INTERVIEW: Kevin Reymond – The Walking Dead Orchestra

It seems somewhat baffling that with a population of 67 million people, that France’s metal scene has never reached the same lofty heights as their neighbours. And yet, dig beneath the surface and you’ll find bands of neck-snapping quality. THE WALKING DEAD ORCHESTRA are one such band. Since forming seven years ago, the quintet have forged a devastatingly brutal sound, one which certainly warrants your attention. This year sees the re-release of their sophomore effort, 2017’s Resurrect, as the band aim to reach a bigger audience to forge their momentum forward. We spoke with guitarist Kevin Reymond to discuss the album’s re-release, their razor-sharp sound and the state of the French metal scene.

So you are set to re-release Resurrect later this month. What can fans expect from this upcoming re-release?

Kevin: We actually re-release the same material as last year but this time the press release covers Europe and USA. We hope we could reach a larger public by doing that

This re-release serves as a perfect way to introduce THE WALKING DEAD ORCHESTRA to people who may have missed the album release last year. So, how would you best describe the band?

Kevin: We are a death metal band from the south of France, we’re all self taught and made our way through rock n’roll, thrash metal and so on. Our music has always been composed on rehearsal, trying to catch the energy on the moment and doing our best to release it on stage. We’re not a so called professional band since we’re not doing this as a living, we’re still pushed by this passion to release albums and hit the road.

The re-release comes just eight months after it was initially released back in October last year. Why did you decide to re-release this record?

Kevin: The first point was to give the album more visibility by doing a larger press release. But we also wanted to keep being posted while we’re heading to Hellfest which is a great chance for us to spread our music further.

Resurrect arrives four (or five years for the re-release) since the release of your debut album Architects of Destruction. How do you feel the band has developed in that time?

Kevin: This period’s been quite a struggle for the band, filled with good and bad things. We’ve been touring this album a lot with great bands from the international scene such as SUICIDE SILENCE, BROKEN HOPE, INTERNAL BLEEDING and so on which has been a great experience we learnt a lot from. Then, while working on Resurrect, we had line up changes and the band had to go on a new basement. I’d say we gained maturity and experience, we all feel more confident on stage and closer to the crowd.

And of course, with Resurrect being your second album, did you feel a lot more pressure this time round to meet the standards set by your debut?

Kevin: Of course the pressure was there, you don’t want to make a “first album bis” but we didn’t base our composing on that. We played what was coming then, and if it sounded a bit like ARCHITECTS, it did, whatever, it’s us. Anyway, we’re glad of what we did on Resurrect, we feel like we’ve done our job and released something authentic, that’s really us.

You guys have been in complete control of the creative process of this record, you self-recorded and produced the album. Do you feel by handling all of this, it gives you complete creative freedom for the direction of the band?

Kevin: We wanted to do it on at least one album. It gave us the biggest freedom we could hope for on every process of the album’s production and this was definitely something enjoyable. Besides this, when you do everything on your own you don’t get any feedback which can cause a lot of stress and uncertainty. But we dealt with that and it was a great experience though.

Resurrect is the concept album based centred on the character of The Architect, who continues his story from the band’s previous release Architects of Destruction. Can you elaborate on what sort of themes and concepts the album is addressing?

Kevin: The Architect is left for dead on a battlefield at the end of Architects of Destruction. Resurrect starts with him getting brought to life again by a scientist from the new world order. The songs describe the way he organises his revenge towards those who made a monster out of him, and the main concepts we recall are will to live, death, men and bodies suffering, descendants, education, immortality, revenge…

Musically, the album is monolithically heavy with a host of influences on show. Who would be your biggest musical influences and how do they shape you as a musician?

Kevin: It’s hard to pick up just a few bands out of all of those we’ve been listening to and got influenced by, but I’ll mention ABORTED for brutality, CANNIBAL CORPSE for heaviness, MISERY INDEX and DYING FETUS for those hardcore/groovy parts and THY ART IS MURDER for breakdowns. Anyway we always compose live, on rehearsal, and we never manage to sound like any band. This way our influences sweat from our music but it’s our own stuff

France hasn’t always been known as a hotbed for heavy music but in recent years, with the explosion of a band like GOJIRA for example, more bands from France are getting noticed. How would you describe the French metal scene and how would you compare it to other countries’ scenes?

Kevin: Heavy/alternative music is pretty much stigmatised in France, as well as any kind of alternative art. It’s got no place on the main medias and stays really underground. Actually this is changing thanks to the democratisation of Hellfest and the exposure of GOJIRA which the French artist that sales the most abroad, but French alternative culture still has a long way to reach the level you can find in Germany or Spain for example.

Resurrect’s re-release comes just in time for THE WALKING DEAD ORCHESTRA’s appearance at the legendary Hellfest. What are you hoping from this performance and what can fans expect?

Kevin: What I am sure of is that it’s going to be a blast, it’s definitely a dream coming true for us. We hope we can get discovered by as many people as possible. We’re coming to give our best and prove we deserve to be there.

To close, we’ll offer you the floor. Do you have anything to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Kevin: I’ll just say thank you for making the metal scene such a great experience to be apart of. THE WALKING DEAD ORCHESTRA will be there and we hope to meet you guys anywhere on the road. Cheers!

Resurrect is out now via Unique Leader Records.

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