THE CRAWLING

Our debut album is well underway know. We are just in the process of fine tuning the mix, and working towards the master. It's sounding fantastic - very dark, very heavy! The artwork is almost finished; an amazing piece by a fabulous artist whom we are thrilled to be working with. All will be revealed soon. We expect to release early 2017, so stay tuned. Stay miserable...

Thanks to Giz , from The Metal Show , for taking time to chat with Andy this week, post Siege of Limerick . Click here to listen to the show!

It's been a busy year for The Crawling; ironically a lot busier than we intended! It's been a fantastic experience - Inferno Festival Norway, Bloodstock Festival UK, a plethora of Irish shows and finishing off the year with Siege Of Limerick Ireland. It has been a blast, and thanks to everyone that has come to support us over the last 12 months; not only fans, but also the radio stations, magazines, promoters, webzines, journalists, and sound engineers that have worked with us, and helped us do what we love to do. Behind the scenes, bedsides constant rehearsals, we have been working hard on our debut album. Tracking is well underway and sounding very well. The touring schedule has slowed us a bit, but we are focusing on getting the album completed by the end of the year, for release early 2017. There will still be plenty of updates here, and on all our social media pages. Those that follow us know we always have something going on! Stay miserable people and stay in touc...

Total rock caught up with the band at Bloodstock - listen to the interview and a track on their podcast! Listen here ! Cheers guys!

Lurking in the shadows of Northern Ireland’s music culture is a healthy and vibrant extreme metal scene, showcasing the best doom, death and black metal that the province has to offer. These bands plug away determinedly, recording and gigging and honing their dark crafts to a loyal and knowledgeable audience. One such band is Lisburn’s The Crawling who emerged in late 2014, created by three veterans of the extreme metal scene: vocalist and guitarist Andy Clarke, who fronted metallers Honey For Christ; bassist and vocalist Stuart Rainey from death metal legends Severance; and drummer Gary Beattie, who still plays with death metal whizz kids Zombified. Within a year they had enough material to record their debut EP In Light of Dark Days, which was released on Grindscene Records in October 2015. Then, to cap off a near perfect year for the band, they won 2016’s Metal 2 the Masses here in Northern Ireland (you can read about the final here ) and played the hallowed grounds of Bloodstock Fe...

Dense billowing smoke and the sound of Gregorian chant fill the air, marking the arrival of The Crawling , fresh from their decimation of Bloodstock just a few short weeks earlier, before the first power chord from [ Gary’s ] Andy's guitar proves more than enough to rip the heads off the under-dressed smiks queuing for the nightclub next door – never mind those of us just a few feet away in the confines of the same room! The trio’s massive trainwreck-inducing rhythms hit harder than thon so-called hurricane that was supposedly bothering Florida around the same time, and clearly demonstrates just how effectively they levelled the aforementioned New Blood stage with their absolutely titanic performance at Catton Park. They’re so brutally tight that the only crack of light they display between their constituent parts is induced by their strobes… it’s a thoughtfully and tautly created and presented set which delivers a genuine feel of malice stalking the venue while at the same ...

Do not miss this special edition of Metal Messiah Radio - focused on the Northern Ireland invasion of Bloodstock Festival ; particularly our satanic brothers Zlatanera and our good self. 14th September 10pm http://www.metalmessiahrecords.com/index.html Join the chat room, and listen to our interview with DJ FOXXIN!

A smoky and atmospheric intro heralds the arrival of doom/death metal headliners The Crawling, who – once the smoke clears – are instantly engaging, particularly vocalist/guitarist Andy Clarke, who is all intense glares and mesmerising charisma, with a voice straight from the bowels of Hell. Their richly textured songs combine both slow and fast sections – doom and death – with the faster sections simply commanding the crowd to headbang, which they do, ecstatically. They play a mix of both current songs such as 'Catatonic' and, excitingly, new tracks from their upcoming, as yet untitled album, such as 'Violence, Vanity and Neglect', which has a thick groove and an almost stoner metal feel. There's a real symbiotic relationship between the crowd and the band, with Clarke in particular feeding of the waves of applause and relish washing over the stage. And when they close their set with the magnificently creepy 'The Right to Crawl', with its buzz...

Prior to their darkly sprawling set on the New Blood Stage, we spoke to this year’s NI winners of Metal 2 the Masses about the band’s past, future, and why they were drawn to the music they play. ► Chordblossom: Congratulations on winning the contest! You were early favourites but it was a very tight competition, wasn’t it? Stuart (bassist): it really was! The first round was a very hard round to get through. All the rounds were hard, though; there were no bad bands this year. ► CB: Are you looking forward to playing later? It must be a pretty spectacular feeling to know you’re playing at Bloodstock! Andy (vocalist/guitarist): Yes! We’re very excited. ► CB: For people that maybe don’t know that much about you, can you tell us a bit about the band? Stuart: Well, we’re a slow death metal band, with elements of doom in there as well. We’ve been going for about two years now. We’re recording a new album now which should be out by the end of the year, and we’ve got quite a lot of live stu...

