A few questions - interview with black/thrash metal band from United Kingdom - DEVASTATOR.
1. Ave, can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded and what style of music do you play etc.?
DEVASTATOR: Hails, we are Devastator from the United Kingdom, the band was founded in 2017 and we play a primitive form of Black Thrash/Speed Metal in the vein of classic bands like Venom, Bathory and Motorhead.
2. Where and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was in charge of sound, production and mastering?
DEVASTATOR: Our new album ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’ was recorded at RatCat Studios in Derbyshire, UK in the early months of 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic finally stormed the shores of the United Kingdom. The production was handled by the studio main-man Natt Webb who did an excellent job capturing our furious hellscapes that you hear on the album.
3. How many copies were released and which medium was used for this new edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?
DEVASTATOR: The release is still on going, however it has sold extremely well so far, covering five continents with countless orders made to Australia, Japan, Scandinavia, North America, Canada and of course mainland Europe. It has come out on CD digipack, two different cassette variants and of course digital and streaming platforms, though vinyl still alludes us, however we aim to correct this at some point in the future!
4. Who is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what do the lyrics deal with?
DEVASTATOR: The final lyrics were penned and performed by lead vocalist and bassist Thomas Collings, though ideas were shared out across all four members. The lyrical content of ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’ explores the Satanic themes that have been intertwined with Heavy Metal since its inception with Black Sabbath and Black Widow.
5. Who created the logo of the band, and who took care of the graphics and the website? What about you and social networks? Do you consider these things important?
DEVASTATOR: Our logo was created by the ‘Lord of the Logos’ himself, Christophe Szpajdel. Famous for creating logos and art for iconic artists such as Emperor, Enthroned, Desaster, Black Witchery, Metallica and…Rihanna!?...Yep! He came highly recommended by our friends in the UK Metal scene when we were sowing the seeds of what was eventually to come.
6. Which label did you choose for releasing your album and why this label? Are you satisfied by how your label represents you and takes care about you?
DEVASTATOR: We released ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’ through Clobber Records, an independent Extreme Metal label based here in the United Kingdom. The process of finalising the deal with the label was brief, both the label owners had seen us live at a Black Metal day-festival in the high north of England called Black Tor Festival back in 2018, so they were both already familiar with our work. Once they heard the early mixes of the album they expressed a lot interest in signing us up for the album deal, after some discussion and paper work that was it, very simple. So far, Clobber Records have been absolutely fantastic and we couldn’t be happier with how they handled the release of ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’, we look forward to a bright future with them.
7. Which bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?
DEVASTATOR: We enjoy a vast variety of different musical styles as individual music fans, but in terms of what we do together in Devastator the influences are very much worn on our sleeves. As we mentioned briefly in the introduction, classic bands such as Venom, Bathory, Motorhead along with early Sodom, Destruction and Kreator and early Slayer, Sepultura, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost to name a handful.
8. Did you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was the response?
DEVASTATOR: There were some others in mind, which will remain nameless here, but we felt that Clobber Records was the best option for us.
9. How many gigs have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether it's (clubs or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best?
DEVASTATOR: We have a played a number shows since we formed as Devastator, it’s hard to keep track of exactly how many we have played over these last few years. We like all types of shows, from festivals to halls to clubs, as long as we can do our thing and people enjoy what we do then we’ll play any show. It is hard to choose one great show but any of our performances at our stomping grounds at The Sitwell Tavern in our hometown of Derby were always busy and intense, as we mentioned before our performance at the Black Tor Festival is considered as one of our best and one of the largest audiences we have played to as well…at least we think, there was a lot of smoke in the venue at the time…
10. What about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the band?
DEVASTATOR: With the difficult issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic we have had to change a lot of our plans for ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’ with cancelling and rescheduling shows and tours. We will be pushing forward with some future plans we have and making more announcements as the month’s progress, all will be revealed soon.
11. How and where can your fans contact you? Can you provide some contact information?
DEVASTATOR: They can find us on social media: on Facebook at facebook.com/devastatorblackthrash and on Instagram at @devastatoruk, you can find merchandise on our official webstore: devastatorblackthrash.bandcamp.com and you can order our new album ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’ at the official Clobber Records webstore as well as digitally on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and all other major streaming platforms.
https://devastatorblackthrash.bandcamp.com/album/baptised-in-blasphemy
Further Information:
www.facebook.com/devastatorblackthrash
http://www.clobberrecords.com/
Further Information:
www.facebook.com/devastatorblackthrash
http://www.clobberrecords.com/
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