DARKEST HOUR’S MIKE SCHLEIBAUM IS A BEAST OF NO NATION

What do dudes in bands do when they’re not out on the road and they’re still between album releases? Work on side projects of course, an endeavor I’ve previously stated to have a strong affinity for. I just love getting to hear what metal dudes write when they don’t feel confined to the specific style of their main band because the result is usually at least one pretty big step away from metal and we get a good glimpse into said metal dude’s non-metal influences.

In the case of Darkest Hour founding guitarist Mike Schleibaum, while he’s been working on writing the very first Darkest Hour record for new label E1 he’s also managed to find some time to put a punk side-project together with what he describes in a personal email to MetalSucks as “a bunch of my old friends.” If you’ve ever met Mike or even read interviews with him, you know the guy grew up on punk in addition to the Swedish and Swedish-inspired metal that’s defined the band’s sound. So in the case of his new project — Beasts of No Nation — what we’ve got is a bonafide punk band. The music is fun and up-beat… and fuckin’ punk. I’m no punk expert so I’m not gonna risk making a fool of myself by name-checking potential influences I know nothing about, so I’ll just say this: I like Beasts of No Nation, and so should you!

Check out three songs from Beasts of No Nation’s forthcoming album on MySpace (release date TBA). Beasts of No Nation will play their inaugural show on Thursday, August 26th @ DC9 in Washington DC with Domino Team and SEAS. I bet that show is gonna be a lot of fun.

-VN