🖤 Behind the Screams: The Making of Teeth Like Tombstones + Meet the Band Before It Burned Down
🖤 Behind the Screams: The Making of Teeth Like Tombstones + Meet the Band Before It Burned Down
Before the fire.
Before the betrayal.
Before the name VE-NUMB haunted underground forums like a ghost in the speakers... there was Teeth Like Tombstones.
Toad Biscuit’s 5th album wasn’t just a record—it was a ritual. It arrived with no warning, no pre-save campaign, no radio rollout. Just a blood-slicked drop on a Thursday at midnight and a flood of fans who couldn’t stop crying, screaming, and whispering, “What the hell is happening between Rexar and Vee?”
Critics called it their masterpiece. Fans called it their funeral.
Ten tracks and one deluxe bonus cut later, Teeth Like Tombstones became the most downloaded album in Hiraeth underground history. But what makes it unforgettable isn’t just the sound—it’s the silence that came after. This was the last thing Rexar Fang and Vaelyn “Vee” Hawthorne ever made together.
And it sounds like goodbye.
An Album With Bite: Breaking Down Teeth Like Tombstones
This album doesn’t open—it detonates. Lyrically, it's soaked in grief, guilt, and the kind of love that ends in bruises and bloodied knuckles. Sonically, it swings between industrial trap-metal, soul-crushing heavy ballads, and chaotic glitch breakdowns that make your teeth vibrate.
At its core? Two people clawing through the smoke of their past to find each other—and failing.
💀 “I’m the Fire Exit, Baby”
An absolute menace of an opener. Equal parts revenge anthem and cautionary tale, this track set the tone for the entire album. Vee’s riffs are unhinged. Rexar’s scream in the chorus has been memed, tattooed, and used in at least five fanvids called “toxic ship vibes™.”
"When the house goes up in flames / And you can't breathe and the lights go out / When the roof falls down and you want out / I'm the fire exit Baby."
Iconic. Terrifying. Hot.
🌙 “Cradle Me Like a Casket”
A rare moment of softness—if your definition of “soft” includes being emotionally filleted by a man who smells like maple smoke and regret. This is Rexar’s lullaby for the soul-starved, delivered like a whisper through static.
"I know I'm destined for a life of shit / But what if I don't want it? / Could you just hold me for a little bit? / Cradle me like a casket"
Fans have described this song as “being held by a ghost” and “what it feels like to cry in a burning room.”
🔥 “The Pit Doesn’t Pray”
Vaelyn’s descent, distilled into three minutes of lyrical despair and the most sultry guitar solo in Toad Biscuit’s discography. He played it in one take. Rexar refused to cut it. The studio reportedly “went cold” during the mixdown.
"Come and join me in the black water / This life is hopeless, I’ll pull you under."
Nobody listens to this track twice without emerging changed. Or clinically depressed. Sometimes both.
💘 “I Caught Feelings and Fire”
The fan favorite. The unofficial Toad Biscuit anthem. The reason your ex is blocked and your eyeliner’s always smudged.
"My hands are still warm from the fire / That melted my wings before I could fly higher."
People play this one when they want to scream-cry in the dark. Or scream-cry in public. Or propose to someone equally broken. It’s the blueprint for what made the band iconic—unfiltered, feral, and quietly devastating.
🎤 “This Soundcheck Feels Like Goodbye”
This is the final track Rexar and Vee recorded together. No backing screams. No overproduction. Just ambient static, soft harmonics, and a chorus that sounds like the ghost of a friendship saying one last thing.
"It's like the sun don't rise / And the lights don't shine / And I'm here all alone tonight / This soundcheck feels like goodbye"
Now that we know it was the last time? Fans still don’t know how to listen to it without crying.
Bonus Track: "Fire (Archive Flame Version)"
Hidden Track. Vault Release. Emotional Death by Fire.
It wasn’t on the original drop. Wasn’t teased in any press. Wasn’t even mentioned by Rexar during the live Q&A that followed the album release. But when Teeth Like Tombstones (Deluxe Burn Edition) hit digital shelves six months later, one extra song appeared in the final slot.
And fans lost their minds.
“Fire (Archive Flame Version)” is an unreleased track from the early Toad Biscuit days, found buried in the raw recording files from their first studio sessions. What makes it devastating isn’t just the lyrics—it’s the fact that this was a love song. Not romantic. Not platonic. Something more elemental. Something that sounds like two people holding onto each other through firestorms and fallout.
It’s unclear if Rexar knew it would be added. Or if Vee ever wanted it heard. But the song landed like a heartbreak meteor anyway.
