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Now you’re as white
as a tide-wrenching moon
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It’s been called a masterpiece. A masterclass. Immaculate. Mind-boggling. A variety of other increasingly effusive descriptors. But if you asked the gents in the long-running Australian black death institution of VAHRZAW to describe their upcoming fourth full-length album The Trembling Voices of Conquered Men, they’d probably just say “ehhh… it’s alright” (and then tell you to fuck off).
Such is the no-bullshit attitude of Messrs Scott (also of Elegeion), George, and Brandon (Cemetery Urn, Eskhaton, Monoliyth, Persecution, Volant, ex-Hobbs Angel of Death), two thirds of which have been laying waste to the world with ravenous swathes of black, death and blackened death metal since the early ’90s. At this point they’ve done it all, seen it all – and what they do, they’re doing better than anyone else as each of their recent albums has topped the last, effortlessly blazing a path through fresh fields increasingly complex savagery. And guess what? With their new one on the cusp of dropping via the great Transcending Obscurity Records, we are proud to premiere another fine example of that here today… just wait until ‘Death of an Unknown Architect’ feasts upon your ears.
Beginning with an ominous drum pattern atop a queasy, lurching surge of sickly death chugs, the track doesn’t fuck about for long before hammering off full-throttle – and then changing direction so many times you’ll lose count. Chock-full of about five hundred tasty riffs, dazzling percussive dexterity and vocals that alternately sound like someone flinging chunks of throat at you or ripping their way back up from hell with their own bare hands, it’s an almost absurdly impressive performance that will have you pressing play immediately after it returns to that unsettling intro riff (this time replete with solo) and the final note fades out.
‘Death of an Unknown Architect’ proves beyond all doubt that even for as long as they’ve been around, these men are at the top of their game – they will never be conquered. Check it and a brief chat with the fellas out below, then grab yourself a pre-order now (releases December 10th). Hails.
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Greetings, gents. Pleasure to be chatting with you again, this time for the premiere of ‘Death Of An Unknown Architect’ from your upcoming fourth long player, The Trembling Voices Of Conquered Men. Nice to see this album being unleashed after quite some time – how does it feel to finally have it inflicted upon the world?
S: Well, given how the planet has been the last two years, it’s a relief. Music moves slowly.
‘Death Of An Unknown Architect’ is the first proper song on the album after the intro, and it definitely sets the pace for the rest of the record (meaning, it fucking rips). What’s it about? Who is this mysterious unknown architect?
G: It’s about no-one in particular. If it’s about anyone, it’s probably about my wife. But, the connection is loose and, if anything, it’s an irrational fear of loss and, really, is just an idea for a song. To explain, architecture is a male-dominated profession, so I thought it’d be misleading to have the protagonist of the song be a woman. But, architects design things and supervise their construction. In the song, that ‘thing’ is a family and the architect took the family from nothing and shaped it into something important. Without the architect, the family is fucked. That probably won’t make sense unless you read the lyrics.
The music itself is a rather tasteful blend of the finest black and death metal, with exquisite riffage and some ace-as-fuck drumming. What was the writing process for this track like? Did you have any goals for it going in, or indeed for the album at large?
S: I wanted this one to be more technical with some prog elements, but without being ‘tech death’ and all over the place. The drum intro idea came from the chugging riff itself and some guitar noise I had stored in a looper pedal. No goals at all for the direction of the record. It’s a kitchen sink album. A good song is a good song. I’d rather variety than every track sounding similar in terms of structure or riffs.
Scott – that solo section that closes out ‘Death Of An Unknown Architect’ makes me think of something that I can’t quite put my finger on. I like putting my finger on things. What was your inspiration for this particular piece of delectable musical perfection?
S: I don’t consider myself a lead guitarist so I threw myself a challenge to improvise a solo, and I did. We were down to the last hour of paid studio time and that was all that was left to do. He recorded my practice take and we liked it so I did two more and we blended them together. That’s it. Total brain-to-guitar free playing. I left it as is from that point…no fixing mistakes. Along with the drums treating that end part like a solo too I wanted a ‘free jazz’ kind of feel and something totally unique to the album I couldn’t replicate again. A bit of a tribute to Vernon Reid from Living Colour.
George – your vocals are as on point as ever. Given that you blokes have only been doing an album every few years for a while now and you aren’t in any other bands, how do you keep your vocals so savagely brutal?
G: To be honest, I don’t really do anything. I think one of the benefits of the band is that we don’t tour and don’t play heaps of shows. So, after 29 years, I haven’t burnt my voice out. Yes, I’m looking at you Chris Barnes. Your voice is fucked. I’ve learned my limits with respect to how far I can push it, I don’t ‘sing’ when we’re not active as a band, and when we are I practice getting my voice in shape for a few months prior to entering the studio. But, that’s about it.
Brandon – as a drummer, naturally you are in a hundred other bands. How do you approach your playing with Vahrzaw, as opposed to your work in other projects?
B: I grab the vaseline and hope for the best.
Transcending Obscurity Records has whipped up an absolutely astonishing amount of merch for this album; they’ve really outdone themselves this time, I’ve never seen anything like it. What’s your favourite piece of fresh Vahrzaw merchandise and how / where will you use it?
S: There is so much merch… it’s amazing. I’m probably looking forward to lounging around wearing the trackie pants listening to the record and drinking from the mug. If only there was Vahrzaw coffee…
G: Vinyl. We’ve never been pressed to vinyl before, so that’s a highlight for me.
Now that this masterpiece is unveiled, what lies in the future for Vahrzaw? You guys seem to almost reinvent yourselves every now and again – will the next record be more of the same?
S: No, it won’t. That trilogy is complete. We wrote and recorded a new album during the great plague isolation of 2020. Complete opposite of the current album. A return to our black metal roots. It should be unveiled in 2022.
I’ll leave the final word about The Trembling Voices Of Conquered Men to you. Why should people buy it?
S: Buy it if you like it. There’s plenty on there to satiate black/death fans.
G: Because it takes a lot of effort and money to put an album out. Support bands and stop asking for free stuff you cheap fucks.
Sincerest thanks for your time once again, fellas. Any parting wisdom for us all?
S: Don’t cough in public. Also, follow our FB/Instagram/bandcamp and subscribe on YouTube. More the merrier.
The Trembling Voices Of Conquered Men releases December 10th via Transcending Obscurity Records.
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Pre-order The Trembling Voices Of Conquered Men on digital, CD and LP from the Transcending Obscurity Bandcamp HERE, or on CD and LP from the Transcending Obscurity EU webstore HERE.
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