Search Results for “LCTR” – Rock Era Magazine

EP: Paved With Blood by LCTR

Abdelrahman Khaled — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:09:29 +0000

Richmond, Virginia, has a deep bench when it comes to heavy music, and LCTR (pronounced “Locator”) has been one of the harder-hitting names coming out of that scene for a few years now. The four-piece – Travis Simmons on vocals, Tim Madison on guitars and backing vocals, Greg Branch on bass, and Ethan Donnelly on drums – pull from a lineage that includes The Acacia Strain, Animosity, and Ion Dissonance. No frills, no BS, as they’ve put it themselves. “Paved With Blood”, dropping April 16th and recorded, mixed, and mastered by Javier Ramos, is their most recent statement of intent. The EP features a guest appearance from Kendal of Richmond’s own Heavy Is the Head on “Last Rites in Texas,” which, for a three-track release, is a notable get.

“Ghosts of the Cosmodrome” is probably my favorite track on the EP. The pacing here is sublime; it starts out slow like grinding gears on a machine that hasn’t been turned on in 50 years, with the dissonant sirens ringing, and then a slow riff that feels like the machine revving back up, and when it kicks into full gear, those kicks are like pummeling your skull, it’s a full-scale sonic assault but it doesn’t go on mindlessly the band pulls us back into more groovy riffs to keep the sense of musicality intact and then slowly leads us back in full circle fashion to that slow grinding riff at the start.

“Wolves in the Kingdom of Sheep” has a lot more of a groove to it, and the way it starts with that repeated riff bouncing from the left to the right channel like whispering evil going back and forth. It’s the most melodic song on the EP, in my opinion. It’s not as sonically adventurous as the other two songs, with this one staying in one lane the whole time, but the execution is great and is exactly what this kind of song needs. On the other hand, “Last Rites in Texas” is a grimy song that really lives up to that hardcore label associated with the band. The sounds are so guttural on that song, it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. There is a great sense of cohesion on the EP. It feels like these two songs each have a distinct vibe that was combined for “Ghosts” which is probably why that one resonated with me more, because it feels more unique like that.

Travis has talked about the band being older guys with careers and families, prioritizing quality over quantity when it comes to output. “Paved With Blood” reflects that approach. Three tracks, no filler, each one doing something slightly different within a tight genre framework. For anyone already familiar with the Richmond scene or the beatdown hardcore world more broadly, LCTR is worth keeping on your radar. This EP gives them another solid entry in the catalogue.

EP: These Streets by LCTR

Mena Ezzat — Sun, 04 May 2025 15:24:24 +0000

I have always felt that Beatdown is a subgenre that demands significant experience to truly master. The American band LCTR stands out as one of the contemporary hardcore legends. Their latest EP, These Streets, marks the debut recording with their new drummer, Ethan Donnelly. Let’s explore this further and prepare for some serious headbanging!

The “These Streets” EP features three tracks, beginning with “In Regards to Elvis.” I consider this track an excellent representation of a Beatdown hit! As you may know, this subgenre originates from hardcore punk and metalcore, characterised by its heavy, aggressive, and breakdown-centric sound.

The powerful vocals delivered by Travis Simmons are complemented by slow, crushing breakdowns.
These breakdowns are skillfully executed by Tim Madison (Guitar – Vocals), Greg Branch (Bass), and their remarkable new drummer, Ethan Donnelly.

“Ethan brings a raw, instinctive energy to the band that immediately clicked with the rest of us,” says lead vocalist Travis Simmons. “These Streets captures where we’ve been and where we’re headed—it’s heavier, sharper, and more honest than anything we’ve done before.”

As I immersed myself in “Funeral Lust,” I appreciated how it maintained the same breakdown mood while introducing a more aggressive and thrashy rhythmic style. The harsh growls and impressive screams added to its intensity, creating an iconic raw atmosphere. In fact, this song made me feel as though I was experiencing the best of two great bands from different eras.

I am truly captivated by LCTR’s musical diversity. Take a listen to “A Committee of Vultures,” where I was amazed by its remarkable fusion of extreme, thrash, hardcore, and even heavy metal elements. Absolutely! These four seasoned musicians excel at creating a vibe that inspires continuous headbanging! Each track on the EP tells its own story, intricately weaving narratives of struggle, resilience, and the raw, unfiltered essence of urban life.

As LCTR gears up for a series of live performances to promote the EP, they promise a show that will be as unforgettable as the music itself—an immersive experience that captures the essence of their powerful sound and the energy of their dedicated fanbase. Whether you’re a longtime follower or a newcomer to the beatdown hardcore scene, “These Streets” is set to be a defining moment in LCTR‘s career. Get ready to lose yourself in the music and find your place among the throngs of headbanging fans who understand that these streets tell stories worth hearing.

Interview with LTCR

Hazem Mahani — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 12:23:53 +0000

On the 14th of June 2023, the Richmond, Virginia-based headbangers LCTR dropped their blasting record Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire, and today we’re gonna chat with them and dig deeper into their world.

