As
with all genres, the popularity of bands that are influential shifts as time
goes on. Amongst the more underground death metal bands, the primary
influential bands have been comprised of two main camps in recent years. On one
side there is early Incantation and Autopsy and on the other is Dismember
and Entombed.
On the Incantation/Autopsy
side, we have bands like Father Befouled, Ignivomous, and Dead
Congregation. On the Dismember/Entombed side we have bands such as Black Breath,
Miasmal,
and Entrails.
Those two camps have dominated the more old school-minded of the last several
years.
A
few years back, a new camp began to develop with a new set of influences.
Specifically, Asphyx
and Death,
with the Death
influence tending to come from the pre-‘Individual
Thought Patterns’ era. Two of the
best albums of 2014 and featuring these influences were from Morbus Chron
and Horrendous,
along with several others. Indeed Horrified were one such band and they
emerged with their debut album ‘Descent
Into Putridity’ featuring similar influences, whilst also making use of the
Sunlight Studios sound of Dismember. The focus of this debut album was on
the uglier, simpler side of things as compared to Horrendous’ more melodic
approach. It made for an enjoyable album but one that was not without its
flaws, but with a nicely varied song writing style already in place, the future
looked bright for Horrified.
On
their sophomore album ‘Of Despair’, they
retained elements of what worked on their debut, but broadened their horizons
considerably. Whilst they were very clearly still a death metal band, with a
similar tempo to their previous material, the guitars on “Of Despair” took a more melodic turn and while the straightforward
death metal moments on the album were
very good, it was moments of
downtempo grandiosity that separated Horrified from other modern day death metal
bands.
Today
will see the release of the highly anticipated third album from Horrified,
“Allure of the Fallen” a work of
towering, melodic death metal majesty.
To celebrate this release we offer this exclusive interview with main
man Dan Alderson, who talks us through his influences and everything else in
between, as we get AMPED & DOOMED with one of death metal’s
rising stars.
Can
you give us an insight into how you started playing music, leading up to the
formation of Horrified
I actually started playing music by picking up the Bass guitar when I was still
in high school. All of my friends were getting into rock and getting their
first instruments so I kind of followed suite. The bass didn't last long and I
acquired my first guitar from one of my close friends and started taking
it seriously as a teenager. I ended up going on to study music at college after
high school, in my second year of college I finally met other capable
musicians playing metal and started playing in bands.
Can you remember who are what inspired you to pick up
the guitar and are there any bands, guitarists, musicians currently on the
scene that continue to inspire you and push you to try new things?
Well back in those formative pre metal days classic choices such as Hendrix and Jimmy Paige really did make me to pick up the guitar and try
to get some good lead chops down. The first metal album I ever heard was Megadeth's
"Rust In Peace" album,
which I discovered by one of my best friends sending me "Holy Wars.." via MSN
messenger around 11 years ago now. I think looking back in hindsight the reason
why I loved Dave's playing so much
was down to him taking those classic pentatonic licks / runs and
playing them at pretty insane speeds. I would honestly say that I owe a lot of
my lead chops down to Alexi from Children of
Bodom, when I was becoming more advanced in college, I really did
challenge myself to start learning his leads, which lead me on to search
out lessons and advice from other players to actually learn how to sweep pick
and such in order to progress.
Ultimately my favourite lead players of all time
are Andres Rain and Olaf Thörsen from Labyrinth,
the lead playing on "Return To
Heaven Denied" for me is simply unmatched and I often still jam lead
sections from tracks such as "Moonlight"
and "Night of Dreams" in
order to keep my lead playing up to scratch and inspiring me to still focus on
lead playing, which really does have to come second to songwriting now.
Whilst
we’re on the subject of inspiration or heroes, do you have 5 records that stand
out as favourites, what influence did they have upon you and what is it about
those record that particular resonates amongst others?
This is going to be a long answer, as I love talking about albums close to me,
here goes:
Edge of Sanity – “Crimson
II”
This
for me is my ultimate album, my greatest inspiration. Not only does this album
inspire me to write music the most out of any album I've heard, but it also
helps me push on through life during hard times. The entire album is incredible
from start to finish but those highly layered, intense melodic parts stand out
the most and has really made me push my song writing to layer up a lot of
sections and build on themes in order to strive for really epic and
tight arrangements for Horrified. This album really does captivate my
imagination and create an emotive response unlike anything else.
Caladan Brood – “Echoes of Battle”
The album which made me read "The Malazan Book Of The Fallen" I wasn't prepared for the
impact that series would have on my life in general and the inspiration it
gives me. But back to the album itself, again, it's all about those dense,
heavily layered sections which really do define the term "epic". This
album manages to encapsulate the feeling of a 11k word plus series in a 70
minute run time and that is definitely a huge achievement and an inspiring feat
in my opinion. Countless times this album has moved me and still does on every
listen; I can assure you this has racked up a pretty insane play count
since it was released in 2013.
Horrendous – “Ecydsis”
Oh boy, this album really did follow me through the most difficult and demanding
2 years of my entire life. I have followed this band closely ever since “The Chill”s and started communicating
with Damain online via discovering
his studio work in the run up for the release of “Ecydsis”. This album was a huge step up from the debut in my
opinion and added incredibly sombre, melodic sections to an already melodic,
intense death metal style and at the time that was everything I wanted to
achieve in music and given to me on a silver plate with this record. This
album really did inspire me to improve my own song writing and push on through
times of severe adversity in my personal life. For all those reasons
stated, this album will always remain close to me.
