“I’m not too picky about stuff sounding ‘old school’ or filthy, as much as I like those things.
“For me personally, death metal has to be imaginative and it has to have spirit,” says guitarist Derrick Vella. And yet, as guitarist Derrick Vella explains, the songs on the Canadians’ second album, Manor Of Infinite Forms, are primarily the result of instinct. Creating the right atmosphere with lights and other visual effects simply takes the music up to another level… We invite you to come and experience it yourself!” (KW)Īs death metal splinters into ever more disparate strands, Tomb Mold’s exhilarating harnessing of dense, old-school squall marks them out as one of the modern era’s most fervent purists. It’s difficult to accomplish this as a relatively small band but it is also a lot more rewarding when we manage to pull it off. Not only the sound has to be great, but visually it also must fit the music. “We invest a lot of time and resources into our live set-up to keep changing it and improving it. “Our live shows are without a doubt our strongest feature,” he beams. Given how much attention the EP received – the band toured Japan and Brazil with Pestilence off the back of it – Carnation are poised to reach even greater heights once Chapel… hits shelves, and Simon can’t wait. For Chapel Of Abhorrence, it was more important to go for the perfect take, even if it took us a lot longer to record it.” When we were working on the EP, we wanted to release something as quickly as possible to get out there and get Carnation off the ground.
“The biggest difference between the EP and the album is the time investment. “Because this is our debut album, we felt that it was really important to take our time with the writing and recording process and not pressure ourselves with unnecessary deadlines,” says Simon. This reverence for the genre shines through in the Belgians’ sprawling debut full-length, Chapel Of Abhorrence, an exhilarating blast of filth that feels noticeably more powerful than their 2015 EP, Cemetery Of The Insane. Changing up speeds keeps the album interesting and diverse.” We also try to experiment with these different ingredients and not stick to the same formula in every song. “Death metal can be fast, slow, melodic, technical, aggressive… there are so many options available. I was always interested in how broad the genre can be,” begins Carnation (pictured) vocalist Simon Duson. “I started listening to death metal at a fairly young age. At this point I am happy we’ve finished our debut and I am just enjoying that.” (JD) “I could speculate,” Jason says, “but I don’t care to. With an exhilarating new outlook and a debut album finding much love among fans and critics, Khôrada could be forgiven for speculating what the future might hold, but the guys are living squarely in the moment. “We didn’t do what people wanted us to do. It’s safe to say that the dominant vestigial remnants of Agalloch lie not in the music but in the wild, visionary spirit that permeates each of the seven tracks. Rumbling waves of doom push and pull, building into surging crescendos that break over AJ’s wailing vocals and heart-rending lyrics. In fact, their debut album, Salt, represents a wholesale genre migration. Often when members of established bands form a new group, the music falls into some arbitrary space between the two bands but Khôrada sound like neither Agalloch nor AJ’s band, Giant Squid. That is why AJ was the perfect man to join us on this journey.” Most importantly, he is a man I respect and admire. “AJ is a great guitarist, amazing lyricist and a wonderful songwriter. “We all had a lot of respect and admiration for AJ and it seemed like a logical choice for us,” says Jason.
They turned to their friend and former labelmate Aaron John ‘AJ’ Gregory as their new frontman.