Founding members Tim Hale and Max Seeman started writing music in 2001 with the intentions of creating extreme, yet highly aesthetic death metal. While Tim had been a fan of such brutal acts as Cannibal Corpse, Cryptopsy and math metallers Meshuggah for some time before, Max, on the other hand, was more a fan of the psychedelic/blues rock of Pink Floyd and the entrancing beats of DJ Shadow. When the two of them started creating music together, an interesting dynamic developed between Tim’s heavier influences and Max’s more eclectic tastes.