Slave Zero Reviews

Nocturnal Horde (Interview)

http://www.nocturnalhorde.com/interview172.html

Slave Zero hails from Ireland, and delivers a violent slab of death metal blended with a good deal of hardcore aggression. The band consists of great songwriters, and together with their hard-hitting music, they also have a strong lyrical side. I got in touch with guitarist Eddie O'Malley and vocalist Graeme Flynn and they both eagerly answered my questions.

Hey there, how are things in Ireland as we speak?

Hi there – things are going great in Ireland at the moment. We have lots of established acts and there is a very active and diverse underground music scene and metal has become very popular with young kids here. There are some great young bands emerging also.

Will you start off by introducing yourself and tell us why you use you time on metal?

Graeme Flynn here (lead vocal duties for Slave Zero). I use as much time as I can on Slave Zero because this is all I ever wanted to do. This is what I live, eat and breathe. It's who I am.

My name is Eddie O'Malley, one of the guitarists from Slave Zero. I put so much time into metal music because it is an essential part of life for me. Playing the guitar, going to gigs and listening to music is what I love doing most and that's why I work so hard to constantly improve and broaden my influences.

A small introduction of the rest of the band, together with a bit about what they bring to Slave Zero will be great also.

Bob is our drummer and he provides a lot of innovative drum and structural patterns and he ensures that we are constantly striving to improve as a band. Adrian is the other guitarist in the band and he brings a more varied and abstract stream of musical input. Andy, the bass player solidifies the rhythm sections and gel’s the guitars, vocals and drums in his own unique way.

How did you end up with the band name Slave Zero and what does it symbolise for you?

Eddie: Slave Zero is a name that we've had for the past 6 years and for us, it represents the constant struggles that we have gone through as a band since we started with line up changes, difficult personalities and uncompromising ignorant people. It symbolises our efforts and developments and it reminds us not to take anything for granted.

You are soon ready with your new EP "The Pain Remits", how do you in the band feel about it?

We're all really excited about the upcoming release. It's been in the pipeline for a while now and even though we had the EP more or less finished late last year, the business side of things took a while to sort out. At this point we are just raging to get out on the road and start destroying!

What do you expect of it?

Graeme: I have always been a believer in the saying 'what you reap you sow' and the amount of work, planning, time, effort and heartache that went into this record is a testament to how strong a unit we are. We want this record to help take Slave Zero to the next level and expose ourselves to a wider audience.

Eddie: We have taken our time making "The Pain Remits" and because we have invested so much time and effort, we feel that our feet are firmly on the ground. We hope that it portrays our musical passion and dedication but we won't get carried away. We hope that it sets the right foundation from which we can further build collectively.

How is the material on the "The Pain Remits" compare to your earlier material?

Graeme: Extremely different. Basically this is a totally different band when compared to the previous releases. With every record that Slave Zero releases, they get heavier all the time!!! The songs are structured better this time around and the approach we take to writing a song ensures that it is examined and scrutinised so if it's not up to the standard and the level that we expect it’s not used.

How do you feel the band has developed through time?

Eddie: The band operates as a collective and it has taken a lot of work and communication to keep it that way. This combined approach has allowed each member to bring in more varied influences which we believe has given us a more unique sound.

Who are the main songwriters in the band?

We all contribute various ideas and influences.

How do you work in the band when making music and arranging the songs?

Graeme: Basically Eddie and Bob will thrash out an idea and bring that to the table. Then lyrical ideas are discussed among us all and I'll go and write the first draft. Then we discuss how we want to deliver the vocals in regards to the music, agree on what lyrics will be used and from there everything normally falls into place. Basically everyone has an input to each song whether it's from a musical or lyrical standpoint.

Eddie: Usually one member brings a few ideas to the table and we jam on a few riffs and work on possible structures. We try and grab the listener with varied, complex structures and ultimate aim to avoid the lure of predictability.

Where do you find inspiration for your music?

Eddie: Seeing bands stand the test of time and progress from album to album, writing more diverse music and incorporating a wider range of influences is a real inspiration. Bands that overcome the obstacles that life has to throw at them and continue on doing what they love for the right reasons and not being lured in by commercial incentives. We also find a lot of inspiration in each other as it is very hard to find five people that will commit on the same par as each other with common objectives. It has been a very rough journey to reach where we have and we find a lot of motivation and pride in what Slave Zero has become.

The music is a fierce twist of American styled death metal and hardcore, with your own twist – how did you pick up on those influences?

Eddie: Our roots musically consist of many American metal and hardcore bands. Growing up as teens in the 90ties bands such as Slayer, Crowbar, Pantera, Biohazard, Cannibal Corpse and Obituary got a lot of media exposure in Europe and Ireland. These American bands largely spawned our desire and passion to play metal music.

What do you with to tell with the music?

Eddie: Our musical style symbolises and represents our diversity of musical tastes. We don't want to be restricted by genre classification or stereotyped by people's perceptions. We don't set out to play a certain style and we open to all types of music if it fits with the structure and flow of the songs we write.

