Wilderun: Trust In Intuition

Massachusetts-based progressive metal outfit WILDERUN really came out all guns blazing with their fantastic Veil Of Imagination album, a release which caught the eye of Century Media Records and assisted in them scooping up a label deal and a whole host of new fans in the process. This set the standard incredibly high for a potential following album, a pressure which bassist Dan Muller was very much prepared for.

“We’ve got a wider audience now than we’ve ever had before going into this new record so naturally there is the pressure of peoples expectations and usually when I find a band I love, my favourite record from that band is the one which I discovered first and to overcome that kind of nostalgia element is quite hard to tackle so in that sense it can be a little nerve-wracking.”

Their fourth full length studio release Epigone is hot off the press and seems to be receiving rave reviews from the press and listeners alike. “I’m really happy to see people appreciating the record and from what I’ve been hearing I think people seem to appreciate the kind of long form aspect of it which is refreshing to see,” adds Dan. “The gaps between our earlier releases were quite long so we knew we wanted to go into this next record quicker than we have previously, a lot of that had to do with us working independently which takes a lot more leg work which takes time away from the time we have available to spend writing and working on the actual music. I’m so glad we have Century Media behind us now so we can switch the focus onto the music. We’re always writing and throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks but once you start to build a good collection of songs which feel right together it can take months or years to develop them into their fully finished form.”

Epigone is a particularly extensive endeavour for WILDERUN, clocking in at over an hour and displaying a broad range of moods and tones which are considerably different to its predecessor. “Veil Of Imagination used an abundance of major keys and Epigone is almost the opposite of that and that’s kind of why it sounds heavier and darker,” admits Dan. “It was just one of those things that kind of naturally evolved throughout the process and we also wanted to make some really heavy sections too, like in the final part of Distraction. We had this big, sweeping, beautiful melody at the end of part three and we decided we didn’t want to leave it on a nice, clean note! I know concise and Epigone are not words you expect to go together but with Veil Of Imagination it was very much fitting in as many instruments and layers as we can to make it sound huge where I think in reality you’re better off condensing things and making them able to stand out in the mix to make them stronger instead of having a bunch of countermelodies. I think we managed to do a really good job of the orchestration and it made a stronger record as a result. You find yourself revisiting songs, you may put an instrument in on a song and like it that much that you want to try and find other places to utilise it. I think we ended up with about 400/500 tracks on Pro Tools! You’ve also got to know when enough is enough.”

As well as being more critical and controlled in their approach, WILDERUN have also greatly benefited from sharing the load and allowing each other to pitch their ideas into this grand tapestry. “We’ve definitely established a better rapport for collaboration with this record I think we’ve built up more trust for everyone’s intuitions. One of my favourite aspects of this process was how everyone got their chance to add their input,” explains Dan. “Evan provided demos of his melodies and harmonies with no demo drums on so John was able to write his own parts and he managed to create these amazing grooves that I don’t think any of us would’ve been able to come up with on our own. I could then go in with my bass lines and it was like a feedback loop where we would revisit tracks to see what other interesting things we could do it, that was one of the coolest parts of the process.”

A lot of bands have depended on remote working to bring their material to fruition, some members being in entirely different countries on occasions. This was also a situation which befell WILDERUN. “We only managed to get together once in the entire process!” Declares Dan. “Evan was living with me in Massachusetts at the time and John drove up in July 2020 and we spent that time just really hammering out the core fundamental parts of the songs. Doing a bit of rearranging, working on the orchestration and the tempos. Wayne was stuck in LA the entire time! We never even saw him, he just worked in his home studio!”

Epigone is out now via Century Media Records.

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