Vitriol: Suffering For Your Art
The beauty of music is that the creative possibilities are endless, with every musician pushing the boundaries of their sound to develop something exciting and unheard and ensure they stand out over the sea of equally hungry contemporaries. The arrival of 2019’s To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice, the debut album from VITRIOL was nothing short of earth-shattering, showcasing a visceral, horrifying sound that few have came remotely close to since.
The scary thought is that since that release they have became even stronger as a unit. “The band have gone through several iterations, as far as members go we’ve maintained the core group of writers which is myself and Adam [Roethlisberger, vocals/bass],” explains co-vocalist and guitarist Kyle Rasmussen.
“I write the bulk of the material and Adam helps with the arrangements. Our drummer Matt has opened up a lot of different possibilities with his skills which allows us to push our limits. I feel like we’re tighter, stronger and definitely better songwriters as a result. Our songs always start with a riff, myself and Adam will bounce ideas between us then send them onto Matt without any kind of programmed drums as we don’t want to feed him our ideas. We want him to bring his own flair to it. I also always make a point of leaving vocals until last to make sure they are navigating the instruments. I also think that is where a lot of our aggression comes from as it allows me to create a really in-your-face vocal style.”
The release of VITRIOL‘s highly awaited follow-up, entitled Suffer & Become, is peering just over the horizon and is poised to be even more potent than its predecessor. “I think the biggest shift stylistically this time is that I felt elements were missing from the landscape of our music, things that are important to the soul of the band,” informs Kyle. “There has always been a lot of focus on the aggression, hostility, the adversity but I wanted to provide some balance to that and focus on the ups and not just the downs. There are some underlying, optimistic, reflective tones in there and lyrically I wanted to be more open and vulnerable. The first album is like answers to questions but the second album is full of questions which need answers. It’s definitely a more dynamic album. I think that VITRIOL is built on a reputation of relentlessness and constant pressure to the point of an almost suffocating experience. Whilst we still wanted to use that element of our sound on this album there is more room for everything to breathe.”
Like many a budding lyricist, Kyle documents his ideas with a view to elaborating and fleshing them out at a later date. Even to his surprise, the structure of Suffer & Become embedded itself into his brain in one collective package. Allowing him the opportunity to approach his creative process from a completely different angle. “Previously I would start writing lyrics down if I was struck by inspiration, I’ve always enjoyed doing this as a form of artistic expression,” admits Kyle.
“If I found something that struck a chord I would try and utilise that in my lyrics for VITRIOL. I used this approach for the first album and I was conscious of what pairings I would make between the lyrics and the music to make sure they mirrored the same sentiment. This time around, I don’t even know how or why but the album title and the titles for all the songs came to me even before we started writing any material, which was very exciting. I’d never written lyrics to a prompt like this before but it allowed me to form a narrative around those song titles. It wasn’t just ten tracks either, it was ten tracks that were in sequence the way they appeared on the album. I don’t want to label it a concept album but it does follow a linear story throughout.”
Since the band’s formation, Kyle has always pushed himself and his maniacal troupe to bring his harrowing visions to life in the most immaculate fashion possible, including handling the production duties. Whilst this route has paid dividends, Suffer & Become proved to be a massive endeavour. “My eyes are bigger than my stomach and I really got caught up in that creative rabbit hole,” discusses Kyle. “The guitar tracking took a lot longer than we anticipated, like months longer. I also went pretty deep during post production too, to the point of going through thousands of sound banks and making sure everything had its rightful place in the mix. It was madenning at times and I was spending 50 hour weeks on it. I’d like to say I have it down to a direct science but honestly, I’ve got no idea what I’m doing. I’m just throwing myself into it all and it’s by no means a sophisticated process but so far it has yielded good results.”
VITRIOL may sound unhinged and violent on the surface but there is a method behind the madness. Kyle wanted to stay true to the death metal roots of his upbringing but also continue to evolve and develop into an entirely different implement of destruction.
“The terms melodic and death metal are usually deemed as polar opposites but I feel like blackened death metal has that aesthetic quality that allows for people to have a certain connection with the music as it is a reflection of the world around them. I acquired my taste from the likes of ULCERATE, GORGUTS and the biggest influence for me was actually 1349. People may not see them in the same light as the others but the guitar work on Hellfire is up there in my top five albums of all time. Archaon‘s riffing sounded so deranged and almost alien, not of this world. I just love anything that sounds and feels wrong!”
Suffer & Become is out now via Century Media Records.
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