Recidivist guitarist Matt Williams joins us to discuss the band's upcoming debut LP Madness Malformed, its influences, collaborations, and the Salt Lake City metal scene.
1. Your
debut LP Madness Malformed is set to release soon. How does it
differ from your previous work, particularly the Caverns Of The Dead EP
and the “Cryptic Nightmare” single?
The
songwriting approach was similar, but we ended up with a much more refined
product. Specifically, we went into the mixing process with a lot of new ideas
that we had never executed before. We’re all incredibly happy with the finished
product and can’t sing Ryan Bram’s praises enough.
2. RECIDIVIST
merges death metal with hardcore, not only musically but also in ethos. Can you
explain how the DIY attitude and hardcore influences shape your overall
approach as a band?
A
significant portion of our time as a collective is spent at local hardcore DIY
shows that are booked by our friends. We know what we like to see and hear at
those shows, and that naturally works its way into our music.
3. You've
shared the stage with both modern underground acts like Sunami and Kruelty as
well as legendary groups like Suffocation and Xibalba. How have these
experiences influenced your live performances and sound?
We find
ourselves very fortunate that, in occupying both the death metal and hardcore
spaces, we’ve found a home in both, and have had some really great
opportunities. When we played with Suffocation, the guitarist told me that he
liked my tone. That was huge for me.
4. The Madness
Malformed LP is described as a combination of ‘80s horror and ‘90s
death metal composition with a modern twist. Can you talk about the thematic
and musical inspirations behind this record?
Aside from
being members of the same band, we’re all best friends and when we’re not
playing music together there’s a 99% chance we’re watching a horror movie. The
horror elements are very apparent in the album. Tracks 1, 5, and 9 all have
synth parts that would fit very well in something like a John Carpenter movie.
We collaborated with our good friend (@plightofficial) on the synth tracks.
5. You’ve
collaborated with notable guest vocalists like Chuck Paletta and Alex Herrera
on select tracks. How did these collaborations come about, and how do their
contributions enhance the album?
To say that
Chuck is the hardcore guy of Salt Lake City would be an understatement. It
would have been crazy of us not to include him on the album. He’s a great
friend and has been sharing the stage with us basically since we’ve been a
band. He’s also doing something with his vocals that he’s never done in any of
his bands or features before and he just sounds insane. As for the Spinebreaker
feature, Zach ran in to Alex at the Sound and Fury pre show in 2023 and later
mentioned the album and just asked about a guest spot. We’re so glad he was
down, since we’ve been fans of Spinebreaker for a while.
6. Working with producers and engineers like Nic Kartchner, Ryan Bram, and Brad Boatright on this album, what was the recording and production process like for Madness Malformed?
Nic at the
Grotto is one of our best friends and someone we’re always happy to work with.
It’s always a blast and we’re glad he was willing to take on such a big project
with us. We decided to work with Ryan because we all love how Deserted by
Gatecreeper sounds. Like I said before, there’s some things we wanted out of
this release that we had never tried before and it seemed like Ryan was
instantly aligned with us, and knew exactly how to get us where we wanted to
be. We can’t recommend him enough. Brad was recommended to us by Ryan and going
to him for mastering was definitely the right move. I personally knew we needed
to go with him when I was browsing his catalog, I happened to be listening to
Abandon All Life by Nails and I saw it on his credits. He’s mastered tons of
our favorite bands, and his turnaround time was insanely fast.
7. The
cover art for Madness Malformed was created by John Quevado
Janssens. How did you connect with him, and how does the artwork tie into the
themes of the album?
John did
the artwork for our friends in Sacrilegion’s album “From Which Nightmares
Crawl”. He did a great job on theirs and we’re very happy with the finished
product of ours.
8. You’ve
been compared to influential death metal bands like Skinless, Sanguisugabogg,
and Vomit Forth. How do you view RECIDIVIST’s place within the contemporary
death metal scene, and what sets you apart from other bands in the genre?
It’s
honestly kind of surreal to hear our name associated with bands like that. I
like to think that, for a death metal band, we’ve worked our hardcore
influences into our sound in a way that’s not jarring or overbearing.
9. Your
record release show in November promises to be a big event. What can fans
expect from that performance, and how are you preparing to showcase the new
album live?
We’re
playing the whole album front to back, samples, synth tracks, and everything.
We’ve been looking for a way to incorporate those types of things into our set
for a while now and this is going to be a really great time to debut
everything. We’re going to have some limited merch items that will only be
available at the record release as well. We’re also very fortunate to have our
friends in Grave Titan and Sewn Shut play with us. The members of each of those
bands have helped us out in more ways than I could possibly explain. Plus, they
just write some of our favorite music.
10. Salt
Lake City has a strong underground metal scene. How has being based in Utah
influenced your music, and what’s your take on the local metal community?
We play
lots of lights on, DIY floor hardcore shows, and we love it. That’s our home.
But I’d be lying if I said we didn’t like a dark, foggy, stage show every once
in a while. We are a death metal band after all. The local metal scene here is
awesome, and we’re glad we’ve been able to find a home here with these bands.
11. Looking
beyond Madness Malformed, what are RECIDIVIST’s future plans? Do
you have any tours, collaborations, or new projects lined up after the album
drops?
We’re
planning a west coast run of shows around April next year. We’re always
writing, and we definitely have a list of bands, artists, and engineers that we
would love to collaborate with, and are honestly hoping to record some new
material as early as Summer 2024.
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