Motionless in White

Home to the fictional Dunder Mifflin paper company’s loony denizens and immortalized in Harry Chapin’s 1974 “30,000 Pounds of Bananas” song about the 1965 trucking accident – Scranton, Pennsylvania is more than just a plucky town that rebuilt itself after coal mining fell out of vogue. It’s also the birthplace of gothic metalheads Motionless in White.

Formed in 2005 by vocalist Chris Cerulli and currently comprised by Ryan Sitkowski on lead guitar, Ricky Olson on rhythm guitar and Vinny Mauro and Justin Morrow on drums and bass respectively, Motionless in White dig deep into a bag of influences and skills to deliver a modern metal experience that is as fresh as it is aesthetically arresting.

Their 2010 debut album “Creatures” established them as a new force on the metal landscape. Their fifth album “Disguise” is their first for Roadrunner Records and a stylistic departure into experimental realms. While it has received mixed reviews, the album shows the kind of maturity expected from an outfit working for 15 years given the ability to step outside of its comfort zone.

Cerulli has described it in baseball terms to various media outlets as throwing a curve ball and trying for something the band had not done before knowing that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The album follows many of the procedural applications of previous efforts, but it takes it dives into some industrial territory for electronic feels and even produces an unintentional power ballad in the track “Another Life.”

Much like the town that birthed them, Motionless in White have shown a pluckiness built on talent and foresight. They’ve cultivated a loyal fanbase and their current look of gothed-out varsity jackets is reminiscent of the Baseball Furies gang from the cult 1979 film, “The Warriors.”

They are joined on “Diseased and Disguised” tour by Caleb Shomo’s (formerly of Attack Attack!) hardcore punk band Beartooth in support of their 2018 release, “Disease.” Fans of his previous band will find a more fine-tuned machine in Beartooth, and Shomo’s conceptualization of the album revolves around him facing the demons of his depression and treating it as a disease.

Motionless in White perform Thursday, January 30 at Revolution Live, Ft. Lauderdale with Beartooth. motionlessinwhite.net ~ Abel Folgar