History & Biography Animosity was formed in November, 2000 by high school friends singer Leo Miller, guitarist Nick Lazaro, bassist Frank Costa and drummer Lucas Tsubota. The axe men soon switched positions, Kopperweis was brought in and a demo called Hellraiser was recorded. Tribunal soon came knocking. Several of the band members were no older than 15 when the band's debut was issued. The band toured with Vehemence, All Shall Perish and Crematorium in the summer of 2004. The band obtained a deal with Black Market activities and entered Castle Ultimate Studio for the recording of Empires. The album came out in the summer. Tours with the likes of Into The Moat, Origin and Divine Empire followed.
After a year of inactivity California’s Animosity officially broken up in the autumn of 2009. Drummer Navene Koperweis had a solo album featuring vocals from Job For A Cowboy’s Jonny Davy, while being in Animals As Leaders as well. Guitarist Chase Fraser was in Son Of Arelius.
Reviews ANIMOSITY - EMPIRES - BLACK MARKET ACTIVITIES/METAL BLADE
Animosity is described as a hardcore band, but based on the music of Empires the band has either been misunderstood by the listeners or like Corrosion Of Conformity (whose Animosity album has probably inspired the Californians) changed directions since its debut.
Empires is a heavy/death metal band with emphasis on fast riffing, multi-layered vocals and a belaboured and complex style of songcraft that is more reminiscent of Carcass and Impaled than DRI or Madball. Shades of Cannibal Corpse and The Dead Youth can be heard in the band's dirty approach to metal too. In fact, the California quintet is hardly concerned with finesse or melody. While not flying at 1,000 kph Animosity does intend to deliberately crush the listener with thick and elaborate metal. Especially complex is the work of drummer Navene Kopperweis who, nevertheless, should tune his snare drums lower to get a heavier 'oomph' out of them. The only hint of hardcore is forced upon the listener with a genre-typical chant on the song Shut It Down (the title for the debut album in case you did not notice). Elsewhere, the band has extensive lyrics and a fitting format for them lay-out-wise, but the choice of colours and the design for the album's cover surely leave a lot to be desired. - Ali "The Metallian"
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