CEPHALIC CARNAGE
Grudge-core Westerns in the key of D-mented
By: John Gnesin, Photos: J. Narcy
On the insane strength of 2002's Lucid Interval, the hype surrounding Colorado’s eclectic grinders bubbled up from the underground with the band’s aggressive sounds infecting the ears and minds of audiences increasing in both size and diversity. Sharing stages with everyone from metal legends like Kreator and Destruction to Dark Funeral and Ackercocke, Shadows Fall and Hatebreed, the band entered the studio with a need to expand and perfect their sound. On Anomalies they do just that, drawing from their recent flirtations with the doom genre, they put together an album that for all it’s ferocious rages at varying velocities, will astound and even shock the listener even more with it’s intense dynamic flow. Album complete and on the eve of the band once again hitting the road, I got a chance to drop an email to guitarist Zac Joe and hear his side of the story.
Anomalies is certainly an appropriate title for this record, each song seems to represent you guys taking elements you hinted at in the past and fleshing them out into full free-standing ideas on their own. Whereas before Cephalic Carnage could be classified as a grind band with weird parts, you guys seem to be more a weird band with grind parts now. How did this transition come about, was it a conscious decision or did it come naturally out of the writing/jamming process?
Zac: I believe it came out more naturally in the writing/ jamming process. Anytime we've sat down with a pre-conceived concept or idea (aside from the Halls of Amenti mini-disc), It never turns out that way at all. Having said that, this is the first album since Conforming... that almost all of the songs were written by an individual entirely then brought to practice finished. If I go off of memory I do believe that only 3 songs on the album were written as a full collaboration in the rehearsal space, and with one of them most of the riffs dated back to nearly 8 years ago. Not that the other songs weren't fleshed out by everyone's input, There were just a few that came out of jamming. I think that’s the big difference. Previously, everyone would show up with just riffs, then much like so many bands in the world, we would just go riff for riff until we felt the song was done. That’s why things came out so chaotic, which I believe resulted in some amazing arrangements. The way Anomalies was approached really felt different in that sense. Playing riffs for more measures, repeating them more often etc. It's all ‘aboot’ the riff, man. That’s metal.
While there are still many odd themes connected in the lyrics, the songs on this new one seem to be a bit more straight-forward and focused. A song in particular I am interested in hearing more about is "Piecemaker" which seems to be a rant containing elements of the many melodramatic criminal cases in the news the past few years (Jon-Benet Ramsey, Laci Peterson, Kobe Bryant)?
"Piecemaker" was the only song I wrote lyrics to and actually has nothing to do with modern situations or media whatsoever. It is reflective of that because its theme is as old and repeated as mankind itself. Jawsh came up with the title (as well as a couple of lines) inadvertently. He was working on some layout ideas and had a bunch of fake titles, and "Piecemaker" was one of them. I had the music to the song written for some time as well as the vocal placement but didn't really have too much of a concept. I knew I wanted it to be about vengeance and retribution of some sort, but had nothing concrete. When I saw "Piecemaker" on the paper it all came to me. It had to be a western. I thought, "How many death metal, grind or hardcore bands write a mini-epic about the old west?” I’m sure there have been a few, but none that I know of. The song is really about a father and son and a property dispute. The father was a prominent businessman in old New Mexico, and had given his son a large plot of land as a wedding gift to him and his wife. After a couple of years the railroad made the father an offer for the land he couldn't refuse. The problem was the son had made the land into his own and couldn't give it up. So, the father got treacherous, and when he thought his son and his wife were away from the property he had it burned to the ground. What the father didn't know was that his son's wife was actually home when his cronies set fire to the cabin and surrounding land, killing her and his sons dreams of a family and life. That set into motion the revenge that would take place. The son then sought out everyone who was involved, saving the father for last. At the end of the song when the low vocals kick in that's actually the Father talking to the Son at their final showdown. The father had a silk handkerchief made with the last verse of the song embroidered on it because he knew the son would come for him and kill him, which he does. The concept just hit me, and in an afternoon I put it all together. I'm sure that’s probably the most annoyingly long and cheesy explanation for a song you've ever gotten, but that’s the story behind the lyrics. I've actually spoken to Darren Doane (Who directed C.C.’s new video) about making it into a short story. I bet everyone in the underground that reads about that song will probably laugh at me, but guess who we write songs for?
You guys had many an illustrious guest-star help out on the vocal front on this album, Corporate Death (Macabre), Travis (Cattle Decapitation), Barney (Napalm Death) and John (Dying Fetus) among others. Were songs written with these specific voices in mind or were these collaborations the results of happy accidents and coincidences?
It was a coincidence that all of those people happened to be in town while we recorded the album. Leonard actually wanted all of them to sing on parts that were completely different than what those people are known for, but all of them were in town in the very beginning stages of the recording process and not all of the lyrics had been completed. I think Corporate Death is the only one that actually got to experiment. John Gallagher sang on what I always referred to as the Hatebreed riff. After he sang on it, it became very Dying Fetus, which I'm very proud and honored to have on our record. The story behind Barney's part is equally entertaining. There was a copy of Robert Hamburger's Ultimate Ninja Handbook lying around the studio that all of us read constantly (that and the Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal along with The Dirt by Motley Crue) and Jawsh and Steve found a phrase that fit syllabically with the musical phrase and had Barney sing it (yell it I guess). The song was actually political in nature, so in a very tongue in cheek way, it totally fit. I’ll let the kids pick out which phrase it is.
As moderator of the Relapse web-board I am quite familiar with the character known as Happy Pappy who is credited with sound effects, noise, and ambience on the album. Is he truly the George Martin (5th Beatle) of the Cephalic clan or would that be Dave Otero who produced, engineered and himself vocalized on the damn thing?
While neither of the 2 have ever played with us live (Dave has toured with us as a sound guy and Matt has toured with us as a merch guy and I guess he did come up and scream with us a lot, so I take that back.) Both are a big part of our everyday goings on. Dave makes us sound better than we actually are, and actually molds himself to the band and becomes a 5th member in the studio. Learning all the guitar and bass parts and helping out with melodies and stuff, and learning a lot of the drum parts and helping with some of the arrangements, to helping sort out the vocal parts as well. Matt is always our outside opinion that assists in soundscapes and the website. We just can't afford to pay him to come on the road to play keys/samples full time. Maybe soon.
Finally, because this question is asked of me by every nerdy Cephalic geek in the known universe through my mail-order job, what is up with the second installment of the Halls of Amenti doom saga, is it recorded or still in the planning stage, when might we expect it?
I would say part 2 will done by the end of the year. The working title is Babylon, although that could change. It will be a little darker and heavier in concept with more ambiance, as it is the 2nd of 3. I guess more details will come. But we are talking about it a lot.
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