BELTFED WEAPON Darkened Demise EP Dedicated to the Memory of Timothy L. Aymar Out Now

cover art by Sidjimbe Art

Order here: beltfedweapon.net

Darkened Demise features

Guitarist Frank Hetzel with Esteemed Metal Musicians

Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel), Tim Aymar (Control Denied),

Jeff Loomis (Nevermore/Arch Enemy), Kragen Lum (Exodus/Heathen),

Jason Viebrooks (Exhorder, Grip Inc.) and Bryan Newbury (Into Eternity)

Beltfed Weapon hails from Seattle and was founded in 1999 by guitarist/songwriter Frank Hetzel.

For more than 20 years, Frank Hetzel has been a staple of the Seattle metal scene. He first established himself in the music business by booking national and international touring bands. On the side – at least at first – he was the guitarist and main songwriter for Beltfed Weapon, a Pacific Northwest band influenced by speed, thrash, and death metal.

Over the years, the group released three critically-acclaimed EPs, and along the way, Beltfed Weapon played shows with metal luminaries including Testament, Over-Kill. Death Angel, Nevermore, Mushroomhead, Nile, God Forbid, Nuclear Assault, Cryptopsy, and Agnostic Front. More recently, Hetzel teamed with ex- Metal Church vocalist Ronny Munroe to release the single and video “P.O.W.” Proceeds helped cover medical expenses for Munroe’s wife and manager, who was battling cancer.

Beltfed Weapon has released three EPs  Beltfed Weapon (2001), Peacekeeper (2009), and Raining Plague (2015). Beltfed Weapon recordings  have featured special guests Steve DiGiorgio (Testament, Death, Sadus) [Bass]; Fredrik Vidigs (Marduk) [Drums]; Dean Sternberg (Where Evil Follows, Ashes Of Ares, ex-Into Eternity touring singer) [Vocals]; and Andy Beech [Lead Guitar]. Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Sanctuary) and Matt Wicklund (Ghost Ship Ocatvius, God Forbid, Warrel Dane, HIMSA) and more.

Beltfed Weapon have returned with their best, most ambitious, and most creative offering. Hetzel spent years writing five new songs and tracking them with an all-star lineup that includes members of Morbid Angel, Control Denied, Arch Enemy, Black Label Society, Exhorder, Into Eternity, and Heathen which comprise the Darkened Demise EP, released June 25, 2023.

Beltfed Weapon’s EP Darkened Demise, mixed by Juan Urtega,  features Steve Tucker (Morbid Angel), Jason Viebrooks (Exhorder/Grip Inc),  JD DeServio (Black Label Society), Tim Aymar (Control Denied), Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy), Kragen Lum (Heathen). Bryan Newbury (Into Eternity) and Dagna Silesia (Ghost Ship Octavius).

Combining four or more styles of metal into a single batch of songs is no small accomplishment. And Darkened Demise is packed with abrupt tempo shifts, staggered rhythms, extended middle-eights, and other musical hairpin turns that keep the music exciting and unpredictable.

WEBSITE: https://beltfedweapon.net/band/

FACEBOOK:  https://www.facebook.com/beltfedweapon/

  YOUTUBE:  beltfed weapon official – YouTube

BAND CAMP: https://beltfedweapon.bandcamp.com/

Frank Hetzel

Such great talent and great people and a great engineer, Juan Urtega. He’s so professional and so easy to work with. I plan to do more with him in the future.  I have pushed the envelope with Raining Plague (released 10/31/15) with Dean Sternberg and the new songs with Tim Aymar.  I like to incorporate the different styles of metal that I personally like into my music. – Frank Hetzel

“Frank Hetzel has put together an incredible lineup of musicians for the Beltfed Weapon EP  Darkened Demise. When I heard the killer music and saw the list of talent involved in the project it was a no brainer for me to participate. Who wouldn’t want to do trade-off solos with Jeff Loomis on a couple of songs, right?! Metal fans should definitely check this out when it’s available!” – Kragen Lum

