Vitriol: A New Age Of Brutality
In a world where music is so easy to access, create and release, there is no way to avoid over-saturation. For every sub-genre in heavy music, there are legions upon legions of bands – some pushing boundaries, some showing exactly why a tried and tested formula has survived, and some that are better passed by altogether. Setting their sights on not just pushing boundaries, but reinventing the very nature of death metal, Oregon’s VITRIOL are harnessing a new breed of brutality and technicality in death metal with debut album, To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice, out now via Century Media Records; an album over six years in the making.
“We made a very strong point of, when trying to build VITRIOL‘s career in it’s formative stage, not to be branded as a ‘technical death metal band’.” Offers front man and creative driving force Kyle Rasmussen. “I joke that we’re anti-tech death, in a sense.” A strange way to categorise his music, but one that immediately makes sense. Technical death metal has become a sub-genre that immediately conjures images of endless sweep picking, immeasurable speed and technicality for technicality’s sake. VITRIOL represent something very different.
Far more akin to the intensely brutalising sounds of NILE, KRISIUN and HATE ETERNAL than the go-to tech-death stylings of ARCHSPIRE, NECROPHAGIST or OBSCURA, the technicality employed by Rasmussen and co. is a means to and end, rather than the end itself.
“The technicality that I implement in my song writing is used to overwhelm, is to create and to add to that oppressive atmosphere. I think there are bands in that were able to do that, where it’s not necessarily flashy, it just feels like your brain is in a blender.” He explains, giving an insight into the thought process behind the maelstrom of VITRIOL’s music. “I always opt for the dirtier chaos on the fringes of technicality, where it’s almost falling apart. Controlled chaos would be the most concise way to describe how we try to write technical music.”
Perhaps what makes To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice is the unique philosophy behind the music, and the emotional connection to the genre as a whole. “The thing that ties in with the philosophy behind the technicality in the music is, first and foremost, I’m deeply moved by death metal music. Using VITRIOL as a means of celebrating that and emphasising that was really important.” Rasmussen offers on the emotional connection behind VITRIOL’s music. “I’ve been caught crying at a HATE ETERNAL show while screaming along, I’m fucking about that… The idea of being able to move people with extreme death metal is the dream, to help legitimise the artistic merit of extreme, blasting, brutal death metal.” But the philosophy extends beyond the emotion in creating hyper-technical, overtly brutal music. It’s something that runs through the concept of VITRIOL as a whole, from the artwork to the lyrics.
“There’s a lot of just exploring the overarching concept of the capacity of human cruelty, which is something that we meditate on a lot… It is absolutely an exercise of catharsis. Even in the album art, when I talked to Joe Petagno it was very important to me that we had his voice, but it was also important to me that we rip all of the fiction out of it. Typically, you see more otherworldly stuff in Joe‘s work, but I wanted to show that death metal does not need to be zombies or occult or whatever to be terrifying. There’s plenty of horror in the human condition, and that is much more terrifying.” Explains Rasmussen, before offering an insightful look into the current nature of death metal as a whole. “I think that’s why people avoid it, and I think that’s partly why death metal is a safer place than it has been in a very long time, because people have been hiding in fiction. Even VITRIOL‘s more fantastic lyric themes are still fantastic expressions of very real, personal issues. That’s something I really hope people take from the album, that they hear it and they don’t think that this is just an exercise in musical ability, that it really is a piece of expression on our behalf.”
To the observer, VITRIOL have exploded into death metal’s spotlight from total obscurity. To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice is the band’s debut full length. Prior to this, they released only a three track EP in 2017. Now, they are signed to one of the most prestigious labels in extreme metal, and are touring an ocean away from home with some of the biggest names in the genre. But the truth of the matter is less of a sudden explosion, more of a war of attrition.
“VITRIOL is the classic ten-year, overnight success story. It took a very long time to learn how to make the VITRIOL sound, and rather than exposing those developmental phases of our creative work through our first three albums, we preferred to toil behind the scenes and wait until it was ready to go.” Rasmussen offers on the grind towards where the band is now. “To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice wouldn’t be what it is if I didn’t spend years toiling away making sure it was the best it could be. And, to put it in perspective, so much of it was just writing songs that weren’t good enough, and developing my voice. It was just a lot of time behind the scenes becoming a better songwriter, because I didn’t want to put material out there unless it could hang with the shit that inspired us.”
