DYING FETUS
VENGEANCE UNLEASHED
By: Erik Thomas
Undoubtedly one of Relapse’s biggest releases of 2007, is the fifth album from DYING FETUS, War of Attrition. The follow up to Stop at Nothing, the new album sees the band return to a four piece as bassist Sean Beasley takes over vocal duties from the departed Vince Matthews and the band return to the more devastating and complex sound of Destroy The Opposition. DYING FETUS founder John Gallagher was kind enough to speak with me about the impending new album, its similarity to Destroy the Opposition, and the addition of Duane Timlin (DIVINE EMPIRE, ex-BROKEN HOPE) on drums.
“We had six of the eight tracks written before Duane came aboard, but we got a little faster and more technical on this record, and Duane was able to handle the drums. We wanted to capture the more of the Kevin Talley sounding drums that we had on Killing On Adrenaline and Destroy the Opposition. Those albums were our aiming point and Duane allowed us to do that”
Another element of War of Attrition that harkens back to Destroy The Opposition is the production; a beefier, heavier guitar tone and a pummeling low end that makes War of Attrition a polished assault of brutality. “On Stop At Nothing we experimented a little bit with the production, we had a completely different set up from the prior albums. For the new album, we went back to the same gear we used before; basically we just used Ampeg heads going straight to dual stacked 1960 Marshall cabinets for the guitar set-up and recreated the sound we had on Destroy The Opposition. Also, Sean Beasley helped with his vocals and really brought back the older sound.”
Recording War of Attrition with Sean joining in the vocal duties sees the band returning to what they do best. “Now as just a four piece, everyone is on the same page. Everyone is focused on their craft and the band is stronger and more powerful due to the chemistry now working in the band. I think that comes across on the new record. Sean had some vocal experience in has last band (GARDEN OF SHADOWS), so with DYING FETUS having been a four piece pretty much from the beginning, it just seemed natural. There are less personality problems or issues within the band.”
One issue that has arisen in recent years is the whole ‘deathcore’ fad, a trend that seems to give a hearty nod to DYING FETUS as an inspiration. Deep growls, grindcore chaos and huge breakdowns have all been elements of DYING FETUS for years, but now every teenager with a guitar and a copy of Killing on Adrenaline seems to be forming a deathcore band and citing the band as an influence. “I don’t think we are responsible for the whole ‘deathcore’ thing, but I think we have definitely influenced it. But we have always listened to hardcore as well as death metal and combined the two. SUFFOCATION did breakdowns, so did PYREXIA and INTERNAL BLEEDING, but we just fell into that crowd and the kids seemed to have picked us out”
Another issue that seems to follow DYING FETUS around is the much ballyhooed sister band MISERY INDEX formed by long time DYING FETUS member and co-founder Jason Netherton, and I wonder if there is a friendly rivalry between the two closely linked bands. “Not really. Jason was just at my house listening to the new album and he loved it. We have known each other for nearly 20 years, we are almost like brothers; there’s no competition there at all. I’ve never looked at it that way. I like his band, especially the song ‘Conquistadors’ from their last album. I’m just trying to push myself and my band to be the best.”
Lyrically, War of Attrition follows DYING FETUS’s theme of violence, war and political corruption, and though Mike Kimball pens most of the lyrics, it’s Gallagher who has the final say on what makes or does not make it into a DYING FETUS song. “Mike Kimball has a degree in English so he does most of the writing, but I still come up with the ideas. I like the more violent side of things like ‘Homicidal Retribution’ and ‘Unadulterated Hatred’.”
Gallagher also handles the album’s production, as he has for every DYING FETUS album, knowing his band’s sound better than any big name producer. However, a couple of names jump out when asked about a dream producer to work with. “Colin Richardson would be great to work with, so would Andy Sneap, but it’s all based on budget. Those guys are expensive but so long as you know what you want and you have a good engineer like we have had for the last few years, the cost can be reasonable and you know exactly what you are getting.”
Even with the future of DYING FETUS firmly rooted in the now and the release of War of Attrition, and supporting tour that will follow, Gallagher is still looking to the future as he ponders another EP similar to the Grotesque Impalement EP. “I’d love to do another EP. I’ve even started writing some new stuff already. It takes a while to write though because I’m so strict on myself. Still, I’ve thought about an EP with some cover songs between this album and a new album. We should be in this for the long haul with this line-up.”
WAR OF ATTRITION - TRACK BY TRACK
Homicidal Retribution: “Essentially what I had in mind for this song was based on a lot of the TV crime drama shows. This song is about confrontation between the victim and defendant. What would a person do if they were allowed retribution? What if a person took justice into his own hands after the court
system has failed? It also deals with the conflict of getting revenge versus taking someone’s life. Would a person be happy if they got revenge, but killed someone?”
Fate of The Condemned: “This is one of the songs that’s written from a
soldier’s point of view, about doing something you’re told to do even if you don’t believe in it. It’s about issues that start a war and how this soldier is committed to seeing his orders through. It’s not really anti-war, it’s more about being told what to do in every aspect of your life in a war, especially when it comes to
military action.”
Raping the System: “I’m really interested in the court system and trials. This song is about the drama of a trial and how the media and public opinion can sway a case. It’s also about how people manipulate the system and escape justice.”
Insidious Repression: “Most of this song is about the ways that controlling forces in society keep you following a certain system and doing things a certain way. Its written from the point of view of a soldier that’s forced to fight for a way of life he does not agree with because he is a loyal soldier.”
Unadulterated Hatred: “This one is pretty straight forward. It’s just about expressing rage, whether it’s justified or not. I sometimes just come up with a title I think is cool, and then build a song and lyrics around it. This was one of those.”
Ancient Rivalry: “With this one I wanted to create a feeling of history repeating itself over and over again, like in the Middle East. I wanted to express feelings of frustration with the same global affairs going on and on whether you like it or not. There’s actually a homage to an SOD song in this song.”
Parasites of Catastrophe: “This was definitely inspired by Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. I wanted to express how tragedy could bring out the honor and best in people but also the worst. It’s not purely specific to Katrina, as in general, people’s most basic instincts come out in any tragedy. People can band together, but can also do really terrible things.”
Obsolete Deterrence: “This sort of came about due to the recent problems with North Korea and how we have a nuclear arsenal that isn’t effective with today’s weapons and technology, but yet we still have them. They are obsolete but yet they are not.”
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