“I first met Frank Hetzel in the early 2000’s through some mutual friends. I learned he was a Nevermore fan and also a guitarist, so we hit it off right away. I consider Frank to be one of my closest friends and someone I can always trust and count on. He’s a great dude and I’m very happy to have played some solos on his new EP. The longer solo in accept your insanity was something I obviously spent a lot of time on as it needed some kind of storyline to it. I quickly found myself working away at it on a cold rainy day in Seattle, which is always the most perfect vibe and time to write anything dark in our ever changing weather conditions. I think the final takes turned out killer and adds a cool flow to the song. Frank has come a long way with his writing and I’m super proud of him with all his efforts and great work ethic. For fans of Thrash and just good metal in general, I highly recommend giving this a spin. In the words of the late Chuck Schuldiner, “Keep the metal flowing” Frank, and I’m proud to call you a friend.” – Jeff Loomis

“When the world went nuts in 2019, I moved to the country and started farming to focus on sustainability. My guitar player Tim Roth from Into Eternity messaged me and said “Hey Newbs, my good buddy Frank Hetzel is looking for a drummer for his Death/Thrash band and I thought you would be a good fit.” I said “Ok sick I’ll check it out!” I met with Frank online and we clicked instantly, super easy going guy with a plethora of INSANE riffs! As soon as I heard the music I was hooked. Shortly after that I had my Engineer JB at Divergent Sounds Studios come to my farm and record me in my basement. Three hours later, we finished tracking drums for the brand new BELTFED WEAPON album! I am super stoked on these tracks and so thankful to be on a record with Frank, Jeff Loomis and JD DeServio to name a few! Get ready to have your ears blown away! WATCH IT GO!” – NEWBS

“After knowing Frank for many years, we finally sat down and wrote a song together and I’m stoked that it’s making it onto the new Beltfed Weapon EP. “Head first into hell” was lots of fun and pretty easy to put together. I admire Frank’s ability to assemble all the people, music and visual concept to drive his idea forward. The result is powerful and bone crushing metal and I’m honored to be a part of it.” – Dagna Silesia

“My buddy Andy Beech put Frank in touch with me! The tune is ripping! It’s my first thrash bass track I ever recorded and I dig it!” – JD DeServio

BELTFED WEAPON mourns the loss of project member Tim Aymar.

Timothy L. Aymar

(September 4, 1963 ~ February 13, 2023)

“Years ago I was searching on YouTube for projects Ronny Munroe former metal church vocalist was involved with then, and I found Beltfed Weapon’s P.O.W. and I was impressed. So I checked out more of their stuff. Somewhere along the line Guitarist Frank Hetzel friended me on Facebook and he contacted me about writing lyrics and singing on some of his stuff. I just loved the riffs he came up with. so it didn’t take long to get him my tracks. He didn’t mention it at first, but I secretly hoped it was for Beltfed Weapon, and my wish came true. I hope to do much more with Frank and the gang in the future.” – Tim Aymar

One day I was listening to Control Denied, and as this is one of my favorite albums of all time, I said to myself ‘I sure would love to work with Tim Aymar. I wonder what he would think if I messaged him .’ I was also impressed with his work in (Helios and Pharaoh), so I sent him a message on Facebook (as we have been friends on there for a while), and he replied, ‘yea, I’ve liked your band Beltfed Weapon for some time and I would love to be involved with this.’ I was super stoked, so I sent him the tunes and he got to work on them right away. Tim had a different way of writing. He sent me the vocal melodies worked out with a trumpet, with major keys in the melodies. This method sounded very odd to me, but I could envision the vocals with it. Once he sent over the vocal tracks, all was perfect. Tim said he learned how to do vocal melodies this way from Chuck Schuldiner. Tim’s lyrics have always touched me. It was an honor for me to have had this opportunity to work with him. I really wish I could work with him again and that he was here to witness the release of the Darkened Demise EP.. So, I am honoring his life and memory and dedicating this EP to him. I know all he wanted was to have his music heard. That was most important to him. I am not certain, but do believe the song ‘Eternal Fire’ was the last song Tim recorded before he passed. I will miss him and remember what we shared together forever, R.I.P. Tim Aymar ” – Frank Hetzel