INTRODUCING: Cognizance
Technical death metal outfit COGNIZANCE bring a sense of positive energy as people and fresh ideas to usual the themes of the genre with their attitude towards making music. In anticipation of their second album Upheaval, we caught up with guitarist Alex Baillie and bassist Chris Binns about the journey so far.
After years of work as more of a studio band, Alex and vocalist Henry Pryce had worked with session drummers on several EPs before working with, and permanently locking in, David Diepold in 2016 with the Illusory EP. After a let-down with their previous bassist just before recording their first record Malignant Dominion, Chris became to the rescue and has been with them ever since. With the addition of guitarist Apostolis ‘Paul’ Karydis, the band have found a solid line up.
In the time between making the first record and the second, there’s been some massive changes for COGNIZANCE. “This one was a bit easier and harder. It was easier because at the point when we signed with Prosthetic Records, the album was already mixed and mastered,” Alex tells us. “I don’t think I would have really wanted to do another album straight away, but we now knew we had to turn another in a certain time span. Rather than working in isolation, Chris would come over and help bounce ideas. It also really helped when Paul came and added his own flavour so in that respect it was a lot easier this time around.”
“There was a lot more collaboration from all of us guys, so the pressure was off Alex to do as much as he had on the last record,” adds Chris.
As is the norm with COGNIZANCE, the band took care of their own recording. “For the guitars and bass, we went away and rented a small cottage in a small village in Cumbria for two weeks,” says Alex. “We took loads of gear and build a studio set up.” It wasn’t a cushy boys getaway, however, but the guys made the most of it. “I run a business so I couldn’t go and stay for the two weeks,” Chris explains. “I was going up Fridays and cramming three songs into a weekend. Some of those songs we were developing on the spot so it was a heavy work load of everyone. But you embrace those late nights and early starts, it was great!”
It was definitely to the success of what COGNIZANCE wanted to achieve. “It put pressure on me and Paul to get it done,” Alex notes. “There’s no time to drop the ball, so we had to be on point so it was good for when Chris got to us. Plus, with his fresh eyes coming in to the space each week was also really good for rather than us all being stuck in our heads about it.”
With a science fiction lens on contemporary issues, Upheaval is a fresh take on death metal, opting to veer away from typical subject matter within the genre. It’s not just in their song writing approach that has had a renewed take with COGNIZANCE, but also in the instrumental arrangements. “The song writing was pretty organic, and it’s overall a progression from what we did before,” Alex continues. “We also didn’t want to repeat ourselves. Some bands can pull it off but I think for us as songwriters and musicians it takes the fun out of it. The hard part was making sure it was fresh and interesting, but not to make it different for the sake of making it different.”
There are continuous changes up between the extremes and technically proficient moments and the more groove and feel lead sections of COGNIZANCE. That’s not unintentional. “We all love a lot of different music. We play in a pretty extreme band, but every year that goes by I listen to less and less extreme stuff, or at least less new extreme stuff,” Alex states fairly. “For us, the groove aspect is to give the listener a break, it makes it more interesting. We can inject some more influences that way.”
There’s definitely a sense of fun and comradery within the group when playing too. “I love doing sections I can fully lock in with the drums,” Chris goes on. “It’s such good fun, but it’s so comical. I love my hip hop and R&B and soul, so it can sound like were making a death metal soul album, it’s really bizarre and funny.”
“When we do the grooves, we have a right laugh. We can be crying with laugher, but when you listen back in the mix it all locks in and works completely,” assures Alex. “A lot of the bands in the scene right now don’t do that stuff enough and that’s why in parts it can become a bit dull, so I hope it plays to our strengths in setting us apart. It’s about putting in musical elements we enjoy.”
Upheaval is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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