Music like Dark Sermon

Dark Sermon was an American blackened death metal band from Tampa, Florida signed to EOne Music in North America and Nuclear Blast Records in Europe. The band was formed in 2009 under the name "In Reference to a Sinking Ship" and later changed their name to "Dark Sermon" in 2012. The band's most recent effort, The Oracle, was released on August 21, 2015 worldwide through EOne Music and Nuclear Blast Records. Dark Sermon has toured and played with many metal acts including Aborted, Chimaira, Sepultura, Behemoth and Cattle Decapitation.

Dark Sermon was formed in early 2009 in Tampa, Florida as In Reference To A Sinking Ship (IRTASS) by Austin Good, Bryson St. Angelo, Evan Miller, Austin Chandler and Johnny Crowder. As teenagers, the band released a demo in 2009 and their first EP, Aimless, in 2010. Both were received well by many underground blogs and publications such as Duckcore, Total Deathcore, Chugcore, and thelastdisaster. As an unsigned band, they drew national attention to the Tampa scene and shared the stage with bands such as Obscura, Evergreen Terrace, Stick To Your Guns, Norma Jean, and Shai Hulud, as well as playing the 2010 editions of the Summer Slaughter Tour and Vans Warped Tour. This immediate success in the Tampa metal scene led them to their first tours in early 2012 with King Conquer, Forty Winters and Abiotic. The band had a unique blend to their sound, being the only extreme metal act in a scene that was oversaturated with melodic hardcore and metalcore bands. Although they were a favorite in their hometown, the name IRTASS was heavily criticized for being too long and complicated.