interview with Abhorrent Decimation

First of all for those that haven’t heard of Abhorrent Decimation can you give us a brief history of the band, where you’re from, what you do, etc?Sure, we are a Death Metal band from the South East of the UK. We formed in May 2013 and to date have played a handful of festivals some one off appearances across the UK and also went out on tour with Hour of Penance earlier this year, when they released their latest album, ‘Regicide’. We have filmed 2 music videos so far and have released one record to date, “Infected Celestial Utopia”. Released by Cold Birth Records and its physically and digitally distributed worldwide.

Could you explain your music to someone that hasn’t heard you before?Heavy, hooky, relentless Death Metal. We work with traditional song structures and (hopefully) memorable vocal hooks.

What were the ambitions of the band when you started? Well. I have been in bands in the past, achieved some cool things, played some great shows across some awesome countries, been on some great releases and had an amazing time in doing so. The ambition with Abhorrent Decimation was to supersede past achievements and take a this band to the next level. Setting targets and milestones and smashing them. Building an upstanding band that wastes no time in building a fan base and creating product for its market.

Your debut record called ‘Infected Celestial Utopia’ is out. How do you feel it’s been received?Well, all positive. Sales wise, we have sold out our allocation of hard copies from the label from when we first went to print. For a relatively unknown band to sell 500 units in this scene feels like an achievement to me. Digital market is growing, so things are moving along nicely towards us putting the album out. Reaction wise, we haven’t received much negative energy on it at all, 99% positive. We have had some great reviews, awesome support and overwhelming feedback along the way. Really great. 

What lyrical subjects do you touch on with this record? Nothing uncharted! This record tells the story of the destruction of earth. It’s laced with metaphors and my lyric style can be esoteric at times. But essentially it’s about a machine (origin unknown) wrapping itself around the earth and destroying everything in its path. An apocalyptic macerator. As the record plays out the lyrics change from a narrative stance to first person perspective. And by the last track “Infected Celestial Utopia” you are left with one sole survivor and his story.

What were your sources of inspiration? A real mixture of sources, Dave McKinney and I wrote the record together and I would go as far to say none of our actual influences are apparent after a first listen. Some old school influences for some of the harder hitting, simpler parts such as Deicide, Obituary and Malevolent Creation. But then we have some other more modern influences on the record. We didn’t really know where we was heading I guess, it all happened so fast. Our only real remit was HEAVY. 

Any news on a follow up? Yes of course, we have begun work on our debut album, we are about halfway through the writing. We can’t say a huge amount on the release date and if we are continuing with Cold Birth but I can confirm the newer stuff takes still has that Abhorrent sound, but now we are going strong on the blasts and a little more hard hitting. Its shaping up nicely but we have a lot of work to do here. We wanted to create something much darker and heavier this time round. Something that technically stretches us so we can get a longer shelf life off the material in our set. Let’s go backstage now. 

Do you have any pre-show rituals? Typically just warming up and getting some peace before our performance. We like our space so often don’t hang tight with each other before shows. We split up once we arrive normally. I am happiest with the merch watching bands and talking to fans. Dave is super sociable so he’s normally off at the bar “warming his hands up” with a few whiskeys and talking with the other bands. Cooke likes a few Jazz cigarettes before we hit the stage and Archer and Matty just like to chill back stage.

Who has the best since of humor in the band? We all do! Really is a band of funny fuckers. We bounce off each other when it comes to laughs. We all top each other in our own little ways.

What was one of the most quarrelsome times for you in the band? We had some arguments on tour. Funny stuff really looking back, nothing too serious. First night of the HOP tour we nearly totally missed our set, stuck in traffic on the motorways, taking frustrations out on each other! The other band on the package, Murder Made God (from Greece) had some delays coming through the airport in the UK and it really fucked the timing for getting us down from Stansted to Brighton! Somehow we managed it. I really don’t know how! Slammed the van outside the venue, through our stuff on stage and went straight on. Bonkers really. Ha

What’s been the best gig you ever played? Really hard to pick a stand out show from what we have done so far! I can tell you about a bad one! If you was to ask me next month, no doubt I would say BLOODSTOCK Festival! But until then, there is no “best”.

And worst? This is easier; it was the weekend just gone. No issue with our performance, we were professional as ever and went on with it. But we had travelled quite a while for it and it was just so poorly promoted, planned on a day when access to the venue was a total nightmare and near on impossible, how was fans suppose to get there? Our drummer spent an hour trying to park the van! The soundman was so awful, cab mics feeding back and the house gear was way below any standards we have seen before! We will not be going back to that venue again in a hurry, that’s for sure! Ha

When you are on stage, what is the worst possible thing that could happen?Bass drum trigger to go, hands down. It’s so imperative with our style to have the driving triggered bass drum. I also really hate it when the mic lead is faulty and cuts out intermittently. Just general technical issues. Nightmare. 

What music could we expect to hear on your tour bus? I normally take charge of the radio on the bus. On the Hour of Penance tour we had loads going on. Normally not much metal as it goes. You just spend every night being hammered by blast beats and pure volume on stage that I much prefer the juxtapose of mellower music when we are traveling. I’m into a lot of rare groove, soul and funk so played LOADS of that.  Don’t get me wrong we still put the heavy stuff on. If I remember rightly I stuck on a few recent purchases in the CD player while we was on the bus, The Kennedy Veil – Trinity of Falsehood, Behemoth - The Satanist, Ageless Oblivion – Penthos and Oblivion – Called to Rise got a fair few plays! Other than that it was mostly Zapp & Roger! P-Funk  

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? All the above! We play because we enjoy making this music. We are addicted to it! We have to do it.

What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Yourself, it’s all about what you can put into this. Some of us our restricted in what we can do because of balancing life with other commitments. It’s something we would love to do full time but we didn’t make this band to put food on our tables. It’s finding that balance of being comfortable and happy. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do still. But things are going well and all is progressing as I had hoped. 

Finally, what’s next?/And any final words?Yep, OK we are preparing for Bloodstock Festival, in August. Which is such a great honour for us to be a part of! We are incredibly proud of what we have done already in our first year as a band. To be on the same platform as bands such as Emperor,Dimmu Bogir, Carcass, Decapitated, Primordial, Rotting Christ and Diabolical already is just truly amazing! We are so happy. Then of course after that we are appearing at MammothFest in Brighton later that month. This will be another great show for sure! Then after these shows we are heading back to the studio to complete work on our debut album. We are tracking the album ourselves and then sending it off to an amazing studio to be mixed and mastered by a total fucking legend. We can’t reveal who it is yet, but if previous work from this guy is anything to go by we are going to have one hell of a record on our hands. Then we are working with our agent to get some tours (yes, more than one) and more festivals booked for when the album is released, we would like to be out touring in Europe for 2015 and with a long term goal of reaching America in 2016. But we have a lot of work to do till then! If you haven’t seen it already guys, please check out our latest T-shirt design “SPIRITUAL REPULSION”, inspired by the lyrics from the title track of our debut record “Infected Celestial Utopia”. All merch sales go straight back into our band. Thanks for the support \m/ Ashley

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