Birmingham, AL · southern-metal · metalcore

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster

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Southern-fried metalcore built around the Barrow gang mythology — slide guitar over breakdowns, Alabama grit in every groove.

Maylene and the Sons of Disaster formed in Birmingham, Alabama in 2004 around vocalist Dallas Taylor, previously of Underoath. The band took its name and early lyrical framing from Depression-era outlaw lore, and built a sound that fused metalcore's breakdowns and screamed vocals with Southern rock's slide guitar, dual-guitar harmonies and blues phrasing.

The name and concept draw on the legend of Ma Barker and her criminal sons, with the band framing its songs around the idea that an unjust life meets divine justice. Taylor has said he watched reenactments of the Barker gang's final shootout as a child and wanted the band's backwoods theme to match its Alabama roots.

The group signed to Mono Vs Stereo for its self-titled debut before moving to Ferret Music in 2006, which released the EP The Day Hell Broke Loose at Sicard Hollow and the album II in 2007. Touring followed with Haste the Day, Underoath, Norma Jean and other bands working similar Southern-inflected territory, including a Dirty South Tour that reunited Taylor with his former band Underoath onstage for the first time since his departure.

Across several albums the group leaned progressively further into that Southern side, adding more clean singing and swing to the riffing while keeping the hardcore underpinnings intact. Loudwire has called their early material essential listening for metalcore fans, comparing them directly to Underoath, and they remain one of the more identifiable examples of Southern-inflected metalcore from the 2000s.

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southern-metalmetalcore