Interview with death metal band from Canada - EXPUNGED.
Answered W.D. and J.S., thank you!
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.
Recenze/review - EXPUNGED - Into Never Shall (2021):
Ave EXPUNGED! Greetings to the Canadian underground. Let's go straight to the most important thing. You have released a new record “Into Never Shall “, which is literally packed with honest, dusty death metal. How did the album come about and how do you feel about it? What direction have EXPUNGED evolved to?
W.D: Hi and greetings Jakub! We just continued on with our writing and were working towards a full-length album this time and I feel it turned out fairly well. I personally don’t think there is any new direction or evolvement with Expunged, we are just doing what we want to do and have continued on further with this new release.
You released a new record in the strange times. No one could have known that Covid 19 would hit the world. Has the current situation affected releasing process in any way?
J.S: Honestly these days it takes so long to make a record, mostly due to delays at pressing plants that it's been a long time since we wrote and recorded these songs!
W.D: Yes, the last 2 years or so in general have been strange indeed. Like most problems in these “times”, things have been either been delayed in the manufacturing processes or generally take longer to receive in the mailing systems as we have all seen this happen worldwide.
What is the current situation regarding Covid 19 in Canada? Clubs are already open, can you have a tour, for example? Many summer festivals have been canceled in our country; foreign groups will hardly reach us.
J.S: There's some local gigs happening with many restrictions but that's about it. Personally, I don't see life coming back to normal any time soon so might as well start making armour out of hockey pads, wear motocross boots and shave myself a mohawk because we'll be battling it out for the last drop of gasoline on the wasteland in no time!
W.D: Some things are open here now for shows but it seems very localized or limited here for now and other things I believe are yet to be determined. We are not getting in bands from other provinces or from the USA or Europe yet. Who knows when all that will be or how we will all end up?
But let's talk about new record. I'm listening to it right now, and I have to write that this time it took me a while to get this record into my blood. I put the album into the player, I am listening to it in the car. I really like the sound. It is lively, organic, old school and at the same time clear. It seems different to me from your previous records. Where did you record and who is signed under the sound?
W.D: I think with this release we have a better overall mix and EQ than the previous EP. Besides being the first full-length from us, it’s a more solid recording. Like before, this was recorded ourselves DIY then was later sent to Topon at Apartment 2 Studio for further recording, mixing and mastering.
You'll probably agree with me that the cover sells. Your cover is really brutal this year. The author is Didier Normand. How did you get together with Didier and what exactly does the motive have to express in relation to music?
J.S: I had worked with Didier a few times with my other bands. He's like a machine! He works incredibly fast and is a top-quality fantasy artist. The modern-day Vallejo! I made a draft and sent it to him and a few weeks later he was done the painting. This is one of his best pieces in my opinion! It’s got dark cave, evil cultists, and ghosts all in one!
I put “Into Never Shall“ in my head again and again and I say to myself that I like the most this old school death metal feeling that's hard to describe. Looks like we're of the same blood. Who were and are actually your idols? Every musician started somehow, there are patterns that shaped his signature. What about you?
J.S: I don't have any idols or anything like that but I spend all my days listening to music so naturally I absorb all of it and it transpires into what I compose. In the end, all rock music ends up sounding similar haha!
W.D: No idols here either, just a respect for different musicians and bands primarily from the later 80’s to early 90’s death metal era that have influenced me like old Entombed, Carnage, Amorphis, Carcass, Autopsy, Massacre, Brutality and so on and so forth…none the less there are a lot of great bands in present time that I like and listen to as well.
What do you think about the current trends, widespread mainly among young bands, where they try to play as technically as possible, they often insert a saxophone, various keyboards into death metal and look for a way in a very complicated way? Do you enjoy such bands? For example, if I ever come to a concert and someone like this performs there, I'm confused. It seems like a rehearsal of a jazz school to me, but in the end, I don't remember anything at all. What about you and current trends in death metal?
