The Day Of the Beast
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Chesapeake, Virginia black/thrash metal combo The Day Of the Beast debuted recently on up-and-coming extreme metal label Canonical Hours Records with their self-titled record. Playing a blistering style reminiscent of The Crown, Kreator and even (early) Morbid Angel this act certainly has a promising future ahead of itself. With a sound that is primarily rooted in Europe Masterful Magazine was able to arrange an interview with this pack of hungry wolves. Talking to Masterful Magazine are guitarist duo Eric, KC with vocalist Steve and former Arsis bassist Justin Shaw providing answers to our arsenal of questions.
Since this is your first interview for Masterful Magazine, could you provide us with a brief history of the band up till now?
Eric: The Day of the Beast started in 2005 with myself (guitar), KC (guitar), and our original drummer Aaron. Steve (vocals) was next to join up, and then after having a few bass players, we were lucky enough to recruit Justin after his departure from Arsis. Shortly after recording the cd, Aaron left the band to focus his attention on his family and career, so we got our current drummer, Jeremy who formerly played drums for a band called Zero Trigger here in the Hampton Roads area. We've been real fortunate to establish a line-up of guys who work together well and share a common goal of playing heavy, aggressive metal.
Describe the thoughts you had in conceptualizing the kind of band you wanted The Day Of the Beast to be.
KC: We knew early on that we wanted the direction of the band to move in a more fiction based/evil/occult direction. We all grew up with early thrash, black and death metal and would study the album work and lyrical content. We were also fanatics growing up with horror literature, horror movies, comics and for some of us, that fascination with the occult continues to grow. Having that coupled with our love of early forms of metal, it just makes sense that apocalyptic scenescapes and unspeakable horrors were the prime candidates for the subject matter of our songs.
How is this possible that you originating from Chesapeake, Virginia play such excellent Swedish styled black/thrash metal like The Crown? It's really strange in a continent where almost all extreme metal bands play ridiculous slam death metal in vein of Devourment or brutal death metal a la Cannibal Corpse.
Eric: I suppose it just really comes down to your influences, what you enjoy playing and creating, and how you let your influences effect that. Of course we're influenced by The Crown and bands of that nature, but I'd also venture to say that some of the bands that influenced them also influenced us. We love brutal death metal from the likes of bands like Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation, and that influence shows up a tad, but overall we want a cutting, fast-paced attack rather than the pounding brutality offered up by a lot of bands nowadays. Perhaps that makes us sound a bit Swedish or European. We just do what comes naturally.
I couldn't help but think of the 1995 Spanish horror/thriller "El Día de la Bestia" by director Álex de la Iglesia. The movie deals with similar apocalyptic themes as you guys do in your band. A mere coincidence or am I reading too much into the band's name?
Eric: Seeing a poster from the American release of the film was what gave us the name for the band. Honestly, we were quite surprised that no one else had used it for a band name before us. I didn't see the film until after we had decided on the name of the band. So, no, I wouldn't say the content of the film directly inspired us. Perhaps the title. It is a killer film, though!
Moving on, what is your general feeling about the just released debut full-length? I mean, if I were you I'd have been damn pleased with the outcome!
KC: We're very happy and extremely humbled by the positive response for the album. As long as it motivates or inspires someone to bang their fucking heads for just a short time we've done our job. We're not so concerned with "reinventing the wheel" as we are making catchy music that gets peoples blood pumping. We feel like we set out what we wanted to accomplish with this first record.
What is the main difference in the music between this self-titled debut album and the promotional demo released in the beginning of 2008? How would you describe the music on the promo, for people who haven't heard it?
Justin: The demo was just something recorded in our practice space that served the purpose of just getting a few of our tunes out there. All of the songs on it ended up being re-recorded for the full length, so I'd say the main difference would be the sound quality of the recordings. For people who haven't heard the demo, I'd describe it as a window to the early workings of the band. Although the differences are slight, you see the changes that the band made in the time from the release of the demo to the release of the full-length.
How do you write songs, is there a central songwriter in the band or does everybody contribute something to the process?
KC: Typically, Eric or myself will come in with a riff of some sort and go over them with Jeremy. Everyone will eventually lock in and we'll tinker with it and take it home with us to toy with. The vocals usually come last after the skeleton has been put down for the song. Sometimes during the process of putting pieces of the song together I will get a feel for the song and begin writing lyrics also or coming up with a song title. Once I have lyrics for the song I will pass them off to Steve to change parts around and make revisions. Most of the harmony parts and leads slowly get added in once we're practicing them with the full band.
