Feature: Forged by Discipline, Fueled by Faith — An Interview with In-Conquered
Growing up between Long Island, NY, and North Carolina, In-Conquered’s journey is one marked by sharp turns, hard lessons, and deep gratitude. From early years marked by hustle, missteps, and an unsupervised search for identity, to a disciplined upbringing that instilled blue-collar values and relentless drive, the foundation for his future was being laid. Music was always there — a constant companion from the moment he could walk, with heavy metal providing both escape and purpose. Though faith wasn’t a major part of his early life, key relationships and life-changing moments eventually led him to fully align his music and life with Jesus Christ. Now, as the creative force behind In-Conquered, he channels a lifetime of experiences, hard-won faith, and pure metal passion into every note.
Where are you currently based?
I’m currently based out of Concord, North Carolina.
What was your childhood like growing up?
My parents divorced when I was two years old. I was born in Charleston, SC, on the Air Force base as my father was a sergeant. Once they divorced, my mother and I moved to Long Island. My father was never too far away and always tried to make time to spend with me on the weekends. I can honestly say it was a pretty normal childhood. I had parents that loved me and did the best they could as single parents. Granted, my mother had to hustle and work different jobs to keep the lights on, so I was unsupervised a bunch and started hanging out with the wrong group of people. In 5th grade, I started stealing and doing dumb stuff.
Basically, my stepmother and father lived in North Carolina. When I was visiting on summer break, I got the news that I was staying and NY was no more. I was upset—it was so abrupt and out of my comfort zone. Plus, my drumming really started to take off as a young child with potential, and my music teachers wanted me to start training with a pro drummer. I really wanted that. BUT, God’s plans were so much better. I’m grateful. Who knows—if I’d stayed there, I might have gotten arrested, gone to juvie, or worse—jail for doing something really bad.
When I moved here, I had 24/7 supervision, discipline, and structure. My father was a scary dude and didn’t play. Needless to say, I had a reverent fear of him and came correct pretty much all the time. My stepmother didn’t play either! She’s an amazing woman and took me in like her own. I’m grateful. I pretty much did 6th grade all the way through college with them and moved out when I was 23 to buy my first house. I’m grateful I had a disciplined and tough (at times) environment. I’m a 100-miles-an-hour, “all in” kind of guy. So, for example, if I had been “all in” with doing the wrong things, it would have been catastrophic. My parents in NC made sure I learned blue-collar roots, accountability, ownership, and a level of work ethic that couldn’t be paralleled.
Did you grow up in a religious environment?
No, I did not grow up in a religious environment at all. God was never spoken about. My mother’s side was 100% Jewish. My father had a Lutheran background, but nothing ever came of it—at least it wasn’t displayed to me. My mother showed me some Jewish traditions and celebrated some of the holidays, but nothing was structured.
When I was in junior high, my neighbor from around the block—his mother was a wonderful Christian woman. Mrs. Singer—I’ll never forget her, and I’m still friendly with her today. She and her son would take me to a church around the corner and I started Sunday school there. But obviously, there wasn’t any structure to my walk of faith that young, and I didn’t see it at home, so nothing came of it until I was in 11th grade.
My mother and her former husband had a very volatile marriage and all of a sudden, one summer I came to visit and it was night and day. There was peace and love in their house for the first time with no arguments or hostility. It was a 360-degree turn. I found out they found salvation in Christ—as I did when I was there as well.
Now granted, again, there was no structure and I didn’t really understand what that meant until I started really taking it upon myself around age 20–21 to start going to church myself. Fast forward to around 28–29 years old, that’s when I wanted to be fully aligned with Jesus Christ and really started having a study, prayer, and servant life for Him. I had a very up-and-down walk from youth to adulthood.
Was music a big part of your home life as a kid?
YES! From the moment I could walk, I was listening and rocking back and forth in the chair to music. When MTV started in 1980, I’d be on the floor blasting Ozzy, Judas Priest, or any heavy-style bands I could hear. I was infatuated with music. Truly, God created me to be a musician. This is 100% undeniable.
I loved all the ‘80s hair bands like Cinderella, Winger, KIX, Kingdom Come. I was head over heels for Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. I must have worn those cassettes out in my Walkman ad nauseam (LOL). Something about Judas Priest had me going—especially when I heard Sin After Sin and Stained Class. Man, just wow. I’d always be air drumming and whatnot. My mother 100% fully supported my musical endeavors and got me what I needed for school band.
