PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
When ‘Apotheosis’, the debut EP from Monaghan’s Dead Aeon, found its way onto the stereo at PM’s recently established Ireland HQ, we found ourselves suitably impressed by what we referred to as their “brutally effective brand of blackened death metal”, and praised it as one of the best new death metal releases of the year…”
http://planetmosh.com/dead-aeon-apotheosis/
So, it seemed an appropriate time to send our latest contributor on the Emerald Isle, Sarah Holden, along to catch up with the foursome and find out what the story behind their awesome first offering…
What is the origin of the name Dead Aeon?
We’ve always had trouble finding a name. Jack remembers reading an interview once where the musician said “Thinking of a band name is harder that writing songs” and how right he was!
We’ve went through many different ways of approaching it, trying to relate it to us in some way.
In the end, our drummer Evan suggested Dead Aeon and we went with it because we thought it suited the direction the band was heading in musically. It is similar to our music in a way that it creates a dark atmosphere.
What sacrifices have you made for Dead Aeon?
Being in a hardworking black/death metal band is extremely time-consuming but we would never take any of it back. We all love what we do so much. Obviously, it’s not been very financially rewarding but the satisfaction we get from writing and performing our own material is worth the financial hardship.
How do you feel about music labels and the music industry?
The music industry is very intricate thing. We have read a lot interviews with famous musicians saying that the industry is dying, which we do not believe. We think as long as there are hardworking bands, there will be hardworking record labels, especially underground labels such as Invictus Productions, who are based in Dublin and promote the hell out of Irish metal, which is always good to see.
Underground bands, such as Warpath, Guttrench and many more Irish metal bands keep the Irish metal scene alive and we are proud to be a part of it.
Who are your major influences in music?
When we started out in 2008 we played much lighter stuff, all covers: Rage Against The Machine, System of a Down, bands like that.
We progressively got heavier, covering Lamb of God, Behemoth and Decapitated. The heavier sound came with lineup changes.
It wasn’t until we started writing our own material as a four piece that we established what kind of metal we played, which is blackened death metal.
Everyone in the band has a very wide music taste, so our influences really could come from anywhere – but our most obvious influences would be Decapitated, Behemoth and Meshuggah.
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?
Our guitarist, Chris, would be the primary songwriter, but usually we would write and structure the songs together at rehearsals.
Jack decides the topics and themes of our songs, being the vocalist and lyricist.
Dan also writes many riffs and has many ideas about song structure, while Evan would lay down a bass drum beat, and then add to it and make it more intricate to suit the song.
A lot of our songs challenge the topics of religion and the government, but we leave interpretation of the lyrics to the listeners.
Do you have any regrets for choosing to be a musician?
We do not and never will regret becoming musicians, it’s in our blood and it’s a strong passion that we all share in the band.
We love writing new music and playing live to new people and with new bands. We would never regret any of it. The good gigs, the bad gigs, they’ve all lead us to where we are now.
What is the ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Our goal, our ambition is and always has been, to write the music we want to play, to play it to people who enjoy it and to constantly improve ourselves, individually and as a whole. We always want to play new places with new bands and get ourselves out there and known in the music scene.
Tell me about your new album.
Our new, debut EP is entitled ‘Apotheosis’. It was recorded with producer Michael Richards in Trackmix Studio, Dublin in the summer of 2012.
We are extremely proud of every aspect of the EP – everything from our performance, Michael’s production to how the tracks came out as a whole.
We started with recording drum parts, then guitar, bass and finally vocals. The whole process went very smoothly and we are all extremely proud of the result. It has powerful, grooving, dissonant riffs, thunderous, lightning quick drums, rumbling bass lines and the vocals go from the lowest growls to the highest screams.
- ‘Apotheosis’ will be officially released on November 24th, at The Pint, Dublin. The band also open for Anaal Nathrakh at the same venue on December 8th.
Interview by Sarah Holden
