by David Jeffries
San Francisco's Animosity have been combining the growl of death metal with the scream of hardcore and thrash metal since 2000. All the members were in high school and some were only 15 at the time. Three years later they would release Shut It Down on the Tribunal label, then in 2005 they would move to Black Market Activities and release Empires. The growth that had occurred between the two albums was noticed by the high-profile Metal Blade, who signed the band in 2006. Before they began working on their debut for the label, lead vocalist Leo Miller lost his girlfriend to a drunk driver. Her death helped to shape the very intense and very emotional lyrics found on the band's third album, Animal, which landed in 2007.