HOLD ME DOWN
Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Hold Me Down emerged from the local industrial and art metal scene when vocalist and noise musician Jim Gullickson linked up with local industrial musicians David Hoefer and Ben Rinehardt, who around then had just begun laying the foundations for their next endeavor. Gullickson had just put on hold is previous band, black/sludge/industrial duo and early Sentient Ruin alumni American, and in order to keep his momentum going was looking for the next outlet to give voice to his creative impulses and passion for underground industrial noise. The band debuted unleashing a punishing blight of mechanized death and throbbing industrial in the form of their self-titled 2019 debut Sentient Ruin demo tape, a deadly revisitiation of the sounds pioneered by iconic machinists such as Godflesh, Genocide Organ, Skinny Puppy, and SWANS, but with a modern, deconstructed edge. The quickly sold out demo tape featured seven tracks of total nihilism sequenced and synthesized to pound and drone to the beat of inhumanity, while subtle touches of harsh noise, power electronics, and black metal amalgamated in the mix completed a sonic assault of absolutely mind-defiling cruelty. This release cemented the band’s sound and laid the groundwork for their annihilating and acclaimed debut full-length LP “Powerless”, also released by Sentient Ruin on MC/LP/digital formats in mid 2022. Sporadic live appearances followed, hinting at the band’s elusive nature and recluse existence mainly as a studio act due to their highly deconstructed and experimental constructs. Within this seclusion, Hold Me Down’s further development into the outer realms of desensitizing industrial punishment progressed, with the band’s formula assuming even more alienating and inhuman lineaments, as the sophomore full-length album “Devour” began casting the ominous shadow of a summer 2025 release, to reveal Hold Me Down’s most punishing and towering work to date.