On Endings: An Interview with Justin Cory of Usnea

Emerging from the Pacific Northwest's vibrant underground metal scene in 2011, Usnea quickly carved out a unique space with their relentless fusion of doom, sludge, death, and black metal. Their sound is formidable, marked by crushing intensity, intricate guitar layers, and wonderfully horrific vocals exploring themes of existential anguish and societal collapse.

Since forming, the band have released a series of highly acclaimed albums, from their self-titled debut through Portals Into Futility to their most recent album, Bathed In Light. Their live performances are renowned for captivating audiences with an intense energy and enveloping stage presence. Through their music and live shows, Usnea have established themselves as a cornerstone of Portland's metal scene and a powerful influence on the wider extreme metal community.

But the story of the band is coming to a stop. Usnea recently announced their disbandment, with a final performance scheduled for November 23rd in their hometown of Portland at Pyre Fest. Guitarist and vocalist Justin Cory took some time to answer a few questions about the decision to call it quits and reflect on the entirety of the experience that was Usnea:

Frozen Moon Promotions: Why hang it up now?

Justin: I love the other guys in the band like brothers, and it has been a great privilege and honor to make this music and these memories with them. When we started the band in 2011, I was 27 (we are all close in age) and had very similar goals and levels of energy and enthusiasm for the band. As one would expect, after 13 years including a global pandemic, career changes, lifestyle shifts, and health issues; our calibration and levels of energy, enthusiasm, and goals for the band have also changed. When we were recording Bathed in Light, I had a feeling it would be our last record. I think that we explored the most interesting terrain of our particular sound with that record and achieved a final document of our vision that we are all happy with. I also don't know where I would want to go from here with Usnea's sound, and I wanted to end on a high note and move on to other projects.

FMP: What are a couple of your fondest memories of the band?

Justin: There are so many...I would say that our tours with other bands have always been some of the best times. We became close friends with Ufomammut, Inverloch, Un, Mizmor, Forn, Augurs, and CHRCH on our different adventures together. We all love traveling and experiencing new places and meeting new people and other musicians and artists. We've also played some incredible festivals that blew our minds from Roadburn to Psycho Las Vegas to Helsinki's Blow Up Fest, and most recently, Cascadian Midsummer. Another major highlight for me was when the guys agreed to be groomsmen at my wedding.

FMP: What is something about Usnea’s experience that makes you proud?

Justin: Most of all, I am proud of all of the music we wrote and released. I am also proud that we maintained a consistent line-up of the four of us and that our friendships have endured all of these years including the band ending now. Like I said, these guys and I are soulmates and I respect and love them very much.

FMP: The biggest surprise/thing you least expected?

Justin: Well other than COVID-19 shutting the world down for several years, the biggest surprise was probably getting to sign with Relapse. They took us under their wings and elevated our options. It was always a risk on their part because our style of harsh death doom is not likely to sell a lot of records like other bands from their roster such as Mastodon or Red Fang.

FMP: What’s the biggest obstacle you had to overcome as a band?

Justin: Our guitarist Johnny was diagnosed with a severe chronic illness in 2019 and we had to find a fill-in guitarist for our tour with CHRCH that year. After that, the pandemic slowed our writing process to a crawl and it took almost 6 years to get the fourth record out. In the meantime, we were dropped from Relapse and didn't tour enough to keep our contract with our booking agent so it felt like we were starting over again with Bathed in Light. Fortunately for us, we had cultivated a relationship with Drew at Translation Loss and with amazing bands like Mizmor and the DIY metal community at large, so we were able to get the last record out and go on a great short tour to support it.

FMP: What have been the most memorable live shows?

Justin: Although I already mentioned it, Cascadian Midsummer was pretty special. Playing under those ancient cedars on the summer solstice for such a passionate and dedicated crowd was enchanting. Opening for Yob at Branx in Portland way back in 2013 was another highlight. I loved playing with and watching Ufomammut night after night on the U.S. and European tours with them, which after 60 shows together, says something. I also have incredibly fond memories of the early years and rolling down to Oakland to play Dead Fest at the Oakland Metro, or the warehouse and house shows in the Bay when the DIY scene there was blossoming.  

FMP: What creative endeavors might we see from you and/or the other members of Usnea in the future?

Justin: My other band Nyx Division is recording a new album in December for release next year on local PDX punk label Black Water Records. It will be my first album with them after joining the band in Summer 2023 after their first guitarist quit the band. I have also long wanted to write and record another solo album. Way back in 2008 when I was 24, I did a post-rock/folk-inspired solo project called TYPWRYTRS. For this next one, I have ideas that lean more towards some sort of heavy gothic shoegaze thing, although it may evolve to be something quite different. Labels for music are too limiting.

As for the others, I know Joel has been itching to revive his one-man black metal project Banishing and also possibly create some industrial synthy darkwave. Zeke has played on and off with some other great local heavy bands like Felsenmirror and I am sure he will be scooped up by another band in no time. Johnny is always talking about doing technically challenging cover bands, most recently Yes — I first recruited him for Usnea from a Halloween Iron Maiden cover band — so for the immediate future I see him doing that and continuing to finetune his skills as an exceptional guitarist, and his intuitive tinkering as a local musician's guitar and tube amp tech. At some point, I expect that all of them will be making very good music again and I look forward to hearing and supporting all of it.

Photos are from Usnea’s penultimate show in Seattle on September 28, 2024