Who is writing the lyrics and where is the inspiration for them found?

Graeme: The majority of the lyrics on the EP were written by me but the lads obviously helped in terms of the subject matters used, shaping them to fit the music and so forth. My inspiration for writing normally comes from personal experiences, anguish, pain, hurt, and rage – basically all the bad things in my life. I suppose you could say that's how I deal with those issues on a personal level. The fact that these songs were wrote about my own life helps me on a live setting to channel more emotion and energy into my performance.

The vocals fill a lot in the music and have a lot of space – how important are they and what about the lyrics? How important are they compared to the musical side of the band?

Graeme: Every aspect of every song is equally important to us. Whether it's the bass' sound, drums' beats etc. We try to align it all so that no other part overrides the rest. The vocals are always done last as we like to take our time to make sure that both the lyrics and the delivery of the vox are doing the music justice.

The lyrics do also seem very serious; do you have a message with them?

Graeme: I agree that the lyrical content is very serious and there is some messages in there for certain people who have fucked with me but overall I think that fans will take their own messages from them. I suppose you could say the general themes throughout the 5 tracks would be to be yourself, stand up for who you are and don't take shit from people!!

The music and lyrics seem very personal as well, is that a correct assumption?

Eddie: It is a correct assumption to think that the music and lyrics are very personal. Our music represents a part of our lives that, although we love it, we must constantly struggle in our daily lives to accommodate it. When I write music I disconnect from the stress and pressures around me and it is often hard to find middle ground between music writing and other parts of daily life. To me, music is the ultimate release complicated by its inconsistency yet complemented by its essentiality.

You are very welcome to guide us through the 5 songs on "The Pain Remits" and tell us how you came up with the idea for the tracks, what you want to tell with it and so forth!

Graeme: From a lyrical standpoint, 'The Pain Remits' was written about my own personal battles with substance abuse. I fear for you relates to the MTV generation where kids are told what's good and what's bad. That just gets my blood boiling. Whoever is number 1 today – 6 months time their forgotten. 'Soul Of Ruin's' lyrics are basically about how people can be so two faced. They tell you one thing, do the other. Although I don't want to generalize here as that song is very personal to me. 'Relief' is about being smothered by personal problems and how sometimes you just can't seem to look ahead. There is a solution to every problem. The final track 'Faceless' is about people who bitch about you and hide behind a computer screen and when you put it to them they shrivel and die like the pussies they are. Nothing better to do with their time I suppose.

Why did you pick the album title "The Pain Remits", what are you thoughts behind it?

Graeme: The title was chosen because it relates to what this band has been through over the last few years. To me it says that no matter how bad things are there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It was the first track that we wrote for this EP and I love that song. There is a bit of everything in there and I think it’s a pretty bludgeoning track to open the record with!

The album's artwork is killer and kind of abstract, who got the idea for it and what do you wish to tell with it?

In our ideas for the album cover we wanted to incorporate human feelings and emotions, yet do so in an abstract manner. We had a list of words and themes that both complemented and contradicted each other and we wanted to tie these in with the complexities and paradoxes of human nature.

These themes are symbolic of being torn apart by life itself and not being able to decide on how to deal with it. How indecision and negativity can ultimately decay away what a person values in life, leaving a broken, non-respondent bitter shell of a human. In order to best depict this, we though of two tracks or paths originating from the same source, to represent that the fact that life holds choices and the wrong choices can lead to eventual destruction.

You are releasing "The Pain Remits" by yourself, hasn't there been any label interest towards the band or have you just not received the right offer yet?

Graeme: We have had some interest from a few labels but as of now we are mostly focused on getting the tour done and making sure the record is out there for our fans to appreciate. We have always done everything our own way in Slave Zero and having that freedom suits us down to the ground. It can be hard sometimes but everything we achieve on our own terms makes us stronger as a band.

If you could pick your dream label to release your music on, which label would that be?

Graeme: For me personally it would have to be Relapse as they have been at the forefront of extreme music for a long time now. They have consistently released great records over the last few years which I think is a fantastic achievement for a label. Although saying that there are so many labels out there these days which have great acts on them and are bringing metal to the masses – which can only be good!

How do you look upon the future of the band and when will we again hear new music from you?

Graeme: For me, this is only the beginning!!! We're about to embark on a nation-wide tour of Ireland and we possibly have a date or two in England later this year. We have a few more songs wrote already and I'm sure we'll get around to recording them maybe later this year. We would look to maybe doing a split record sometime early next year.

Do you care to share your 5 all time favourite albums with the readers of Nocturnal Horde?

Carcass - Necrotism - Descanting The Insalubrious
Pantera - The Great Southern Trendkill
Crowbar - Time Heals Nothing
Dying Fetus - Destroy The Opposition
Irate - 1134

Thanks a ton for answering all my questions, if you have anything to add feel free to add it now!!

Well, we would just like to say thanks for taking the time to do this interview with us. We appreciate it!!!!

Check out www.slavezero.net for more details