1. Hello my friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.
Jonathan: We just got done with practice out in Queens. We’ve been working out some new tunes and preparing for a small festival we have coming up. We are stoked to be playing, and stoked to be doing this interview with you!
2. How would you like to say that the progress of the band has matched your intentions from the beginning?
Jonathan: Musically, we are very happy with our progress. The first album came out completely how I hoped it would; lots of heavy riffs and epic moments. Andrew (bass) and Jude (drums) bring a lot of great musicality to the table, and I’m pumped to incorporate that with the original TVD sound. For the new record, we are experimenting, and bringing in some black metal influence, adding more blast beats and ambience.
3. As a band from New York, how has your local music scene influenced your development and growth as musicians?
Jonathan: In NYC, the popular genres are hardcore and screamo. We did not have a home there when we first started playing, but we’ve made some great friends and there are many new metal bands being formed, which is amazing to see. And there are some awesome DIY venues that we really enjoy playing.
4. Your death metal seems to be both melodic and brutal. How do you explain your sound?
Andrew: We put a lot of thought into songwriting and look to create exciting moments within each song. Heavy riffs are important but they’re not the only thing that matters in a metal song. We try to create memorable hooks and moments the listener can latch on to.
Jonathan: I also want to add- melody is both pitch and rhythm. Lots of “melodic bands” just put a high pitched chord or synth or something and call it melodic. Melodic does not mean high pitched! It’s about having an interesting motif that comes back in a few different ways, and grabs the attention of the listener.
5. Let´s talk about your debut EP, when you release a record how much attention do you pay to things like track order, lay out and art work? How planned is everything?
Andrew: We tried to organize the album in a way that makes sense. We paced the album out so that there are not two fast songs together or two slow songs together, or back to back long intros. Jonathan’s sister has done the artwork digitally for the Life of Death EP and our single “To the Darkness” but we are now outsourcing art for our upcoming projects.
6. The songs sound very fresh and strong, though your musical influences are obvious; how did you work over this recording? What did you plan to put into it?
Jonathan: I come from the perspective of heavy metal, you know, Iron Maiden, Amon Amarth, which really sets the theme for the music. Jude’s drumming adds that extra level of interest, and groove that you don’t get all the time in metal, especially melodic death metal. And, with this kind of music, you have to play it like you mean it. I think that emotion really comes through on the record, especially on songs like “Reclamation.”
7. How long did it take you all to create the entire EP from start to finish? What is the process you take when writing new music? How do you all feed off each other’s ideas?
Jude: The most concrete answer I can give for how long the EP took to make is about two and a half months, from recording to the finished tracks, but it’s been in progress since before I joined. Some of those songs have been years in the making, and some we were still writing as we were recording. The Northman, for example, has a riff around two minutes in, after the thrash section, that Jonathan wrote on the fly while we were rolling.
As for writing, Jonathan does most of it. Usually, he’ll put together some riffs with some programmed drums which I might use to write my drum parts, he and Andrew will get together to figure out the bass, and we’ll come into practice to flesh it out a bit more. Sometimes, we’ll end up changing parts of a song after that stage. Andrew’s been taking a bigger role in writing recently, though. One of the songs on our upcoming album was conceived of by him, and his influence can be found all across our discography.
8. What kind of role do the lyrics play in the concept of The Victorious Dead? How important are they?
Jonathan: Lyrics are so important to me, and I draw on a lot of literary influences when writing. My big ones now are Stoic philosophy and J.R.R. Tolkien.
The acceptance of fate, even death, as it looks you straight in the eye. That is intense and so moving to me. How do these different characters, in these songs, meet their fate? Defiant and brave. It is about the final stand, the doomsday, the Ragnorok.
“If the fight is lost today, I’ll die before I kneel” (Battle Calls).
Others are about getting your act together and improving your life. In our modern world, it can be hard to tear yourself away from the endless entertainment our phone provides. It is about getting off your ass and pushing the ball forward until you become the man or woman you envisioned.
“From complacent bonds I shall free my life” (Reclamation)
9. Had it not been for Facebook I had not heard of you. How important are the social media in helping spread a band’s name?
Jonathan: To me, social media is somewhat of a necessary evil, and I don’t particularly like it. But it helps to make connections and build a community around what we all love - music - so it can’t be all bad. We’ve had some success with advertising on the internet, and all that short form content garbage, but I need to find a new way to promote that isn’t so denigrating haha
10. Internet brought an overpopulation of extreme metal bands and recordings. Did this affect the quality of the scene?
Jude: Like Jonathan said, as far as the NYC scene goes, it’s mostly screamo and hardcore. Those genres aren’t really my style, so I can’t comment on how that might’ve been changed by the internet. But because of bands being able to build their presence on social media, we were able to make some great connections and really good friends.
Jonathan: In general though, I think the internet and modern technology has leveled the playing field, where anyone can record and distribute easily without a label. For us, that is a good thing.
11. Over the years death metal has evolved to be not just one specific sound. Is there any specific death metal sound that means more to you than the other?
Jonathan: I’ve been grappling with the death metal label recently. While a lot of our songs involve death, it is handled differently from the typical death metal/gore lyrics. We aren’t here to write the grossest lyrics, or have the bloodiest album covers. We are here to tell stories, and that means getting away from the theatrical, gory aspect.
Musically, I’ve taken a lot from the Gothenburg scene, as well as vocalists like Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth. I value clarity in my vocals, and he is the best to ever do it in my opinion.
12. How does the band's live performance translate the intensity and energy of your music to the stage?
Jonathan: We go hard live, 100%. Everything cranked, Jude hitting the drums so hard his snare is starting to break. We play often, and getting the reps in like that is the best way to have a good live show.
13. Give me 5 bands you would love to open up for, live, and why?
Jonathan: Ok here we go:
Iron Maiden - This was the band that got me into metal, they are just my favorite metal band of all time. “Hallowed Be Thy Name” blew my mind when I was 14, and really influenced my songwriting.
King of Asgard - It is such a shame these guys do not play live any more, I would want to open just to see them perform. Amazing songs, amazing attitude. “Never give up on the old ways! Harjafader!” True metal.
Amon Amarth - I am definitely not helping us escape the Amon comparisons right now, but these guys really kick ass live. They got me into heavier vocals, and convinced me to tune down to B.
Amorphis - the two most recent Amorphis albums are insanely good. Really heavy moments, but always very dynamic with lots of interesting arrangements. Cool odd time signature riffs as well. Definitely high on my list and I would love to share the stage with them.
Enslaved - These guys have a lot of influence on the upcoming album, with big chords, blast beats, more elaborate arrangements. Perfect
14. It might be too early, seeing as you’re working on it right now, but what can we expect from the forthcoming album?
Jude: Our new album diverges more from the classic melodeath sound we had on the first EP. As a later addition to the band, I didn’t have much of a hand in writing the songs on Life of Death, although I did touch up the drum parts. On the new album, there’s more spots with black, alternative, and progressive metal influence, but Jonathan is still at the head of writing and he keeps us grounded in a sound similar to the first EP.
15. Last but not least, what are your biggest hopes for the rest of this year? What do we need more of, and what do we need less of?
Jonathan: More headbanging, more music. We are filming a few videos in the winter, and finishing recording the new album. We have a single out November 9 called “Cold” as well as some fun live shows.
I am looking forward to rounding out a very successful first year of The Victorious Dead!
And thank you very much for having us Edu, we really enjoyed answering your questions.
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