Cradle to Grave Bio

Emerging from the pit of Vancouver, British Columbia comes Cradle To Grave with an arsenal of thrashing guitars, animalistic snarls and fist pumping anthems to revive the metal of yesteryear and pull it kicking and screaming into the new century.

The genesis of Cradle to Grave began in the early months of 2002 when guitarist Denis ''Sasquatch'' Barthe was looking for a new project after his highly influential thrash metal outfit Aggression dissolved. With a new musical direction in mind, Barthe recruited vocalist Greg Cavanagh and drummer Matt Fowler through an ad placed in a local paper. Shortly after forming, the three established a solid relationship built around a common love of heavy metal.

In 2004 Cradle To Grave signed with Year of the Sun Records and quickly delivered their debut album, simply titled CTG, later that year. The album's raw, abrasive, southern style of metal provoked fans and critics to instantly raise their devil horns in the air. Metal Maniacs called the album a ''sonic firestorm of hardcore heavy metal,'' while the legendary Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles gave the record an 8/10. The band's video for their single ''Projectile'' also garnered six months of rotation on Much Music's LOUD channel.

Cradle To Grave have now returned with a sonic swig of whiskey straight from the bottle, in the form of their sophomore effort Texas Medicine. The album was recorded at Speaker Freaker Studios in Surrey, British Columbia by engineer Clay Haluk. ''This album sounds as good as anything out there,'' says Barthe about Cradle To Grave's latest opus. ''There is not one similar song and we wanted to confuse the shit out of people. I'm pretty sure we succeeded,'' continues Barthe about Texas Medicine's musical direction. ''You pretty much got it all in there; crushing 80's hardcore crossover, high flying velocity riffs, insane drumming, thrash metal attack, Cavanagh's arsenal of screams, epic war songs, Yes-inspired acoustic pieces. I mean, we're all over the place. We wanted to create an album that surprises our listeners.''

To ensure the album had a truly devastating sound Cradle To Grave enlisted the mixing and mastering skills of none other than Strapping Young Lad's Devin Townsend (Lamb of God, Darkest Hour, GWAR) to achieve the punishing sound the music deserved. With songs such as ''The Light'', ''Five Years of Fire'' and the album's leadoff single, the bone crushing ''Broken God'', it's easy to understand how Cradle To Grave have become legitimate leaders in Canadian metal.

With Cradle To Grave's Texas Medicine, Hell finally comes home!