Interview with blackened death metal band from Florida - HELLFROST.
Answered Dave Vainer (guitars, vocal), thank you!
Recenze/review - HELLFROST - Hellfrost (2023):
Ave HELLFROST! I have never found any interview with you in Czech language. I will ask you first to introduce the band to the readers who do not know you yet. You can start from the beginning and take us through the whole history of HELLFROST.
Founded in 2010 by Dave Vainer as a solo endeavor in Naples, Florida, Hellfrost quickly captivated the local scene, evolving into a powerful project. Over the years, this entity has forged a legacy, birthing esteemed underground albums. In recent times, Hellfrost has experienced a resurgence with the addition of veteran drummer Angelo Duca and bassist Ryan Blackburn, propelling the band to new heights.
This year you are releasing the new album „Hellfrost“. Again, it's a dark, harsh and honestthrash/death/black metal. Did you access to the recording process differently than last time or did you choose verified practices?
The recording process for our self titled album was a lot different than how we did things before. This is the first Hellfrost album to feature live drums since Pagan Son (2016) the first Hellfrost album to be released without long term member Syd Vainer playing bass and our first album released by a record label. I got in contact with Derek Roddy through a close friend of mine who told me that he has a recording studio in Deerfield Beach Florida. If you follow Derek Roddy, he's known to have a reputation of doing only one or two takes per song in the studio, and that's what he was expecting from us. Believe it or not, most of the work we did for the album was done at our rehearsal space and not at the studio. By the time we got to the studio we were near 100% ready to start recording. Derek was great to record with. There was no ego about any of it and it felt like I was just hanging out with the guys. We recorded the whole album in about 2 days. The next step after that was the mixing process. The mixing was actually the part that took the longest. It took several tries to get everything the way we thought it should sound however, when we sent in our mix to the label they rejected it. This was a disappointment for us and we were arguing amongst each other on what to do for the best solution. After talking about it for a few weeks and sleeping on it, we decided to ask my brother Syd Vainer to come back to the studio with us to remix the album. The final mix turned out great and that's what you hear on the album.
The new album seems to me more complicated, perhaps initially less accessible, at the same time incredibly dark and evil. Was it intentional? How did the album originate and how did you compose themusic?
So a lot of the new album I composed myself. I studied songwriting and music theory and to me there's no better feeling than playing a new song with the band for the first time. After the release of our last album Dark Ages (2021), Hellfrost broke up. We lost our drummer and long time member Syd Vainer. Despite everything, I was determined to keep the band going. I used a lot of this downtime to focus on writing new songs to build a foundation to reform the band. After months of reaching out to people and months of auditions, I met current drummer Angelo Duca. Once I had a solid drummer in the mix, I knew that I'd be able to find the rest of the musicians I needed. Working with Angelo, I continued working on new songs and auditioning guitarists and bassists. After another few months of auditions I met current bassist Ryan Blackburn. Despite his lack of experience playing in bands, Ryan really rose to the occasion and did a killer job in the studio.
I have a „Hellfrost“ in my MP3 player and I have to say that this album literally engulfed me. These are not just great ideas but also sound is simply devastating. I'm sitting in the tram, and suddenly I find myself shaking my legs. I have a feeling to start moshing. If I weren’t so old, I would probably start to.Where did you record and who is signed under mastering?
As I mentioned earlier in the interview, we recorded the album in Deerfield Beach Florida and it was recorded by Derek Roddy. Our album was mastered at Imperial Mastering by Colin Davis of the band Vile . Colin has a long resume of bands that he mastered over the years and we're really happy with the job he did on our album. The sound of our self-titled album is our best work yet and it accurately represents the full Hellfrost experience the best way possible without you actually being there to see us live.
Who is the author of lyrics on „Hellfrost“? What are they talking about? Where do you get inspiration for themes?