Yet another quality Irish band The Crawling broke the mould from the largely Death/Thrash of the New Blood stage by bringing some Doom to the New Blood stage.  Starting off to a smallish crowd they were incredibly good, and as they played their audience grew and grew. The doom side of their sound was excellent, causing the ever growing crowd to nod along appreciatively to their tone.  The doom sound was punctuated with some furious death metal blasts with buzzsaw guitars and barked dry vocals. The way they switched between the two allowed their sound to ebb and flow their intensity almost hypnotically with the crowd.  Their stoic stage presence showed their confidence on stage and this was a commanding performance. Their set was another personal highlight of the New Blood stage over the weekend.  Get Your Rock Out RP

First of the Northern Irish acts was this year’s Metal 2 the Masses winners The Crawling(you can read about their victory here ), whose doomy death metal proved to fit the style of Bloodstock perfectly.  Their commanding half hour set on the Friday drew a large crowd into the New Blood stage tent almost immediately, and those lucky enough to witness them were mightily impressed by their darkly pulsating songs.  Vocalist/guitarist Andy Clarke is a true showman, with a snarling voice that drips with venom and a penetrating glare that pins the crowd into place. They play an engrossing mix of both slow and fast music which keeps the crowd hooked, and by the time they arrive at final track ‘The Right to Crawl’ it’s clear that they’ve smashed their set right out of Catton Park. Magnificent. Chordblossom Melanie Brehaut

We had the pleasure of being interviewed by Paul from Midlands Rocks at Bloodstock 2016. The full interview is here - thanks for support guys!

The Crawling: a doom-tastic band hailing from Northern Ireland, their music a bleak wretchedness set ablaze with phosphorescent soundscapes, diverse structures and intricate melodies. I interviewed Gary Beattie, Andy Clarke and Stuart Rainey to get an in-depth look at what makes The Crawling tick. Am I right that you won the Northern Ireland metal to the masses? Andy: We won the Belfast region final. It’s fantastic, we really enjoyed it. Is it your first time here, then? Andy: As a band, yes. We have been here as fans but not as a band before. How does that feel? Now you’re on the stage! Andy: It’s fantastic! Whenever you go to a festival you don’t expect to be standing on the stage a year later – It’s basically as good as it gets. Do you have anything special planned for your set?  Andy: Just a couple of tracks off the new album, two of which featured on our last EP. The problem is, being in a doom-death band our songs are quite long so we’re actually on...

After hearing the last few songs of XII boar, I meandered over to the New Blood tent to catch the last bit of The Crawling (8) . Having a kind of doom sound mixed with death metal vocals, I was suitably impressed by them. The crowd present for them seemed to be too with a lot of folk banging their heads or fist pumping the air. Bloodstock 2016 – Friday (James’s view) The Moshville Times

Photo Credit: Adrian Hextall / MindHex Media Of course, it’s not all about the main stage and with Jay Hawkins out and about catching bands across the other three, there will be his words and pictures to follow in due course.  Not wanting to be outdone or miss something special, a brief reprise from Venom’s set allowed an opportunity to take in The Crawling. On the New Blood stage, The Crawling play a mix of Doom and Death metal and in Andy Clarke have a great front man and vocalist. His roars and guitar work were second to none and it was pleasing to see the quality of musicianship between the three members.  Stuart Rainey played in 90’s death metal legends Severance, Andy fronted Honey For Christ for 14 years, and Gary Beattie is still drumming for Zombified. As such tight and experienced sums up their set perfectly. Adrian Hextall Myglobalmind Online Magazine

Bloodstock and the upcoming Siege of Limerick has been a busy time for us, and we have received some amazing support from radio stations, TV, youtube, photographers, and streaming sites. Below features some of the fun we have been having! Great to meet Xander from  Total Rock ! Room 101 radio feature on Siege of Limerick Planet Mosh - Aisha chats with the band at Bloodstock Massive hails to DJ FOXXIN from Metal Messiah Radio who has been playing a lot of The Crawling lately. Tune in 24/7, and interview to follow.

