DeathCollector: For Whom The Death’s Toll

UK death metal crew DEATHCOLLECTOR are on a mission to bring back that raw and unadulterated death metal sound and attitude and they definitely succeed on their debut album Death’s Toll. The band, who feature members of BOLT THROWER, MEMORIAM, ASHEN CROWN, SEVERE LACERATIONS, ZEALOT CROWN and more, demonstrate their metal prowess on all spectators of their music and Death’s Toll is an album that proves without a shadow of a doubt that death metal is as strong as ever on these shores. We caught up with vocalist Kieran Scott and drummer Andy Whale to hear all about Death’s Toll, the beginnings of DEATHCOLLECTOR and the state of death metal today.

We begin the conversation with the two stating exactly what fans can expect from Death’s Toll and the music of DEATHCOLLECTOR. “The simplest way I could put it, is raw underground death metal,” Kieran says. “That’s the only way I can really explain it. When the album went into recording, it was always going to sound like you’re going to hear it live, so it translates incredibly well. It’s raw and gritty, but clear.”

Andy and Kieran went on to detail the actual recording process of Death’s Toll and how they created the record, which was done remotely due to the band members locations but all turned out well. Andy starts by saying, “it was quite disjointed in a way because me and Mick [Carey, guitars] worked on the basic songs. and we’d just send it to everyone and the songs just built over there. Obviously, I had to go into a studio on my own, which was an interesting experience.”

Kieran adds, “it was a bit of a gamble really, because it was the only way cost wise really but realistically, it sounds like you’ve got the four of us in the studio and just press record!”

With last years Times Up EP acting as DEATHCOLLECTOR‘s debut release and giving how well it was received, the offer of an album came up straight away, as Kieran tells us. “The EP dropped, and then we got approached by Prosthetic. I think it was literally the week we released it. We’re very lucky and they said, ‘oh, can you do an album by this year?’ We were like, ‘yeah… ‘ but logistically, it was impossible for us to get each other to record in the time we were given. So the album was written, recorded, all isolated as the pandemic was still happening, which was quite interesting.”

When it come to how Death’s Toll sounds and the pressures the band came under in terms of the album, Andy says, “I think it sounds exceptional considering the restraints we had and the limited amount of experience we had. We learned a lot from that in regards of trying to record it from home. With the EP, it was like yeah, cool, if it’s a bit loose and fun, it doesn’t matter, but that pressure of expectation is like higher with the album.”

DEATHCOLLECTOR enthuse about the state of death metal in this country and around the world with Kieran excitedly stating that “death metal has never been better than it’s ever been. You’ve got bands like CATTLE DECAPITATION releasing amazing albums and FROZEN SOUL, who are like BOLT THROWER revisited, they’ve even said it themselves which is quite cool. CREEPING DEATH have just released their new album, which is phenomenal. Look at a band like 200 STAB WOUNDS, they are blending the hardcore with the death metal scene and they’re creating a lot of like hybrid crowds and they’re bringing hardcore and death metal fans together. There’s so many bands, INGESTED are UK lads and they are absolutely smashing it at the moment. BLINDFOLDED AND LED TO THE WOODS, they’re on Prosthetic as well with their new album is phenomenally technical but death metal all the way through, really good stuff!”

With mention of how BOLT THROWER are such a big influence on a new breed of death metal bands, we come full circle with Andy telling us how he feels about being in a band who have influenced so many new bands in the genre. “It’s nice if people want to emulate a band that I was in. It’s amazing to think that something that I was part of back in the mid 80s and 90s is so influential nowadays. People are like, this is what British death metal is, that BOLT THROWER style, it’s great that bands cite us as an influence. For me though, it’s important that we don’t try to copy other bands and make our own music.”

With an album as strong as Death’s Toll though, it surely won’t be long before DEATHCOLLECTOR become an influence on new bands too, such is the power of their raw death metal sound.

Death’s Toll is out now via Prosthetic Records.

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