Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Basilysk is:
Josh Perrin - guitar and vocals
Luke Gary - guitar
Mike Churry - drums
Jimmy Viola - bass
Josh formed Basilysk and released their first album Seasons Of Misanthropy in 2012 with a different line up. A period of inactivity followed, until Josh joined up with drummer Mike in the cult death metal band Deform. By chance, Jimmy V attended what would be the last Deform show in 2015, and was impressed by Mike's frenetic drumming ability and Josh's harsh vocals. Soon after, Josh recruited Luke Gary to jam on the new Basilysk material with Mike on drums, and Jimmy joined up in fall 2016. Our first Basilysk show was in January 2017 with Book Of Wyrms.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
Death / Black / Thrash. The twisted coils of a frenzied serpent wrought with aggression and intensity.
Collectively our musical influences span the spectrum of extreme metal, with special regard to old school 80's and 90's metal.
Morbid Angel, Emperor, Mayhem, Dissection, Death, Slayer, Terrorizer, Gorguts, Baphomet, Demilich, Obituary, Immortal, Dark Angel, Sepultura, Metallica are a few of our favorites.
We also enjoy classic rock like Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Black Sabbath of course. You can hear all those influences shine through parts of our new record Emergence, but we also pride ourselves on having a sound that is unique to Basilysk.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
You're gonna like the way it sounds, I guarantee it.
Head over to our bandcamp to get yours now.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Metal heads and the media both dig our new album. We certainly busted our asses to record everything just right and obsessed over the mixing and master with our producer Phil Zeo.
Also, Josh Perrin designed all the artwork for the entire album by hand, so it was an extra involved process on his end. But the album looks and sounds great.
We're humbled to receive praise after our hard work, and we're still hungry to tour to promote the new album, keep writing sick jams.
You can hear some of track premiers at Decibel, Metal Injection and No Clean Singing.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
Basilysk is a live experience you will never forget. We have a tentative East Coast tour planned for June. We're also playing with The Ruins of Beverast and Dead Congregation on July 5 at Brooklyn Bazaar. Hope to see you maniacs in the pit.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We're a band that makes our own opportunities, designs our own albums, art work and tee shirts, and makes our own press. We're a business that runs itself.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
New tour, new recordings, new music video, and a few other surprises.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Support Basilysk at https://basilysk.bandcamp.com
February 2019