By Andrew Bansal
Australia’s disEMBOWELMENT were at the forefront of the funeral doom scene back in the early 90’s, but they split up soon after the release of their only full-length album “Transcendence Into The Peripheral”. Now, two of the original members, guitarist Matthew Skarajew and drummer Paul Mazziotta have reunited with a new line-up to form Inverloch. The band’s debut mini-LP “Dusk…Subside” will be released on April 10th via Relapse Records, and offers 22 minutes of what I’d describe as one of the darkest, most haunting and beautiful pieces of heavy music I’ve ever heard. I caught up with Paul (abbreviated below as PM) and Matt (MS) to talk about this release and much more. Enjoy the conversation below, and check out the band’s official facebook page or their Relapse Records artist page for info on the mini-LP and their tour dates.
You’ll be releasing your debut mini-LP “Dusk…Subside” very soon. First of all tell me, what led to the formation of Inverloch?
MS: INVERLOCH was created out of the d.USK tribute band, and is simply a vehicle to release a few songs we had written – we’d never intended releasing new music but Relapse were very enthused with what we had – so we figured why not. There was no way we’d have entertained using the d.USK or disembowelment monikers – and I’d always kept INVERLOCH in the back of my mind – in fact, I had intended using it for an off-shoot to Trial of the Bow.
PM: I guess it’s more an EP rather than a mini-LP, but Yes as the d.USK project was rolling along, we had some new tunes and were keen to break away from the whole diSEMBOWELMENT link as we all were comfortable to be considered a TOTALLY separate band. Inverloch is that, a totally independent band.
As you two are the original members of disEMBOWELMENT, comparisons will obviously be made. In terms of the musical style, would you say you’ve continued from where you left off in disEMBOWELMENT?
MS: In some ways sure – we still love that sound and feel and it is a style we are naturally inclined to. It’s kind of weird to consider our current sound directly continuing after d. as that was over such a long time ago, but I’d say there’s a natural extension in there. Some new music might give a better idea though. Time will tell.
PM: Inverloch is basically playing styles we love – death metal, doom and ambiance. But continuing from where diSEMBOWELMENT left off? Well you could argue and say we do, but the intention is not that. It’s all about playing what we enjoy but it also develops a new style with 3 fresh new members in the band, If you listen to ‘Within Frozen Beauty” you could argue and say that this tune is not any style like disembowelment. So there! Who knows what happens next?
I quite like the idea of releasing a mini-LP, as I feel that the shortness of the album actually heightens its impact. Was that the original intention, or were you looking to put out a full-length release?
We intended it to be an EP, for sure. I love the 25-30 minute framework. I think it gives the songs a chance to really develop their own identity. Sonically each record can have its own vibe – there are many pluses. We funded the recording and mix ourselves, so an EP was viable. It keeps the retail release prices lower, too. Stress levels are lower. Admittedly these are things I’ve become more acutely aware of after the fact. It’s entirely possible that traditional release formats are potentially redundant – I think it fair to say that we listen to music in a very different way these days. But then – it’s all subjective. There’s no right or wrong.
PM: We had intended to put out a demo first and had no idea Relapse had an interest in this, so we thought we’d release an EP instead. To actually release an EP was a real bonus for us as we were just enjoying recording again.
The music on the album is very progressive. Did you spend a lot of time arranging the different passages, or did it just flow naturally for you while writing?
If you are inferring that it develops of its own accord along the way, that’s kinda cool – I feel the same way. The songs are, incidentally, chronological as to when they were composed and how they lay-out on the disc – the arrangements were given fairly careful consideration – I wanted to treat these songs as if they were the last I’d ever print in this genre, so I consciously tried to include all of the aspects of death/doom/ambient and thrash metal that I love in there. And also to pay homage to our past, my early thrash/death metal roots – bands that I admire and respect, or revered as a teenager. It’s ALL in there, somewhere (laughs)
PM: As much as we all contributed to the tunes and I went through various beats and structures a fair bit, Matt came up with creating the core rhythms, riffs and melodies. He even wrote and recorded the ambient parts in between the tunes. There was a fair amount of trial and error and there was a little storing away or throwing out many riffs during the creation here.
I really do think that the music on this mini-LP is great, and I’m sure it will find success when it’s released. Provided it does succeed, would you be willing to stick to releasing mini-albums in the future as well?
MS: Awesome, I’m glad you like it! Honestly, I think the EP/Mini LP is pretty perfect for us – this really is very much a part-time project, so we can kick back and mess around with another complete musical statement, and hopefully people will dig it. I really like the idea of taking people on a little journey with a release, and 50-70 minutes is a big ask of anyone’s concentration – so yes, we may well run with this format. Relapse have been great – they completely understand where we are (the band) at this stage of our lives, and we’re under no pressure to conform to other formats.
PM: I really appreciate your kind words here. Thank-you. Once we get back from Europe, we’ll re-access the situation. If anything we are happy with eventuates writing-wise, I am happy with even a demo or single. So an EP would be fine.