And To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice certainly can hang. With Rasmussen finding his voice, the world is there for the taking for VITRIOL. Of all the incredible new death metal bands in the scene at the moment, VITRIOL are primed to lead the vanguard in ushering in a new age of brutality.
From an outside perspective, VITRIOL seems to have exploded out of nowhere with only one EP predating the album – though To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice feels like an album from a much more established band. Has the record been in the works since before Pain Will Define Their Death was released?
Kyle: VITRIOL is the classic ten-year, overnight success story. VITRIOL was officially branded, I guess you could say, in 2012. It came from the ashes of another band, and when that became obvious that VITRIOL was becoming what it was, I changed the name in 2012. It took a very long time to learn how to make the VITRIOL sound, and rather than exposing those developmental phases of our creative work through our first three albums, we preferred to toil behind the scenes and wait until it was ready to go. So most of that material that’s coming out on the full length has been written over the last three years, but I’d say the oldest song on the record was written nearly six years ago. It’s been a tireless process. Adam [Roethlisberger, bass and vocals], and I learned to do vocals for this band too, neither of us were vocalists prior to this. It was a really long, painstaking process of just creating. We knew we were biting off a lot, we knew that we had ambitious goals for VITRIOL‘s sound. It just took a fucking while. [laughs]
There is both a huge level of technicality and an ever-present oppressive atmosphere running throughout the entirety of To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice. As a songwriter, do you lean more into the perfectionism that comes with that level of technicality, or the emotion that gives way to such an atmosphere?
Kyle: The latter, 100%. We made a very strong point of, when trying to build VITRIOL‘s career in its formative stages, not to be branded as a “technical death metal” band, for a handful of reasons. A, the genrefication doesn’t suit us. And B, philosophically we couldn’t be seen as a technical death metal band. I joke that we’re anti tech death, in a sense. The technicality that I implement in my songwriting is used to overwhelm, is to create and to add to that oppressive atmosphere. I think there are bands in that were able to do that, the really early ORIGIN stuff is a good example, where it’s not necessarily flashy, it just feels like your brain is in a blender. When tracking the technical stuff, it’s not to say that we’re not striving to play our material to the best of our ability. But when writing, and certainly when recording, there’s very minimal editing. I always strive for character over perfection. There’s a solo on the record where I pulled up on the trem arm too hard and it fretted out on the first fret, and it just sounded fucked up, but we kept it; that kind of stuff. I always opt for the dirtier chaos on the fringes of technicality, where it’s almost falling apart. Controlled chaos would be the most concise way to describe how we try to write technical music.
That was the real tragedy of the movement. If you look at, especially, the mid 2000s, Unique Leader Records catalogues, the early SEVERED SAVIOUR and such, for me that was when tech death was at its peak, where it hadn’t lost the spirit of death metal, it hadn’t lost sight of why death metal is death metal: to crush you, to reduce you to nothing. They learned that you could use technicality to obliterate the listener. When it started baiting in the more athletic players, based on just the technical demand of the music, that’s when it started becoming more of a sport, and it started losing sight of the fire that makes death metal important. It almost got to a point where people had this feeling that if you’re playing technically, it can’t be emotional, it can’t be real, it can’t be genuine. For me, proving that wrong was a really important facet of VITRIOL‘s sound; that you can have your cake and eat it too.
VITRIOL seem to lean more into the “real world” elements of death metal lyricism rather than the horror story, fantastical elements. Is there a theme running through To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice, or do you mainly use your lyrics as a form of catharsis?
Kyle: The lyrical work on the full length is pretty all over the place. There’s a lot of just exploring the overarching concept of the capacity for human cruelty, which is something that we meditate on a lot. Then a lot of it is just very personal to me. I Drown Nightly, The Parting Of A Neck, or even Violence, A Worthy Truth from the EP, and Victim, Victim is a deeply personal song about really human issues. Then you look at songs like Pain Will Define Their Death, or, from the full length, Legacy Of Contempt, these songs are a bit more fantastical, I guess, in a more literary sense. I don’t really try to focus on one theme. I didn’t have a very specific, unified idea of what I wanted VITRIOL‘s theme to be. I just always let things come to me when I felt inspired to write about them. I like the variety that creates, and it all stayed focused in a dark voice that make them work with each other.
