About
IKILLYA is a NYC based Metalcore band led by Jason Lekberg. The band released 3 albums between 2011 and 2017, toured the US and UK multiple times, received coverage from every notable metal publication and blog, received significant support from SiriusXM’s Liquid Metal, and an ever-growing list of sync placements in movies and TV shows. The intense schedule called for a break but after a few years, Jason has returned to revive the project. Jason remains the sole original member and will continue with a revolving cast of players and writers.
Notable accolades for IKILLYA:
"New York’s sonic equivalent to Lamb of God” - Metalinsider.net
"IKILLYA might possibly be the best metal band to have emerged from the gutters of New York City since Anthrax" - Planetmosh.com
"New York's own kings of thrashy, groove-laden, no bullshit, heavy fuckin metal" - Metalsucks
"This NYC crew lays down groove-laden, hardcore influenced metal with authority" - Revolver
The History of IKILLYA
The founding members of IKILLYA, Jason Lekberg (vocals), Mansa Gory (bass) and Wayne Collier (drums), preformed together under different names with Danny Cabrera (guitar) in 2005 and 2006. Pete Mpogiatzis replaced Danny on guitar in late 2006 and his line up self-released a 4 song EP Call To Arms.
From the fall of 2007 until April of 2009 the band rotated through several guitarists including Stephanos Charalmpidis and Claire Jackson finally settling on Dave Kerr. This line up began writing what would become their debut album Recon and playing in the NYC and surrounding area. November 13th, 2009 Chris Adler of Lamb of God and producer Josh Wilbur attended the bands show at Manhattan’s Ace of Clubs. The band joined Josh at Spin Studios in NYC on December 30th 2009 and tracked 3 songs, 2 of which would end up on their debut album Recon. Shortly after this session, drummer Wayne Collier left the band.
IKILLYA recorded the music for the remaining 6 songs with engineer Armando Subero at Nova Studios in Staten Island and the vocals for those 6 songs with producer Ryan Kelly at Legacy Studios in Manhattan. Jeff Gretz (Zao, From Autumn To Ashes) recorded drums for these 6 songs. Late in 2010 Josh Wilbur mixed all 8 songs and the band self-released Recon on April 5th, 2011.
Following this Jeff Gretz and Matt Zebroski (The Alex Skolnick Trio) rotated as the bands live drummer eventually being replaced by Gary Pickard just before the end of the year. In the April 2012 the band toured the UK in support of Recon in response to a hugely positive press response in that country.
IKILLYA spent most of 2013 writing their sophomore album Vae Victis. In June 2013 Jason, Dave and Mansa were joined again by Jeff Gretz at Nova Studios in Staten island where Paul Suarez engineered the instrumentation for Vae Victis. Vocals were recorded in LA with Josh Wilbur who again produced and mixed the album.
In December of 2013 IKILLYA signed a worldwide distribution deal with Megaforce Records which was announced on Feb 4th, 2014 along with their new video, single and album release date of April 29th. The increased touring requirements did not align with the existing members priorities so Jason recruited Claire Jackson (guitar) and Billy Burton (drums). Mariel Meile filled in on bass on the first tour supporting Vae Vicits in the US. Sam Roon filled in on bass for the next UK tour and then Rob Broderick joined as a permanent member. This lineup toured the US extensively from 2014-2016.
In mid 2016 the band began writing their third album War For An Idea and signed a distribution deal with Urban Yeti Records. Ryan Kelly returned to produce the album at Spin Studios in NYC. During these sessions Billy left the band and the album was recorded by Jeff Gretz making him the only player aside from Jason to appear on all 3 albums. The band recruited Andrew Maciejewski to play drums and he joined them on the massive US tour to support the album. At the end of that tour Claire and Andrew chose to step away from the band and Jason and Rob decided to take an indefinite hiatus from it.
In 2024 Jason reunited many of these players for a one-off show celebrating the bands first two albums. This even rekindled the project and he has decided to revive it once again.
Arm Yourself.