[4] The two primary members of the band are vocalist/bassist/guitarist Kurt Bachman and drummer Joey Daub, who were joined by several others after their 1989 debut album, Extraction from Mortality.
Believer was formed in Colebrook, Pennsylvania in 1986 by drummer Joey Daub and vocalist-guitarist Kurt Bachman.
[9] In high school, the band leader Kurt Bachman met Scott Laird, who was studying his first year as a music instructor.
When Believer was recording the title track for its first studio album, the band asked Laird to compose an orchestral intro for the song.
Writer Jeff Wagner noted that Believer's thrash-leaning sound was intense enough to hang amidst the heavier, more brutal and decidedly non-Christian metal bands on the compilation.
[11] In 1990, Howe Kraft was replaced by Wyatt Robertson, and Believer recorded its second album titled Sanity Obscure, which is more technical than its predecessor.
Believer continued its co-working with Scott Laird, and incorporated more symphonic elements on the song "Dies Irae (Day of Wrath)".
[12] Wyatt Robertson and David Baddorf left Believer before the band began recording its third album.
The lyrics deal with the philosophical paradoxes and the ponderings of Sigmund Freud, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Ludwig Feuerbach and Jean-Paul Sartre about the existence of God.
After disbanding, Bachman went to get his degree, Daub became a Semi-Professional BMX biker, who endorses in Deluxx Bikes, while Winters joined acts such as Starkweather and Earth Crisis.
During the following years both Bachman and Daub worked in sound production at their Trauma Studios in Pennsylvania for groups such as Turmoil and Living Sacrifice.
Later in the 1990s, Daub began playing drums in a female-fronted progressive metal band called Fountain of Tears.
This announcement was reported widely, most notably through Blabbermouth.net,[13] which called Believer a "much missed late 80s and early 90s technical thrash metal band.
We wrote some tunes, played them for some people and then some of our friends in the industry said 'you guys should put this out, maybe there's one or two Believer fans still out there that wouldn't mind hearing it.
Blabbermouth.net reported the album's recording process which began on November 24,[16] drum tracking was completed on December 30,[17] bass was laid down on January 28, 2008,[18] rhythm guitar tracks were completed on February 18,[19] and on April 7 the band announced that the album would feature "some very talented guests.
"[20] Ten days later on April 17, Deron Miller of CKY announced that he will be "laying down some guest solos and/or vocals" for the forthcoming Believer album.
In an interview with Metalsucks.net, Bachman commented that the announcement about the band's re-activation had spread to the industry, and a staff member from Blabbermouth/Roadrunner Records suggested that they should contact Howard: "We got in touch with him and it turns out he is a big Believer fan.
Then he mentioned that he was starting this imprint with Brian Slagel from Metal Blade and he asked us if we wanted to be the first band on it.
[15] The fourth full-length studio album titled Gabriel was released on March 17, 2009 in US and Canada, and on April 9–15 elsewhere.
Scott Laird (violin), Jim Winters (guitar) and William Keller, who played with the band previously, also contributed to the album as session musicians.
It was commented that "We decided to bring back some of the orchestral feel of 'Dimensions' by utilizing more layered guitars, keys and melody with different vocal arrangements.
Believer's music includes raw distortion, time changes, technical riffs and Bachman's raspy vocals.
[32] The band is noted for "employing female vocals, violins, cellos, and choirs, before it was ever conceived as commonplace [in metal].
"[32] Jeff Wagner noted that the song Dies Irae "can be considered a creative watershed in metal—other than Mekong Delta who regularly delivered classical-entrenched compositions, no extreme metal band had merged the genre so seamlessly and convincingly," "and foreshadowed the operatic approach of future metal bands such as Therion and Nightwish.
When asked whether the members consider Believer a "Christian band" Daub replies in an interview with Metal Covenant in 2009: "Well, yes, and no... this is a difficult subject to approach for us.