It is absolutely an exercise of catharsis with my lyrics, 100%. The thing that ties in with the philosophy behind the technicality in the music is, first and foremost, I’m deeply moved by death metal music. I think that’s more of a rarity than I’d want to believe. A lot of people either don’t have a deep emotional connection to this style of music, or people from outside of the genre or subculture don’t see how someone could. So for me, really representing that emotional connection, using VITRIOL as a means of celebrating that and emphasising that was really important. Even in the album art, when I talked to Joe Petagno about the art it was very important to me that we had his voice, but it was also important to me that we rip all of the fiction out of it. Typically, you see more otherworldly stuff in Joe‘s work, but I wanted to show that death metal does not need to be zombies or occult or whatever to be terrifying. There’s plenty of horror in the human condition, and that is much more terrifying. I think that’s why people avoid it, and I think that’s partly why death metal is a safer place than it has been in a very long time, because people have been hiding in fiction. Even VITRIOL‘s more fantastic lyric themes are still fantastic expressions of very real, personal issues. That’s something I really hope people take from the album, that they hear it and they don’t think that this is just an exercise in musical ability, that it really is a piece of expression on our behalf.
Something that has always kind of alienated Adam and I from other metalheads, it’s almost like there’s this taboo of… I don’t want to say taking it too seriously, but there’s always a certain level of scepticism. I’ve been caught crying at a HATE ETERNAL show while screaming along, I’m fucking about that, and some people would look side-eyed at that. Adam and I have just developed a very deep connection with this music through our life experiences, and I feel like we’re in a position to make music like this from a very authentic vantage point from life experience. We have that to offer and bring to the table, and we want to do that. The idea of being able to move people with extreme death metal is the dream, to help legitimise the artistic merit of extreme, blasting, brutal death metal. [laughs]
One of the best compliments I had so far, my buddy listened to the ninth track on the LP [Hive Lungs] and he said that was the first metal song that ever made him cry. For me, that’s all I need. Whenever someone hears something and says “Oh shit, that just gave me goosebumps.” That’s what I’m looking for. I’m not looking for people to say “Oh man, that solo!” I mean, that’s great too – it’s not like I don’t put effort into that, but the real shit for me [is the emotional reaction]. Or when people tell me it’s too much. I was playing the album for another buddy, and when we got to the end of it he was sweating. He said to me “Dude, about half way through I almost asked to take a break!” He was just pummelled. Good, it should hurt a little bit.
With To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice being so long in the making, are their plans for VITRIOL to follow up the record relatively quickly, or will you take another few years to get new material ready to go?
Kyle: There’s nothing really fleshed out. We’re certainly going to be active with creating music. Obviously, with the material from the full-length being established for as long as it has, I have some ideas that have been lingering for some time. I recently quit my job to do this full time. You will hear music from us sooner than a few years. But whether that will be a single, or an EP, or a full length, I don’t know. The material kind of tells you, and you can’t rush that incubation period in-between releases. How the listeners receive and define a release informs what it is, you don’t really know what an album is until it’s out there. I know that sounds kind of weird, but you might know what I’m talking about. You make it, you know what it is to you, but once it’s out there in the world everyone else decides what it really is. That helps tell you what the next instalment needs to be, what you want to say in response in that creator/listener conversation.
To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice wouldn’t be what it is if I didn’t spend years toiling away making sure it was the best it could be. And, to put it in perspective, so much of it was just writing songs that weren’t good enough, and developing my voice. It was just a lot of time behind the scenes becoming a better songwriter, because I didn’t want to put material out there unless it could hang with the shit that inspired us.
From even a cursory listen of VITRIOL, it’s clear both NILE and HATE ETERNAL are a huge influence on you. With this in mind, how does it feel for you to be on the bill with them for your first European tour?
Kyle: I have a hard time with that. Words don’t suffice. It’s surreal, for lack of a better word. When I heard that they were touring together, that was enough for me. Two of my all time favourite bands, it’s like the SLAYER and METALLICA of death metal. Then when the prospect of us potentially being able to be on that tour came up, it was one of those things where I just couldn’t let myself think about it. I couldn’t let myself get my hopes up. When it was confirmed, it took about two days after I got to tell the rest of the band before they believed me! [laughs] Get the fuck out of here, y’know what I mean? It’s very much like “Pinch me, I’m dreaming!”, This as much as “living the dream” as you can get, so we are very humbled, very appreciative, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’ve been practising four days a week up to this tour, so we’ll be ready.
To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice is out now via Century Media Records.
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