Gruesome is one of the first bands that openly embraced the “Death-worshippers” moniker and since their inception are playing their original songs, which honor different eras of the evolution of Death. We had to wait a lot for their third album Silent Echoes, but it was worth it, because it is the closest thing to Human you can really listen to nowadays. Velvet Thunder had the pleasure to talk to band leader Matt Harvey about the influence of Death in his musical evolution, why he hated Human before he even heard it and even have his recommendation for Sixties/ Seventies R’n’B music.
Hello Matt! Why did it take seven years to release the new album? That’s the period since Twisted Prayers.
-Oh, that’s a long story. We started working on the album and then we thought Gus was good friends with Sean Reinert (the drummer in the Human album) and we should get Sean to produce the record. That was logical since we were doing our Human-thing. We sent him the demos and waited for his feedback and then Sean died very unexpectedly. So that put a delay to it all, not only because of logistical reasons but also because for Gus it was a very emotional thing. I guess he didn’t want to think about the record for a while and then there was the pandemic, the two Exhumed records and touring cycle, all those things. For me it was a little bit intimidating that we were going from this old school death metal stuff to a more progressive and musical direction, so I was happy to procrastinate, hahah! So in the first half of last year myself, Gus and Dan just agreed we should get the album finished. So half of the album took six years to write and then the other half took three months, haha! So I flew to Florida and rehearsed with the guys for four days, which we’ve never done before. That was a difference maker, because everything fell into place.
We know you are a very experienced musician in different styles, but how much of a challenge was it for you to “switch gear” from the traditional old school death to the more technical stuff on Silent Echoes?
-Yeah, I would probably feel more comfortable to switch to a different genre overall than to that more tech-y stuff. It’s not something that comes off naturally from me but we had a really good system we worked out for this album. I would have a song, send it to Dan and then he would pull it apart, spice it up and then put it back together. Then Gus would come in and the three of us would make sure we are all happy with it. It worked out well, because each of us had a different priority. Gus’ priority was to make sure certain parts sound like a Death-homage, and they are listenable and catchy. Dan’s focus is if it was musically ambitious enough and whether it’s not something we’ve already done before and my focus is if it’s still, heavy, still brutal, still death metal. So if we came to a thing that all the three of us liked, then we ended up in a really good place. It’s interesting, because as this band continues, it becomes more and more collaborative, which is the opposite to Death, which became only Chuck’s vision with people helping him. In the early records, Rick Rozz and James Murphy had a ton of writing credits as well. Collaborative effort is best for us, because I couldn’t do it myself. We are doing each new album as a campaign to honor a certain period of Death that the fans love.
How important was the Human album for you personally? What are your memories from the time it came out? Did you feel disappointed from the change in direction?
-I was really pissed off when it came out. Before I even heard the record, a friend of a friend showed me the tape at a party we went to and when I saw the logo was cleaned up and tidy I thought “this is not for me, this is lame” and I didn’t even listen to it. By the time I really sat down and had time with the record it was two years later and I was like “Wow! This is really good!”. But these were different times. I was remembering the time when Celtic Frost’s Cold Lake came out, South Of Heaven compared to Reign In Blood and I was really on guard against “poser shit”, haha. This stopped me from enjoying these albums as they were and I was fifteen when Human came out. Then I grew up and had my own band and then I didn’t need my favorite band to do the things that I wanted, because I did those with my own band. Listening to it now, with decades of hindsight, it’s still very much a death metal album, it is just not as radical as the things that came out before it. But your favorite band should be challenging you, right?
I have to say that your solos in Silent Echoes are exceptional. Does this style come naturally or you are trying to compose solos intentionally with Chuck’s style in mind?
-Probably 60 percent of the solos on the record are Dan’s although I also did a pretty large amount. The really cool thing is that by that time, Chuck’s sense of melody, even in the riffs, became a little bit more traditionally melodic. I am more a traditionally melodic player and Chuck was more of a pattern player, because he didn’t know any theory and so he just divides these patterns that we explore. I think more in terms of melodies and hummable stuff, but on Human that was the beginning of proper melodies and even more so on the next two records, so I find myself in a place where it’s easier for me to play more to my strength. For Dan, even though he spent his career playing old school death with Possessed and Gruesome, he is a virtuoso player and now he can almost do something close to an Allan Holdsworth thing even. This style has really freed him to spread his wings a lot. So I think both of us are really taking advantage of this while staying true to the source material.
