By Toby Amodeo

Pomperaug’s band The Mark of Cain, featuring Billy Bivona, Jon Way, Mike Jones, and Joe Delvicario, has been growing in popularity lately. We caught up with them before their practice during the October storm.

The group recently self-recorded an EP, sort of a sample album. It took several months to complete, as the band tried to learn the software while playing very challenging parts. Billy Bivona, the band’s lead guitarist, said of the recording process: “In a way, it’s great since we can do it over a million times. It’s just tough for Mike on drums playing four minute sections of songs.” The Mark of Cain is now working on completing their first full studio album, again self-recorded, in Billy Bivona’s basement.

Unlike many high school bands, The Mark of Cain is in the industry for more than just the money. They’ve developed an interesting sound that they say comes from both their progressive metal tastes and their classical training. All four members play an instrument outside the band, from violin to French horn. The band members say that their classical training has helped them to write very complex parts in their music. “We’re not like other bands. We don’t think that we’re better, but we recognize we have a different style, and that works for us,” says Mike Jones.

It certainly has, as the band played a show at the Webster Underground in Hartford with bands such as Periphery, and plays frequent gigs across Connecticut. They’ve played with other Pomperaug names as well, like Bread Pilot, New Year Premier, and Mile Marker Zero.

The Mark of Cain members know that music is a tough industry, so they all plan on entering college for some piece of the trade. Performance, education, composition, and production are all focuses that the members plan to pursue post-high school. Of course, the graduation of the class of 2012 will not end this band. “We’ll all keep in touch, I’m sure, and maybe after college we’ll put it all back together, especially since we’ll really know what we’re doing then,” says Billy Bivona.

For now, though, the members continue to challenge themselves with more instrumental progressive metal and are attempting to finish their album as soon as possible. The album will hopefully be released by the end of the winter, they speculate. It’s based off of the biblical story the band is named for, and written totally instrumental. EPs are still available from each member.

The band’s most recent show was at a We Are the Movement show last Saturday, and another date will be posted soon.