forward to August 2009; Jeff and Ryan decided to get the band back together with a completely different sound. A farewell show was planned for original bassist Doug Lilly, as they ushered in a new line-up completed by bassist Eric Gill and drummer Kevin Post (of The Emergency! and '85 Flood fame). This new sound saw Jeff and Ryan drawing more from our varied metal roots. Jeff brings more of the black and death metal influence, while Ryan mixes in an influences from 80s thrash metal and more groove-oriented riffage.
Fourteen songs have been written for the new Descension Rate album, which they plan to record in two parts. Look for part one in late 2011 and part two in early 2012.