1. Thou Shalt Not was established in 2003 just outside of Cleveland. Can you tell us how this trio began? What moved you and the other guys to start a band and how far do you think you’ve come since that time?
Van and I went to high school together since the 10th grade along with our old vocalist Dan Mustar. I myself was just leaving the Cleveland brutal death outfit, Dislimb at the time after doing a few shows as 2nd guitarist for their “Bleeding Anxiety” demo. I definitely was looking to play something more true to my own tastes and preferences, as far really getting the whole evil death/black metal thing together on my own. There were never many bands from our area at the time playing in this style with our influences especially (Morbid Angel, Angelcorpse, Deicide, Centvrian, etc.), most were “brutal” death metal bands or metalcore or slam or something else. We initially formed as a statement against this kind of music and moved forward with our own thing.
2. How is living in Ohio? What’s the metal scene like where you are? Do you think where you are has much of an impact on your music?
I have always enjoyed being from this part of the country, northeast Ohio, right along the great lakes. The weather can be pretty extreme, and the sun doesn’t shine here quite as often as a lot of other places, so I think it can be conducive to some dark, extreme thoughts or ideologies that may spill over into the music. I would say it does influence us on some level as far as that goes.
3. I know so far that the band has gone through alot of lineup changes, what do you think of the current lineup?
The newest line up of as of Sept 2022, (Don – Guitar/Vocals, Van – Drums/Backing Vocals, Kid – Bass) has been the best for the band thus far. As far as previous iterations of the band go, anyone who has been involved with us has filled the role at the time. But the core of the band has always been my riffs and lyrics on top of drums that are written together between Van and I. It’s a formula that has always worked well for us, but we will have the 3 of us contributing on the next release for sure.
4. You call it True Death metal, What do you make of the status of Death Metal at present, has it changed a lot in your lifetime?
The status of death metal nowadays, I think is in the best state it has been in my lifetime as far as what is popular or what bands are tending to gravitate towards. It seems like a lot of younger people are embracing the “old ways” from the early to mid 90s and actually want to sound and looks evil and dark for the most part again. It is quite refreshing to see compared to the glut of bands playing only “brutal” death metal, slam, etc. as it was in the early to mid 2000s
5. Let’s get back to the times when Death Metal was still a pretty new concept. What were the first bands that took your attention? How did it happen?
I was born in 1983 so am just a little young for the first wave, but the bands who pioneered the genre has always been what I’ve gravitated towards as far as my own tastes. I had a friend growing up whose father got us some copied cassettes of things like Deicide, Venom, Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, Morbid Angel, Possessed, etc. This was probably around 1995 or so. I had already listened to plenty of classic rock and 80s metal as my Mom and her brother and sisters were into that kind of thing already. It seemed like a no-brainer once I heard how extreme these bands were, and the level of musicianship present. Death metal pretty much pushed all other music from my notice for several years, to say the least!
6. Your newest EP “Sanctuary Of The Vile” is out. What can you tell us about it and how was the response from the underground media and the fans to this 6 tracks you have released?
Sanctuary of the Vile is our best work thus far, I would say. We had been somewhat limited in the past on the quality of our previous Eps and old demos due to a lack of funds for a proper studio recording. So with Sanctuary… we have our best quality recording, best music to this point and a proper professional packaging to match. The reception has been fantastic overall, lots of great positive reviews, where the only negative mentioned is that people would love to hear a full length release from us. We are planning to release our first full length album next year, so people will have some more of what they are asking for from us.
7. Four years went between the previous EP and the current one, did the songwriting and recording process change any bit?
Both the previous EP, Zealot and Sanctuary of the Vile were recorded with our guy Marcus Shulte here in Cleveland. I think there were some upgrades to his studio equipment in this period of time, but our writing and recording processes have always been the same. We do not use much in the way of re-amping, we are 100% organically recording whenever possible. Our tones are created by the amplifiers, microphones, guitars, drums and bass all being recorded as live as possible. We want to have the most pure, real music being created with as little in the way of overdubbing, sound replacing, re-amping possible. To us, the overuse of editing and recording shortcuts are NOT death metal and are not something we choose to take advantage of. What the listener hears on our recordings and at live shows is 100% true death metal.
