August Burns Red

While so many bands exploded onto the scene with supercharged “hype,” only to burn out and fade away just as quickly, FIT FOR A KING steadily built a ferociously dedicated following through determination, classic American Metalcore breakdowns, lyrical courage, and steadfast conviction. 

The heaviest and catchiest extreme metal act from the Lone Star State since the original cowboys from hell, FIT FOR A KING’s ascendance is demonstrated as much by the massive singalongs at their shows as their jaw-dropping online following. The 2018 full-length Dark Skies has been streamed nearly 50 million times. In 2019, the band had nearly two million listeners on Spotify; incredible for an underground group who self-released their EPs just over a decade beforehand.

While so many bands exploded onto the scene with supercharged “hype,” only to burn out and fade away just as quickly, FIT FOR A KING steadily built a ferociously dedicated following through determination, classic American Metalcore breakdowns, lyrical courage, and steadfast conviction. 

The heaviest and catchiest extreme metal act from the Lone Star State since the original cowboys from hell, FIT FOR A KING’s ascendance is demonstrated as much by the massive singalongs at their shows as their jaw-dropping online following. The 2018 full-length Dark Skies has been streamed nearly 50 million times. In 2019, the band had nearly two million listeners on Spotify; incredible for an underground group who self-released their EPs just over a decade beforehand.

Album six, The Path, is a definitive masterpiece. Bigger, bolder, and overwhelmingly epic in scope, The Path leans harder on the “metal” side of their sound, with shredding guitar solos, while doubling down on the massive catchy choruses that propelled their fiercest fan-favorite anthems. 

Like Dark Skies, The Path was produced/mixed by WZRD BLD, aka Drew Fulk, who was responsible for career-making records from Dance Gavin Dance, Motionless In White, and Bad Wolves.

Even as their music is rightfully heralded as “majestic and punishing” (Revolver Magazine) “straightforward heaviness” (Metal Injection), genuine connection, fearless transparency, and an accessible relatability are the most essential elements of the band’s powerful presence. 

Where Deathgrip (2016) and Dark Skies spoke to raw feelings of alienation, abandonment, and disillusionment, album six is focused on The Path out of those hells. FIT FOR A KING has become the very soundtrack for fighting through life’s most painful and difficult seasons. 

Their music appeals equally to anyone whose tastes were shaped by gateway bands like Slipknot and Korn or New Wave Of American Heavy Metal titans like Killswitch Engage and As I Lay Dying. 

As important as each record in the band’s catalog has been, much of their dedicated supporters first encountered FIT FOR A KING on the road, as the road dogs appeared several times on the Vans Warped Tour and on celebrated subcultural touring bills alongside Ice Nine Kills, Beartooth, August Burns Red, Whitechapel, and labelmates The Devil Wears Prada, to name just a few.

As devotees of Fit For A King, fans have enthusiastically supported singer Ryan Kirby’s book of devotionals, vocalist workshops, and creative cover songs, some done in collaboration with guitarist Daniel Gailey (Phinehas, Becoming The Archetype). Drum playthrough videos from rhythmic beast Jared Easterling are similarly consumed. The FFAK faithful are just as supportive of Off Road Minivan, the Tooth & Nail Records alt-rock band fronted by bassist Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary. Bobby Lynge, who joined the early incarnation of FFAK alongside Kirby before the band created their first proper full-length, no longer tours, but remains a core member and songwriter.

“Breaking the Mirror” garnered close to two million streams in just over a month of release in early 2020, proving how much the appetite for FIT FOR A KING music had grown since the release of Dark Skies. It quickly took its place alongside songs like “Ancient Waters,” “Hollow King,” “The Price of Agony,” “Slave to Nothing,” and “Dead Memory,” which together total close to 20M views on YouTube. The song isn’t so much about distancing oneself from a troubled past as it is about destroying it. Musically it encompasses all of what they do best: vicious roar, melodic might, and crushing mosh parts demonstrating why this is the band to Make Breakdowns Great Again. 

“The Face of Hate” takes aim at those who hijack religion for personal gain. “God of Fire” is about the type of theology that values fear over love, a misrepresentation of the hope and salvation that is central to FFAK’s faith. “Stockholm” decries the type of “Stockholm syndrome” that keeps the masses beholden to politicians, even as elected officials across the spectrum exploit the citizenry. 

The Path is the sound of victory, championing perseverance over divisiveness, boundless optimism over anxiety and depression. FIT FOR A KING stand for triumph over adversity. This music is the soundtrack for those who muster the strength to carry on, to achieve, to overcome all obstacles. 

The fans are behind FIT FOR A KING, because they know FIT FOR A KING stands with them.