Metal Anarchy

Time for the next edition of Metal Anarchy’s “new music showcase,” the feature where I introduce you to bands that readers of this site may find interesting. This time I have an exclusive Q&A with Thomas Smith of Strength Betrayed.

METAL ANARCHY: Tell me a little about your band:

SMITH: Alright! We are Strength Betrayed! We are a faith-based band from a small town called Dunn NC. This band in particular has been together since 2015. Jacob (our lead guitarist), Taylor (our drummer) and I have played in different bands since 2010, so we have been playing together for almost 10 years now! We originally played worship for our church and kind of learned how to play together there. We joined like an 8 piece band that ran for about 2 years before we decided to do our own thing. After worship practice, we would down tune our guitars and just start jamming to the heavy stuff, and it annoyed everybody else lol.

So, we got together for a jam session and wrote one of our singles “Playing With Hearts” the first jam session. We were like “okay….we got to do something with this”. At the time Taylor and Jacob tried to start a band with a friend of mine called ‘Strength Betrayed’ and I remember thinking “That name is AWESOME”! So, when we started this band up we were like, well we like that name so good, so we called my friend up and got permission to use the name and BOOM Strength Betrayed was born! Seth was a high school friend of Jacob and Taylor, so once we found out he was really good on the bass, we had him send a video. We brought him in for a few jam sessions and BOOM he was in.

METAL ANARCHY: Who are your main influences?

SMITH: Man, that is tough because there is so many. Definitely Breaking Benjamin, Korn, Red, Tool and the 80’s DUMP Jacob puts on his leads lol. Disturbed, A Day To Remember, Chevelle, Killswitch Engage, Metallica, Alter Bridge, and so many more.

METAL ANARCHY: What is your latest release and why should readers of this site check it out?

SMITH: The latest releases are “Sour” and our single “War-Torn”. We have an album available for pre-order now on all digital stores. We want to bring something simple, heavy and combinations that aren’t heard very often. I know now a day’s people combine EDM and metal and that’s all cool, we are just hoping our combinations shine through to the listener. Check out “War-Torn”, check out “Sour” and see what you think.

METAL ANARCHY: What can people expect when they go to your live shows?

SMITH: We like to have fun. Like, legit fun! We like you to feel included. We like you to feel like we could hang out sometime. I’m not big on fart and boob jokes, we just want to provide a high energy show where people can come and not just watch us play, but to have fun with us.

METAL ANARCHY: Where do you see your band heading in 5 years?

SMITH: Lord I hope we actually make money lol. I hope we are able to make this thing work; it’s been years and years of slow and steady hard work. We are shooting for the stars so whatever comes our way we will take, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that our childhood dreams are not a part of this band at the end of the day. We are a faith-based band and there is a ministry aspect for real, but our goal is to make it and at least make our money back lol.