Hello LCTR, we’re happy to have you here with us on Rock Era Magazine,

I can hear a mix of extreme metal with all its subgenres and hardcore elements in Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire, would you tell me about your early influences? And which ones still steer your writing till now?

Tim (Guitars): 80’s pop music, early 90’s dance music, I try to remove myself from modern metal as much as possible to stay fresh and keep my ideas my own.

Travis (vocals): I came from the grind/death metal scene originally and so some of my earlier influences were bands like pig destroyer and circle of dead children. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to look at musicians like Tom Waits and Nick Cave and the way they construct stories in their music.

Geoff (drums): My earlier influences would be a mix of the bled, Rancid, old bury your dead, acacia strain, incubus (science album only) and wu tang clan.

You guys come from many different bands, with whom did you play? And what’s the story behind the formation of LCTR?

Travis: I was doing vocals in Diseased Earth and our drummer decided he wanted to move to California, so we went on hiatus, and that’s when I was approached by the guys to form something.

Tim: Diseased earth, alcindor and cut the architect’s hand. This is just essentially alcindor with Travis as a front man playing some heavy tunes.

You have detailed writing with every instrument fully contributing to your sound, would you tell us about your writing process? What usually initiates writing a new song?

Tim:The idea is simplicity, so we try to be as bare bones with our writing approach as possible, and then our bass player usually adds an extra layer of dynamics that pull against what the guitar is playing to create texture. It’s good having a bass player playing more than root notes.

Travis: i live two hours away from the rest of the band so sometimes i cant always make practice, but they are very good about sending videos of songs and it gives me reference to listen to and start working on vocal placement and lyrical ideas

What’s the story behind Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire? What’s binding these songs together?

Travis: None of us can escape fate, we are all at the mercy of the great decider. These songs are all the frustrations and stress we deal with in daily life, the audio equivalent of baring our souls.

Tim: These were the 3 of the 8 songs that got us the most excited, we’ve trimmed our set back to 6 songs and we expect to record our other 3 track EP later this year.
Goodness Wont Save You From The Fire by LCTR

How would you describe your sound to someone who wants to get into LCTR?

Tim: It’s simple, it’s heavy and it’s mean. If you like the acacia strain, old bury your dead, the banner, or ion dissonance you may dig what we do.

Travis: have you ever been hit in the head with a steel chair, wrapped in barb wire, and lit on fire? That’s our sound

If you would pick any band to tour with, who would it be?

Tim: The acacia strain, knocked loose, spite, Kublai Khan

Travis: basically all the bands Tim said, would love to as tour with some of the homies too

What are your plans for 2023/2024? Got anything exclusive for us?

Tim: Another EP later this year, full fill all required show obligations and start work on new material next year.

Travis: we have several more shows planned, putting our some more music. All of us are older and have careers, families and such, so we try to look for quality more than quantity when comes to shows and such.

Thanks for your time guys, wishing you the best of luck.

Album: Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire by LCTR

Hazem Mahani — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 12:22:58 +0000

Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, LCTR are offering their own blend of extreme metal on their record Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire. With serious themes tackling mental health, negative emotions, and daily struggles, Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire will definitely have its place in your “2023 Favs.” playlist. Let me tell you more about it.

Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire opens with Kayfabe as Personal Philosophy, a pounding heavy tune that demonstrates the brutality we’re gonna experience with LCTR. Kicking off with a slow intimidating build-up,

Kayfabe as Personal Philosophy has a dense guttural sound with damn powerful dynamic shifts, fat bassline, and raw production that matches its sound, and those grinding riffs and sick breakdowns threw me off my seat headbanging. Barb Wire Crown builds upon its predecessor’s intensity, pushing harder for deeper sound and a more complex structure. It opens with a groovy attacking riff that dramatically hits the breaks, warming-up before LCTR unleash hell. These guys have an ever-changing pace with unexpected twists and turns that keeps you hooked, and the way they subtly incorporate modern metal elements in their solid old-school sound was pretty interesting, especially at those filthy breakdowns. The diverse vocal delivery was cleverly handled, reflecting the riffs heaviness with no overdoing, delivering the perfect screams at the perfect timing. One of the best things about Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire is the BASSLINES and it reaches maximum levels of awesomeness in A Discourse in Disillusionment. It sounds like LCTR are coming at us with full force, hitting hard with relentless riffing, machine gun blast beats, and REALLY DEEP guttural vocals, all in an unstoppable dynamic structure with amazingly well-executed headbanging-boosters and amazingly steered groove and pace that’d drive any metalhead crazy.

Goodness Won’t Save You From The Fire is one record that you wish would’ve lasted much longer. LCTR‘s brutality sounds like it’s coming from the very depths of hell with their storming riffs and sick dense tone, making it one of the best extreme metal records I’ve listened to in 2023 so far. Their seasoned writing skills and musicianship are pretty obvious through this brief demonstration, making me already wait for their upcoming release. Looking forward to more from you guys, keep on rocking. Cheers!

Goodness Wont Save You From The Fire by LCTR