All of the lyrics were written by myself. I'm always reading news stories, books, articles, watching movies, talking to and meeting all kinds of different people. I'm always on the hunt for the next topic to write about. A lot of my inspiration for the lyrics come from real life events. The song Microplastics is about the plastic in the ocean. It's a well known fact that we are destroying the planet and that's really brutal. The song Megalodon was inspired by the movie The Meg. Artificial Intelligence delves into the topic of technology taking over and replacing the human aspect of life. Overall, each songs stands alone with their strong messages. Hellfrost lyrics are all about being relatable to our fans and relatable to potentially new fans.
Who is signed under the cover of „Hellfrost“? I like his work very much. How did you choose the motif for cover?
The artist that illustrated our album cover was Ipoet Poetra from Five Miligrams Art. Since our album is titled "Hellfrost '' we needed an image that accurately depicts what you would imagine when you hear the name Hellfrost and that's what we get. The album cover features Satan emerging from a frozen lake while simultaneously destroying humanity. Life is made up of a balance of good and evil, sometimes you get a string of good times and sometimes you get a stroke of tragedy but no matter what happens, things always shift to the opposite state.
When we look back at the beginning ... What was the first impulse to found the band? And why the thrash/death/black metal? It's not the typical style which can would give you great "glory".
The music that I write is the music that I love. Growing up, thrash, black and death metal were always my favorites. I was always an outcast and didn't fit in, metal made it cool to be different. I never resonated with mainstream rock or pop. Maybe I'm the crazy one but when I hear happy uplifting music, it makes me feel angry and anxious. The music I write for Hellfrost just feels right to me and it all comes naturally.
You come from Florida and you play extreme thrash/death/black metal. Our readers would certainly wonder how the metal scene works in your country. 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?
The music scene in south Florida is always evolving. During the pandemic, Florida was the most lenient with restrictions in the country. Florida was the first state to lift the mask mandate and Florida didn't require the vaccine for anyone. All of these factors lead to a huge influx of people moving to Florida from all over the US. With all of these people moving in, this gave the music scene a chance to grow. Now there are more music fans, more musicians and more bands than ever before. I'm really happy to see all of this growth because it opens up countless opportunities.
From your music is possible to feel that you are influenced by American thrash death metal school and as well by the old European bands. How do you feel about it as a fan? Do you prefer the original 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 HELLFROST.
As a metalhead I appreciate all of the classics. I grew up listening to all of the typical 70's, 80's and 90's metal bands. You all ready who the are. All of those bands were my early influences. These days I'm into vinyl and cassettes and I do a lot of pre-orders and blind buys. Some of my favorite new releases are Skalmold- Ydalir, Warmen- Here for None ,Tyrant- The Lowest Level, and Marduk- Momento Mori. As a current artist I feel it's important to keep up to date with our contemporaries.
What about you and concerts in general? Are you a band that goes for concerts anytime you can or you are picky about where you will play? Do you have a dream, maybe a group you would like to go with for a tour or festival, a city where you would like to perform?
Our booking usually goes in cycles. We like to book a lot of gigs for a few months and then stop playing for a little while. We use this down time to work on song writting and promoting. Right now, we're in a state of downtime and we are looking for the best booking agency to represent us. Our goal is to get on to bigger shows with bigger bands. Every time Hellfrost plays live, we build a connection with the fans and we make friends in every city we visit. My favorite fans are the people who don't know who we are and stick around to watch our set.
I'm going to listen again your new album „Hellfrost“. I have to say that for me personally, this is basically a perfect thrash/black death metal work. Totally inferno. I wish big success to your record and to get this album to as many people as is possible. This album deserves it. I wish you all the best in your personal life. Whatever you do and the last words are yours. If you want to tell something to fans, labels, promoters, you have space here..... Thank you for the interview and I am looking forward to seeing you live!
Thank you for the interview and I am
Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read this interview and to everyone who listened to our album. Hellfrost is for the fans and the metal community. Please keep up with us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTiok.
Recenze/review - HELLFROST - Hellfrost (2023):
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