Founded only in 2014, another short-publication put the Ulsterman THE CRAWLING after her single "Choking On Concrete" by: Three tracks are there become that now brings out the trio on an EP, entitled "In The Light Of Dark Days". While the cover - all in black and white and with a sad-faced female figure - would not fall out of the frame in Doom or dark metal sector, usually associates more with the death metal band logo. The (musical) is somewhere in between: With harsh growls, distorted bass and catchy midtempo riffing ( "The Right To Crawl") of Death Metal is indeed the most represented in the music of the trio, with simple held, but atmospheric Clean guitars and However, atmospheric samples as at the beginning of slow-doomy "Catatonic" have tHE CRAWLING also gloomy and sluggish elements in their sound, and to offer more than just blunt death metal. Although the songwriting may malfunction even a bit more sophisticated and diversified, but in t...

There are loads of people that we would like to thank, and apologise in advance for anyone we may have forgotten; but there were so many that made this whole thing happen. Thanks to; James Loveday from The Distortion Project for hosting the MTM event, the Belfast metal community for voting for us throughout the heats, all the bands we played alongside to get to Bloodstock, and of course Simon Hall for choosing us to play the New Blood Stage. We would like to sincerely thank all the Bloodstock staff and organisers who looked after us on the day, particularly "Ammo" for keeping us right, our techs on the day, the sound engineers, and anyone else involved in the running of the New Blood Stage. We really appreciate all the radio stations, magazines, webzines, you tubers, photographers, that took time to chat with us; it was a lot of fun! Thanks to Andy Pennington for arranging!!! It was also fantastic to see so many Irish bands leave their mark at Bloodstock - hails to Zlatane...

photo by K. Clarke [ exposing shadows ] A huge word of thanks for everyone that came to see us at Sunflowerfest yesterday (especially you guys that bought merch)! It was a great day out, and a different experience for us to play such an event - especially during the day! :D Cheers to the sound engineers, stage hands, and all those involved who ensured everything ran smoothly. We hope to return again. Stay miserable.

To celebrate playing Bloodstock 2016, we are giving away a single special edition "The Crawling merch Can" It's a singel production can packed with exciting one off merch, including: Limited edition t-shirt "In Light of Dark Days" MCD "Choking On Concrete" CD single Sticker One off mug Set of 3 badges TO ENTER: click here , and follow the instructions! See you on the Hobgoblin New Blood stage, Friday 12th August!

We are absolutely delighted to announce The Crawling will be returning to Siege of Limerick 30th October 2016 . It is an amazing event; we had a cracking weekend in Lime-rock last year, and ca't wait to play again! It's an honour to be invited back again and bring our brand of death/doom to the show. Plus, Dead Congregation are playing! \m/ Stay miserable.

The Crawling formed late 2014 in Northern Ireland and “churn out a heavy, slow, death ensemble; forged against a backdrop of misery and contempt for the world that surrounds us.” The three members describe themselves as ‘ageing’ – no comment there – and this EP shows a “darker, more mature side to the band”. I’ll be honest, I thought this was a wee bit Spinal Tap at first glance, but will bear with it. The CD is a fiver and the digital download is only three quid – if you’re a fan of death or black metal in general then I recommend you stop reading this, hit the link and get it straight away, as this is a bargain. I loved it. This is comfortably beyond melancholic. It is a cracking cocktail of the desolate, cold and hateful. It’s also extremely intelligently put together, with suspenseful introductions, rhythmic and dynamic variance, extremely accomplished playing and a great use of texture. ‘The Right To Crawl’ opens with a slow, folky guitar riff that recapitulates throughout the tra...

Just announced today; we are pleased to confirm we will be playing BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL on FRIDAY 12th AUGUST on the HOBGOBLIN NEW BLOOD STAGE ! We hope to see a line of misery across the front barrier! Keep an eye here, and all our social media pages for our stage time as soon as it comes in. Stay miserable...

The British band THE CRAWLING is a relatively young band. Founded in 2014 they released last year their 3-Track CD “In Light Of Dark Days. They received help here from Grindscene Records. Finest Doom Metal resounds off my loudspeakers.  Slowly constituting songs which generate sound ramparts which weigh tons. Therefor already ensure the halting riffs which are dark and extremely emotional. Supported by he powerful, pitch-black growls a depressiee atmosphere arises which offers no prospect of light. Sheer emotion!  Nevertheless, “In Light Of Dark Days“ is no boring production. To the contrary: It is diversified and nevertheless hard to beat of gloom and impressiveness. Very dedicated and with much blood, sweat and tears recorded you should give a listen to “In Light Of Dark Days“ by all means. A very promising debut. I am curious what we will hear of THE CRAWLING in the future!!!! 9.6/10 Extreminal Web'zine

After six heats and three semi finals, Belfast’s Metal 2 the Masses competition drew to a close in Voodoo on Friday night. In with a shot at playing Bloodstock’s New Blood stage were Sinocence, Scimitar, The Crawling, Drakonis, So Long Until the Seance/SLUTS and Cursed Sun. It fell to rockers Sinocence to open up proceedings, which they did with all the aplomb they could muster as scene veterans. Their metallic rock was in fine fettle this evening, even with a slight bass amp issue; it was a passionate set that certainly did the job of warming up the crowd. Old school thrash hit the stage next in the form of Scimitar, who almost blew the roof off with their tight, thrashy grooves. Within seconds the room was full of flailing hair and raised horns (not to mention plastic swords); who can resist a bit of proper, early Metallica-type thrash? No one, going by the response they received. Gloomy atmospherics and a dark stage wreathed in smoke saw The Crawling creep in and up their game in a ...

