Chaos
Inception is a killer Death Metal band from Alabama worth supporting with a new album in the works. I got in touch
with guitarist Matt to show my support and also get some details
about the upcoming album. If you’re a fan of
dark, abstract, and crushing death metal with tight musicianship,
then you should definitely give them a listen. Chaos Inception is no
lightweight, despite their under-the-radar status.
Hails!
It's been a long time since Chaos Inception released an album. Can you please give us an update?
Hails,
and thanks for the interview. It’s good to know someone cares about
the band. We’ve been through hell and back trying to get this done
and I can finally see the light at the end. Gary White and I are the
band now, and that’s probably all there will be to it. We have been
through so many changes in lineup and so much on a personal level,
but I anticipate that a new album will be out on Lavadome Records by
the end of 2021, or early next year.
Chaos
Inception Members also play in various other bands such as
Monstrosity, Diabolic, Quinta Essentia, etc. Are these other bands
rather side bands or priority?
It’s
hard to say what band is a side band or priority, mainly because it
would piss off the other people in those bands. The priority for me
is simply to play guitar in a band and to have someone hear it. So
all I do is keep playing, keep writing, and when someone says let’s
do an album I can say ok, here’s what I can contribute. At this
stage of the game, and at the risk of pissing off some people, I’d
say that the bands you mentioned are nobody’s ‘priority’ as far
as their daily lives go, because it’s not their job or their
family, with one exception that you might guess. Chaos Inception is
my priority in a way, because I write everything. In other projects
there is compromise, with other people changing my songs, but I’m
proud of all of them. When it’s time to get it going the priorities
shift to each one, but the constant is me sitting around playing a
guitar. I’m much better at it now for being involved in those
projects.
What
led to the departure of Chris White and what does the new vocalist
Jason Flippo bring to your sound?
As
I mentioned, we’ve had a lot of changes. None of them were truly
rancorous but to go over the reasons would be picking at scabs. Gary
White is the vocalist for Chaos Inception now - you heard it here
first!. He has done vocals before in spots with Chaos Inception and
Convergence from Within, so it’s just easier and better for us to
do it ourselves, together.
How
will the direction of the new material differ compared to The
Abrogation? What can we expect?
Expect
something that’s a little more streamlined, without as many
opposing guitar riffs. I mean I used to have one riff and then do
another riff on top of it, and it sounded pretty cool, but I realized
that often the reason for doing that is the first riff is not very
good. It’s covering up for a crap riff, or what we call in the
rehearsal room, ‘shizer’. That’s Alabaman for schiesse. Good
riffs, not noise – that’s the goal. Just remember that the layers
probably don’t make you a musical genius. Some death metal
(ourselves included) use a blast beat as a cover for crap riffs. Put
a blast on that and it sounds cool. Especially when the drummer is 10
times the musician as the guitar player, which is often the case.
Well, we are blasting 90% of the time, so we try to avoid that.
Besides all that, the new album runs more of the gamut – it goes
from total defeat and despondency to triumph and overcoming. The
latter is an absolute necessity for me, because if it’s not
spiritually majestic and the singer is growling, you might as well be
in Pantera – you’re making angry music, and I’m just not that
angry. Now, there’s one song on it that almost makes me nauseous to
think about, it’s so nasty. A bit of a departure. And as always, I
have in mind the legacy of Floridian and South American death metal
and we will always be happy to plant that flag through the eye socket
of a poseur.
Which
bands influenced the sound of Chaos Inception?
For
me it’s everything, but mostly Floridian and South American bands.
Sweat-panted and farmer tanned death metal from hell, as opposed to
pale, cold death metal with neck beards and leather pants. The album
Blessed Are the Sick. Any and all Sarcofago, not just INRI. Angel
Corpse. Krisiun. Perdition Temple. Suffocation. Centurian. Sinister.
Any kind of weird, dark metal. Necromantia. Striborg. Slayer should
go without saying. Can’t forget Iron Maiden, Uli Roth, The Smiths,
and Graham Parker. Just listen to what you like, or you will burn out
your love of music. Use all your influences. I am not a huge fan of
all death metal, such as mid-paced or slow stuff, or the stuff made
by trained musicians who are slumming in the death metal world. I
respect any band that has made a name for themselves doing this, and
I’ve gone to their shows and bought their albums, but when it’s
time for me to distill influences and create my thing, there’s none
of that involved. And there’s always an element of horror involved,
brought by a lifelong study of horror movies.
What
are some newer bands that you like? Are there any albums that have
left an impression on you recently?