No matter what, I was always blasting metal on my Walkman or whatever MTV would play. Again, metal started for me when I was 1–2 years of age, so yes, I’m a lifer in metal. I couldn’t see myself not listening to it, even when I’m 80 years old.
What instruments do you play, and how did you get started with them?
My main passion is drumming, obviously. However, I also play guitar, bass, keyboard, and vocals. I also engineer and record all my music. For me, I love being a renaissance man. I do everything for myself. It’s such an empowering feeling. I have total control of the vision God has given me and I can display my talents all the way across the board.
Drumming truly started around 8 years of age, which is when I could start school band in elementary—and it never stopped. It’s crazy how guitar came to me as well as bass. I have no formal training whatsoever. I literally do everything by ear. One day in junior high, I picked up my buddy’s guitar and just started strumming and playing riffs that were actually in tune. After that, it was off to the races. Any time I could try something and just use the ears God has given me, I took total advantage.
What bands or artists did you gravitate toward as a teenager?
Ahh! This is when metal really ramped up for me—Carcass, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, Fear Factory, Monstrosity, or any legit death metal band I could get at the local tape store.
I didn’t know anything about an “underground” scene. To me, the bands I listed were the heaviest things out there (heck, they still are to some degree). Then in mid-high school, I discovered the Century Media mail-order catalog and voila—Grave, Unleashed, Mercyless, and so many others were getting delivered to my house. I tried Emperor but hated it (at first). I didn’t understand black metal—it was a totally different niche and world. Black metal is actually some of my favorite metal now, which helped me mold In-Conquered.
Do you listen to any non-metal music? If so, what do you enjoy?
Honestly, I really don’t, BUT when I’m in the mood to hear something totally off the grid, it will be like smooth ambient tracks or worship music from Christy and Nathan Nockels. In my opinion, they are some of the best Christian worship music artists ever put on this Earth. Their earlier “Watermark” project was something that really opened my eyes to the beauty of worship music and just being present before the Lord in music.
Who are some of your favorite Christian metal bands?
This is a tough one for me because I struggle with some of the sounds out there. But I do love the obvious—Impending Doom’s earlier stuff, Extol, 7 Horns 7 Eyes (LOVE these guys—wish they still made music), Living Sacrifice (Inhabit era), Pantokrator, Shamash, and so forth.
I’m a huge fan of Grave Declaration. They remind me of Christian Dimmu Borgir and have such great song structure, ambience, and emotion. Shadows of Paragon freaking rules (those boys are bad). My former label mate Sorrowstorm was insane. I had mad respect—because like me, he was a one-man show and wrote uber-intricate black metal songs. I also love Rarmagom, which is another amazing black metal project devoted to Christ.
What other bands or projects have you been a part of before In-Conquered?
Oh man, I think after this year I’ve released over 20+ albums. I had to go back and count (I included what will be coming out this year).
So I’ve been in Carcinogenic (which became Epic of Empyrea), Cesspool of Vermin,Debodified, Lividity, Domination Through Impurity, Lust of Decay, Shuriken Cadaveric Entwinement, Symphony In Acrimony, and Lord of Armies.
I’m probably missing a few—as remember, I’ve been putting out music since my mid-late teens and I’m turning 46 next month (May).
When did In-Conquered officially form?
So, In-Conquered really started back in 2007–2008. It originally was my first solo project called Symphony In Acrimony. This album was put out on Epitomite Records, which was run by a dear friend of mine named Von Young (Deaden, Lividity). That was my first crack at a Christian concept album.
I was very young and immature—worried about what others would think of me if I mentioned “Jesus” in my music. Obviously, that changed as I turned it into In-Conquered, which started around 2018/19, I believe. I actually had a second Symphony In Acrimony album 100% complete and recorded professionally, but it never saw the light of day. So I took all of that and divided, hashed, and redid the material into the first In-Conquered album. I was grateful the music didn’t go to waste—that first In-Conquered is VERY significant to me.
Who has had the biggest impact on your musical style?
Honestly, I have to give three people credit for this.
Tammi Guillen, also known for her amazing metal photography (T.R. Guillen Photography), was a pen pal of mine in the late ’90s. We’d write and she’d send me metal compilations of bands like Jungle Rot, Fleshgrind, Gorgasm, Arctic Symphony, Asmodeus, and more. I was a pig in a mud puddle with this stuff. She really opened my eyes to true underground music I had no idea existed.
