INFERNAL OUTCRY Interview (Australia)


Infernal Outcry is a progressive death metal band based in Hobart, Tasmania. Be delighted by pounding drums, evil guitars and deathly screams til complex rhythms and sinister melodies make your ear drums bleed – in a good way! The band’s unique style of progressive death metal teems with intensity and engages the listener’s mind with its diverse style-range and thoughtful compositional structure.

Infernal Outcry’s extremely well received performances at the Falls Music & Arts Festival in December 2012 and more recently at Faux Mo (part of the MONA FOMA festival) in January 2014 are demonstrative of the band’s exciting and engaging live show. In March 2013, Infernal Outcry released a three song demo entitled Eclipsed, and supported Thy Art Is Murder on the “Hate Across Tasmania” tour. Infernal Outcry began playing live in March 2012, and has since shared the stage with numerous well known metal bands including Psycroptic, Mephistopheles, Black Majesty, Synthetic Breed, and Intense Hammer Rage. The band is now beginning to play shows beyond its hometown and on the mainland of Australia in order to further expand its fan base. This will also assist in promoting the upcoming release of its debut album produced by Joe Haley (Psycroptic), which thanks to a recently awarded grant from Tasmanian Regional Arts Fund, is due for release in early 2015.

Infernal Outcry began playing together in late 2010. The band features Bachelor of Music graduates David Lawson (guitar), Daniel Hill (guitar), and Leah Armand (vocals). Infernal Outcry’s rhythm section consists of current Bachelor of Music student Paul Sharp (bass), who also plays bass in progressive metal band Create the Crayon, and the versatility of Luke Wright (drums), who previously played with metal band Sinnister Valley.


Please give us a short introduction of yourself so the readers know with who to deal with?
DAN: We’re Infernal Outcry! A progressive infused tech, death metal band from Tasmania. We enjoy shredding and playing in 15/8.

Tell us more about the origin of the INFERNAL OUTCRY. Where are the band members coming from? Give me some details about your band now.
LEAH: I am originally from Denmark, but my family migrated to Australia when I was two years old.
PAUL: I was born in Australia on the mainland but moved to Tasmania when I was about two years old as well.
DAVE: I have lived in Tasmania all my life.
DAN: I have also lived in Tasmania my whole life.

Tell me about the origin of the band’s name! How serious do you take yourselves actually?
LEAH: EXTREMELY seriously! ^_^
DAVE: I am a squirrel
DAN: Wait until you see our video….

If you had to describe your music in "five" words, which would you choose?
LEAH: Intense, obstreperous, piquant, apocalyptic, and poignant.

“Be delighted by pounding drums, evil guitars and deathly screams til complex rhythms and sinister melodies make your ear drums bleed.” Do you play music that tends to the heart of Death Metal and hits the true core? What´s your philosophy?
LEAH: I first started really listening to metal when my brother introduced me to Carcass. I then discovered Death, and both of those bands are still among my favourites today. Vocally, I have
been very influenced by Chuck Schuldiner and Jeff Walker, so for me, death metal has played a big part in my development.
PAUL: I try not to look at the music too philosophically. I just really love playing and prefer to play metal. Good metal always hits the core!
DAN: I personally don’t listen to a lot of death metal myself I’m more a prog kinda guy, it’s all just a matter of tastes. At the end of the day, I think our music does tick all the boxes and there is no real philosophy, as long as it sounds good that’s all that matters.
LEAH: As far as lyrics go, one of the main themes I am interested in exploring is with regard to the emotional conflict arising from the awareness of our mortality, particularly in relation to the unsustainable and artificial nature of our global civilisation and its impacts on the natural world. The lyrics are an expression of the darker emotions that are experienced by humanity and attempt to provide the listener and creator with a form of catharsis by aiming to develop a deeper understanding of the world around us.

Tell me more about the last release "Eclipsed" demo! Are you very satisfied with progress music for now?
DAVE: Recording our “Eclipsed” demo was an exciting experience for us. Listening to our tracks for the first time gave us the opportunity to put ourselves in the shoes of our audience. Throughout this process we learned a great deal about our own music; how well different parts fit together, how variations in groove help build up tension before a climax and so on and so
forth. We are certainly happy to finally have the tracks out there, and the demo is not too shabby as far as demos go, but we will only be truly satisfied once we get an album out.

How do you get the inspiration for your writing? How would you describe your style? Who have been your role models?
LEAH: When it comes to writing music and lyrics, I rarely get inspired. I work hard instead.
PAUL: I get inspired by all sorts of music. Mostly metal of course but I also play in a rock band and write and listen to a lot of psy trance. As a matter of fact I'm listening to psy now. But as far as who in particular, probably bands like Necrophagist, Dream Theater, Gorod and Death. I think we tend to sound a bit like a mish mash of all these guys.
DAVE: Like Leah, I don’t require the planets to align for me to feel inspired to write new material; however, I do find myself greatly motivated to write after hearing something I haven’t heard before, such as a new transition or use of quirky harmonies. Mostly I start by recording one or two ideas and attempt to develop variations, which in turn bring out ‘extension’ ideas that I flip, twist, stretch and mutilate until I am intrigued. Eventually I’ll arrange the mess into a slightly more cohesive structure and call it a song. There are a number of musicians who I look up to for their composition. Some of the metal ones are Paul Masvidal from Cynic, Mikael Ã…kerfeldt from Opeth, Ben Wieneman from The Dillinger Escape Plan and Michael Romeo from Symphony X.
DAN: Most of the writing I’ve done for this band has come from an inspired moment; not that I need inspiration to write everything, I just find the best things come out spur of the moment and usually snow ball quickly into great songs. My main influences as far as writing goes are bands like Dream Theater, Protest the Hero, Trivium and Opeth.

