Artist

Trap Them

Salem, United States • 2001 – 2017

Trap Them is a music group from Salem, United States, active 2001–2017. Their discography on Gatefold includes 7 records.

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Photo of Trap Them

7

Albums tracked

11

In collections

2001

Since

Biography

Grindcore/crust punk band based in Seattle, USA, formed in 2001. Trap Them influences include hardcore punk bands such as M.D.C., Black Flag and Discharge; metal bands like Dismember and Entombed and experimental bands like Swans. Ryan McKenney's lyrics tend to deal with issues both personal and political, while recent material has also contained a conceptual element to its lyricism. The group's musical style consists of complex and sometimes discordant guitar work and d-beat and grindcore drumming styles.

The Arc of Trap Them

The pivots — what forced Trap Them to reinvent.

  1. The GodCity Calibration

    Moving the operation to Salem to work with Kurt Ballou for Sleepwell Deconstructor changed everything for their trajectory. Brian Izzi’s riffs finally found the right housing in that thick, claustrophobic production style that defined the late-2000s hardcore scene. You hear the shift from standard chaotic grind to a more structured, rhythmic violence that leaned heavily into the Boss HM-2 pedal’s dimed-out distortion. This era settled the debate on whether they were a punk band or a metal band by proving they were just a vessel for high-gain misery.

  2. The Prosthetic Peak

    Signing to Prosthetic for Darker Handcraft in 2011 was the moment they stopped being a cult secret and started dominating the conversation. They tightened the songwriting, letting the d-beat sections breathe just enough to make the mid-tempo grooves feel like a sledgehammer to the chest. It was the most polished they ever sounded without losing the sandpaper grit that made them essential. Every track on that record feels like it was written specifically to destroy a mid-sized club's PA system.

  3. The Final Fractures

    The transition from Blissfucker to Crown Feral saw the band leaning into a bleaker, almost exhausted aggression as the physical toll of their live shows mounted. By the time they recorded Crown Feral, the vibe had shifted toward a leaner, more jagged sound that felt like a bridge back to their early, unhinged EPs. The announcement of their retirement shortly after felt earned rather than tragic. They chose to burn out with their dignity intact, ending the project before the inevitable decline into self-parody.

Influences

  • Entombed — The band has repeatedly cited Left Hand Path as the holy scripture for their guitar tone. You hear it in the 'buzzsaw' distortion that Brian Izzi utilized across their entire discography. It’s the foundational DNA of their specific brand of death-infused hardcore.
  • Discharge — The d-beat drumming style of Jeff Lohrber and his predecessors is a direct lift from the blueprint laid down on Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing. Trap Them took that 4/4 punk gallop and weaponized it for a more modern, metallic audience. It provides the rhythmic skeleton for nearly every high-speed break they ever recorded.
  • Extreme Noise Terror — The connection is literal, as they released a split with these UK crust legends in 2008. The influence shows up in the dual-vocal textures and the raw, abrasive crust-punk edge found on the Séance Prime sessions. They shared a label and a nihilistic worldview that bridged the gap between 80s squat punk and 2000s grind.
  • Black Flag — Ryan McKenney has pointed to Greg Ginn’s dissonant, stressful guitar work and Henry Rollins' physical intensity as a major North Star. You hear this in the more erratic, non-linear song structures on Sleepwell Deconstructor. It’s the source of that 'everything is falling apart' tension in their music.
  • Tragedy — As leaders of the modern crust-hardcore movement, Tragedy's melodic gloom paved the way for Trap Them's more atmospheric moments. The heavy use of minor-key d-beat anthems on Seizures in Barren Praise owes a huge debt to the Portland scene. It’s where they learned how to make total darkness sound catchy.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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