Skeletonwitch will take a familiar stage tomorrow night when it plays at The Union, 18 W. Union St., and it will do so with a few new additions to its résumé.
In addition to a track on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim's Righteous Metal Compilation, the Athens-formed band made a music video for the network and will record a new album soon.
The track, titled Bringers of Death was recorded along with the 2007 release Beyond the Permafrost, but was not released in the U.S. until Cartoon Network asked the band if it would be interested in the compilation.
"The producers who work at Cartoon Network just decided to pick their favorite metal bands put them on a list and just call them up and see if they wanted (to be on the compilation)," said guitarist Scott Hedrick. "We happened to be one of them. We just got a call out of the blue. ... And we were like, 'Yeah, absolutely we would.'"
The band's involvement with Cartoon Network took a step further when the cable channel asked the members to star in a music video for the network.
Featuring furries, zombies and a deranged rabbit, the video is not what someone would immediately associate with a metal band. Hedrick said the band agreed to do the video because it fit Cartoon Network's image despite not necessarily fitting Skeletonwitch's.
"It's pretty funny if you see it. It doesn't sound as great on paper," Hedrick said. "It's kind of goofy, but ... it wasn't our idea."
Skeletonwitch — whose members include former Ohio University students Hedrick, vocalist Chance Garnette, guitarist Nate Garnette, bassist Evan Linger and drummer Derrick Nau — also began writing a new album, which Hedrick said will likely be more of what the band's fans have come to expect from it.
"It's what you'd expect from us, but maybe a little more developed and little more like our own sound. On earlier records, it would be like, 'They listened to this and then they listened to Iron Maiden,'" Hedrick said.
"You find your own sound and take what you like about music that you heard before and turn it into something that you're into and use it as an influence or an inspiration."