Playing at Bloodstock festival is but a distant dream for many UK metal bands; however, with the Metal 2 the Masses competition, that dream can actually become a reality. In Belfast, the second year of M2TM started back in late January: six heats and three semi finals later, we arrived at the final on Friday night in Voodoo. As usual there was only one judge this time, Bloodstock’s Simon Hall, who made his second jaunt over from England to check out exactly what the Northern Ireland music scene has to offer his hallowed festival. First off the blocks were rockers Sinocence, who, after a long and atmospheric intro, launched into their set of punchy, metal-edged rock. Right from the start they gave their absolute all before the packed venue, from opening track ‘Long Way Down’ to final number (“one of our favourites”, according to frontman Moro) ‘Metal Box’. Even a sudden issue with the bass amp does little to dampen their enthusiasm – they’re the perfect band to open up proceedings. ...

This is the big one. The finals of the Bloodstock Metal 2 the Masses in Belfast. The road here has been full of excellent heats, highlighting some of the best talent performing, not just in this city, but anywhere. Apologies to SINOCENCE , who We ended up missing thanks to a late arrival. Making the first band We catch SCIMITAR , who start things off with their high-impact thrash attack. Songs like Behead The Beast add the speed, and new track Sleepy Hollow is well structured, but maintains that fun quality thrash can have. The night before upstairs in the Eglantine was most certainly just a warm up, because all the energy comes out tonight. The crowd are really into it too, getting everyone moving; a solid act. This is followed by THE CRAWLING , who emit a blackened feeling of impending dread that creeps in and chills your veins from the very beginning. Songs like The Right To Crawl are absolutely savage. The hooks sink in deep, staying with you, with their infliction of melanch...

SIX bands emerged from five heats and three semis to take to the stage in Belfast's Voodoo for the Northern Ireland final of Metal2TheMasses and a chance to play Bloodstock Open Air. The sheer weight of talent on display throughout the weeks and months leading up to the final on Friday, 6th May. And, in Belfast it is appropriate to call the fight for Bloodstock it a titanic battle. The prize was enough to see all on display push themselves further, cranking up the power and letting loose riffs and shredding. With the running order chosen at random Sinocence took to the stage first. The bar was set high early with songs honed to razor sharp edge. New stickman Ben has helped transform their melodic metal into a brooding monster. It was like a Vulcan mind meld between the four members as they pounded through their half-hour slot. Then the swords were held aloft asScimitar brought thrash to the party. Bringing back their codology with plastic Scimitars handed out to the crowd. The band...

We are pleased to announce we won the M2TM competition, and will be playing BLOODSTOCK 2016!!!!! All the bands played strong sets tonight, and shows the wealth of talent in Northern Ireland. Sincere thanks to everyone involved; the bands for getting together and supplying gear, the sound guys for making it heavy, Simon Hall from BLOODSTOCK for coming over to personally watch the bands, the crowd support from day one, and finally to James Loveday for making it happen. Stay miserable. Bloodstock; we are coming... photo: Kerri Clarke photo: Kerri Clarke

We are thrilled to announce we have made it into the Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses FINAL next friday in Belfast! All the bands in our semi final were fantastic, and of course congratulations to Scimitar for coming first! Special kudos to Shrouded, who played a blinding set, and Erosion - great night all round. We hope to see you all next Friday for the final!

Inferno 2016 Inferno Metal Festival needs no introduction, but for the unfamiliar, it's an extreme metal festival held in Norway to coincide with the Easter weekend. It's an indoor event spanning over a few venues across 4 days, limited to 1200 capacity, showcasing about 40ish bands.  In 2015 I attended for the first time, attracted by  My Dying Bride ,  Behemoth ,  1349 ,  Bloodbath ,  Secrets Of The Moon , to name but a few. It was simply fantastic. Accommodation is solely based in a nearby high class hotel, in which the bands also stay; I effectively ate breakfast with My Dying Bride and Enslaved one morning!  Anyway, it was a fabulous festival, the bands were fantastic, but the event itself was just magnificent. I suppose the whole "Norwegian Black Metal" has a lot to do with it, but it did feel like a special event, certainly very different to my annual trip to Hellfest.  Fast forward 10 months and the band in wh...