interview: Solium Fatalis

What the future holds nobody seems to know for sure, although it might be not the happiest if you check in with the American death metal band Solium Fatalis. Their new 2018 album is prophetically named Genetically Engineered to Enslave. What death metal is in 2018 is perhaps perfectly exemplified by the sound of Solium Fatalis. Disturbing. Dystopian. Solium Fatalis is new to this publication, and for this reason it is about time to find out more about this New England band.

This is your fourth album in seven years?!

Four albums in five years is the actual number. Jeff Demarco, our bassist and vocalist and I have been in the band since the beginning in 2012. Ryan Beevers the other guitarist joined in 2015 after we released Undying Season and Jeff Saltzman the drummer has been around 2 years now.

You formed in 2012 and then in 2013 there was the self-titled debut. Did your band not go through the stage of recording demos and finding the sound?

I wrote the first album in two weeks and Dirk and Loic did drums and bass as a favor. At that point I was 33 years old. I had a professional work ethic and a very good idea of how to make metal so we established the sound of the band after that album in a very unconventional way. Since my previous bands had done the ‘demo and do shows’ route and it hadn’t gotten me anywhere.

On Facebook you mention your multiple tours. Is this a touring band?

We all have normal jobs and no we don’t tour regularly but it’s been based on opportunity and less so on capability. But we certainly have done a couple tours.

What is driving your band to be making albums at this pace? I have been listening to the album and it is a serious production.

It has far less to do with finances than you think and more to with ingenuity and work ethic. We all know how to engineer ourselves in the studio and have jobs we work at and careers that we bust our asses doing to pay for the equipment we use and record with. Effective operating systems and a little bit of learning go a long way. There is no money in this business and it’s all for the love and we love this music and that’s why we do it. And thank you for the compliment on the production that’s Christian Donaldson work at his studio The Gird in Montreal and he’s a bad ass.

You are in New Hampshire. How is your fan base there?

We are 45 mins from Boston so geographically we have no issues with fans not coming to shows or opportunities to play them. But our NH faithful sure as hell show up to our shows and it’s awesome and they rule.

Is there a concept that connects all the lyrics on the album? Have you always had lyrics dealing with futuristic themes like artificial intelligence?

There is a loose concept, yes. All our albums are themed that way but no one seems to read lyrics anymore so they’ll never know. It’s not just about AI it’s about so much more, I also enjoy interpretive art so it means what you want it to mean.

I was looking at art work of the covers of the four albums and they all have a very dark, cosmic or mechanical vibes. How much input have you had in discussions with the artist(s) about what you want?

The last three albums are the same artist Pierre-Alain D. At 3mmi and the first album was Septicflesh frontman Seth Siro Anton who’s done work for Exodus, Paradise Lost, and a whole slew of killer bands. We have brief discussions but it’s usually me saying I like single figure art and here’s the music and they have made their interpretation.

Is the art work computer generated art or is it a painting done by hand?

I believe it was computer stuff mixed with his own hand drawings. He has a bit of a process and method, I’m sure.

Metal Archives says that you are on Wicked Music Records. Is that true?

We are NOT on Wicked Music. Everyone keeps printing that statement and it’s inaccurate. We are on our own label “Disfigured Records”. Yes, self-financed because why beg someone and be an ass kissing sycophant when you can rule your own world and tell everyone to fuck themselves? Better to rule in hell...

Did you work with a producer on this album?

We’re the producer. We handle all creative direction. We do this ourselves and no outside sources tell us how to write or alter our sound. We like it that way.

I see that you have several guests on the album.

We have guest vocalists Matt McGachy from Cryptopsy and Haydee Irizarry from Carnivora on the song “A Gathering of Storms” who have been friends for while and Phil Tougas from First Fragment on the song “Fiery the Angels Fell” with a guest solo who’s work we’ve admired for such long time.

What motivated you to pick up instruments and play extreme metal?

I always loved heavy music since I was a kid. I can’t speak for the band but my early influences are all over the place from Exodus to Morbid Angel, to movie sound tracks and Prince and Hank Williams Jr. all music has something to offer creatively if you know where to look.

How do you see the future of your music?

We will destroy, pillage and annihilate everywhere we play and keep making music as long as we have people who want to hear it!

What plans for shows are there?

We are playing a few shows our schedules are snug often times so we make what we can out of it. October 12th at the Stone Church in Brattleboro Vermont we are recording our CD release show for a live DVD and CD release so people should come be a part of immortality with us. What type of merchandise do you have? Where to hear your albums? CDs, shirts, patches, clothing.... the usual fare. All of it is available through our Bandcamp. All are albums are available on Bandcamp, Itunes and Google music.

What else would you like mention that I have not asked about?

We just wanna thank everyone for listening and checking us out! Our new album is “Genetically Engineered to Enslave” right now on our Bandcamp page.

soliumfatalis.bandcamp.com/album/genetically-engineered-to-enslave

soliumfatalis.bandcamp.com