Doomed Confessionary: Austin Lunn (Born Of Plagues)

Photo credit: Shane K Gardner

Born Of Plagues is a four-piece doom/sludge metal band from Baltimore, Maryland. Focused more on crushing heaviness than genre conventions, this group of Baltimore punk/hardcore/doom veterans has pedigree across scenes and styles and doesn’t back away from letting any of their influences bleed through, as long as the result is brash and heavy.

The band’s sophomore full-length album »Dead Endings« was released on November 21st, 2025. Written over a nearly five-year period, »Dead Endings« is a collection of complaints and commiserations that takes aim at social ills and personal woes through a lens of gothic horror and unrepentant riffage. Melding influences from Winter and Hooded Menace to Black Sabbath and Motörhead into a mix of dirge-like plodding, breakneck thrashing, and classic metallic grooves, this brute of an album never sits still for long. Its 55-minute runtime will feed your need for all things heavy and leave you eager for more.

Born Of Plagues are Austin Lunn (guitars, vocals), Mike Knauer (guitars), Tim Sheils (bass) and Matt Maben (drums).

Can you please say a few words about your band?
Born Of Plagues plays doom for people who like metal.

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Coming up with a name. It took us weeks of arguing, and we’re still not even sure if we like it.

What can you be most proud of so far?
I’m really proud of our second album, »Dead Endings«. We worked our asses off writing the songs and making sure we weren’t putting anything out there that we didn’t feel really good about. Noel from Tiny Castle Studios did a great job making us sound like we know what we’re doing, and in the end you can’t even tell that Matt blew out the bottom head of his snare drum halfway through tracking.

What was your biggest regret?
Well, now that you got me thinking about it, I guess it was that we didn’t notice Matt’s snare drum was blown out. I bet you can’t tell which songs he recorded like that, though.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Everyone probably has their own favorite, but mine was playing Maryland Doomfest in 2024. Doomfest itself was a huge goal and milestone for me, and we really played our asses off. We were definitely the first band to get a pit going at Doomfest 2024 and I think the only band that day, if not the whole weekend. (Those videos are all on our YouTube for latecomers and reminiscers.)

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Man, everyone in this band has been doing this for so long now, I don’t think any of us remember the last time we were really surprised. I do sometimes get a little surprised when we’re playing and I see middle-aged people digging our sound and taking their phones out to get video – then I remember that we’re all middle-aged, too. Oof.

Photo credit: Stygian Narcosis Photography

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
As I write this I’ve got »Electric Funeral« in my earbuds, but my recent fixation has been a lot of Candlemass, Dio-era Sabbath, and Grand Magus. Mike’s been listening to a band called Tribulation from Sweden, Tim worships Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean, and Matt’s a drummer so no one pays attention to him. Whenever I get to practice, Matt’s already there blasting some old punk or hardcore band I should know but don’t.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
I had a guitar teacher when I was a kid who told me, “You can pick your friends, and you can pick your butt. But you can’t pick your friends’ butts.” Does that count? If I’ve ever gotten any really good advice as a musician, I probably haven’t followed it, and that’s why I am where I am today. So here’s my advice to younger musicians: don’t listen to me.

What are your guilty pleasures?
Not to get all philosophical, but I don’t believe in feeling guilty for the things you enjoy. That kind of thinking is so limiting and weird. Puritanical bullshit. That said, I probably spend too much money getting tacos delivered. But, you know, the world is dissolving around us every day, so I might as well get some campechano while I can, right?

Can you say something more about the current music scene in Maryland?
Much has been said and written about Maryland Doom, and I would be a fool to think I could add much to it, but I will say that there are still exciting things happening, still new bands and young bands popping up and doing great stuff. We played with these kids WormWagon recently who were really fun, exciting, and funny. More recently we played with Cultic out of York, PA, I think, and Consumer Culture who were both awesome. Bleak Shore is another Baltimore band doing great sort of stoner doom with Danzig-style bellowing vocals. I’m probably even more guilty than most of sticking to my old favorites and not getting out to shows and stuff, but I would encourage everyone to keep their ears to the underground and seek out what’s happening now.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
No tours planned at present, but we’re looking forward to being part of the Maryland Doomfest’s Knights of Doom in June. That should be a really killer weekend. Lots of awesome bands taking part. I’m really excited to see my old Kentucky friends StormToker again.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
Mostly just to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re working on getting ourselves out there a little further from home, and it’s about time we started writing new songs since we finished recording the last album a year ago. Tour is a constant topic of conversation, but we’ll see.

How can people best support your band?
In the age of internet, I think we forget the power of word of mouth. If people like what we do, they should talk about it, tell their friends, spread the word. Keep an eye on our social media for shows and come out with all your people.

And of course, our music and merch is all available on Bandcamp. Bookmark it for one of those Bandcamp Fridays, then do all your holiday shopping with us. My kids love our t-shirts, and yours will too!

Do you have any message for your listeners?
We have listeners? That rules. I would say, thanks for making us part of your soundtrack to the apocalypse. Love one another, fight fascism, and don’t come to our shows wearing a fucking Burzum shirt.

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

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