Tallah

Pennsylvania “nu-core” quartet Tallah bring back the spirit of early-2000s nu-metal with gnarly riffs, whipcrack drums, electronic textures, and tortured vocals. Tallah was formed in September 2017 by drummer Max Portnoy (son of Dream Theater’s Mike) and guitarist Derrick Schneider — who had already played together in the band Next to None — and bassist Andrew Cooper; they soon added second guitarist Eric Novroski (who would later leave to focus on his other band Toothless). Tallah’s name came about when a little girl wrote her own name on a list Portnoy had put up at a gig for fans to write down suggestions for the name of his new band. With the combined influences of classic nu-metal and contemporary hardcore, they had already written and recorded all the music for their debut EP before hiring a vocalist. Portnoy headhunted Justin Bonitz, having become aware of him through his online fame; Bonitz had won a competition created by internet star Jared Dines, and had recorded a string of popular cover songs. Bonitz joined the band on New Year’s Day 2018, and had just six days to write lyrics for their songs before their first gig. He rose to the challenge, and created a dark conceptual suite of lyrics that would appear on their self-released debut EP, No One Should Read This. Tallah quickly became a sensation after the huge hype generated by the EP and their wild, chaotic live shows. At one such show, Bonitz started a fight with security (throughout which he continued to sing), was arrested, lost in the system for two days after a clerical error wrongly showed him as having been released, and was eventually found in a nearby prison. In mid-2020, Tallah released their debut full-length album, Matriphagy, through Earache Records. A concept piece detailing the tragic consequences of a mother’s lifelong abuse of her son, it featured the singles “The Silo,” “No One Should Read This,” and “We, The Sad.” ~ John D. Buchanan