Oakland, CA – Death metal band Barbarous have unleashed their ravenous new single and video for By Lead Or Steel, released today, July 3, 2025, via Creator-Destructor Records. Available to watch on YouTube and stream on all platforms including Bandcamp, the track previews their impending debut album Initium Mors, set for release on August 1, 2025, on LP, CD, and digital formats. Pre-orders, including the streaming single Tools Of The Trade, are available at the Creator-Destructor webshop and Bandcamp.
Influenced by Cannibal Corpse, Skeletal Remains, Necrot, and Gatecreeper, Barbarous emerged in April 2024, quickly gaining traction with Bay Area shows alongside Laceration and others, followed by their acclaimed two-song Coup De Grâce demo in September. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Cody Fuentes at Rapture Studios (Spite, Wolf King, Lionheart) in February/March 2025, Initium Mors features eight earthmoving tracks, blending classic death metal with a modern Bay Area edge, completed with harrowing art by Dan Seagrave (Dismember, Hypocrisy, Morbid Angel).
The tracklist includes:
- Injection Of The Exhumed
- By Lead Or Steel
- Tools Of The Trade
- Initium Mors
- The Tomb Spawn
- Conscious Decomposition
- Anointing The Sick
- Coup De Grace
Vocalist Travis Laberge notes, “‘By Lead Or Steel’ is one of the heaviest tracks… about a sniper homing in and taking that one masterful shot, jaded by the world and wishing to rid it of the ‘sickness’… We’re proud of the power chorus with heavy vocal layering.”
The video, filmed and edited by Kevin Burleigh, enhances the track’s intense narrative. Expect additional videos, live announcements, and more soon.
Follow Barbarous at Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Linktree, and Creator-Destructor Records at creator-destructor.com, Facebook, X, Bandcamp, Instagram, and YouTube.