In This Moment

In August 2005, singer Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth met through some common friends. After becoming acquainted, and finding that there was much in common between them, they began writing songs together. Soon thereafter they enlisted the help of Los Angeles drummer Jeff Fabb and formed the band Dying Star.[3] Unhappy with where the band was headed, they decided to take on a new musical direction. By mid-2005, the lineup included Brink, Howorth, Fabb, guitarist Blake Bunzel, and bassist Josh Newell.[4] The band recorded demos and posted them on MySpace.[4] During the winter of 2005, Newell departed from the band to focus on his other musical project, Ketaset, as well as his audio engineering work. Producer Pascual Romero was then the bassist for a time before a friend of the band Jesse Landry was eventually tapped to round out the band permanently. Rob "Blasko" Nicholson, the bassist for Ozzy Osbourne became the band's manager after discovering them through MySpace.[5]

By the end of the 2005, In This Moment had generated a fanbase through internet marketing and do-it-yourself touring.[6] This sparked an interest from Century Media Records, and a worldwide record deal followed.[4] The band released their debut album Beautiful Tragedy on March 20, 2007, backed by the singles "Prayers", and title track "Beautiful Tragedy".[7] The album was produced by Eric Rachel and combined sounds of metalcore and hard rock while the lyrics drew from Brink's personal experiences about abandonment and tragedies.[3][7] The vocals on the songs alternate between Brink singing and screaming.[7][8] The band performed on several tours including The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007 with Lacuna Coil, Ozzfest in 2007 and 2008, Megadeth, and the Rob Zombie and Ozzy Osbourne tour.[4][9][10][11] They recorded a cover of Lacuna Coil's "Heaven's a Lie" with the band Manntis as part of "Century Media Records's Covering 20 Years of Extreme cover album.[12]

Vocalist Maria Brink performing live in 2009

In This Moment released their second album named The Dream on September 30, 2008.[13] The album received mostly positive reviews and marked the band's debut on the Billboard 200, debuting at number 73.[14] The album was produced by Kevin Churko and featured a less heavy approach, with a bigger focus on clean vocals from Brink.[13][15][16] The song "Forever" was released as the album's lead single.[17][18] To support the release, the band went on tour with Five Finger Death Punch, Mudvayne, Papa Roach, and Filter.[19] They also appeared on the Give It a Name tour in the UK and were on the 2009 Warped Tour line-up, playing on the Ernie Ball Stage.[18][19] They also played at Download Festival 2009 on the second stage.[20] A cover of Blondie's "Call Me" was released as the second single from The Dream.[18][19] The cover appears on the special edition, titled The Dream: Ultraviolet Edition to coincide with Warped Tour, which included unreleased tracks and acoustic performances.[18]

The band embarked on their first headlining tour titled A Winter to Remember Tour, bringing along In Fear and Faith, Agraceful, and Motionless in White as support.[21]

In 2009, Maria Brink and Chris Howorth announced that the band has begun writing for the next album, citing it to be darker and heavier.[22] Brink revealed the album title A Star-Crossed Wasteland on her official site in February 2010.[22] Maria Brink was named the Hottest Chick in Metal at the Revolver Golden God awards in April 2010.[23] A Star-Crossed Wasteland was released on July 9, 2010.[24] The album's first single, "The Gun Show" was released to iTunes on June 1, 2010.[24] The album sold 10,500 copies, debuting at number 40.[4][25]

The band played Mayhem Festival 2010 alongside Korn, Rob Zombie, Five Finger Death Punch, Hatebreed, Shadows Fall and other bands.[26] On September 24, 2010, In This Moment officially released a video for the single, "The Promise", shot and directed by David Brodsky.[27] On November 21, 2010, it was announced that In This Moment would play alongside Sevendust, Disturbed and Korn in the Music as a Weapon V tour.[28]

Soon after Music as a Weapon, the band went on another headling tour titled the Hell Hath No Fury Tour, along with Straight Line Stitch, System Divide, and Sister Sin.[29][30] The band was also part of the All Stars Tour along with acts such as Emmure, Alesana, Iwrestledabearonce, Blessthefall, For Today, Born of Osiris, Motionless in White, Sleeping with Sirens, among others.[31]

In 2011, In This Moment announced they were working on new material for a new album hoping for a 2012 release.[32] This release was recorded without founding members Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel, who were both working with James Durbin as of September 2011.[32][33] In November 2011, In This Moment took part in the ShipRocked music cruise alongside Candlebox, Hinder, Filter, Sevendust, Buckcherry, and many more.[34] Blood was the first album following the band parting ways with longtime manager, Blasko. On May 14, 2012, it was announced that the album would be released on August 14, 2012.[35] Blood was released as the album's first single on June 12, 2012 and the album artwork and track listing followed on June 18, 2012.[36][37] Both the single and album were certified Gold, with sales of 500,000 copies by the Recording Industry Association of America in early 2017.[38]

In March 2012, the band played some shows in Australia for the Soundwave Festival.[33] Later in 2012, they went on to support Shinedown and Papa Roach on their U.S. headlining summer tour.[36] The band has also appeared on the 2012 Uproar Festival, the 2012 ShipRocked music cruise, and the 2013 Carnival of Madness tour.[39][40][41][42]

On April 16, 2013, In This Moment announced on Facebook that they would be filming their first concert DVD at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, Wisconsin.[43] The show was filmed on May 21 and features a special stage setup, costume changes, props, and dancers.[44] This show also marked the first appearance of the Blood girls on stage.[44] The setlist composed heavily on Blood.[44] Blood at the Orpheum was released on January 21, 2014, and features interviews with Maria along with behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage.[44][45] The film was directed by Brad Golowin and the live audio was mixed and mastered by producer Kevin Churko.[44]

