An Interview with Brotality: On “The Body,” Song Inspiration, and HeartSupport

A fun play on words, Brotality began as a musical project between two New York based brothers, Bryce and Reese, and a friend, Liam on drums, replaced by John Haring in 2022. With looks reminiscent of 80’s hair metal bands, this thrash and groove metal band has been rocking and touring the country since 2016, including locally at Creation Festival. They released their first full-length album, Worldwide Desolation in 2021 through Rottweiler Records. The Woods Will End You was released in 2022 and their most recent EP release It Feeds in 2024. New music is on the way, with their new single, “Blasphemy” dropping earlier this summer, and a new single dropping on Friday!

In addition to the band, both Bryce and Reese work for HeartSupport and are passionate about helping every person know they matter and are here for a reason, a cause that Solid Rock Unplugged truly believes in. Next month, Brotality will bring their piercing guitar riffs and heavy metal screams to Furnace Fest in Birmington Alabama. We had a chance to catch up with the guys at Uprise Festival 2025 and discuss the new single, their work with HeartSupport and the insane opportunity to play Furnace Fest.

Brotality is:

Bryce Maopolski - guitar, vocals

Reese Maopolski - bass, vocals

John Haring - Drums

Solid Rock Unplugged: The first time we saw Brotality was at Creation Festival 2019 on the Fringe Stage. How have the past five years been?

Reese:  It’s weird to think about five years in the scheme of like, a whole band who’s been at it for decades. You can maybe narrow it down, but I feel like our whole Brotality history, most of it is in those five years. Most of the music we’ve released, two full albums, an EP, more music being released right now. All of that’s been in five years. 

I mean, personally too, all of us graduated college in the last five years. It was us being in education for most of that time. I graduated high school in those five years, then college, now we’re working jobs while doing the band, so a lot of life changes personally in those five years too.

Bryce: I think it’s also changed how we kind of work together in the band over the last five years too. Because the writing process would be - I’d come with a riff, put it together, and then we’d kind of build from there. But nowadays, I’ll still start a lot of songs with riffs, but we write a lot more collaboratively. I feel like it is a unit of the three of us together, writing what we write now, rather than just “hey, here’s a bunch of riffs, let’s put drums and bass on them.” I think that’s how we’re exploring more of our sound.

Reese: Yeah, especially in the last year or two. This album we’re gearing up for is very much like that!

John:  You gotta remember that I interrupted the flow of everything by joining the band. After the first two albums, we started from scratch and now we’re in a good groove of things. And it’s pretty good, pretty efficient. I would say a well-oiled machine. I think we have a hold of ourselves. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: So you mentioned the full length albums and the EPs, with It Feeds, The Woods Will End You, and Worldwide Desolation. Out of everything you’ve released, what’s your favorite?

Reese: I feel like my answer is the classic, active musician answer, which is the newest stuff! I want to give a more interesting answer, like “nothing was like the second album!” or something, but I don’t know. I think that just as we grow as people, what we’re most passionate about is the most recent stuff.

So I think out of the projects that have been released, I think we’d all probably agree that the It Feeds EP is probably the one we’re most proud of. If we’re talking songs, not to speak for the guys, but I feel like “Blasphemy,” which we just released, and “The Body,” which comes out on Friday, the new song. 

John: Honestly, I think the first song we ever released was the best, and it’s all been downhill from there! (laughter)

Bryce: To give a little bit of a serious, different answer, I think The Woods Will End You. That album has a little niche of Brotality sound. We always talk in the back of our heads, when 2032 comes around or something, I’d like to do a 10-year re-record of it, tour and play the full album. I think because that one is a full album length, it has a little bit of a special spot and I love the way that album came together. Especially the second half of it.  

Solid Rock Unplugged: So how did you come up with the names of your albums? Is there a special meaning or was it just “let’s figure out what could be the most brutal sounding name?”

Reese:  For Worldwide, it was so long ago that I’m forgetting a specific answer or inspiration for that. For Woods Will End You, we went back and forth on a few possible titles. I forget the other ones. I remember we wanted it to sound cool, but also obviously have thematic reasons for it being there. Obviously, the album cover of Woods Will End You is this Wendigo creature. And the song, “Flesh Eater” is the forest. 

Throughout the album The Woods Will End You, I like to think of it as an overall concept album. So not a story about a character from start to finish, but each song is kind of a story on its own. Each one follows a character, most of the time, in a different part of the earth. So “Frost Empire” is in a cavern, a kingdom of ice. In “Glow,” it’s like the end of the album, someone summiting a mountain and seeing a valley on the other side. “Flesh Eater” is in the forest, an evil presence in the depths of a cave. So each song has its own kind of earthen setting like that. The Woods Will End You theme fits into all of that. 

It Feeds is just from the title track. I wish I could give more of an interesting concept name for that. Just because “It Feeds” is one of those singles, that’s kind of where that one comes from. Do you remember Worldwide, exactly the inspiration for that?

John: Weren’t you like sixteen or something?  

Bryce: We were also sixteen. I don’t remember. I’m sure it was very profound!

