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About
Surdus
Surdus bring symphonic arrangements into the heavy, riff-driven foundations of melodic death and groove metal. The Johannesburg band's sound has evolved from its early melodic death metal roots, with keyboards and orchestration becoming a defining part of its identity. Harsh vocals, clean singing and layered guitar work give the music contrasting textures, while the orchestral elements add scale without replacing the metal at its core. Their current approach places greater emphasis on performed keyboard arrangements and independently produced recordings.
Band history
History
Surdus formed in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2012 as a melodic death metal band. Following several lineup changes, the group developed a symphonic death metal sound and released its debut album, Tarnished By Decay, on October 4, 2016. Founding guitarist and vocalist Alec Larsen remained with the project as its personnel evolved. Later releases included Damaged and Primus in 2024, followed by Pearls Before Swine and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen in 2025. On October 4, 2026, Surdus marked the tenth anniversary of their debut album with Strip The Rot (RE-TARNISHED), a new recording of the original song featuring Chelsea Larsen on vocals, Alec Larsen on guitar, bass and clean vocals, and Neville Shield on keyboards and orchestration. The band handled the recording, mixing and mastering internally, reflecting a change in its production approach.
Strip The Rot (RE-TARNISHED) is a new recording of a song from Surdus' 2016 debut album, Tarnished By Decay, released on October 4, 2026 to mark the album's tenth anniversary. Featuring Chelsea Larsen on vocals, Alec Larsen on guitar, bass and clean vocals, and Neville Shield on keyboards and orchestration, the single revisits the original composition by Simon Werner. Rather than outsourcing production, the band recorded, mixed and mastered the track themselves, with Alec Larsen handling those duties. The orchestral parts were performed on a MIDI keyboard instead of being arranged entirely through programming. Myke Taylor created the reimagined artwork and logo, drawing on the original visual work by Jason Modryc.
