American sludgecore trio Stalemate Of Wills to release debut album »Existence Denied« this spring on FFTC Records!

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based doom/sludge/hardcore trio Stalemate Of Wills is gearing up to release their debut album »Existence Denied« this spring through the band’s own imprint FFTC Records.

Listen to Stalemate Of Wills’ latest single »Two Worlds«, available now on Spotify and other streaming platforms!

Stalemate Of Wills is a 3 piece wrecking ball hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The band embodies the American rust belt blight that surrounds them, which quickly becomes apparent by their mantra: “HEAVY RIFFS FOR A WITHERING WORLD”. Their sound is an amalgamation of doom metal, hardcore, New Orleans-style sludge metal, and even traditional 90s death metal at times. Their musical focus is downtuned, groove inflicted “meat and potatoes” riffing and drumming, maintaining the ability to pivot into creepy clean vibes as well. Lyrically, Stalemate Of Wills concentrates on the endless frustrations created by the hopelessness experienced throughout life, and the inability to change it but still survive. They embrace an ethos of self-reliance, releasing and recording their own music and pull no punches on their distaste of the current state of the music industry and “scene”.

The band was formed in 2023 by guitarist/vocalist Derek Kovacs as a one-man studio project releasing the singles »Corrode« followed then by »Subside«, but it soon became clear that Stalemate Of Wills needed to become a full band. Not long after, scene veterans Jake Morris (bass) and Bob McSherry (drums) were quickly recruited to fill the voids. They began working on an 8-song full-length entitled »Existence Denied«, to be released in Spring of 2026 on FFTC Records, an independent label run by Kovacs.

Until the official release, the band is teasing a new song every few weeks on their website, so be sure to check stalemateofwills.com for updates and more information!

Stalemate Of Wills is:
Derek Kovacs – Guitars & Vocals
Jake Morris – Bass
Bob McSherry – Drums

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well