What plans do you have after the release of the album, in terms of gigs?
MS: We will actually be visiting Europe for a small number of shows when the EP comes out – so once we get back we’ll kick back and see how we all feel and what we’d like to do next. I think we’ll lay-off playing at home for a little while, until we have some new music to take out.
PM: Between d.USK and Inverloch for the past year and a bit, we’ve gone pretty hard with gigs considering we all work and most of us have families to support. So I think we’ve done quite well pulling the band together to pay tribute to diSEMBOWELMENT (d.USK band), record an EP as INVERLOCH and play Inverloch shows as well…AND tour Europe!!! For Inverloch we will take some time out.
You’ve announced that you’ll be performing disEMBOWELMENT’s “Transcendence Into The Peripheral” album live in its entirety at the Roadburn festival. How does it feel to be getting a chance to perform that album at such a high-profile gig?
MS: Oh that’s an amazing opportunity – we were so surprised to be asked and simply couldn’t say no. It’ll be interesting to see what people’s thoughts/reactions are. I hope they enjoy hearing those songs and what they sound like in a live context – it’ll be a one off chance!
PM: I never in my wildest dreams thought there was still any interest of hearing these tunes 20 years on. Surprisingly, I still really enjoy playing these tunes now. So to be given the opportunity to play them at Roadburn (of all places!!!) is very hard for me to explain how I feel about this. Beyond Excited is one small description of how I feel. I must admit, I feel a little sad Jason cannot join us. He was very keen to come over and play a few tunes, but could not. He continues to not only support us, but ride this wonderful wave we are on at the moment.
What goes through your mind when people say that you influenced the entire funeral doom movement with that album alone?
MS: That’s a huge call man, I doubt any of the past d. members really feel that to be the case. But it’s a very nice thing to say, regardless. I think there’d be just as many people that reject that notion, too. There were some really fine bands in that period.
PM: To be honest I shake my head with confusion. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought about ‘Funeral Doom’ during the diSEMBOWELMENT project. Even Jason laughs at that notion. To me, it was simple. We loved and thought we were writing Death Doom Metal, added some ambiance and did our best to make the record sound like it was recorded in the Grand Canyon. Maybe adding space to something doomy and heavy is arguably considered as Funeral Doom? I’ll shake my head again.
I think it’s most challenging for a funeral doom metal band to perform on stage and attract a sizable audience, because of the slow nature of the music. Do you feel that when you’re playing shows?
MS: If you love the genre and appreciate the band you’re seeing – you go knowing what to expect. We love to chop and change the dynamics and tempo’s all night, just to keep our audience on their toes and give people a chance to engage with us and let loose during the frantic moments. We love to play with contrasting bands, too – so it keeps the night varied and always changing.
PM: It’s interesting you ask that, because the reactions we’ve had so far, have been not a show where a bunch of metal guys are head banging the whole set or moshing for that matter. But they are quite curious of the sounds we are creating live. If we were playing straight doom, then YES I would feel most challenged to attracting a sizable audience, but because our music is both fast and slow, I believe it keeps the audience interested throughout the set. Especially if they don’t know the tunes but love the chopping and changing that our tunes can have at times.
Coming back to the Inverloch album, the cover artwork perfectly represents the music. Whose idea was it?
MS: Orion Landau – Pip at Relapse put us on to him and he did a sterling job – we were so happy – I sketched out some ideas and presented them to him – and quite frankly he blew us away with a beautiful design. For once our release has a better balance between design and music. I feel it has a better connection.
It’s nice to know that it will be released as a deluxe etched vinyl. Do you think the resurgence of vinyl has helped prevent the death of the physical forms of music, at least to some degree?
MS: It may have. I’m not convinced people really play the vinyl though? Change is the constant – but I’m glad people get to enjoy the artwork properly. The etched Vinyl is stunning to see – really impressive.
PM: It’s really good to see that vinyl has appeared again as a serious option when buying records. Especially to appreciate the Artwork. What would be even better is if the people out there can hear the difference between CD and Vinyl. At least there still is that option as it is too easy to grab something from iTunes or a ‘cloud’ service somewhere on the internet.
Relapse also re-issued the disEMBOWELMENT catalog as limited edition vinyl box set, which I believe has now sold out. Is there any plan to release it again, specially considering the upcoming d.USK dates?
MS: There may be something in the works – I’m honestly not sure – disembowelment belongs to Relapse, so it’s their call. Paul may know something.
PM: So Relapse are doing a special edition “Transcendence…” vinyl LP exclusively for the Roadburn show. It has an amazing Silk Screen designed again by Orion (amazing job again!). This is available in Purple vinyl and only available at the Roadburn show. Relapse are also releasing the ‘Transcendence…. ´album (original cover) again on Grey and Maroon vinyl. I would say that is all for anymore diSEMBOWELMENT material being released.
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