Emerging Artist Reviews

VITRIFIER Release New Album "IOCULATOR MORTIS" and Exclusive Interview

by The Metalverse

Updated May 07, 2026

Vitrifier album cover "Ioculator Mortis" and exclusive interview with The Metalverse

Deathgrind band Vitrifier is a duo project from Steve Peck and Eric Siemens. The band released their sophomore album, "Ioculator Mortis" on May 3rd. The 20-song album has a run time of 36 minutes, with most tracks having a runtime of 1 to 2 minutes (although a few go over 3).

The band's standout track "Swift Vengeance" starts off with an ambient guitar intro before suddenly bursting into slamming, groovy death metal drums, visceral guitar riffs, and vocals that range from explosively low screams to high, shrill screams. Vitrifier's brutal sound instantly encapsulates a sound that mixes death metal, grindcore, black metal, and even some melodic guitar leads that reminded me of early metalcore. Dramatic chants fill the background, adding theatrical elements and showcasing borderline symphonic influences.

Vitrifier's music also incorporates comedy in a way that shows they don't take themselves too seriously, and the juxtaposition of extreme metal with unserious comedy is quite enjoyable and unique. Eccentric track names like "Drunk Driving in the key of D minor" and "Conan the Barbarian punching animals at the Petting Zoo" showcase the band's sense of humor.

Steve Peck describes VITRIFIER’s sophomore album:

“If the first album was being beaten by a hammer, this album is like being beaten by the claw end of that same hammer”

You can stream the band's latest album here or keep reading to see the exclusive interview with Vitrifier below:

Vitrifier Interview

1: How would you describe your music?

The easiest way to describe us is Deathgrind with influences of Deathcore. Lyrically, we have a lot of absurd humour attached to all of our songs. Whether it be Elmo acting like Freddy Kruger - killing everyone in their dreams and becoming God, or the Eldritch horror of being harassed by terminally online people, we've got an infinite number of scenarios in our H.P. Lovecraft arsenal!

2: What are the band's biggest influences?

We have a lot of influences! Our main influences are Misery Index, Pig Destroyer, Whitechapel, and Infant Annihilator. When we're writing lyrics, we take inspiration from comedy metal bands like Dethklok, Psychostick, Raised by Owls, and Lawnmower Deth. Sometimes we have influences that are outside of music, like D&D, MeatCanyon videos, and random memes.

3: What is "Swift Vengeance" about/what does it mean to you?

Swift Vengeance is about the cult of Taylor Swift preparing for the sacrifice of Travis Kelsey. Taylor Swift is depicted as this insane, deranged-looking creature that looks like it came out of Elder Scrolls. Limbs bent in impossible ways, dark magic fueling her hatred. Stuff like that. Of course, it was loosely based on the Taylor Swift MeatCanyon video; we just added a few changes. We made the song at the last minute after a comment we found posted on one of our earlier songs. The person commented that his kid thought that our song titles were funny and that she was a Swiftie. We were joking about it, and then our vocalist randomly said "Swift Vengeance," and we were like "oh crap!". It was just one of those songs that came out naturally, and personally, I think it's our best one yet.

4: How did Vitrifier form?

We formed around October 2024. Eric and I have known each other since 2019, when we were both music students at Grant MacEwan University. Turns out, he's actually a really talented bass player! Back then, I was performing with small groups playing tenor saxophone in 1) a wheelchair after a knee injury and 2) playing with a saxophone enclosed in a bag during COVID. My distraction during that time was to write a whole bunch of industrial death metal and groove metal demos. We linked up again around 2022 when we were asked to join this ska punk band called Paint Bomb. He was the bass player while I played saxophone. We both did backing vocals as well. Eric mentioned that he can scream, and good lord, he can scream real good. Honestly, he's probably the greatest death metal screamer in Alberta, hands down. He did a few side projects here and there, more notably his Tolkien-inspired metal project Khazad-dum. So, we went from Ska punk on Tuesday nights to Grindcore on Saturdays. Fast forward to 2024, and I created some of my best grindcore demos after being inspired by "A visceral wretch" by Whitechapel, and I was looking for a vocalist to accompany me. I considered Eric as the only option, especially after hearing Khazad-dum. I sent him the demos, asked if he wanted to record vocals and write lyrics, and the rest is history!

5: What is the story behind the name Vitrifier?

I came up with Vitrifier after re-listening to an old collection of metal music I had saved on my mp3 player. Specifically, the song I was listening to was "Vitrification of blood pt. 1" by Blood Incantation, and I was like, "What is vitrification?" It's basically the process of turning stuff to glass, and to turn blood into glass is pretty metal. So, I messed around with the definition of vitrification and ended up getting Vitrifier, which is a machine or person that turns blood into glass.

6: What does the band enjoy doing outside of music?

We like going out to movies! Mainly horror movies. Last year we saw “The Monkey,” and that was awesome!

7: What is one band you hope to collaborate or perform with in the future?

We've always wanted to open for Whitechapel if we ever perform live. That's like one of our ultimate goals. To get to that point would be heaven to us.

8: What’s next for Vitrifier?

We've been planning on making another album. We're just at the planning stage, so nothing official yet. We toyed with the idea of making a concept album instead of doing the same thing we've already done. Of course, it'll still have our humour attached, but it'll have a story to it. We already picked our story, but sorry, no spoilers ;)

Find Them Here: Spotify | Instagram | Facebook

Thanks for reading!