Trent McCall, who I was introduced to in the late ’90s, opened my eyes to hundreds of underground bands—especially grindcore and black metal. He was also an amazing guitarist who played in Dark Moon and Envenom Thy Winds. He made me so many compilation tapes of bands like Cryptopsy. I was blown away by the level of European bands I’d never been exposed to.
Michael Clevenger, my old bandmate and the man who recorded the first two In-Conquered albums, is the third. He and I were inseparable in high school. All we did was write and record music. He also showed me so many underground death metal bands.
If you could tour with any band, who would it be and why?
Ooooh, this is a tough one. I’d have to say Impending Doom—because of the crowds they draw—as well as Grave Declaration, because I’m just in love with their music and would love to see the European response and draw to their sound.
Have you faced any criticism or pushback because of the style of music you play?
Surprisingly, no—I haven’t really gotten any backlash. But again, nor do I care. God called me out of metal drum retirement and led me back to metal. In-Conquered is a ministry, a passion project, and God instructed me to do it. I won’t let that ever go to waste.
Yes, from time to time, I might have a person mock Jesus or what have you—but that’s expected. Jesus Christ did say, “They will hate you because they hated me.”
All I know is that I have so many people who don’t believe in Jesus who still support my endeavors and respect me for all I have done in the scene. I’m there to love them and speak about Jesus with them if they’d like to have the conversation. What they choose is their decision. I’m not here to judge them. Yes, I’m concerned about the salvation of non-believers—but if they allow me the floor, I’ll profess the love of Christ and the truth of redemption.
What’s your take on the current state of Christian metal?
I think it’s really good—and also really bad. What I mean is, there have been multitudes of acts that were “Christian” artists who now profess false doctrine or have become secular bands/projects.
It’s disheartening that they’ve calloused their hearts to Christ or decided to walk away from the faith—essentially stopping the mission of spreading the Gospel through music. But again, Jesus did say these things would happen.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
I’m a huge fitness buff. I work out six days a week (addicted to fitness), take supplements, and eat only one meal a day. I was very overweight in the late ’90s and finally lost almost 80+ lbs and never looked back. I’m the guy that will work out even when on vacation (LOL). I’ve been known to be neurotic when it comes to my fitness and music.
Are you currently working on any new music or projects?
Yes, I not too long ago finished recording In-Conquered album #6. I literally have three full-lengths done, and I just released the third album. For me, progress and hard work never stop. If I’m not doing something new, I get bored and things get mundane. I want to be challenged.
I’m also working on a new Christian death metal project coming out on another label this year or early next. It hasn’t been announced yet—but very soon. I’m very excited about it, and the drum tracks were just finished.
What does being a Christian mean to you personally?
Being a Christian is everything. Being a Christ follower is that—picking up and carrying your cross daily. It’s remembering who you were before you met Him and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. It’s knowing that without Him, nothing else is possible.
It’s knowing that everything else is sinking sand. It’s knowing there is no eternity nor reaching the Father unless you go through Him. It’s knowing that eternity is—and always will only be—through Christ Jesus. He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end.
How can the Christian metal community best support you and your band?
We need to remember we are not on an island! We need to act as one giant mega church and be a team. We need to love each other, raise each other up in prayer, and minister to one another. We need to press forward together the Great Commission.
Instead of griping on social media about opinions, how about saying, “I love you, brother/sister,” and praying for them? Pray that Satan doesn’t harm them and that they are protected and guided.
I do believe many people in the Christian scene have been terrible to each other, and it’s despicable. You know what’s really sad? Non-believers see this and say with laughter, “I’d never be a Christian if this is what it looks like. They mock each other, disagree, curse, ridicule, and don’t support. How is this representing God?”
We need to become unified as one Christ-loving team.
What has it been like working with Duane at Vision of God Records?
I love Duane deeply. Have we seen eye to eye on everything? No—and that’s OK. But I’ll tell you this: he loves me, prays for me, and anytime I bring something I need help with on a new album, he 100% does it. There are no questions asked—he shows up for me every time.
I’m grateful for his support and the fact he truly treats Vision of God and CMU as a real ministry and not just a label. His story is amazing, and how his obedience to God led him to create this label. We have much work to do together. I love Vision of God Records.
About Author
