After recording a demo at Why Me? Recording (Turning Point, Edgewise, Brody), the band was quickly signed to Harvcore Records and released the Crossbearer LP in 1992. Starkweather made an impression with a succession of 7-inch single releases. These were followed by their first EP, Starkweather, for Inner Rage Records (1993); the Crossbearer re-issue, for Too Damn Hype (1994); their second full-length effort, Into the Wire, on Edison Recordings (1995); and the 1996 Bitter Frost / Bee Stings and Posion Eggs split with Season to Risk through Supermodel Records.
Starkweather released their third album, Croatoan, in late 2005. It was produced by Pierre Remillard (mainly known for producing Canadian death metal bands Cryptopsy and Gorguts), and was released only on vinyl through Hypertension Records. In that year, the band went on their first international European tour, visiting the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, England and France. 2006 saw the CD release of Croatoan on Candlelight Records.[5]Croatoan features session work from bass player Liam Wilson (The Dillinger Escape Plan and Burnside) and guitarist Jim Winters (Believer, Earth Crisis, Turmoil, and The Promise)[3] and the cover art was done by artist Paul Romano, who also worked with Mastodon, The Red Chord, Trivium, Earth, and Godflesh. After a period of inactivity, Starkweather's fourth LP This Sheltering Night was released in 2010, followed by a split LP with French band Overmars in 2011. Both recordings were produced by Alap Momin (Dälek). Following those releases the band had some line-up changes, with founding guitarist Todd Forkin and longtime drummer Harry Rosa leaving the band. The last recordings with Forkin and Rosa were released in 2018 as a split LP with Portuguese band Concealment.
Along with bands like Rorschach, Earth Crisis, Merauder and Integrity, Starkweather is often credited as an early pioneer of the metalcore genre; although the band members do not consider themselves a metalcore band and have showed discontentment with the term.[6][7] In an interview with Noisecreep, guitarist Todd Forkin commented negatively on the genre, stating, "I've heard the tag on a number of occasions that we, along with a handful of other bands, are responsible for metalcore, but to me that's like being told you're responsible for spreading cancer. You just pray that it's not true."[8] Forkin continued in the interview that he does not hear "a direct take on what we've done" in modern metalcore bands.[8]
In a review for Starkweather's This Sheltering Night, Cosmo Lee of Decibel wrote, "If one had to assign a context for Starkweather, it would be the late '80s/early '90s, where bands like Only Living Witness and Prong were smashing together metal and hardcore—but not quite making 'metalcore.' 'Metalcore' now implies the worst of both worlds. We're talking about the best of both worlds."[9]
