From Fight Back Mountain’s earliest shows in 2018 to the band’s recent tour through the Rust Belt in March 2025, the St. Louis–based punk outfit has been nothing if not consistent. And with a strong work ethic and an intentional approach to live performance, the tight-knit group of friends that comprise the band impress on record as well, as most recently proven by February’s Death and the Miser, a 12-song thesis on relationships, crumbling infrastructure, and disillusionment with living in a world on fire.
While few would label Fight Back Mountain as a metal band, its turbulent guitars and breakneck rhythm section draw from a spectrum of punk-adjacent sub-genres, including thrash and hardcore. Lyrics often explore life on the ground level in a world where problems continue to grow in scale, but it’s not all doom and gloom, as songs also incorporate a sardonic sense of humor—and the occasional The Simpsons reference.
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“There are a lot of albums where you can kind of look at the cover and know what the songs sound like. We had different ideas, but we settled on trying to make it look like a metal album cover. So it’s kind of like a fake out,” says Adrian Barnello, the singer and guitarist for Fight Back Mountain, who also works as a criminal defense attorney.
Barnello counts partner and rhythm guitarist Anjelica Aquilino as the creative force behind the band’s visual aesthetic and most of the lyrics. Barnello and Aquilino also briefly hosted a late night radio show on KDHX (88.1 FM) in 2019 called Failed States, where the couple played blocks of punk and metal music while prominently featuring local bands. In many ways, Fight Back Mountain in general, and Death and the Miser specifically, are just the latest continuations of the duo’s mission to make their mark on the local music community.
With bassist Andy Kohnen and drummer Devin Dessieux in tow, Fight Back Mountain reached its first milestone in March 2019 with the release of Times Beach. Named after the St. Louis county ghost town that was evacuated after a dangerous dioxin contamination in 1983, the debut album served up a 13-song exploration of alternative rock, hardcore, and pop punk.
“We were still trying to figure out what we wanted to write about as a band,” Barnello says. “Are we gonna be a band that writes about political, social or personal issues? From which perspective? We were kind of split for the first album and did a bit of each.”
Times Beach also kicked off a tradition wherein every song released by Fight Back Mountain to date has been engineered, mixed, and mastered by Gabe Usery at Maplewood’s Encapsulated Studios. The band’s first album was notably released on cassette tape, a relative rarity in the modern age.
“We like retro media. I personally have a big collection of VHS tapes. They’re cheap to make, quite honestly. People like to buy them to have as little trinkets, I think,” Barnello says.
Between the release of Times Beach and a big opportunity to open for Radkey, Fight Back Mountain was poised for a busy 2020, with a tour on the horizon as well. When COVID-19 forced the closure of music venues across the country, Barnello and company took a long break before returning to sporadic band practices throughout the summer.
“We were just kind of gearing up and coming into our own as a band, but the pandemic put a wrench in that, for most people and definitely for us. We had some pretty big shows booked,” Barnello says.
Fight Back Mountain returned to live events in spring 2021, but Barnello describes those shows as having “lots of asterisks,” such as limited capacity, mask requirements, and proof-of-vaccination required. Still, the band worked to regain lost ground with a steady stream of shows and a second studio album titled Lavender Sky.
“We recorded the first half of Lavender Sky in February of 2020 right before COVID,” he says. “I remember the last day we recorded I was thinking, Oh, this COVID thing is going to be a problem. Then we obviously took a break. I remember recording the second half during a COVID spike and we tracked everything individually.”
Barnello credits Donald Brazel, owner of Affton’s Record Space, for his help in funding and coordinating the vinyl release of Lavender Sky. The partnership culminated in a memorable release party in October 2021 for which Fight Back Mountain performed inside Brazel’s store alongside friends and like-minded bands.
“I like playing local shows, but every few months I try to get us on a bill with national touring acts. It’s a good way to get your name out to new people who don’t necessarily know you exist. You have to grind on smaller shows in order to build your fanbase so you can do that,” Barnello explains.
From opening for Story of the Year and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus to the release of Lavender Sky B-Sides and the “Doomsday” single, Fight Back Mountain’s 2022 was a year marked with milestones reached by working through a global pandemic and returning to a local music scene altered by world-changing events. Barnello credits some of the band’s success to Donny Fandango, the beloved The Point (105.7 FM) radio host who has featured Fight Back Mountain on his popular New Music Sunday show.
With support from UK label Cats Claw Records and New York’s Punk Rock Radar, Fight Back Mountain released the tightly wound four-song EP Backslider on cassette tape only days before Halloween 2023. The music video for featured track “Doomsday,” produced by Sewer Urchin guitarist Todd Parker, has a campy vibe that sits comfortably beside Fight Back Mountain’s many music videos.
Between touring the midwest and playing around St. Louis throughout 2024, Fight Back Mountain also stayed busy behind the scenes perfecting 12 songs for a new studio album. For Death and the Miser, the band once again called on Usery to help sculpt a distinct sonic palette.
“This time, there was a very specific sound that I wanted. Instead of only using our own equipment, we borrowed really nice amps to make the recording,” Barnello says. The band referenced Insomniac by Green Day, Cheer by Drug Church, and Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins to further flesh out its genre-blending approach in the studio.
Released on February 13, 2025, Death and the Miser is a culmination of Fight Back Mountain’s evolution as songwriters and performers. Named after the painting by Renaissance-era artist Hieronymus Bosch, the new album offers a loose story dotted with deep emotional issues, warped internet culture, and promises of a better life left unfulfilled. Barnello delivers poetic passages with raspy, full-bodied vocals that occupy a unique middleground between yelling and singing.
“The lyrics kind of have a throughline about two characters that are in a relationship, and they have their own stuff going on. You can think of the two characters as being death and the miser,” Barnello says.
Fight Back Mountain released three music videos in the lead up to the album. “Trouble & Havoc” shows the band having fun inside the Mauhaus Cat Cafe in Maplewood—fitting for a song named after Barnello and Aquilino’s two cats. “No Recourse” is an 81-second thrashy jaunt with visuals made “on a budget of $20 with a flip video camera from 2008ish” alongside recurring lyrics that read, “It’s all a scam, and you’re the mark.” The most recent video, “Sticker Book” offers abstract imagery that feels like faded memories leaking from a failing hard drive.
In sum, it all represents a triumph for a band that’s made a name for itself through no small amount of hard work, talent, and dedication. And it’s one that Barnello is not about to let go unnoticed.
“This album is the one I’m most proud of out of any musical project I’ve ever been a part of,” he says. “I worked hard on it. I’m sick of being humble about it. I’m saying it’s good.”
Death and the Miser is currently available on vinyl, CD, and digital platforms alongside a lyric book zine and new apparel. Fight Back Mountain is currently scheduled to perform alongside Story of the Year, Drowning Pool and many others at the upcoming Pig & Whiskey Festival taking place May 9 through 11 at 4 Hands Brewery & Tasting Room.