How are the tasks of song creating distributed to the band members? Is it all a collective effort or does everyone work at home alone and then in studio you get to join the parts together? How often member band meets?
PAUL: Normally, one band member will write individual songs at home alone, which Leah writes lyrics and vocal lines for. The song is then tweaked through rehearsal and eventually evolves into a complete and polished song.

When did you start playing and how old were you when you became interested in metal? Did learning music theory help you or slow you down in achieving your musical goals?
LEAH: I was about 17 years old when I really became interested in metal and began trying to figure out how to do death metal vocals. Learning music theory definitely hasn’t slowed me down; I do think it’s useful, but I find it difficult to put it into practice, especially as a vocalist. A lot of it is more like maths to me.
PAUL: I started playing metal at the age of about 14 – mostly Metallica and Pantera in those days. I think music theory is definitely helpful for us, even if just to communicate ideas better. It's good to be able to say "this bit's in 3/4, then 7/8, then does a chromatic thing", rather than trying to figure out how else to explain it.
DAVE: My mother plays violin in an orchestra and my father was a classical guitarist/teacher; ironically, my first guitar lesson was by my best friend in high school. My friend and I started discovering new guitar music that inspired us and we inevitably stumbled onto Metallica. From then on, we were hooked and eventually got into prog bands like Dream Theater and Symphony
X. Music theory is a very misunderstood concept. People think that it is all about note-reading and keeping to a set of rules that restrict creativity. This is a blatant misunderstanding, as theory is simply knowledge that is meant to assist and streamline the creative process, not hinder it. Any musician will have a bank of tricks and patterns that they use to create their sound, which serves as their own music theory. When I write, my knowledge of music theory can only ever serve to broaden my ideas.
DAN: I started playing guitar and getting into music about 7 years ago now so I was a late comer to music. I spent a year in high school and two years in college playing, then went straight to university, which was full on. Some of the first stuff I learnt to play was Metallica; “Master of Puppets” was especially a huge step forward for me in my want to play and learn.

What bands have influenced you more than Progressive Death Metal? What music Do you listen at the moment? Do you like The Metalcore, Deathcore and other modern styles?
LEAH: The bands I’m most excited about at the moment are Cattle Decapitation and The Faceless. I think they’re being truly innovative, which is rare nowadays. I really hate metalcore and think it’s an abomination, just like nu metal was in the 90s.
PAUL: I vary a lot; but mostly tech death really. I love a lot of electronic music too. I got right into Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds recently. I have to agree with Leah on metalcore though – not a fan. I tend to stay away from things ending in “core”.
DAVE: The Dillinger Escape Plan are often classified as Mathcore, and they rock my socks!
DAN: I listen to a lot of different stuff; Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience is doing the rounds at the moment as well The Human Abstract’s album Digital Veil. I’m not a huge death metal fan so most of the stuff I listen to is more modern influenced like The Human Abstract and Protest the Hero.

How big a role for a Woman in Extreme Music? What do you think things like this are become an "Idealism" in self or just want to give the impression of a very "Interesting" only for the listeners? Or do you have another about truth opinions how you feel during this here?
DAVE: Dan?
DAN: ...
LEAH: I don’t think gender should matter, and I don’t like to make an issue of it at all. However, I can’t deny that females in metal inevitably pique the interest of audiences, which is a good thing for Infernal Outcry, I guess, but it’s certainly not something we go out of our way to promote. I find the concept of gender playing any significant role in the decision to form an ensemble to be pretty vile.

Will you always be treated "notch" in the music playing during this than others??
PAUL: I think death metal has always been a niche genre, and often, the more progressive or technical, the more so, particularly in a small town like Hobart. Our scene is pretty small but intense; most people seem to like "straighter" styles of metal.

And what difficulties you encountered while playing Extreme music for this?
PAUL: Tasmania has a small population, so there are few venues that will host heavy bands. Across the whole state there are about two that regularly host metal gigs, so getting gigs can be hard. Also, local radio stations play nearly no metal. But it's not so bad really. These the days the internet can be a great help.

A question I like to ask a lot on musicians that follow the underground, is the question on downloading. What would your reaction be if someone told you that he downloaded both your albums and thought they were awesome, and what to someone that told you he bought the albums and thought they were shit?
DAVE: Honestly, I couldn’t care less if someone downloaded our stuff. Of course I would prefer it if they bought it, but if the music is getting around I believe that’s positive. If someone paid for our music and thought it was shit I would encourage them to give the album to someone else. You never know; they may like it.

Outside of playing Metal, what kinds of things do you enjoy doing?
Plotting world domination, playing computer games, eating babies, hunting for groupies, and throwing random things at Dan from the car as we leave rehearsals.

Well, we have finished with the interview... Thanks for your time and good luck in the future. You can say some words for our readers and your fans. Listen to the quality music and stay Metal!
Thanks mate! Keep your eyes and ears out for our spankin’ debut album in the not too distant future! \m/



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