Do you have the impression there are younger fans who have discovered Death only because of what Gruesome do?
-I am not sure about that but maybe they are discovering both bands concurrently. With death metal nowadays, there are obviously some new bands people discover right away like Necrot or Gatecreeper or even Amon Amarth but once you get past that, there is still this generational expectation that you’re gonna hear Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Death, Obituary or Carcass – very much the standard bands, the starter kit. In the Eighties, you were gonna hear Metallica, Slayer, Exodus or Megadeth – that was obvious. One of the great things about metal is you don’t listen to it accidentally, so when you listen to something that you really like, you kind of go down the rabbit hole and you can go on forever. One of the first things to find out if you are interested in death metal is Death’s catalogue. So if you are a fan of the style you should at least be aware of Death.
Tell us something about the other bands you are involved with (Exhumed, Pounder, Left To Die). What is the band we can expect something new from the soonest?
-Exhumed is wrapping up our new album. Right now we have the technology and the facilities to basically do everything ourselves. We work really hard for about a month and then take two months off, haha. I have a couple of more solos and some vocals left to do and I plan to send it off for mixing early next year. It could have come out this year but I wanted to leave some space for Gruesome, because especially in the States, Exhumed plays a lot. It’s also good for the fans to have a year off because it would keep it interesting instead of playing live just a few months after the last time. During the last touring cycle there were places we played three times within nine months with Exhumed, so it’s good to give it some rest. There’s a couple of other records I am working on right now, but I feel it’s a little bit early to talk about. But the Exhumed record will definitely be next.
Have you given thought about releasing author’s material with Left To Die (the band Matt plays early Death material with, along with Rick Rozz and Terry Butler)?
-Yeah, we talked about a couple of different ideas and we will see how natural this will come together. The thing about Left To Die is if we write new material, the expectation level would be so high, because Leprosy is one of the greatest death metal albums of all time. I would surely put it in the top ten if not the top five, so even if we do something that is really great it would still not be as good. We enjoy playing together but we’re gonna try to find a way to do something that doesn’t have that kind of pressure on it. We don’t wanna disappoint the fans and we don’t want to dilute what we are doing. With Venom Inc., for example, they’ve done a couple of really good new records, but when I go to see Venom Inc., I don’t want to see stuff from that new record, I want to see and hear One Thousand Days In Sodom or To Hell And Back, even if I like those new records. One song is good and the second song I’m going to get a beer, y’know? It’s the same with Left To Die so we will see.
Do you plan to bring Gruesome back in Europe?
-A hundred percent! Next year for sure, because we are lining up some dates in the States right now. We will be back in Europe as soon as possible and as soon as our schedules align.
Finally, Matt, I am sure you listen to a lot of music from different genres, so can you name some of your favorite non-metal bands or albums?
-Haha, ohh, phew…… there’s a ton. I listen to all kinds of stuff. I really like late Sixties-early Seventies R’n’B stuff, What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye is one of my absolute favorite albums, the Curtis Mayfield Super Fly soundtrack, anything from Diana Ross and the Supremes. I am also a really big soundtrack listener – the John Williams’s Dracula soundtrack from the late Seventies is great, I just got Close Encounters Of The Third Kind on vinyl, anything Jerry Goldsmith has done, because he is the most versatile composer that I can think of. I also listen to things like My Bloody Valentine, Cocktail Twins. I was actually in Milwaukee last week hanging up with some of the guys in Power Trip and we were having a conversation about XTC – the old English post-punk/pop band from the Seventies. I’ve never met somebody else who likes XTC and I was like “OH, MY GOD! OH, MY GOD!!!”, hahaha. So I pretty much like almost all kinds of music even though I am not so much into ska or reggae and I struggle with opera. I wanna like it bit I can’t. I even like some disposable fun music, like my wife was recently listening to Chappell Roan and I was like “Oh, what’s that? It’s really cool”. It’s just some fun, dance music, but it kicks ass. It’s weird because I am really picky about metal, because it’s my favorite type of music. I actually hate more of it than I like, hahahaha!
Silent Echoes is out now via Relapse Records and you can buy it from HERE
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