J.S: I think there's always room for innovation in music but a lot of it can come off as pretentious in the end. You gotta ask your self, "Do my songs rock or am I just playing a bunch of fret masturbation nonsense?".
W.D: The majority of that does not do anything for me at all, especially in the more extreme forms of metal but hey feel free to do whatever you wish out there! My interests for death metal are in a more traditional sense of heavy, catchy with a more simplistic base that carries a lot of depth.
When we look back at the beginning ... What was the first impulse to found the band? And why the death metal? It's not the typical style which can would give you great "glory".
W.D: Basically, I had an ad up looking for band members at the time and J.S. had responded to it. This was in winter 2019. Already being a big fan of death metal myself and involved with other bands or past projects, I wanted to do something very much in the older traditional styles of death metal reflecting on the later 80’s to early 90’ era. J.S. was into doing this as well and so here we are! For me, death metal is Glory! Its my main musical preference and interests above all.
You come from Canada and you play extreme death metal. Our readers would certainly wonder how the death metal scene works in Canada. To tell you the truth, so lately I hear only the great bands from there. Does this mean that the scene there is so strong at the moment? What about concerts, how many people coming to them?
J.S: Locally, there's our pals Cruel Fate who have been around a few years prior to us. We relate to them musically cause we both play barebones filthy death metal. I'm a bit out of the loop when it concerns the rest. Maybe I'm just too self involved haha.
W.D: I think the death metal scene here works like it does in most places in the world. Before covid and all the shit with it in the last few years, there was tours, shows, etc. As far as Canadian content, I definitely think it has gotten bigger here with more bands forming and getting more known. I guess it depends on the styles of metal you are into or what you are interested in listening to or seeing live.
From your music is possible to feel that you are influenced by American death metal old school and as well by the old European bands. How do you feel about it as a fan? Do you prefer the original death metal of the 1990s or do you get inspiration as well from the new albums? If yes so, I am wondering which bands had the greatest impact on EXPUNGED.
J.S: I don’t listen to too much death metal but when it comes to the Swedish scene, take my fuckin' money! Something about the saw tooth wave forms gets me wet. The hardcore punk rhythms and catchy melodic breaks leaves me always wanting more. Like why is there so few Nirvana 2002 songs? Whyyyyy??
W.D: Yes, I think so and that’s totally cool. At this point and over the years, its fair to say that I like and listen to a lot of death metal bands from all over the world. I buy it, collect it and support it! This consists of older to newer bands as well. There is so much talent or variations within styles mixed together that is very well done. The 90’s was a great era for bands and releases as I lived through this time but I am not necessarily limited to just that either. Some bands that may have an impact with Expunged for example are Bolt Thrower, Carnage and Autopsy.
In the end I always ask a slightly philosophical question. How would you define death metal and what does it mean to you? I don't mean the playing technique now, but rather what it brings to you, how you perceive it in relation to the fans. Did you grow up on it?
J.S: I think music is the best way to express your emotion weather they be anger, frustration, love, hope, fear or hatred. Death metal represents humanity in its primordial form. It's raw and unhinged yet sometimes well calculated.
W.D: Death metal for me is the rawest form of the psyche that takes all darkness and damage done into a heavy whirlwind of rage in an audio assault presentation. It is an outlet, a way out, a welcome mat, a saviour of sanity and sometimes even a prevention of murder or jail time and it will be there when all else fails or is gone! No, for myself I did not actually get exposed more to death metal or other extreme forms of metal until my later teens, before that I was a skater punk into 80’s punk, hardcore & thrash.
Thank you so much for the interview. I appreciate it. Now let's talk music. I'm going to play “Into Never Shall“ really loud! I wish you good luck and all the best in your personal lives. Thank you!
W.D: Thank you for having us Jakub and a big thanks Deadly Storm Zine! Ha, ha! Crank it loud man! Thank you and all the best! Cheers!
Recenze/review - EXPUNGED - Into Never Shall (2021):
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