Reese: Definitely wasn’t just that it sounded cool!

John: If we just wanted to sound cool, we would have named the album like Monster Truck or something!

Reese: That’s the next album, we’re going to name it. Oh crap, I leaked it! Dang it!

Solid Rock Unplugged: So speaking of “Blasphemy” and “The Body,” the new single coming out this Friday, could you tell me the story behind those songs?

Reese: “Blasphemy,” at least lyrically, was a very topical thing for me. When we were writing that song, I had a lot of feelings and emotions around certain bands that were releasing music, especially in the metal scene. Using Christian imagery to be kind of intentionally subversive. It’s a hard line, because I think on one side, we have people in the Christian scene that if there is someone using the cross imagery and they’re not a Christian band, they’re just immediately denouncing what they’re saying or doing. 

I think it’s hard, because I don’t think that is necessarily the answer. I also think that hearing them out, but everyone needs to be coming from a genuine place too. So if you’re just going to use Christian imagery, I don’t know, to look hard or use this imagery because it’s not what you believe and you have problems with it. So they want to make the cross a symbol of fear, I’ve seen that being used a lot lately in metal. 

I feel like sometimes those visuals lack actual depth behind them. They’re kind of using it to be attention grabby and look cool and look hard. So “Blasphemy” is kind of me trying to point that out, but also acknowledging that, those people who have different perspectives than someone who’s Christian, it’s also valid and important to hear them out and understand the world they’re coming from. Instead of just shutting it down and denouncing their perspective. 

So it’s kind of this interesting middle ground, but that’s why the climax of the song is the line “Will you speak blasphemy?” It’s not me, just trying to point fingers, because I think there’s enough of that being done on both sides. Which isn’t helpful or productive. So, is there a place where we can just rightfully question one another, but from a place of humility and openness still?

Solid Rock Unplugged: So what was the inspiration behind “The Body?”

Reese: “The Body” is a little easier, I think. “The Body” is about separating the spirit from the flesh. I love that idea and recently, especially in writing for this new album, a lot of the lyrics are inspired by the ideas in Christian mysticism of the dark night of the soul and the idea of having to put the body to death to be spiritually enlightened. That idea just fascinates me, kind of like excising yourself from the physical world to be fully in the spiritual world. I just love that idea. 

“The Body” is specifically about that. It’s about being within your body, representing again the flesh and the physical world, and yearning for light beyond that. So much, to the point where it is like taking active action against the will of the flesh. 

Bryce: I think instrumentally, I don’t want to say the cliche that every metal band does where it’s like “it’s heavier, but it’s also lighter than everything we’ve ever done!” I do feel like with every release, we make music that’s more packed with emotion. I think a lot of times, with a song like “Blasphemy” or even with “The Body, that kind of shows its head with intensity, heaviness, super in-your-face music that has a lot of emotion behind it and it’s right there. But then I think there’s other stuff on the album that shows emotion in a totally different way, where it’s more of a catharsis or this big euphoria. There’ll be singles that have all of that coming out. 

We’ve all kind of been diving into the trenches of metal, and even a lot of non-metal stuff too, but getting into some bands that are doing crazy stuff like Nails, or End, Alluvial, Full of Hell. All of these bands that are in the almost avant garde side of metal. But then Bon Iver is awesome and we’ll listen to English Teacher and Yumi Zouma, and all of these bands that are indie bands too.

I think it all kind of comes together a little bit. Throughout our own listening, we’re listening to stuff that’s weirder and weirder all the time, so I think our own music brings a little bit of that in now. Definitely, I think turning up the dial on the emotion in our music has been a big refrain for the big new album. 

John: And monster trucks! 

Solid Rock Unplugged: So, in addition to “Blasphemy” and “The Body” coming out, anything else coming out soon, before the end of the year?

Bryce: Nothing solidified that I can give a date for yet. Probably!

Solid Rock Unplugged: But we’re expecting a new album early next year?

Bryce: I’m not exactly sure. We’re sitting on an album now. But the way the industry goes, singles are so huge, so we might be ripping a lot of those for a while. But we are sitting on a full album’s worth of music that we’ll be rolling out for the next 9 months.

Reece: I think it’s safe to probably say 90% that next year, the album will be out. 

John: Yeah, at some point. Unless we flop everything leading up to it! Which is perfectly possible.

Solid Rock Unplugged: Love the confidence!

John: I’m confident in the realism of it. We have a real shot here!

Solid Rock Unplugged: So, within the last year, Bryce and Reese, you guys have been brought on by HeartSupport. What are your responsibilities within HeartSupport?

Bryce: I started at HeartSupport in September of 2024. Actually, I started as an intern in January of 2024. Even before then, Brotality had a custom HeartSupport text number. We’ve done fundraising and stuff. So Brotality and HeartSupport go way back. But in January, I started interning and became staff in September. 

For my job, I’m in the development department. Half of my gig is working with donors, just helping to fund the organization, making sure there’s dollars behind our mission. The other half is working with bands, which is where I feel my bread and butter is. That’s what I love to do. 

