Combichrist

Industrial core band Combichrist has premiered the official music video for the new single, “Not My Enemy”, the band's first new release since 2019's One Fire LP. “I’m stoked as f**k about this track. Rich DeSilva killed it doing this video for me. The world might be standing still, but music still keeps flowing,” says Andy LaPlegua, the band’s vocalist.

Initially cutting his teeth in the seminal Norwegian hardcore bands My Right Choice (later re-named Fleshfire) and European hardcore legends Lash Out, LaPlegua segued into the electronic music world with Icon of Coil. Originally a solo project, it morphed into a full band. Not only did IOC mark LaPlegua’s first major work with electronics and dance beats, but it also granted him wider exposure beyond Norway; IOC was LaPlegua’s first project to be released in the United States.

It wasn’t until 2003 that LaPlegua founded Combichrist, the project that would soon dominate his time. A departure from IOC’s softer electronic sound, Combichrist took LaPlegua’s hardcore past and electronica present and merged them into a singular, mechanical monster. Without the compromise of the band dynamic, LaPlegua, who does everything in the studio himself on Combichrist releases, was able to explore whatever avenue he desired musically. What he found was a long dark road with plenty of twists and turns.

Joy of Gunz, LaPlegua’s first release as Combichrist, was quickly followed by two EPs: 2004’s Kiss the Blade and Sex Drogen und Industrial. In 2005, LaPlegua was back at it again, releasing the landmark album Everybody Hates You. Defying the dreaded sophomore slump, the second Combichrist full-length featured two tracks that would become club classics — “This Shit Will Fuck You Up” and “This Is My Rifle” — and was also the project’s U.S. debut on Metropolis Records. Further benchmarks were set with the release of the 2006 EP Get Your Body Beat, the title track of which landed Combichrist its first appearance on Billboard’s Top 10 Dance Singles chart.

The years that followed brought on six more full-length albums — What the Fuck Is Wrong with You People? (2007), Today We Are All Demons (2009), Making Monsters (2010), No Redemption (Official DmC: Devil May Cry Soundtrack)(2013), We Love You (2014), This Is Where Death Begins (2016) — as well as a handful of additional EPs. On top of Combichrist’s many releases, LaPlegua has also logged countless miles, globetrotting on tours of Europe, South America, Australia, the United States, and four full months in Europe and North America touring with Rammstein (in front of hundreds of thousands of people). Combichrist released their latst album, One Fire, in June of 2019.