Starkill have released the official music video for “Death on Display”, the first single taken from their upcoming album “Hanging Up My Halo”. The band announced that the album is coming on 22 January and opened pre-orders through their own site, starkill.net. The single is also available on streaming services.
The Chicago band’s current line-up appears in the announcement: Parker Jameson on guitar and vocals, Spencer Weidner on drums, Tony Keathley on guitar and vocals, Sarah Lynn Collier on vocals and Kevin Spielmann on bass.
A scrapped Dethklok album
Jameson explained that the new record did not come easily. The band first wrote an entire album in a different direction before throwing it away.
“We actually went and did Dethklok things, wrote a whole album, scrapped it and started over. It was one of those moments where we sat with our heads in our hands and finally decided it was the wrong direction. In this new cycle we wanted to deliver everything people expect from Starkill: blazing fast dual guitars, symphonic arrangements and huge choruses, and cut away everything else to hit harder than ever before.”
- Parker Jameson, guitar and vocals
Drummer Spencer Weidner added that the band had been working on some of the material for close to a decade, rewriting songs until each track stood on its own. About “Death on Display” he said he wanted something melodic and thrashy with a symphonic touch in the vein of an Elden Ring or Legend of Zelda boss fight, and that the melodic death metal scene had a gap the band wanted to claim.
From Fires of Life to now
Starkill formed in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The founding members began writing material in 2008 and signed with Century Media Records in December 2012, releasing the debut album “Fires of Life” in May 2013. “Virus of the Mind” followed in 2014, and “Shadow Sleep” came out on Prosthetic Records in 2016. The band’s most recent full-length was “Gravity” in 2019, and they returned to live shows in 2024, when Kevin Spielmann joined on bass. “Hanging Up My Halo” will be their first album since then.
Sarah Lynn Collier on vocals
Sarah Lynn Collier handles female vocals in Starkill’s five-piece line-up, singing alongside guitarists Parker Jameson and Tony Keathley. She is part of the line-up that recorded “Death on Display” and the upcoming album. The band’s sound, which mixes melodic death metal with symphonic and power metal elements, leaves room for her voice alongside the growled lead vocals of Jameson.
The video for “Death on Display” is streaming now, and “Hanging Up My Halo” is available for pre-order at starkill.net ahead of its 22 January release.