"So let me burn, let me break,
Let me shatter if that’s what it takes.
Through the fire, through the pain,
I’ll be your light when nothing remains."
No screams. No distortion. Just raw vocals, a stripped guitar line, and what fans swear is the sound of Vee laughing softly in the background during the second verse.
It ends with a whisper, not a bang.
"If all that's left are embers dim,
I’ll still burn only for you.
Only you…”
In hindsight, it reads like a promise. A pact. A farewell.
No official comment has been made about the track's meaning, but fans have their theories. Most agree: this wasn’t a song about surviving the fire.
This was the song that knew it was coming.
🗣️ In Their Own Words: Rexar & Vee Interview
Interview recorded two weeks before the fire. Location: Rexar’s home studio in Scrila. Candles burned low. Vee tuned his bass upside-down for no discernible reason. There was laughter, half a joint in the ashtray, and the smell of smoke that wasn't just from Rexar's nose. They had no idea this would be the last interview they’d ever do together. But maybe... some part of them did.
🎙️ Q: What does Teeth Like Tombstones mean to you?
Rexar (leans back, exhales smoke):
"It’s about trying to love something even when it bites. Legacy. Regret. It’s... complicated. You spend your whole life trying not to become the thing that hurt you. This album was us realizing we already had. And trying to forgive ourselves for it anyway."
Vee (snorts, tuning pegs squealing):
"It’s a breakup letter written in distortion pedals. Also, I just liked the word ‘tombstones.’ Felt honest. Permanent. A little fucked-up. Like us."
(Pause. Rexar throws a pick at him. Vee catches it without looking.)
🎙️ Q: How do you two write music together without killing each other?
Vee (grins, eyes bloodshot):
"I pretend Rexar’s lyrics don’t make me feel things."
Rexar (dry):
"And I sneak emotional honesty into his solos when he’s not looking."
(They laugh. But it’s a strange sound—tired, familiar, like they’ve been having this exact conversation since they were sixteen and it never got easier.)
🎙️ Q: Any moments from this album you’ll never forget?
Vee (long pause, voice low):
"I lost time during a recording session. Came to and the chorus was done. Still don’t remember writing it. But it sounded... right. So I didn’t ask questions."
Rexar (quietly, eyes fixed on the candlelight):
"He doesn’t know it was the best song on the album."
(They don’t look at each other. Vee pretends to tune again. Rexar doesn’t press.)
🎙️ Q: What was the hardest track to finish?
Rexar:
"‘This Soundcheck Feels Like Goodbye.’ Every take felt like bleeding through fabric. It wasn’t loud. But it hurt more."
Vee (softly):
"Yeah. That one... That one sounded too much like us."
🎙️ Q: What's something the fans don't know about this album?
Vee (grinning, lying):
"There’s a hidden fart noise on track seven. If you hear it, you get cursed with two years of heartbreak and eyeliner that always runs."
Rexar (laughing):
"Ignore him. But seriously? There’s a voicemail buried in the mix of ‘A Love Letter to Collapse.’ You can only hear it if you slow the tempo and reverse it."
Vee:
"Don’t do it. It’s just me yelling at my cat."
🎙️ Q: Final message for the fans?
Rexar (warmly, voice tight at the edges):
"Stay loud. Stay kind. You’re not alone. We made this for the ones still trying to crawl out of the fire."
Vee (leans forward, smile sharp and strange):
"If this burns... let it burn bright."
(They never did another joint interview after this. The audio file cut out at 47 minutes. The last thing you hear is Rexar strumming a chord that never made it into a song—and Vee humming along like it might have, if they’d had more time.)
📸 Exclusive: Annotated Tracks
🪦 Where Are They Now? (Soft Fade Into Silence)
Rexar continues to perform under the name Toad Biscuit, solo. His sets are quieter now. Rawer. There’s always one mic left empty on stage.
Vee disappeared. Some say he re-emerged as VE-NUMB, the faceless producer leaving a trail of haunting trap-metal collabs and glitch-laced soundscapes behind him. No one’s seen his face. Rexar hasn’t spoken about him since.
The last public quote?
“I hope he’s somewhere quiet. I hope the noise finally stopped.”
🎧 Watch the I Caught Feelings and Fire lyric video here
🖤 Shop the Toad Biscuit mock merch collection
🎶 Download Teeth Like Tombstones for FREE here!
💬 Comment your emotional damage below or scream it into the void using #ToadBiscuitBreakdown
Coming Soon:
🔥 The Fire Exit Files – A behind-the-veil breakdown of what really happened the night the venue burned.
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