Your new album is obviously inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Is there a particular work of this author that inspired the lyrics for this new self-titled release?
KC: Yeah, we are huge Lovecraft fans. Due to the fact that Lovecraft mainly wrote short stories, there are many that inspired the songs on the album. Nyarlathotep and The Crawling Chaos were direct inspirations for the song 'The Crawling Chaos'. Many authors contributed to the "Cthulhu Mythos". The lyrics for 'De Vermis Mysteriis' were inspired from the Lovecraftian story The Dweller in Darkness by August Derleth, and Jerusalem's Lot from Steven King. Another author worth mentioning is Donald Tyson. His fictional works based on Abdul Alhazreds (author of fictional The Necromicon) wanderings were a huge influence.
"The Day Of the Beast" comes with stunning artwork by the much in demand Joe Petagno. Is the artwork in any way tied to the album's title?
Steve: Definitely. Many of the images portrayed within his amazing painting are directly taken from such songs as 'Predator's Path', 'Upon the Throne', 'Pangaea Rising', 'Awakening of the Morningstar' and most others. We were very happy to see the final product as it is reminiscent of the early thrash days where you could sit and study the album artwork and furiously read the lyrical content. These days, there are very few releases that try to bring back the glory days, so to speak. We could not be happier with Joe's creation. It is beautiful in every way to us and we're honoured and proud to have it grace our album cover.
Your new record is a pretty brutal effort that leaves little to the imagination and yet it does manage to surprise here and there. Do you use a lot of time on trying to vary the music or is it something that just comes naturally?
Justin: Luckily, thus far, it has come pretty naturally. When you have five different dudes tossing around ideas, you're bound to hit on something that's a bit unorthodox yet still comes out pretty bad-ass. Letting everyone get their creative input into the songs helps give things variation without having to try too hard to achieve it.
Has the fact that bassist Justin Shaw at one point played with Arsis helped raise the profile of The Day Of the Beast in some way, do you think?
Eric: We've actually tried to keep that on the back burner as much as possible. I'm sure its attracted attention, and that's cool, but we don't want to give anyone the false impression that we sound like Arsis. We don't. If people listen to us because they recognize Justin from his days in Arsis, and they like our stuff, that's awesome. With or without the recognition our material stands on its own legs.
You worked with the well-respected Karma Productions with skilled producer Cory Smoot and engineer Dave Gibson for mixing and mastering this debut album. How would you describe your working relation with the studio and its crew?
Steve: Karma was a great environment to record an album in. Cory and Gibby (Dave) are very laid-back guys with a lot of "know-how" when it comes to putting out a bad-ass metal album. As far as recording a debut goes, it was the ideal place for us to go. We had a blast recording there.
This is your first album for up-and-coming death metal specialist label Canonical Hours Records. Are you happy the way Canonical Hours Records handled the record, regarding promotion, distribution and marketing?
Justin: Extremely happy. Not only does Canonical Hours see what we're trying to do and let us go for it without breathing down our necks, but they have something that a lot of labels do not, which is integrity and honesty. They do not bullshit or beat around the bush and have a vision all their own that is expertly accomplished. We couldn't be happier with how they have worked with us. From promotion to distribution and marketing to just the fact that they believe in us and enjoy what we do they have shown to us that we couldn't have gotten any luckier for going with them. We're very fortunate to be working with a label that has a very similar view on what extreme metal should be about.
How is the death metal underground doing in the Chesapeake, Virginia area? Are there any new bands you think should be mentioned?
Eric: It's not as healthy as the scenes in other Virginia cities such as Lynchburg and Richmond, but it's getting there. Our label-mates, Cyaegha, are from the same general area that we are. Pound for Pound I think they're as good as any technical death metal band out there. Antietam 1862 is a killer black metal band from Richmond that I think people should pay attention to. There is a relatively new black metal project from Virginia Beach called Afore that I'm keeping an eye on. I'm thinking they're gonna be badass when they get up and rolling full-steam. In Death I Become from Lynchburg are pretty killer too. Great bunch of guys.
Do you have any touring plans for the immediate future, domestic or international?
KC: We're not too sure at the moment. We definitely plan on increasing the number of shows we do in 2009 in comparison to what we did in 2008. The tricky thing about touring is to balance it out, so you don't go totally broke in the process of trying to pay your dues on the road. For the folks out there who want to see us, we're gonna try our best to make that happen for them. Keep an eye out. We'll be seeing you soon.
Thanks for the interview, and good luck with all your future endeavours. Feel free to add anything you want...
Thanks for having us! Masterful kicks ass!
Info/booking: www.canonicalhours.com
