Interview with Matt Harvey
Q>>
Hello guys... I guess you got many great reactions already with the new album...
Am I right?
A>> So far the response has been pretty positive, which is surprisingly
cool.
Q>> If one
asks you to describe "Anatomy Is Destiny" with three words only, which
words would you choose and why?
A>> Gore Fucking Metal. Those are the three words we've always used to
describe what we do, and they still apply now as much as they did when we coined
the term back in 1996.
Q>> How did
you work on the new songs? Was the composition process a rapid one or did you
take your sweet time to make the songs perfectly fit your fans' ears?
A>> The songwriting was a lot more focused than before. Songs were written,
re-written, and re-arranged several times in some cases. We had a bit more time
to be methodical this time around, since we had pretty much most of 2002 to
write the whole album. With the last album, the songs were really off-the-cuff
and to the point, so there wasn't as much back and forth and collaboration as
there was doing "A.i.D.".
Q>> What
about the Closer Recording studios? Are you satisfied with the sound you obtained
with Neil Kernon's help?
A>> We had a few problems with the equipment in the studio itself, but
it was a cool place with a good atmosphere and the staff, when they were around,
which wasn't hardly at all, were very accommodating. Neil did a fantastic job
engineering and recording everything. He's a very hands-on kind of producer,
totally into "mic'ing" everything and working the board, which is
really cool. The sound is really good, very close to the way we imagined it.
It's certainly far above and beyond anything we've achieved sonically so far.
Q>> I'm personally
way less into Death Metal than I was ten years ago, yet I appreciated your latest
effort very much, probably because I feel nostalgic thinking of the good old
Carcass years... Do you guys miss those years too? If so, why...
A>> I'm definitely way less into the Death Metal of today than the Death
Metal of 10 years ago. I just think that most of today's Death Metal is more
about how many beats per minute your drummer can play and how complex your riffs
are, instead of just about making a good song, which is what all music should
be about, be it Country, Rap, Death Metal, Opera, or whatever. I miss the quality
of those years. Albums like "Consvming Impvlse", "Symphonies
of Sickness", "Scream Bloody Gore", "Left Hand Path",
"Into the Grave", "Altars of Madness", "Severed Survival",
"Dark Recollections", and the like still comprise about 90% of the
Death Metal I listen to. There are some good newer bands though... I like Aborted,
Severe Torture, Engorged, The County Medical Examiners, Funebrarum, etc.
Q>> What
about playing Extreme Metal in the States? Do you sometimes have to face dummies
who try to put a spoke in your wheel?
A>> We face that everywhere we go it seems. It's part for the course playing
this kind of confrontational, over-the-top music. We have had all kinds of problems
with censorshit all over the world.
Q>> Lyrically
speaking, where do you take your inspiration from? Any surgeon in the band?
A>> Our inspiration comes from all over the place. Obviously, as a gore
band we have the prerequisite influences of medical textbooks, Italian horror
movies, obituaries, EC comics, etc. I also take inspiration from authors like
Stan Lee, Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and
a lot of other stuff. No surgeons here. Our drummer has since left the band
to become a molecular biologist though.
Q>> Seems
like you'll soon tour with Cephalic Carnage, which is a band I also like very
much... Have you played with them already? D'you think you're gonna have a great
time?
A>> I know we'll have a great time. We've already toured with those maniacs
in the US.
Q>> The end
;-) Anything to say to your fans?
A>> The tour should be totally insane and we hope to see all the slaughtercultists
and necromaniacs in the front or in the morgue this year! www.exhumed.us
RNO