Auburn metal band SIN will slug it out at the Battle for Mayhem Fest showcase at Studio 7 in Seattle on May 17.

At stake, a showcase spot on the Sumerian Stage during this summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival, which swings into the White River Amphitheatre on July 7, featuring headliners Rob Zombie, Mastodon, Amon Amarth and Five Finger Death Punch.

At the battle, three bands will be chosen – based on songwriting, originality, stage presence, crowd reaction and ability – to open the festival in front of thousands of metal mad fans.

“It’s just about exposure, exposure, exposure,” SIN guitarist and vocalist Tim Berry said. “I’m hoping this will be our jump start. We’ve been looking for this kind of opportunity for a while.”

“Even if we don’t win, we’re still hoping to just get seen,” drummer Arron Humphrey added.

SIN got its start back in 2009, originally forming as BOSS, featuring Humphrey and guitarist Jacob Carroll.

Initially the band struggled to find the right fit at bass and vocals. Enter Tim (pictured, left) and Zac Berry (pictured below), brothers who had been playing Auburn’s Open Rebuke with their father, Tim Berry Sr.

“Right before my dad retired I auditioned for these guys as a vocalist,” Tim Berry said. “Zac actually auditioned first and that kind of brought me down, because they were auditioning on my equipment. They liked what I did, and so for a while I was playing for both bands, that was a little crazy.”

“We jammed around with a couple of singers but no one was really killing it,” Humphrey said. “These guys pretty much got in when they tried out. It was kind of a ‘no-say, you might as well join’.”

After a handful of shows as BOSS, the band shuffled its lineup, temporarily booting Carroll, before settling down and getting serious as SIN.

“We kicked Jake out. We didn’t really like where it was going and thought it was him,” Berry said.

“But it wasn’t,” Humphrey said. “So six months later Jake was back in.”

This year SIN has been busy, playing eight shows and building a rapid fan base.

“We have pretty loyal fans,” Humphrey said.

“We have a small fan base of loyal fans, we just need to get it bigger,” Berry said.

Sonically, the band puts the pedal to the metal with its crushing, technical style, featuring the diverse vocals of the Berry brothers, able fretwork by Carroll and the steady foundation laid by Humphrey.

According to Humphrey and Berry, the band is careful not to define its sound or get stuck in any musical ruts, all while maintaining music over image.

“A lot of the new stuff right now is, everything is about hipsters and scene kids,” Berry said.

“It’s about image now, and we’re trying to bring back sound,” Humphrey said.

“We haven’t labelled ourselves, and we think that’s the best way to go about it because then we can play with any band we want to,” Berry continued. “We basically call ourselves experimental. We can play hardcore, we’re comfortable with thrash and speed metal and just straight-up, Devildriver style metal. But that was a big decision we had to make to not just play one style. That way we won’t be categorized.”

The band has a couple of songs available for listeners at www.reverbnation.com/sinauburn, but plans are in the works for a full-length debut album.

And, according to the band, listeners are in for a ride.

“We’re breaking out of our comfort zones and trying everything,” Humphrey said. “We’re trying everything but we’re not loyal to any one style.”

“We jumble it up all the time,” Berry added. “Some bands will record a couple of really heavy albums, then change. We jumble it up all the time, so people are used to us doing anything.”

Tickets for the multi-band, May 17 Battle for Mayhem Fest at Studio 7 are $10 and available through the band, which can be contacted at www.facebook.com/SIN.AUBURN.