Soulless

Cleveland's Soulless emerged from the ruins of an earlier band named Bloodsick in 1997 and featured vocalist Jim Lippucci, guitarist Jerry Kessler, bassist Tony Daprano and drummer Chris Dora. Over the ensuing years, the group gradually abandoned their thrash metal roots and moved into the even more aggressive realm of death metal, eventually releasing their first album The Darkening of Days (originally intended to merely serve as a demo) in 1999. Regional concert appearances in support of Malevolent Creation, Nile and Morbid Angel, among others kept Soulless quite busy while they waited for a recording deal to materialize. Crash Music finally decided to take a chance on them, but Kessler and Daprano would have to be replaced by guitarists Wayne Richards and Jim Corrick and bassist Dave Johnson prior to the recording of 2003's Agony's Lament album.