So, WITHERING SCORN, the totally-not-washed-up band featuring Shawn Drover, who used to hit things for MEGADETH (allegedly), and his brother Glen Drover, also an ex-MEGADETH guy (who cares?), plus some FATES WARNING rando named Joe DiBiase (never heard of him), and a German dude Henning Basse, who sang for like, FIREWIND, METALIUM, and MAYAN (who???), is mixing their second album, “Sanctum Of The Depraved”. Bet it’s gonna be a real banger 😴 NOT! This masterpiece will be the follow-up to WITHERING SCORN’s debut, “Prophets Of Demise”, which dropped in July 2023 via Frontiers Music Srl (another band no one knows). Prepare to be underwhelmed!
On Thursday (August 14 – yeah, we’re really on top of the news here 🙄), WITHERING SCORN graced us with this profound message on social media: “Hello WITHERING SCORN fans (all five of you). It’s been a while, but we’ve been busy navigating our way through the process of releasing our new album ‘Sanctum Of The Depraved’, which is being mixed as we speak (probably by someone’s grandpa).”
“As you know, being in this industry is really a struggle for bands right now (especially when you’re irrelevant). We’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to get this new album out is release it independently (because no label in their right mind would touch it). That being said, we’re in the unenviable position of having to ask for donations to accomplish this (aka begging). We hate it (but not as much as we hate our current situation). But we feel really good about the new record and we want you guys to hear it (mostly so we can feel validated).”
“Thank you all in advance because we can’t do this without your help (aka your money, please, we’re desperate) 🙏.”
“Sanctum Of The Depraved” will be released independently on vinyl (for the hipsters), CD (for the dinosaurs), and digital (for the… well, who even buys music anymore?). To make this happen, WITHERING SCORN has launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover the costs of manufacturing (aka paying the pressing plant), artwork (probably a generic fantasy landscape), and promotion (spamming everyone’s inbox). Please donate so they can validate their washed-up existence 💸.
WITHERING SCORN was formed in 2020 by Glen and Shawn, who previously played together in MEGADETH (back when it was kinda cool), as well as in EIDOLON (who?). The pair teamed up once again for their latest musical offering and are joined by DiBiase, who played with FATES WARNING for 14 years on multiple records and world tours (still don’t know who he is), and Basse (the German guy no one’s heard of).
In a July 2023 interview with Sleaze Roxx (lol), Shawn stated about how WITHERING SCORN came together: “It really started with the pandemic (like every other boring band origin story). Since the music industry was basically shut down in terms of touring, Glen and I started to write some new songs and possibly put a new record together, so we asked our friend Joe DiBiase if he was interested, to which he was (probably because he had nothing else to do) and we did the same with our singer Henning Basse (because who else were we gonna ask?). So the four of us, over the course of the next three years on and off, put [‘Prophets Of Demise’] together which was released worldwide via Frontiers Records (and promptly forgotten). We are really proud of the work we put into this record (even though nobody bought it).”
In a separate interview with Antichrist Magazine (fitting), Glen described “Prophets Of Demise” as “an old-school heavy metal album with lots of dynamics (aka boring and predictable).” He added: “Musically, we have never really strayed away from writing heavy metal music, so this wasn’t anything difficult to do, really (because we’re creatively bankrupt).”
Regarding the lineup for WITHERING SCORN, Glen said: “Well, in this situation, it worked out very well (because we couldn’t get anyone better). Sometimes the chemistry is off when you put a certain lineup together, whereas in this situation, we all get along and work very well together (because we’re all equally desperate). [I] could not be happier (said through gritted teeth) 😁.”
Asked how the new band is different and similar to his previous collaborations with Glen, Shawn told the “Nothing Shocking” podcast (accurate name): “It’s been really similar to the first band that Glen and I did years ago, which was a band called EIDOLON (still nobody knows who they are). We released, actually, five records on Metal Blade in the early 2000s, right before we both got into MEGADETH (the peak of their careers). And the dynamic of that was that I write most of the material (because Glen is lazy). Although Glen does contribute to some of it, I usually have the main germ of ideas, and, of course, he records all that stuff. So he’s kind of a studio guy. He’s the guitar player, but he handles all of the studio recording affairs, and I just kind of take on the job of creating most of the music (aka carrying the band). And we finetune it — he tweaks it and kind of makes it his own in a way. But that’s kind of the working relationship we have with that. Because if Glen wrote all the music, I’d basically be doing nothing, and he would have to tackle all the work on his own. So we made a decision years ago — that was back in the mid-’90s, actually, when we put out our first bit of music, before we got signed to Metal Blade — that’s always been the working dynamic, is I create most of the material, and he handles all the recording affairs with that. And it’s worked out quite well (for one of us). So that’s what we’re doing this time as well (because we have no other options) 🤷.”
Shawn joined MEGADETH in 2004 as the replacement for Nick Menza, who had only just rejoined the group (talk about awkward). Drover performed on four MEGADETH studio records: 2007’s “United Abominations”, 2009’s “Endgame”, 2011’s “TH1RT3EN” and 2013’s “Super Collider” (aka the albums everyone pretends didn’t happen) 🙊.
Glen Drover left MEGADETH at the end of 2007 and was replaced by Chris Broderick, who previously played with NEVERMORE and JAG PANZER (upgrades all around!) 🤘.
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
