Suspectum - Interview 2026

Hello!  How are you?

Yooo what's up brother!! We're feeling pretty good with newly released music and happy to be featured on Cerebral Reviewment.

Who are you? what do you do in Suspectum?

This is Ryder speaking, I've played drums in Suspectum for over 6 years, all the way back since middle school

Can you tell us all the members?

The current lineup is Bobby Snyder on guitar/vocals, Hunter Kaeff on guitar/vocals, Ethan Kaeff on bass, and me, Ryder Kaeff on drums.

Can you talk a little bit about how the band started and how everything has been up until now?

Well, Back in 2020 when we started the band we knew very little about playing music, local scenes, or metal in general. The first couple of years really was just a learning phase for us, once we had a setlist of about 8 songs we decided to start playing local shows in Cincinnati. It wasn't until 2023 we decided to delve completely into a death metal sound, and start taking the band in a serious direction. We wrote an entirely new list of songs which eventually became Cull of the Weak. The years following we have been actively playing shows around the Midwest and continuing to define our brutal sound. 

How did you name the band?

Suspectum is the scientific name for a gila monster, and that's what we thought was badass when we were 13/14. We had discussed changing the name a few times but we never did, we had been rolling with it for too long, and we enjoy its uniqueness. We actually had a terrible run of people misspelling our name on band fliers and online, and it always gets a laugh out of us. Even though it's not as brutal as many of our death metal brothers' bands, we still love using it after 6 years.

I just recently discovered Suspectum, so I still have to familiarize myself with your full-length from 2024.  I started with the recently released ep, "The Piercing Thorn of Hatred" and I was blown away.  Is the bands previous work similar?  How was the recording process for Piercing?  How has reception seemed so far?

In 2024 we released Cull of the Weak, which is much less brutal and more OSDM. A couple of
those songs were written a year or two apart from the others, and not the whole album flows together perfectly, but we have a rerelease of it coming very soon, which will be a much more refined album. The Piercing Thorn of Hatred was much different in that we completely recorded it by ourselves, and not in a studio. It took us a while because of gear and scheduling issues, we had to re-track drums at least 2 times, haha. But we're very happy with how it turned out. So far the reception has been great, and we are very thankful for our fans who have stuck around long enough to see us evolve, and those who are just discovering us with our new sound. 

What bands inspire you?

One thing I enjoy about TPTOH is that you can hear the influences pretty clearly in the music. We're heavily inspired by bands like Cryptopsy, Deeds of Flesh, Mortal Decay, Defeated Sanity, and even though the influences are there, it still sounds like its own thing. Pretty much all we do is listen to death metal, black metal, and discover new bands, so our influences are always fluctuating and very vast.  

It's really cool that you guys took your time to evolve naturally, and it comes across in your playing.  Also recording the ep on your own must've had a litany of challenges!  I do hear the influences AND the originality, you've got an amazing EP on your hands!  Now what's next?  Touring? New music?

Well so far we have just been riding the wave of our EP, but we don't plan on slowing down. We have been actively booking more shows in new locations around the midwest for the last half of the year. We are also beginning the writing process for our new release, which will be much more in-depth with the themes and lyrics, as well as the brutality. We plan to make an announcement some time before the end of 2026. 

Ohio seems to always have a growing scene, and a strong death metal history.  Who are some other bands from your area that we should look out for?

Absolutely, there is a lot of variety when it comes to the extreme music scenes in Ohio. I would definitely take the time to check out Ovenhead, Coagulation, Church, Dissected, and Soul Realignment, all are great bands for their respective reasons 

Thank you guys for taking the time!  Any last words???

Yes of course bro thank you for having us on! We just wanna say thank you to all of those who have supported us through the years, there will be much more to come in the future!!! 

SUSPECTUM

OVENHEAD

COAGULATION

CHURCH

DISSECTED

SOUL REALIGNMENT