In the fall of 2013, the band headlined The Hellpop Tour with Motionless in White, West Hollywood heavy metal ensemble All Hail the Yeti, and Kyng. A second leg resumed in early 2014 with Butcher Babies, Devour the Day, All Hail the Yeti and Los Angeles melodic metal quartet Before the Mourning.[46][47][48][49][50]

In This Moment after performing on the Black Widow Tour in 2014

On February 5, 2014, they announced that they had left Century Media and have signed with Atlantic Records, which will release their fifth album and first with a major label.[1] They also revealed that they were set to enter the studio on February 23 to begin recording their fifth studio album and follow up to Blood.[1] Chris Howorth said, "We have a bunch of ideas and the way we did Blood was different than we'd done any album before. We brought ideas and pieces and parts into the studio and wrote each song in the studio, one at a time. All the other albums we had the songs formatted and together already. So we're going to do the same thing again. We're gonna try to replicate the magic of Blood and try to take the style and sound we had for Blood and just do it bigger and better while still keeping true to that same vibe. That's our sound. We feel like we found something and want to stick the flag in the ground on top of that hill."[1]

The first single, "Sick Like Me" from the band's album, Black Widow was released to digital retailers on September 9, 2014, while the album, produced by Kevin Churko, was released on November 17, 2014.[51][52] To support the release, the band performed at Knotfest on October 25, 2014 before headlining the Black Widow Tour, which kicked off on October 26, 2014 and concluded on December 14, 2014 with Starset, Twelve Foot Ninja, and 3 Pill Morning as the opening acts.[53] The Black Widow shows presented a more elaborate stage show featuring a new set, props, and choreography. Throughout 2015, the headline tour resumed in Europe and the U.S, followed by supporting slots for Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch and Godsmack.[54] The band made their network television debut on a season 2 episode of TNT's Murder in the First, which premiered on June 8, 2015.[55] To mark the 10th anniversary of the formation of the band, on May 4, 2015, Century Media released Rise of the Blood Legion: Greatest Hits (Chapter 1), a compilation album including songs from the band's four releases with the longtime label.[56]

In This Moment performing in 2016

On March 16, 2016, Drummer Tom Hane announced his departure from the band, citing creative and artistic unhappiness.[57] The band replaced Hane with Kent Diimmel, the drummer from 3 by Design.[58] On June 18, 2016, the band kicked off The Hellpop 2016 Tour with openers Hellyeah, Sunflower Dead, and Shaman's Harvest before joining Rob Zombie and Korn for their summer tour.[59]

On February 6, 2017, the band announced their North American headlining tour titled Half God, Half Devil.[60] The 19 date tour kicked off on April 7, 2017, with supporting acts Gemini Syndrome, Avatar, and Motionless in White.[60] The tour resumed for a summer trek on June 19, 2017 supported by Motionless in White, Vimic, Starset, and Little Miss Nasty[61] and a fall run will start on September 22, 2017 with Of Mice & Men and Avatar.[62] The set list was compiled from Blood and Black Widow while also debuting three songs from the band's upcoming sixth album, Ritual,[63] including the first single "Oh Lord", and a cover of Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight".[64] Ritual was released on July 21, 2017 and said to have a more serious tone.[64][65][66] Guitarist Chris Howorth has described the sound on the upcoming album as "stripped down" and "raw".[64][67] Lead vocalist Maria Brink says the record is less sexualized than the previous efforts saying, "I wanted to show people and definitely women a different side of strength in me that was a really powerful force in me that didn't need the sexual part, so there's definitely a more serious overtone...a more serious deeper side of us."[68]

The album debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200, selling an estimated 22,000 copies.[69][70] On October 14, 2018, Chris Howorth posted a photo on his Instagram page stating production of the band's seventh album is already being produced.[71]

On November 12, 2018, a short video with flickering and revolving text bearing the word "Mother" was uploaded to the band's official Instagram.[72] The band's official website also features this moving text clip before entering the site. The splash page bears a caption reading 'Summer 2019'.[73] Later on February 17, 2019, Maria Brink posted a short video of herself heading to The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas. An article posted from Loudwire states it is highly likely the band will re-up with producer Kevin Churko, who produced the last five albums, including Ritual.[74] A few days later (February 24, 2019), Brink posted another video of the band working in the studio, bearing the caption 'Studio Nights' and the hashtag 'Mother'.[75] Recording for the album was completed by the spring of 2019.[76]

A headlining Spring tour was kicked off on May 3, 2019 with a brand new show, with a new album originally scheduled for fall 2019.[77] On March 25, Disturbed announced a summer tour, with In This Moment to open for the second half of the tour.[78]

On September 15, 2019, the band announced that their new single "The In-Between" would be released on October 31, 2019 on Twitter.[79] However, on November 1 2019, they told fans on their Instagram that the release would be postponed until early 2020.[80]

In November 2019, it was announced that March 2020, will initiate a new tour, appearing together with Black Veil Brides, Ded, and Raven Black.[81][82][83][84][85]

In January 2020, In This Moment posted several teasers, images, and clips, regarding the upcoming album, Mother on their official Instagram. "The In-Between" was released on January 22, 2020.[83] On January 22, 2020, the band officially announced that their upcoming seventh studio album titled, Mother is set for release on March 27, 2020.[83][85][86][84] The official album art and tracklisting has been also released.[83][86] On February 21 2020, the band released the second single of the album titled "Hunting Grounds" featuring Joe Cotela of Ded.[85][87] In March 2020, In This Moment cancelled their 2020 tour with Black Veil Brides, Ded, and Raven Black due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[81][84] On March 19 2020, a week before the album release, the band released their third single "As Above, So Below".[84][88]