THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME
WARBRINGER INTERVIEW WITH SINGER JOHN KEVILL BY HUTCH
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arbringer expected to be celebrating with their rabid fans pounding fists and headbanging across the country to bond over their sixth album, Weapons of Tomorrow, out on Napalm Records. But, in the quarantine times currently suffocating this country, things are, well, weird.
“It’s weird indeed,� says vocalist John Kevill. “Putting out an album while staying at home is very different from how we’ve done it every other time. We have no tour dates until the end of the year. It is a strange time indeed.� However, different parameters create different opportunities. “Under quarantine, I have plenty of time to do every single interview or piece of press which comes my way, and that’s not a bad thing! So, seeing as we can’t control these global events, we have to try to make the best of them.� Warbringer has built a respected legacy over their twelve years as a band, but Kevill and company do not feel pressure to do anything but make the record they want to, instead of struggling to balance continuing their sound or expanding it with creativity. “We didn’t regard those two elements as oppositional,� Kevill says. “The way I see it, continuing our estab-
lished sound is how we expand creatively. Instead of expanding into something else, we go further into ourselves, our own identity, and our own sound. This itself is evolution and development. I think this path of our sound only became clear following the last record, Woe to the Vanquished. Continuing in that same path pushes creative expansion, because we were doing things like melodic or black metal elements, as well as long epic or progressive songs. So, just continuing in our own direction and being ‘more ourselves’ is the path to our creative evolution.�
power Kills’ is about the power of modern weapons, ‘Crushed Beneath the Tracks’ is about replacing humans with machines in the workforce, ‘Glorious End’ is about what industrial weapons did to brave men 100 years ago (with implications for the future).� “But that’s just a few of them. ‘Defiance of Fate’ and ‘Unraveling’ are both two different sides of an intra-personal
struggle, the search for meaning. In one, the speaker triumphs, in the other, he loses. ‘Outer Reaches’ is a fictional sci-fi story about explorers on an exodus from Earth. ‘Notre Dame (King of Fools)’ goes into the themes of Victor Hugo’s famous novel, and then also muses on the burning of the cathedral and the loss it represents.â€? “I try to write albums with diverse and interesting subject matter,â€? Kevill concludes. “And I definitely try to write in such a way that whatever I write will be relevant at any time. I don’t hit present day themes ‘on the nose’ for this reason. I want to write an album that will last and remain good for a ton of listens.â€? đ&#x;’Ł
As far as the main songwriting, the core of the band remains steadfast. “Me, Carlos Cruz (drums), and Adam Carroll (guitars) do a lot of the songwriting, and all three of us have been there since forever ago,� Kevill says. The writing of Weapons of Tomorrow, was also enhanced by new bassist, Chase Bryant, who Kevill credits with “(bringing) a lot more to the table in terms of writing bass lines.� As outstanding fiction does, Kevill delves into the current world’s arsenals and extrapolates through his lyrics. He explores projected ramifications of our technology on each song. “You can draw a line through many of the songs that they somehow relate to ‘fear of the future’ as a theme,� he explains. “‘Fire-
NECK OF THE WOODS INTERVIEW WITH SINGER JEFF RADOMSKY AND GUITARIST DAVE CARR BY ADDISON HERRON-WHEELER
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ancouver-based heavy, progressive into the bleaker side of their creativity to band Neck of the Woods unveiled unleash an album they’re extremely proud of. their latest record, The Annex of Ire, out now via Pelagic Records. Channeling “The Annex of Ire is a much darker-sounda darker, heavier sound, the band tapped ing album than our previous work, but
that wasn’t on purpose,� explains Dave Carr, guitarist. “We’ve always written for ourselves, and these tunes just came out a little heavier. Ron, our ‘at-the-time newbassist-now-turned-guitarist,’ also had an impact on our sound. He brought some killer riffs to the table, and even though he was the new guy, he fell into our groove with relative ease.� To match the darker sound, the band went the same route with their lyrics, bypassing a positive message to exorcize the demons that can be found in anger. “Lyrically, The Annex of Ire is a little less positive and uplifting than our previous release, The Passenger,� says Jeff Radomsky, vocalist. “This album focuses on experiencing, understanding, and processing anger and hate, with emphasis placed on self-awareness, and fostering positive relationships with both yourself and others.�
PHOTO BY SHIMON KARMEL
16 NEW NOISE
Neck of the Woods also took a different approach to writing and creating the album. “The writing process was different this time around,� says Carr. “The Passenger, for example, was mostly the five of us hashing out riffs in the jam space and putting songs together, then just doing
floor recordings as our pre-production. With Annex, I did most of the pre-production at home, laying down riffs and then programming some basic drums for Jer [drums] to get an idea of where I was going with it. The advantage here was being able to constantly listen to an unfinished song. If I only had two minutes of a new tune and wasn’t sure where to go with it, I would listen to it over and over until something came to me that felt right and would do the song justice. Once the song has some structure, you can send it off to the guys, so everyone knows what to expect next jam. I’m sure many other bands have been doing it this way for some time, I just resisted the technology forever.â€? The recording process was also a bit different this time around. They went to Jesse Gander of Rain City Recorders in order to capture a more raw, organic sound that really put the finishing touches on an album filled with different approaches. Instead of using multiple amps and trying to layer their tone, they went for the “less is moreâ€? approach. The result is something different and a bit more polished, but definitely a record the band is proud to call their own. đ&#x;’Ł