That
is a good question. I try. I really try. I think most everything
sounds pretty good, with good but usually the same production values,
but I just don’t have that goosebump feeling from anything new. And
there are so many old things that I haven’t heard that sometimes
it’s best to check out old bands that I missed. Like with horror
movies – what’s the best new horror movie of 2021? I couldn’t
tell you. But I don’t just sit around watching John Carpenter’s
Halloween for the 127th time. I’ll find out
there was something I missed from back then with the same vibe. Or
there is some band that the label Nuclear War Now found from the USSR
or Haiti from way back that’s cool. There are lots of new bands
that try to recapture the old magic, and I’m cool with them doing
that too – like Gruesome. Some overzealous fans or critics
sometimes piss me off when they say it’s even better than the
original when it isn’t. I’m still looking for the heir to
Azagthoth, Palubicki, and the rest. Where are the psychotic soloists?
Anyways, if absolutely pressed to name a newer band I’d say
Cemetery Lights, which is like a Greek black metal sounding thing on
Nuclear War Now. If you asked Gary that question, he would definitely
not drop the name Cemetery Lights, that I can tell you.
Can
you tell us a little about the themes on The Abrogation, including
some details about songs like "Pazazu Eternal" and "The
Exterminati"?
Lyrical
themes . . . For me, it’s nightmares, visions, and whatever happens
in the rehearsal room. We name riffs and then those names make it
back into the lyrics. We had a riff called the Pincer riff and that
translated into a working title of 1000 Dead by Pincer. Now the
challenge is what the hell does that mean? I can’t even remember
why we called the riff ‘pincer’ now someone has to base lyrics to
a song about that. I will admit that some of the things I put in my
lyrics are meant to shock, but not in the usual sense. How can you
shock someone who’s been listening to Cannibal Corpse for 25 years,
or watching Evil Dead for 40? Well, you can put in something
unexpected, maybe something that leaves them scratching their heads.
Usually it’s because I’m scratching my head about it as well. You
just know it’s right when you hear it spoken. Go with your
instincts and don’t overthink it. Some people have accused us of
being devil worshippers because of some lyrical content, but I can
tell you that we don’t believe in devil worshippers. Anyone who
wastes time seriously studying demonic rituals to put them into
practice is a fool. But if you study them for historical interest,
that’s something else. And if you have studied them and you think
some of it sounds cool, like ‘man, that’s some heavy shit. What
if that was a song lyric?’ Also cool. But copying directly from the
text? Boring. Plagiarism. And obviously, the rituals don’t work in
the intended way, or else all these underground metal bands would
have wealth, fame, and there’d be a lot more women at their shows.
So I use some artistic license and maybe write a lyric in the
language of ritual but make it my own, knowing that it’s nonsense.
You can be serious about your art and do that at the same time. No
one can tell me I’m not serious, given the time and years I’ve
put into this, with little to no reward. So I leave people wondering
if it’s from an ancient scroll or a dreaded tome found at an
archaeological site, or is it totally made up yet sounds like a cool
death metal song? I try to be honest about what we’re doing here –
making music for teenagers (in spirit, at the moments even a mature
adult is enjoying this music), just like the teenagers we were when
you got into it.
Will
your collaboration with Lavadome Productions continue?
Yes.
Lavadome is the best. The have the best roster of any newer label.
Jan has treated us well and has not pressured us to hurry up and put
out the album. We know it was too long between albums, but there was
not much we could do about it. I don’t like getting involved with
the business of music. I’m just too busy. I worry about making
money at my day job. If I calculated how much money I make on music
I’m probably paid a fraction of 1 cent per hour. If I made some
phone calls and deals I could maybe bump that up to 1 whole cent per
hour. I just leave it alone. Anything is a bonus. With Chaos
Inception I only care about making good music that I like, and
meeting my potential for creating magic through a musical
performance. I have always felt that I failed to hit that mark. The
songs for this 3rd album are finished except
for vocals and leads. This is where we might make it happen.
Thank
you very much for your time. Looking forward to new material from
Chaos Inception. The last words are yours.
Hang
in there. We’re still around. Thanks for sticking with us. I think
there will be a lot of happy folks out there once you put the needle
down on the first track off this one. Yeah, you thought I was all
nice in this interview but you didn’t realize that what I’m
putting together is going to be a megaton blast of destructive
madness pounding through your skull and it will torture your soul in
the nether region past the Third Inferno in the wasteland of the
desolator. Eaaaagghhhhh!!!!!