8. When comparing “Sanctuary Of The Vile” I feel that the song-writing has become more intense and sophisticated, the album is really chock full of crushing riffs. How do you feel the band evolved in the last few years?
I think we have evolved best, by trying to not evolve at all if that is possible to say. We perhaps are more concise and focused as far as writing music that is still somewhat complex and has little details for the listener to notice maybe not on the first listen, but also achieve that catchiness and hook that is present in all great death/black metal as far as the RIFF. We strive to deliver more of the same for the foreseeable future!
9. Aside from death metal vibe, there’s a definite Black Metal feel to the songs too, as well as other strong elements like Doom in the mix too. Who would you say have been the biggest musical influences on the new EP?
As a band we are definitely fans of both black and death metal in equal measure, and have a pretty wide catalogue of stuff we listen to. But I think things influencing us the most are things like Morbid Angel, Angelcorpse, Centvrian, Incantation, Marduk, Mayhem, Archgoat, Deicide, Immolation, Death, Autopsy
10. Don, your vocal performance on the album is intense, to say the least, can you tell us what they are supposed to convey? Can you briefly inform us about the overall lyrical theme of the album? If you could sum up what you hope to express with your music, what would that be?
The lyrics are written rather obtusely, it may not be apparent or obvious to someone what I might be singing about from time to time. But I would say overall themes of anti-religion, freedom of thought, corruption both mental and physical, speaking against artificially created moral constraints on humanity, those who would willfully ignore the reality in our world “behind the curtain” so to speak, those who would break the inner circle of the black rituals, things or people like these. I speak mostly to the destruction of things I see wrong with the world around me, albeit in an esoteric, indirect manner.
11. How did TSN cross paths with CDN Records, how has the relationship been with the label?
We were determined to see Sanctuary of the Vile released on a record label, so we prepared the product completely as far as artwork/packaging goes and began to see what our options were. My bandmate in Embalmer at the time, Brian Baxter, got us connected with Craig at CDN Records through a long-standing friendship. CDN has been great for us as a whole, we are getting our name and music out there in front of more people than ever before through distros trading with one another, doing some various PR related things, etc. We are really proud to be part of the CDN Records family.
12. Can you tell a bit about your participation at OHBLITERATION FEST 2022 and what that crowd was like? How did band´s performance came out?
That was a great show for us, we were very excited to have been a part of that event for our friend Will Feiner (Transplant Productions). That was our first show in support of Sanctuary… and our return to the live stage after something like 5 years away. Absolutely refreshing to get Thou Shalt Not back to the stage, it really couldn’t have gone better for us. The crowd was killer and very supportive as well! We do a cover of Morbid Angel’s “Day of Suffering” and kids were jumping off the stage for that. Can’t ask for much more!
13. The death metal genre has been quite solid and consistent since the last three decades. How do you see the future of the genre going in the future?
I think death metal’s future is about as bright as it can be right now. It’s nice to see that younger people are stepping up and still doing this kind of thing. The music can’t continue just on the backs of the creators or even 2nd generation of bands that are coming older now. We are in a nice pocket of what seems to be popular I think, where kids are actually preferring things like Autopsy over terrible slam or some “brutal” death metal flavor of the month.
14. What are the near-future plans of Thou Shalt Not and your final words to the readers please.
For the remainder of 2022, we will be making a few more live appearances across the Midwest USA, and maybe east coast. Nothing I can confirm to announce just yet, but they are coming! 2023 will see us finishing up our debut full length album. We have it maybe 2/3 of the way written, and should be ready to record this coming winter. Thanks to all sick fans of evil, black/death metal worldwide, everybody reading this, you guys at Rotten Pages and CDN Records as well. Stay evil, and DEVOUR THE KNOWLEDGE!!!
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