Hammerhedd is a trio of brothers (from left to right: Abe Ismert, Henry Ismert, Eli Ismert) from Kansas City, KS. We started playing metal at the ages of 12, 10, & 7 in our parents' basement in 2012. Our sound has since diversified; the most recent releases are more akin to rock, punk, & alternative, but our drive and intensity remains the same. We play, write & record music with the ultimate goal of one day creating something we agree sounds new & original.
Here’s our progress so far:
in 2025…
…we released a new song every month of the year. We did this to subvert our collective perfectionism (songs never feel “done”, we just need to leave them alone at some point!)… we forced ourselves to write and release a new song every month no matter what.
Beyond the music, we continued making strides towards our goal of being fully independent; first, we took all marketing initiatives in-house. We revamped the website, webstore, social media profiles and merchandise to look simpler, more professional, and more personal to the band. Second, we took all mixing, producing, & eventually mastering in-house. Eli performed all of these jobs for every song. Finally, we brought the music videos in-house. Abe wrote, filmed, & produced all the music videos (11 in total).
These shifts allowed us full creative control over (almost) every aspect of Hammerhedd.
in 2024…
…we released our third full-length album “Not Important”. This was our first drastic departure from the thrash/death/progressive metal sound we’d cultivated over the previous 4-6 years. We were taking in a ton of new influences and they were starting to show; the album could best be described as a groove-laden, grunge, hard rock, & alternative project.
More than purely musical changes, the album marked the start of a more intentional, focused mindset for the band; we declared a goal to build Hammerhedd brick by brick. We were determined to be completely OK with slow, monotonous growth and the work required to make that happen.
in 2023…
…we released our second full-length album “Nonetheless”. Produced by Luke Smith (again), this album is an unforgiving, gritty, droning project. We tried to incorporate non-metal influences into these songs as much as we could… for instance, “Tunnel” takes a lot of influence from The Police - jumpy drum beats, syncopated guitar chords, & a general on-top-of-the-beat feel. Likewise, the intro of “Fruition” takes influence from early Pink Floyd. We were listening to a lot of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Saucerful of Secrets, Meddle while writing and recording these songs.
After the release of “Nonetheless” in February 2023, we embarked on an American tour with thrash bands Havok, Toxic Holocaust & I AM. It was an awesome experience that taught us great lessons about being on the road. We loved getting to work out our setlist along the way… interacting with each crowd taught us a lot about putting together a setlist that ebbs and flows properly.
By the end of the tour, we had fully immersed ourselves in non-metal influences. This wasn’t by choice, it was just that our urge to explore all kinds of music had finally come to a head. We came to a collective conclusion to move towards more experimental sounds and structures in the next writing sessions.
in 2022…
…we released our first new single since 2020. “Tunnel” was released in October 2022 and was very well-received among the fans. It created great hype for the upcoming album release and landed us our first “real” tour.
We went on tour with In Flames & Darkest Hour later that month. This was our first “professional tour experience”… the crowds responded very well to our sets.
The whole run pumped us up to go back into the jam room and write more music… which is something that began to frustrate us as a band: the cycle of ‘write an album, release said album, tour said album, repeat’ was entirely too slow for our liking. Our musical palette was rapidly expanding and we wanted to write, write, write. This eventually became the driving reason behind our future band initiatives (see “a new song every month in 2025”).
in 2020/21…
…we released our first full-length album titled “Grand Currents”. We were driven to create the grimiest, heaviest, sludgiest thing possible. It was our first to be produced by our good friend & mentor Luke Smith, who channeled our aggression very nicely.
The song that I believe sums up the album the best is “Sediment”. It’s an absolutely unrelenting jackhammer of a song that dabbles in whacked out time signatures, & atonal leads.
Another song I love from this album is “Foundation”, which I still believe is the most concisely written metal song we ever released. Even though it clocks in at over 5 minutes, it feels like 3. The catchy, jumpy rhythms resemble our favorite influence at the time: Meshuggah. This song has been a consistent live killer since we started playing it around this time.
in 2018/19…
…we released our first EP ever titled “Essence Of Iron”. We released this project after much growth & evolution as a band since our ‘viral hype’ days a few years earlier.
We were DEEP into Gojira, Pantera, Metallica, Mastodon, and other similar artists. Looking back, it totally shows. BUT, we played what we felt like playing and I love looking back on it a few years later.
in 2015-17…
…we played all kinds of street gigs in Downtown Kansas City. We did this because we weren’t allowed into any venues or bars that local bands usually got their start in. We mostly played Metallica cover songs along with a few originals.
In September 2016, a video of us playing Metallica covers (…And Justice For All, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Blackened, & more) went viral. It was a very cool experience that led to all kinds of new opportunities for us and ultimately set us on the trajectory for pursuing Hammerhedd full-time.