PILE OF KNIVES: Driven By The Blade, The New EP From Eastern Pennsylvania Brutal Death Metal/Slam Crew, Is Out Today And Streaming Everywhere

photo by Tia X Slaughter

Driven By The Blade, the savage new EP from Eastern Pennsylvania-based brutal death metal faction PILE OF KNIVES, is out today on all digital platforms.

Based in the Pocono Mountains, PILE OF KNIVES may be a new name to many, but the band’s origins stretch back more than a decade to when guitarist Chett Kolakoski, Lee Messerschmidt, and drummer Dylan “Pickle” Jaludi played together in their prior band, Existence. Following nearly a decade-long hiatus, the band began jamming together again in late 2022. It didn’t take long for them to realize they wanted to take it a step further and get a new band going. Within a few months, Messerschmidt’s friend Jay Stromeyer was recruited to play bass. Shortly thereafter, Bryan Martinez, formerly of Grimus, was enlisted as the band’s vocalist, and PILE OF KNIVES was born.

Infusing influences from their favorite bands from across the spectrum of death metal, slam, beatdown hardcore, and deathcore, PILE OF KNIVES found their footing and began laying down new demos, and recorded their debut EP, No Light, which was released in the Summer of 2024. Their relentless groove-laden attack reflects the works of brutal death metal acts Skinless, Dying Fetus, Internal Bleeding, Origin, and Through The Eyes Of The Dead, with the more metallic hardcore-adjacent death/beatdown acts like Crawlspace, Final Resting Place, Shattered Realm, and No Zodiac. Lyrically, Martinez infuses his love of horror films and real-life experiences, reflecting themes centered around regret, self-loathing, and grappling with one’s own flaws.

Driven By The Blade takes PILE OF KNIVES’ calculated viciousness to further levels of intensity, delivering four new tracks of simply merciless, slamming death. Recorded, mixed, mastered, and produced by Shaun Werle – with the drums recorded at Soundmine Recording Studio – Driven By The Blade was completed with cover art and photography by Giancarlo Bruno and lyric videos by Jon Lievano of Malevolent Media Videos. Additionally, the song “Kukri” features guests Anthony Bacola on acoustic guitar and Ben Karas on violin.

**PILE OF KNIVES’ Driven By The Blade is streaming alongside several lyric videos and an official video for “Laceration” RIGHT HERE**.

A CD version of the EP will be released shortly through Been There Scene That Records.

PILE OF KNIVES continues to book new shows across the East Coast surrounding the release of the EP while continuing to write music, with their next release already under construction.

PILE OF KNIVES Live:
11/08/2025 The Meatlocker – Montclair, NJ
11/14/2025 The Seven Crest – Teaneck, NJ
12/06/2025 Backroom Studios – Rockaway, NJ
1/24/2026 The Alternative Gallery – Allentown, PA

“…groove-laden, slam-drenched death designed to leave nothing standing.” – Metal Injection

“The slamming grooves are primitive but also the stuff of modern mechanized weaponry. The atonal instrumental blows are thuggish, but interspersed with bursts of explosive percussion. It’s as if a time traveler armed a bunch of club-wielding, boulder-busting cavemen with mortars and machine-guns.” – No Clean Singing