INTERVIEW: David Vincent – VLTIMAS

Few have the same claim to death metal royalty as David Vincent. During the 1990s, Vincent led the vanguard in the charging wave of death metal as the front man of the mighty MORBID ANGEL, performing on four of the most important albums in the genre – Altars Of Madness, Blessed Are The Sick, Covenant and Domination. 14 years on from the release of Domination, Vincent has parted ways with MORBID ANGEL – seemingly for good, this time – following the poorly received Illud Divinum Insanus, and is instead focusing his energy on touring with I AM MORBID and launching his newest band, VLTIMAS. We caught up with Vincent prior to the release of their debut album to discuss VLTIMAS, the debut album itself, Something Wicked Marches In (read our review here), and how the band came to be.

Hey David, thanks for taking the time to talk today. We’re only a few weeks out from the release of Something Wicked Marches In, how’s everyone in VLTIMAS doing?

David: We’re excited. It’s less than a month, finally, before this damn thing comes out. We’re not the most patient of folks, I can tell you that! Something Wicked Marches In has been complete since last year. It’s been a scheduling thing, because we’re behind on a couple things. But you can’t hurry a release. So we’ve been letting a few singles trickle out, and the response has been nothing short of amazing, really. We just want the album to be out and available, and to take it to the stage. Once we got in the grove of things, it came together quickly. I think everyone is really, really excited about it now.

How did VLTIMAS come into being?

David: I suppose if I go back to the very, very beginning… I’ve been friends with Rune [Eriksen, guitars, ex-MAYHEM] for decades at this point. We haven’t really ever toured together, but we did have some festival dates together. Myself, personally, I’ve always been a fan of Rune‘s work with MAYHEM. We just got to the point where we were talking and every time we saw each other it was a cordial experience. We kind of talking about maybe someday we should get together and do some composing together. This went on for years, and the timing was just never great. You know, I had this going on, he had that going on or whatever. He called me, and said “Hey, I’d really like to revisit this business of getting together and doing some songs, I think we should do that one day.” At that point, the timing was right so I said “Well, how about today?” I guess that was the answer he wanted to hear, so we started working on stuff. I had a couple conversations with Rune, he sent me a few ideas via email, which I liked, I knew I would. And the rest is history, we went after it.

With everyone being so spread apart geographically – you are based in Texas, Flo [Monier, drums, CRYPTOPSY, TRIBE OF PAZUZU] in Canada and Rune in Europe – is VLTIMAS going to be mainly a studio project with only occasional shows? 

David: No, no, no. We are going to tour. This is not a studio project, this is a band, it’s a serious band, and we plan on releasing this record, and many more to come and as much touring as makes sense. We’d like to tour anywhere that makes sense – there are, as you pointed out, some geographical challenges. So when we get together it needs to be with a solid plan that gets each of us in and out of our own countries, as it were. This is truly a worldwide thing, because we have a couple of additional members that we’re going to be having for live performances, and everyone’s from a different country.

How was the recording process with you all being so separated geographically?

David: We didn’t compose via email. Rune would come up with a few passages that kind of worked together and he would send them along. But we put everything together when we all got together. We had four different sessions, and they were all here in Texas. When the time was right we flew to England and recorded there in Woburn with Gomez [Jamie Gomez Arellano, Orgone Studios].

Lyrically, what concepts did you want to explore, or stories did you want to tell, with Something Wicked Marches In?

David: I’ve been around for a minute. I mean, I am who I am, and I write the way that I write. The different personalities and creative factions in a band obviously lead way to a different combination. The recipe is different, but the main ingredients are the same as they would be a different recipe.

The cover art for Something Wicked Marches In has a lot going on. What was the concept behind the art direction?

David: We spoke to a couple of different artists. This particular gentleman [Zbigniew M. Bielak] is someone I have personally been in contact with for a couple years, and he mentioned that he would really like to work together. Little known to me, but Rune had also been in touch with him for a couple years. Essentially, we didn’t want to direct it per se. I sent him a few songs, some themes, some ideas, but art should be directed by passion, unless it’s a work for hire. This was a work for hire, but I really think that it’s important that that is part of the whole comes from a place of unbridled creativity, if you will. We wanted that from the art just as much as the music. He spent a long time on it. Some of the detail you have to really, really look at it.

I digress, but I would love to see this on a five square metre billboard, and take it in like that. I enjoy going to museums myself, there’s a museum in St. Petersburg, Florida for Salvador Dali. And some of his paintings are just huge, they’re so, so big. They literally take up an entire wall of the museum. The curator comes by and points out little details and tries to help you take the whole thing in, because there is so much going on and there’s so much symbolism and relativity between different parts of it that tie into the whole. I feel like Bielak did a great job. And, you know, the more I look at it, the more I see.

The last death metal album you released was 2011’s Illud Divinum Insanus with MORBID ANGEL. Given that record was somewhat poorly received, and you’ve been doing other things away from death metal (at least in recorded music), did you feel like you had something to prove with Something Wicked Marches In?

David: No, I didn’t think about that all. I really try to not think, and just feel. Sometimes things come out one way or another, again, the ingredients are important. Sometimes the meat can spoil if it’s sitting out too long. Outcomes can be different, depending on what the formula is. So, bringing us into the future Something Wicked Marches In just came together so organically, so naturally, spontaneously and magically. It grew legs of it’s own that were even beyond the sum total of the members, which is always a good thing.

Although VLTIMAS’ existence was only really announced to the world with the release of lead single Praevalidus last year, it seems like Something Wicked Marches In has been a long time coming. Are there already plans for a follow up in place?

David: Oh yeah! We could be ready to go back into the studio and do another album post haste! [laughs] Unfortunately the business side of things doesn’t work that way. But all three of us are driven, we all love what we’ve come up with. The first thing people ask is “How did this project come together?” VLTIMAS isn’t a project, this is a band. This particular record is a project, but it is one of many.

There is a handful of VLTIMAS live shows announced for over the summer, but can we expect more dates for the end of the year, or are you waiting until Something Wicked Marches In is out before locking more shows in?

David: Definitely the latter. Only because we are unknown. These days, tours and festivals day are not booked a couple months out, they are often booked more than a year out. Next year, we want to do as much touring as possible without it being something that is uneventful. We have some shows and festival dates coming up this summer, there are some other opportunities on the table. But yes, our plan is to tour quite a bit and to make quite a few more records.

Which songs from Something Wicked Marches In are you particularly excited to debut live?

David: I thought about this the other day. To be honest, there is not a single track on this record that I feel any less enamoured with, that I feel any less personal about, that I have any quandaries about whatsoever. It is one continuous piece, it goes in a number of different directions. There’s fierce speed, beautiful melody and everything in-between. From my vantage point, I think it’s a really complete statement, and I love it all.

At this point, we’ve done everything we can. The record is done, it’s recorded, it’s pressed, it’s sitting in a warehouse waiting to be shipped out. Now, the rest is up to folks like yourself.

Something Wicked Marches In is out now via Season Of Mist. VLITMAS are featured in the latest issue of Distorted Sound. Subscribe to our Patreon Page to gain access.

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