MAN MUST DIE
KEEP KILLING!
By: Erik Thomas
Hailing from the craggy depths of Scotland, new Relapse signees MAN MUST DIE are the best thing to come out of Scotland since Rab C Nesbitt, and are about to unleash their Relapse debut The Human Condition, the follow up to the rather excellent debut record Start Killing. I visited with guitarist Alan McFarland and bassist Danny Mcnab about the deal with Relapse and carrying the hopes of a fading U.K. death metal scene on their tartan clad shoulders.
RESOUND: Give us a brief biography of Man Must Die, seeing as the band is a relative unknown in the hierarchy of death metal.
Alan McFarland: “MAN MUST DIE was formed in 2002. We were all in other bands at the time but got together after four years of talking about it. We wanted to create something new and interesting, something with rage and melody mixed into one. We then recorded a 4-song demo in March 2003 and signed with U.K. label Retribute Records a month later; we released our debut album Start Killing in May, 2004. Since then we’ve been playing shows and really finding our feet, you know, finding out exactly what direction we wanted to go in. We feel we’ve found that, and that is displayed more accurately on our new CD. Early in 2006 we recorded a 3 song CD for sending out to labels, and we received amazing feedback on it. I think we had around 6 or 7 offers but when Relapse came forward there was only gonna be one label that we would sign for, so here we are.”
RESOUND: Once considered the birth region of extreme music, why is it that the quality and quantity of death metal from the UK has declined?
McFarland: “ I don’t think it has declined, there is a large influx of more extreme metalcore (deathcore) from the U.S. that has had a heavy influence in the U.K. just now; but because of the large awareness of metal nowadays, more kids are looking to be into the “heavier and better” kinda sounds. We’re seeing lots of younger bands getting it together now, and some of them are great. It’ll be a matter of time before a lot of them are heard on a
bigger scene.”
Danny McNab: “There is less press coverage now of bands that are more extreme; the U.K. has only three or four larger metal magazines, and they tend to feature the more mainstream bands. It’s maybe a case of the chicken and the egg: the majority of the younger fans are interested in what’s ‘hot’ at the time, according to the press; and the magazines pander to what’s popular, so the kids only check out the big bands featured in the ‘zines. One point of view is that fashion has led the way, not just in look and style, but in the way people decide what bands to check out. While metal is on the rise in the U.K., a lot of the newer, younger fans are less likely to decide for themselves to check out new bands based on music, but instead decide they like a band for the look and image they portray. I know that’s an obvious statement; this has always been the case in music in general, but it’s becoming a bigger issue in metal these days.”
RESOUND: I hear a lot of Floridian act BRUTALITY and KATAKLYSM in your debut? Fair statement? If not, what bands have influenced MAN MUST DIE?
McFarland: “I think that’s a fair enough statement. I think since we added so much melody into our music, we were bound to be likened to bands like KATAKLYSM on our first CD, but the tables have turned a lot on this CD. Don’t get me wrong, we do have some melodic parts still in there, but we wanted the anger and rage to shine through in the new music. The rage that we feel when we play the songs, we needed to get that onto CD this time, and it’s there. It’s hard to pick bands that have influenced us this time as I feel that there are none that we aspire to be like. I would say the biggest influence on this CD has been each other and everyday life, the lyrics are very strong and with them a certain level of anger is displayed, the music just adds to the madness!”
McNab: “It would be fair to say that our sound reflects bands like KATAKLYSM at times, but more by coincidence and similar tastes than a deliberate influence. We can stand back and listen to our music sometimes and notice “Oh yeah, we do sound a bit like…”. Our influences in general though are varied from more underground and extreme bands right through to all the early thrash we grew up listening to. We also have other strange skeletons in the influence cupboard like folk music, bluegrass, 80’s pop, and some old hip-hop; it all goes into the melting pot.”
RESOUND: Give us a brief overview of the Scottish death metal scene
McFarland: With regards to death metal bands, this is an area that is only starting to take shape again. There are a lot of younger guys getting shit together just now, and hopefully it’ll start booming into a healthy extreme scene.
McNab: “There has always been a wealth of good bands in Scotland, but they’ve always found it difficult to gain exposure unless they play extensively in England. While the U.K. scene can be viewed as a whole, it’s still a collection of smaller local scenes, some of which receive more attention than others due to geography.
RESOUND: How did the Relapse deal come about?