So I get to work with all of our band partnerships and help encourage bands to open up, so that then their fans feel encouraged to open up. I’ve gotten to work with some freaking sick bands for that. That’s the part of my job I love. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: I’m sure you’re probably working with Christian bands, non-Christian bands. I’m sure it’s a full array of genres.

Bryce: Yeah, I work with Lacey a whole lot and Shinedown, Citizen Soldier, Breaking Benjamin, some cool bands! It’s an honor for sure. That’s the part of my job that I love. It’s definitely like “holy crap, this is my job! Like, are you giving me money for this?”

Reese: Yeah, I was volunteering there for a little while. After Bryce had gotten hired, I was a volunteer there, one of the support wall replyers, writing online encouragements, us and a few friends, just doing that as part of the volunteer group. Then in February, a position opened up, Program Assistant, that’s my role. My role is very ground level at HeartSupport. I do basically all the communications with our volunteers, specifically focused on our support calls program. 

The support calls program is where we encourage people to get on weekly phone calls with someone who’s been training to give peer support. Just listen and encourage this person, alongside them for a year. So, people that are struggling or just need someone to talk to, can reach out, apply to get support in this one-on-one connection. I’m in charge of finding people that are in the same time zone, same age range, and gender preference and I connect them together. 

I’m basically the person on staff who anyone in the program can fall back on if they have any concerns, questions, or things they need help with. There’s a lot that can come up in the course of a year, being one-on-one with someone. So yeah, most of my job is in communications with all of our volunteers. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: So why should people check HeartSupport?

Bryce: It’s free mental health support, using music as a catalyst to get people to open up. I think the most beautiful part of it is, 3 in 5 people don’t open up about their mental health, for that demographic, it’s so hard to find the reason to start. But even if a lot of people don’t feel comfortable opening up about what they’re going through, they will feel comfortable talking about why their favorite song matters to them. So if we can use that moment to actually get them real, trained support, that’s what we’re about. 

We’re really targeted to getting those 3 in 5 people who don’t usually open up, like real, trained mental health support. We’ve seen a lot of lives change because of it. Even with the HeartSupport number that we have at our merch table. We’ve seen people use that and been so thankful that there is a resource for them. It’s great to be able to use music, because it connects us all already. Like, use it and take that connection to a deeper level. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: Typically when you hear people with mental health issues, the metal community seems to be the one where everyone just clams up. Everybody wants to put on this hard face. Now that we have something like HeartSupport, people can start taking down those walls.

Reese: Yeah, absolutely. 

Solid Rock Unplugged: You guys get an opportunity that I am very jealous of next month. You get to go play Furnace Fest in Birmingham. Tell me about what you’re looking forward to with this opportunity. Are you excited?

John: I’m really excited to stop thinking about how we get there!

Reese:  Yeah, the logistics. All the logistics!

John: I’m really excited to be 10 seconds before we start playing, because that’s when everything is awesome!

Reese: Yeah, the two-day trip there and the two day trip back. That’s the only show we have booked for that time, because we’re all working and stuff. We still have to figure out logistics and stuff. 

John: It’s going to be so great, I know it. How can it be anything short of awesome?

Bryce: I think the cool part is that it’s one of the pre-shows. So it’s not the full Furnace Fest, but it’s the Furnace Fest pre-show. And I think that makes it a special level of cool, because I’ve always heard about how the pre-shows are packed. People are going crazy. It’s right before the festival even gets going for the weekend. So people are just stoked to be there. They’re energized.

We’re playing with a really mixed bill too. It’s like us and then a beat down band. Then later in the lineup is ISetMyFriendsOnFire, which is actual screamo music. Not like what somebody’s grandma would call us. So I think being part of a mixed bill and being able to kick it off with some heavy riffs, you know, real guitar amps, I think it will be really, really fun. 

And then we get to be at Furnace Fest with HeartSupport for the rest of the weekend, so it’ll be fun. I’m very excited. It’s such a cool lineup, so it’s going to be such a good weekend!

Solid Rock Unplugged: Anything else besides the new single coming out Friday? Anything else you guys want to push or get out to the fans?

Bryce: Follow us on socials! It is a weird time to be in the industry because social media does matter so much and it’s something that we are investing heavily into. I know it can be hard as musicians to take time away from wanting to create and put out art, but from the business side of things, social media is an incredible opportunity to get in front of more fans than we have reached just by playing shows. So we’ve been investing heavily into that. 

If you read this, check out Brotality on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, all that stuff. If you dig what we do, share it as much as you can. All that really helps, because even in terms of growing as a band, agents, labels, they care about numbers on those things. Any of that helps so so much. I think it’s best to be forward with that, because sometimes there can be this undercurrent of not talking about it or just complaining about it, but it is a legitimate thing that we’re trying to build. It’s a way you can get more stuff from us than if you just come out to a show!

Check out Brotality’s new single, “The Body,” dropping Friday, September 19th at Midnight! Look them up on all the social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube.

If you, or anyone you know, is struggling with mental health - please know that you are not alone! Check out HeartSupport for help.