Embryonic Devourment Frontman’s Midwife Called Band Name ‘Horrible’

Embryonic Devourment is not a band for the weak of stomach. Not just musically -- with its doomcore bombast. The name is enough to put you off your breakfast, too. "I just got done having some embryonic devourment actually," singer/bassist Austin Spence tells Noisecreep. "I just had some huevos rancheros. It's one of my favorite meals."

The Willits, Calif. band is currently recording its new album, 'Vivid Interpretations of the Void,' which they expect to release at the end of March. The small northern California town is where the band formed several years ago from the ashes of an Opeth-style band called Ye Olde Scabbard, which played pirate songs, says Spence. "At some point, we just said, 'Let's just go full-on death metal.'"

Just how the grindcorists got their name is still something of a mystery, though. "There's a lot of controversy around here about that," says the 29-year-old. "There's a bum who hangs around and we used to drink and party with him and stuff. He claims that when I wasn't there one night, he thought up the name when he was hanging out with my guitar player. My guitar player swears he thought of it, and I'm inclined to believe that."

Besides bringing a new record into the world, Spence and his wife of 10 years are about to have a baby. Apparently, the midwife they contracted for the birth isn't too impressed with Spence's musical endeavors. "She asked me the name of the band. I said, 'Um, Embryonic Devourment.' She was like, 'That's horrible!' Another weird thing about it is, we ended up getting a new rehearsal spot, and it's right next door to the office where the midwife works. So now she's listening to the band and freaking out. It's a weird situation."