Abiotic: The Reason For Being
“Some might say that it’s almost an oxymoron, but I love those ultra technical bands as much as I love GOJIRA. They’ll put a song together with three different riffs but then it’ll be stuck in your head for a week afterwards. Its about how can we satisfy our technical itch but still have those parts that are memorable. We’re just always pushing ourselves to be better – which translates to putting out records that reach new heights. I don’t want to be putting out the same record every time. I wanna write music for me – music that makes us, as a band, happy and I think we’ve definitely achieved that on this one. And I’m really, really proud of it.” The mood is one of reflection and eager contemplation as Distorted Sound catches up with original ABIOTIC member and guitarist John Matos.
Speaking from his home across the pond in Florida, Matos is affable and humble, his stoicism unmistakable as he ruminates on the five-year hiatus the band found themselves taking back in 2016. An undertaking which, by the guitarist’s own admission, was already shrouded in uncertainty and not to be taken lightly given the unpredictable nature of the industry. “In terms of a band’s career, four or five years can seem like a long time or a short time, but a lot of things can happen during it regardless. The band could fall off or people could just stop giving a shit – there’s just so much to consider there,” John states thoughtfully. “What we did still have though, was that passion. I’d been working on some solo material myself and then our vocalist Travis [Bartosek] came to me and was like ‘Man, I know that we’ve been broken up, or on hiatus, or whatever you wanna call it but why don’t we put some of that stuff into a new record. Let’s just call the guys – let’s just make this happen.’”
It’s plausible that this unerring determination was also driven by the stage ABIOTIC had reached in terms of artistic output. With two albums released to date, they’d arrived at that so-called pivotal moment career-wise. Usually a band will set out their stall in a debut, prove they’re more than a mere flash in the proverbial pan with their sophomore effort and deliver that ‘we’re here to stay’ message with album number three. Was it a case of this hiatus isn’t what we want but it’s what we need to be able to arrive at the point we are at now today? “Absolutely. I don’t think we’d have put out as good an album as I think we’re about to if we’d stuck to the usual formula,” John agrees. “It maybe wasn’t something we necessarily wanted but something all of us needed for our personal lives and it also allowed us to bring some new and really talented folks into the band.”
And with its potent fusion of old school tech death balanced with progressive jazzy elements and rich flourishes of Eastern-inspired instrumentation across eleven tracks, Ikigai is unequivocally representative of a band aiming to push their musical boundaries further than ever before. Whilst the feral explosion of aggression coursing through lead single Souvenir of Skin – which features THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER’s Trevor Strnad (the first in a slew of impressive and “incredibly humbling” guest spots including ARCHSPIRE’s Jared Smith and ENTHEOS vocalist Chaney Crabb) – will sate the appetites of those yearning for the heavy yet memorable and intrinsically technical, this crushing example is merely the tip of the sonic iceberg. A more in-depth listen reveals a focused onus on songwriting, with relatable subject matter such as abuse, suicide and transphobia rising to the lyrical surface. And with an album title that translates as “a reason for being” alongside that striking cover image of a bleeding 16th-Century Samurai, one could easily interpret a conceptual element at work; or at least see a band with a story to tell via their music.
As our conversation comes to an end, the guitarist’s attention turns to the album’s looming release date – and his personal intentions for it. Whilst the ensuing public opinion remains to be seen, Matos remains confident in the record’s ability to define and cement the band’s place in modern death metal. Caustic yet cohesive, real and relatable in every sense; ABIOTIC have crafted an emotional rollercoaster of visceral intensity in Ikigai, and ended a five-year hiatus by returning to career-defining form.
“I hope that it gets you through something. I hope you listen to it and can relate to the lyrics; the emotions that were put into the writing and recording. That you take away as much as you can to get by, or it motivates you to get to new heights during, which is probably one of the most challenging times we’ve ever faced!” John concludes. “It was cathartic for us to get it down on the page and as cheesy as it sounds – I put this in the notes of the album too – I just hope it can help anyone who might be struggling too.”
Ikigai is out now via The Artisan Era.
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