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the seeds were planted for a new album. Bassist and vocalist Charlie Fell, who had left the band in 2014, came back into the fold. “After Bill went, the anger I held onto just went away,” Fell says. “I kind of just called Andrew [Markuszewski, guitar and vocals] on a whim thinking, ‘well this is gonna be stupid.’ To my surprise, we were both in the same spot. I was pretty ecstatic how it went down.” “I paid a visit to Charlie in Denver for a weekend back in 2018,” Markuszewski says. “We started writing the record then and there. During the following months we exchanged riff ideas. [Then] we all met up together in Chicago – me, Charlie, Ken [SorS ince releasing their first EP over ten years ago, Chicago's Lord Mantis have released three albums of some of the darkest, most depraved, blackened sludge metal the underground has ever heard. It's a churning, malevolent sound, rooted in real psychosis and catharsis. It shuns the cartoon darkness of many extreme metal bands and deals in the horrors of reality. It's quite the head trip. In the course of their run as a band, they have seen it all: break-ups, drug abuse, and even death. But as their new album, Universal Death Church, out now on Profound Lore, can attest, the band is far from finished. The new album features all the noisy, ugly, punishing sludge the band is known for, but this time there is a slight hint of industrial and some melody buried in between. Once again, the band keep it real in the lyrics as only they know how. “Charlie and I have our own individual ways of writing, but I’ve always enjoyed the outcome whenever our lyrics cross paths,” Markuszewski says. “We’ve all been plagued by similar demons in this band, so it was easy to reach into the mental states needed to show you what that means.” Lord Mantis have an interesting ritual that is part of their creative INTERVIEW WITH BASSIST / VOCALIST CHARLIE FELL AND GUITARIST / VOCALIST ANDREW MARKUSZEWSKI BY THOMAS PIZZOLA “I love the look of NYC at that time and the whole realness of it,” Fell says. “Just an unflinching look at the life of swine in urban colors and decay.” They may have gone through hell to make Universal Death Church, but the results are compelling. From the music to the lyrics, the artwork and the samples, the album paints a dark picture of its creators’ psyches. Unlike other bands, Lord Mantis aren't doing it for show, they’re doing it because they have to. It might be grim, but it's real, and that realness is at the core of the band. “It’s the essence of the band,” Markuszewski says. “We couldn’t be what we are or make records that sound the way they do without it.” Lord Mantis was dealt its biggest blow when drummer Bill Bumgardner committed suicide in 2016. But something good came out of that tragedy, and ceron, guitars], and new drummer Bryce Butler - with literally only a few days of working together before going in to make the record with [producer] Sanford Parker.” process every time they make a record. They watch a movie for inspiration. In this case, they chose Bad Lieutenant, a classic slice of early ’90s transgressive cinema. Fell sums it up perfectly. “You are the sections you make, and you are how you live. If you sing your own song, it will be a perfect reflection of the people who made it." �� �� ��

INTERVIEW WITH VOCALIST / SONGWRITER NEIGEBY MARIKA ZORZI F or principal songwriter and is not a single day that passes when likely to find them inside yourself infrontman Neige, Alcest has I don't think about it. I think that's stead of in the Bible or something." always been a gateway to why I'm quite a melancholic person. the otherworldly. Their forthcoming I have a hard time finding a balance The process of writing an album is sixth album Spiritual Instinct finds between my daily life and my more deeply connected to the need for Neige at his most personal. spiritual life.” Neige to express himself. "Usually, I take my time to write songs. And this "The whole purpose of Alcest is to put The tension at the record's core time, it was the opposite. When I took into music a spiritual experience comes from Neige facing the darker the guitar, and it was time to write that I had when I was a child," he aspects of his personality and fightsomething new, I had this song comsays. "I was having memories or viing to reconnect with his spiritual ing to me in a few hours. And it was sions of a place that is not here. It was essence, to conquer adversity and finished. For me, that's very strange. very disturbing for me. I didn't know grow. These issues are crucial to unIt was not a great period for me perwhat to do with it. The things I saw in derstanding the record's title. "To me, sonally when I was writing this album, my visions were the most beautiful spirituality means wondering about and I think I had to express somethings you could ever dream about. who we are, deep down. What's the thing urgently. It really needed to get They were not from this world. Maymeaning of being here? Why are we out, and that's what happened." be some people have access to difhere now? What is the meaning of ferent realities? It changed my life this? And of course, the big question: Spiritual Instinct was recorded with forever, this experience. When I bewhat happens when we die? This is producer Benoît Roux at Drudencame a teenager, I decided to make spirituality," he explains. haus studios in France. "It was a very a band to be able to speak about it, long and difficult recording," Neige and that's Alcest." "I believe in God, but I hate religion. remembers. "We were looking for That's just a way to control people. something very specific. We wanted "Having such an experience, you Spirituality is an individual journey. to keep the organic feeling of the have a hard time connecting to reYou are here to experience someprevious record and have a bigger, ality and being happy," Neige conthing. You will have a lot of questions, more aggressive sound. There are tinues. "I'm missing this place. There and if you find answers, you are more some otherworldly, dreamy songs on Spiritual Instinct, but it also has a darker, more modern sound."

Neige has always used black metal to convey the darkest parts of Alcest's music. "I grew up listening to this type of music, so I guess it's like a reflex for me. If I need to express something dark, I will use the black metal way to do it. But [the album] is really balanced between two opposites. It's dark, but it also has this very bright and dreamy side, so it's not completely black metal.”

It's difficult to fit Alcest in a single genre. They seem to dip into a multitude of musical sounds without ever quite fitting in. "That's the story of my life. I've always been an outsider, maybe because of this experience that I had that I couldn't share with anyone. I have a strong feminine side, if I might say, and I tend to like different things than other people. This story repeats itself in my band, because Alcest is so different. We are not black metal, we are not shoegaze, we are not post-rock - it's just Alcest. Take it for what it is." �� ��

"IT'S DARK, BUT IT ALSO HAS THIS VERY BRIGHT AND DREAMY SIDE, SO IT'S NOT COMPLETELY BLACK METAL."

ALCEST NEW NOISE