We recently reviewed Exist Immortal’s upcoming album Darkness Of An Age – you can read our review here. Eager to find out more about the band. we caught up with them for a chat.
Could you introduce yourself and tell me a bit about the band?
We’re Exist Immortal, a five piece melodic metal band who exist exclusively to make you jealous of our hair while providing the riffs to make you soil yourself while singing choruses sexy enough to make your girlfriend positively damp.
You’re currently getting ready to release your new album Darkness Of An Age – can you tell me about the writing and recording process of it?
Darkness Of An Age came together extremely quickly. We found ourselves in a situation where we had a great deal of ideas that would eventually comprise an album but no solid framework on which to buid it. The way we ended up creating Darkness Of An Age was far from the traditional pre-production and tracking method – we literally began writing at the same time we began recording. As a result, the album ended up with an extremely organic songwriting process – which was brutal – we’d throw out ideas as quickly as we decided that a riff would make it into the album. It came together insanely quickly, writing and recording wise, partly due to our being able to write it in the same environment that we were recording it in. –
Were there any tracks that were more of a challenge to complete?
The first track on the album, Insanity Project, was for a long time the missing piece of the puzzle. We knew how many tracks we wanted the album to be to complete the picture, but had been struggling until most of it was in place to find the last piece that had been missing. We were very much working from a vibe we had in mind for the song and struggled to find the music that fit that specific feeling. The track’s title reflects this. Needless to say, there was a horrific amount of to and fro over how the song should sound, and an even greater amount of Mario Kart involved to prevent us from actually murdering each other or destroying instruments.
Imperator is perhaps my favourite of the album – could you tell me a little more about that one?
Imperator is one of the more orchestral songs on the album. Lyrically, it is about frustrations towards human kind, specifically aimed at those being sucked into a vapid world of reality TV whilst ignoring very real atrocities because it makes them feel uncomfortable. It’s also a huge wall of sound that gets into your mind and stays there!
Which track are you most proud of?
Difficult question! Given that we’re so close to all the songs on Darkness Of An Age, and they all happened so quickly as part of a greater piece of music, it’s impossible to choose one. We’ve all got particular bits that stick out, but choosing a favourite song would a bit like choosing a favourite child.
Any interesting stories from the studio?
As mentioned, the backbone of this album was Mario Kart. Whenever we got pissed at the riff we couldn’t nail or the synth part we couldn’t quite find, our response was to turn the Gamecube on and talk smack to each other for a while as our brains de-stressed. Over the recording process, we managed to unlock everything in that game, and when we ran out of Mario Kart, we switched to Crash Bandicoot. We are a band built entirely on old video games, apparently.
Are there any plans in the works for a tour in support of the album?
We will be touring all over the place, as is our natural state of being. As it stands, we’re on the road with our friends in Arcite in both early and late May, and there will be many more tours throughout the year that are all a little too young to be announcing at this stage. Rest assured, we will be everywhere, inserting our musical wares into unsuspecting ears all over the UK and far, far beyond.
Staying on the subject of live shows, what would you say the best show you’ve ever played has been?
Our most important show to date by far was our headline show at the Barfly in London on our recent tour in February with A Trust Unclean. Obviously, as our hometown, it had a certain pressure on our part to have both a great turnout and a greater reaction. Sure enough, it delivered. It was a simply astonishing show – the crowd was insane and the venue was engulfed in carnage. There is no feeling more humbling for a band than to get on stage in front of a capacity crowd who are not only more than willing to go absolutely mental, but also who know a frankly incredible amount of the words of the songs we’ve put out. A circle pit evolving into a group of people screaming one of your own choruses at you is possibly the most incredible feeling a band can possibly experience.
And what about the strangest or perhaps weirdest?
India has probably the strangest place we’ve played, especially whe comparing the country to the UK. It is the most intense and fast paced place on the planet. What made one shows out there especially weird was the fact that we effectively found ourselves on the wrong side of the planet, and one absolute hero travelled about 10 hours across the country to come and see us, and knew every single word to every single song we played. In terms of mind blow factor, that’s a standout moment.
If you could play anywhere, where would it be?
We’ve been talking about going to Japan for ages – it seems to have a completely unique music scene and the country itself is utterly unique both where music is concerned and as far as the culture itself goes. So at the moment, Japan is definitely at the top of the wish list. That aside, we’d love to get out to the Philippines at some point, partly for the sake of bringing Kurt and David home and partly because we all just want to go there.
And if Exist Immortal could put their name to a product, what would it be?
Given our reputation as the single hairiest band in the tech scene, an Exist Immortal branded shampoo would probably be the most appropriate product we could possibly release. I can see it now: “Can your hair withstand the most savage of riffs and survive the lowest slams? No? Buy Exist Hairmortal now!”