McFarland: “I think Relapse may have been keeping an eye on our progress for a while now. They expressed an interest when they heard our first demo back in 2001, but although we had a lot of individual experience in previous bands, we were still brand new at the time, with not a lot of good shows or tours under our belt at that time. When we picked up a deal with U.K. label Retribute, it gave us the opportunity to put out our debut record and really get to work raising our game. We travelled to the U.S. to play the Maryland Deathfest in 2004, and met up with some of the guys from Relapse there. We took some time out in 2005/6 to really assess where we were going, musically and personally. We realised that travelling up and down the U.K. in old vans was something we could do for another ten years, and possibly still be in the same situation. A larger label, keen to make us work for a living, was the only we could take MAN MUST DIE to the level we all want. So we recorded a 3 track CD, and decided to consolidate our direction, ditched the clean cut ‘all in black’ look, went back to being ourselves, got hairier (again) and dirtier, and took the music to the level of aggression that it is today. After sending out that CD we received a reply from the label and started to talk about a deal, signed and that’s pretty much up to date.”
RESOUND: Who will produce the Relapse debut?
McNab: “We decided to work again with J.F. Dagenais who produced our first record. We could have worked closer to home, but we have a good friendship with J.F. now and it felt like the best atmosphere to record in. Our last record was recorded in Scotland, and then mixed in Canada, but this time we decided to travel to Montréal to record and mix. Although it was a major shift to go live there for a month, we felt it was important to go and work on J.F.’s turf this time, and also to be there during the mix. It made a big difference, we were in a new environment and able to become absorbed in the making of this record day and night for a month – it all adds to the feeling.
RESOUND: Give us some tracks and detail about the new album.
McNab: “The new album is a different animal from our first! It still sounds like MAN MUST DIE, but we’ve developed into something else over this time – there are some new sounds in there. Songs like ‘Silent Observer’ will sound familiar to fans of MMD; tuneful riffs mixed with bigger heavy parts and the rage of Joe’s vocals. Other tracks like ‘Suicide Gene’ are more introspective and dark, and offer a new perspective on MMD. The album is not a ‘concept album’ but there is a theme running through it lyrically, and the rage is definitely there – more than ever.”
McFarland: “The Human Condition is a million miles from our first album. I think - and hope people agree - that this CD shows that we have developed as songwriters. We haven’t just done fast stuff for the sake of it, or a guitar solo just because we can; we want it all to sound like it’s flowing, and have put a lot of thought into trying some new ideas, because experimenting is really the only way to stand out from the rest. Songs like ‘1000 Promises of Pain’ and ‘Suicide Gene’ show a more experimental side to the band; and songs like ‘March of the Clones’ and ‘Waster’ are among the nastiest and angriest songs on the CD. The lyrics and music fly along like a de-railed train hell-bent on rage.”
RESOUND: When you write songs, you appear to mix melody and brutality perfectly, such as tracks like ‘Severe Facial Reconstruction’ from the debut. How does this happen?
McNab: “We generally write what we like, and those are two aspects of extreme music that influence us. There’s no recipe for a MMD song, we usually have a bunch of riffs to work with of various styles, and we decide how best to build a song from them. Sometimes this goes out the window and new riff / song can appear on the spot.”
McFarland: “I think it’s more of a feeling rather than a “lets put a melodic part in here”. I think mixing the two can make songs flow a lot more naturally and add those annoying parts that stick in your head long after listening, I love those parts.”
RESOUND: How excited are you to be on Relapse and be one of the few European, if not the only Scottish band on Relapse?
McFarland: “I don’t think words could describe how delighted we are to be a part of the Relapse family. We grew up listening to Relapse artists and dreaming of one day being on the roster, and here we are. It feels like we have been noticed at last and we are ecstatic to be working with Relapse. As far as I know we are the only U.K. band signed by Relapse, and I’m not sure if any U.K. band has ever been on the roster, so that’s pretty cool. I think we really needed to get onto a label with stature to really get us out there in the faces of the metal public, and I fully believe that Relapse is the perfect match for MMD.
McNab: “We know we want world domination, but the U.K. and Europe are a good start, and we know Relapse will be keen to make the most of our position on this side of the pond so it’s great, hopefully a lot of good shows and tours are ahead of us. It’s also good to draw attention to the music and bands from this area; it’s that kind of thing that the extreme scene here needs to act as a catalyst for getting things moving again.
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