Early 1996 the two guitarists André Mathieu and Ralph Huber together with the bass player Reto Hardmeier (all 20 years of age at that time) formed the Death-Metal-Band Punish. All played in various other bands before. It was when they discovered their common interests that Punish was born. In the time that followed they couldn't find other suitable members (drummer, singer) to complete the band. So they locked themselves up in their rehearsal room in Winterthur, Switzerland and refined their song material.In spring of 1998 they met with drummer Reto Crola (25) via ad, who had played with other bands and gained some onstage and studio experience. He joined Punish and also brought along singer Chris Block (21).
Their music, which partially is played very technically, has its roots quite clearly in Death Metal; nevertheless influences from Thrash-Metal are obvious. When the five musicians were in command of their entire repertoire, a demo cassette was recorded. Several concerts followed in Spring of 1999. Then they recorded their first full length album at the "Headline Studio" in Deitingen, Switzerland. Their first album under the band's name was released in March 2000. In summer 2000, they presented their material at several concerts.
At the end of 2003 Punish recorded three new songs which were published in 2004 as MCD "Three Songs in Mental Disorder".
After an intensive period of songwriting the next milestone was a studio session in December 2004. With producer Alex Krull (Atrocity/ Leaves’ Eyes) four songs were recordrd at the Mastersound-Studios in Fellbach (Germany). The CD "Four Songs in Morbid Lust" was released in February 2005.
Early 2006 they regrouped to form a quartet. The vocal part was taken over by Reto Hardmeier and André Mathieu. Starched by the new gain power as a quartet, Punish entered the Mastersound-Studios again to record a 10 song album called “Dawn of the Martyr”.
In November 2006, Punish played their first European tour as opener for the Norwegian Viking Warriors Helheim.
“Dawn of the Martyr” will be released in July 2007 . In jan./feb 2008 Punish entered Andy Classen's Stage one studio to produce their next album called "Raptus".
