1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a death metal band based in the United Kingdom (Newcastle Upon Tyne). Our members consist of an ensemble of musicians from other acts in the scene. It originally started out as a studio project but naturally evolved into a full band with the current line up we have now.
2.You have your first full length coming out in October, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the demo you had released in 2013?
The first big difference is the vocal sound, with me stepping up to vocal duties I went for a higher register style heavily influenced by Martin Van Drunen, David Vincent Chris Monroy, Damian Herring and so on, I wanted to encompass an “anxious” vocal delivery. Another big difference is the overall energy and vibe on the release, having recorded it as a full band there's the feel of a real band playing these songs.
As far as the overall sound goes you can expect riff based death metal heavily focused on memorability and catchy vocal lines to go along with it. Imagine Pestilence and Dismember jamming together...
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The songs tell a story or describe something I come up with influenced by various different things such as video games, movie scenes and my own personal experiences. The lyrical content ranges from post apocalyptic survival to anxiety and sleeping disorders.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Horrified'?
Nothing much really, the lyrical themes on the album all contain different elements of horror. But that came on its own naturally when I started writing lyrics. I chose the name because it sounded cool to me and I thought it fit the music perfectly when I first began writing the material back in 2012.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have actually only played one gig so far, which was the first edition of a local music festival called “Byker Grave” towards the end of 2013. The set went about as good as it could have gone considering how rushed we were to play and we only had 20 minutes of material from the album ready, but the venue was full and the response was could and it was our first introduction to the live circuit in our local scene. So I was extremely relieved that it went down okay and thankful of the promoters for putting us on.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released
We have plans to gig again after the album release in October and we already have a weekend double set of gigs happening in Newcastle and Manchester with three other bands on the same label as us. But are we looking for more shows in the future.
7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of old school death metal?
So far it has been great, people have said really positive things about it in press and early reviews. The comparisons we get and the descriptions of our sound have been really humbling to so far. I’m also really happy with people’s response to my vocals since it was my first time doing them on a record.
8.What is going on with some of the other musical projects or bands these days that some of the band members are involved with?
Each member play in different bands, I drum in a power metal band called Starborn and I used to play in a band called Plague Rider with our drummer Matthew, who play a much more technical style of death metal. He also plays in another doomy death metal band known as Live Burial. Ross our other guitarist is involved in two bands, Risen Prophecy and Vacivus. The former have just completed their second album and should be released shortly. The latter are just returning to the live scene after releasing their debut album. Our bassist Dan Hughes plays bass in Winds of Genocide who have their debut album coming out via pulverised records shortly, he is also in Prolfeed a punky hardcore band who have done a bunch of EP’s and splits he also works on a solo black metal project Rotting Bull.
9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are currently writing new material and its a lot more dynamic than the debut album, including more melodic elements from bands such as Dismember, Edge of Sanity and Horrendous my biggest influences right now. The new stuff is a lot more ambitious and accomplished. I’m setting my ambitions farther than any other material I have wrote for a project.
10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening nowadays?
Back in the day was heavily influenced by the original US death metal bands such as Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist and so on. My musical influences have expanded a lot with age and I listen to a vast amount of different metal ranging from death, power, prog, prog power, doom, epic metal and black metal. I’m not always constantly listening to death metal although i’d say it is my favorite style and in my opinion the most diverse of all the metal sub genres.
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I enjoy reading, film, video games and some select sports. I’ve also recently got back into reading up on ancient history.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for conducting the interview & the kind review on your website. The album is due out late October and will be available on CD and digital download from our bandcamp page which will be set up closer to release, cheers!
We are a death metal band based in the United Kingdom (Newcastle Upon Tyne). Our members consist of an ensemble of musicians from other acts in the scene. It originally started out as a studio project but naturally evolved into a full band with the current line up we have now.
2.You have your first full length coming out in October, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the demo you had released in 2013?
The first big difference is the vocal sound, with me stepping up to vocal duties I went for a higher register style heavily influenced by Martin Van Drunen, David Vincent Chris Monroy, Damian Herring and so on, I wanted to encompass an “anxious” vocal delivery. Another big difference is the overall energy and vibe on the release, having recorded it as a full band there's the feel of a real band playing these songs.
As far as the overall sound goes you can expect riff based death metal heavily focused on memorability and catchy vocal lines to go along with it. Imagine Pestilence and Dismember jamming together...
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The songs tell a story or describe something I come up with influenced by various different things such as video games, movie scenes and my own personal experiences. The lyrical content ranges from post apocalyptic survival to anxiety and sleeping disorders.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Horrified'?
Nothing much really, the lyrical themes on the album all contain different elements of horror. But that came on its own naturally when I started writing lyrics. I chose the name because it sounded cool to me and I thought it fit the music perfectly when I first began writing the material back in 2012.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have actually only played one gig so far, which was the first edition of a local music festival called “Byker Grave” towards the end of 2013. The set went about as good as it could have gone considering how rushed we were to play and we only had 20 minutes of material from the album ready, but the venue was full and the response was could and it was our first introduction to the live circuit in our local scene. So I was extremely relieved that it went down okay and thankful of the promoters for putting us on.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released
We have plans to gig again after the album release in October and we already have a weekend double set of gigs happening in Newcastle and Manchester with three other bands on the same label as us. But are we looking for more shows in the future.
7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of old school death metal?
So far it has been great, people have said really positive things about it in press and early reviews. The comparisons we get and the descriptions of our sound have been really humbling to so far. I’m also really happy with people’s response to my vocals since it was my first time doing them on a record.
8.What is going on with some of the other musical projects or bands these days that some of the band members are involved with?
Each member play in different bands, I drum in a power metal band called Starborn and I used to play in a band called Plague Rider with our drummer Matthew, who play a much more technical style of death metal. He also plays in another doomy death metal band known as Live Burial. Ross our other guitarist is involved in two bands, Risen Prophecy and Vacivus. The former have just completed their second album and should be released shortly. The latter are just returning to the live scene after releasing their debut album. Our bassist Dan Hughes plays bass in Winds of Genocide who have their debut album coming out via pulverised records shortly, he is also in Prolfeed a punky hardcore band who have done a bunch of EP’s and splits he also works on a solo black metal project Rotting Bull.
9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are currently writing new material and its a lot more dynamic than the debut album, including more melodic elements from bands such as Dismember, Edge of Sanity and Horrendous my biggest influences right now. The new stuff is a lot more ambitious and accomplished. I’m setting my ambitions farther than any other material I have wrote for a project.
10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening nowadays?
Back in the day was heavily influenced by the original US death metal bands such as Death, Morbid Angel, Atheist and so on. My musical influences have expanded a lot with age and I listen to a vast amount of different metal ranging from death, power, prog, prog power, doom, epic metal and black metal. I’m not always constantly listening to death metal although i’d say it is my favorite style and in my opinion the most diverse of all the metal sub genres.
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
I enjoy reading, film, video games and some select sports. I’ve also recently got back into reading up on ancient history.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for conducting the interview & the kind review on your website. The album is due out late October and will be available on CD and digital download from our bandcamp page which will be set up closer to release, cheers!
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