Sacramentum – “Far
Away From The Sun”
This
should be pretty obvious if you have heard "Allure Of The Fallen”. This
is the ultimate black metal album for me. The overall intensity from start
to finish and melodic atmosphere is unmatched by anything else. The Swedish,
melodic black metal movement of the mid 90's is easily my favourite scene
overall. But the icy, sombre and nihilistic atmosphere of the riffs, vocals and
lyrics hits me the hardest out of the countless gems from that time period.
While Heaven Wept –
“Of Empires Forlorn”
Probably one of the saddest albums ever made, it’s hard for me to go into
detail what makes this such an important record for me without going into
very personal details. Musically an inspiration and a very relatable record in
every way for me.
Can
remember your first electric guitar?
Yeah, it was an entry level Washburn guitar included in one of those
beginner packs to get you started. I mentioned it in an earlier question,
but by that time it was a pretty beat up guitar with a very high action. I
ended up getting my first decent guitar the Xmas of that year.
What
guitar(s) are you using today and how did you gravitate towards the guitar you
currently use?
I'm currently using an Ibanez ICT 700 or "The Iceman". I played one of these on a music trip to a
gear convention in college, pretty expensive guitar at the time though. So my
first guitar close to the high end spectrum was a Jackson DK2M, which I used for
countless shows and tracked guitar parts for quite a few releases with. Both
guitars are actually discontinued, around 9 months ago now I really, really
wanted another guitar with a fixed bridge and also a little more high end than
the Jackson.
I ended up scoring my Iceman for
around retail price used and it now serves as my main axe. I would always
remember playing that iceman at the sounds live in college and knew I had to
get one, one day.
What
do you like about the guitars you currently use and has there been any specific
modifications to it?
“The Iceman” has a neck thru neck
and a string thru bridge, the sustain is insane and the Dimarzio pick ups are
incredibly high end. The action is very, very low and it’s an overall joy to
play. The guitar has not been modded at all.
What
amps and pedals do you currently use? Do you use a combination of amps, or a
full half stack? Talk us through your set up both in the studio and in the live
environment?
I
use an ENGL
Powerball II - 100watt tube amp for live's, this will go into a 4x12
at any venue we play.. The tone is incredible and I just play it direct in
with no pedals. Obviously Horrified had a history of being a HM2
using band and I have a Japanese model HM2 I used to use all the time,
but it's currently out of action at the moment. I don't really have much of a
studio set up (Oddly enough even though I have a music production degree) Guitars
for releases I write and play on are tracked dry with my interface for reamping
purposes later in the mix phase
What are your amp/ pedal settings?
On the ENGL
I use something close to this:
Gain - 7
Bass - 6
Mid (boosted) - 5
Treble - 7/7.5
Presence - 6/7
What tunings
do you use and why, and as a result is there a specific brand / gauge of string
you prefer ?
I have been playing in D standard for years and using 10 gauge strings for a
very long time. A lot of people poke fun at how light gauge strings I use but I
much prefer playing a lighter gauge strings. I find it much better for phrases
and legato runs in terms of lead playing, as for the reasons for playing in D
standard. I just find that it’s a tuning that provides a perfect middle ground
in terms of pitch and I also love writing in D Minor. Since Horrified
is quite melodic going any lower would be out of the question.
Do you have
any advice for up and coming guitars players, bands?
Be patient, put the work in and keep grinding out.
Do
feel there are deeply help misconceptions about being in a band?
A ton, haha. Being in a band isn't touring the road 24/7 and partying. Its hard
work, its stressful, there are elongated periods of little to no
activity on the live front, its lots of practice, it can be disheartening,
frustrating, etc.
Moving
on a little then, what can you tell us about any of your current projects,
tours, CD's, etc you’re currently promoting, completed and anything else band
related we should know about?
The new Horrified
album "Allure Of The Fallen"
is coming out on Shadow Kingdom Records on September 29th, a release I
worked incredibly hard on and I'm very excited for it to be finally coming out!
This is the best record Horrified have done to date, we are also
working on getting back out on the live front to support the release. With at
least one show planned and hopefully gaining interest again from promoters to
book us for shows post release. I'm also playing live in Sojourner and our debut live
appearance is currently being organised and that may progress into a
touring band to. I've also been working on my funeral death side project called
Enshroudment.
Which I have wrote a three track EP for, we have been practising it in the
shadows for around a year and we are about to record the EP and start playing
live in the final 1/3 of 2017. So after a pretty tough year of
inactivity and hard work in regards to making "Allure Of The Fallen" I'm pretty excited for what the
music has in store in the future!
What
springs to mind when you think about the completion of your upcoming record and
how is the mood in the camp at present?
Excitement and maybe some nervous anticipation. We are all very eager to push
the new album hard and start playing again, it’s been a long and at times tough
journey. But now things are finally coming to fruition...
What can fans look forward to from you over the next 12 months? How is
your schedule shaping up?
Hopefully a few decent shows for Horrified, it’s long overdue and deserved with
this new record I feel. I'm also starting to write material for the fourth album.
I want to try and out do “Allure…”
and give Shadow Kingdom another epic!
Finally, do
you have any final comments/word of wisdom you’d like to bestow upon us?
Just a thanks for the continued support from THE SLUDGELORD and anyone else
out there who has been with us, or will join us with this new record. A lot
does go into Horrified
and I greatly appreciate all forms of support for the band, cheers
all!
The
End
