Please tell us a few words about the new release, about the music on it as a whole or a few words on each track in part. How are you happy with the final release?
Casting Ruin is a very strange album. It is built in such an odd manner, that it has to be looked at more deeply in order to wrap your head around it. Each song is actually comprised of 3 songs. There is a song being played by the guitar coming from the left speaker, and there is a completely different song coming from the right speaker. The blending of those 2 songs creates the illusion of having a third song in the center of those left and right guitar voices. This technique makes for a very strange sound and a very intricate way of writing complex music. It’s not “technical”, because that would make you think about Origin or Necrophagist. We sound NOTHING like those bands! However, it’s very damn technical! So we find it hard to put into words what we think the album sounds like. It sounds like something you’ve never heard before. Yet, it does sound like Extreme Metal! So that part won’t get confused, but the way SOR sounds is almost indescribable. The best way to find out is to listen to it. In regard to how happy I am with it, yes, of course I’m happy with it. I think we have created something that no one can ever take away from us and say we weren’t the first. We accomplished something that we are very proud of. I think that thought will continue to make me happy a long time.
How would you describe/label the music on it? Does it sounds like anything we might have heard before?
NO. Guaranteed No. There is always a way to draw a comparison. I could say Cannibal Corpse is just Metallica sped up with more raspy vocals. Although my statement would indeed be correct, it would be a very poor description of Cannibal Corpse. The problem is that whenever you have guitar, bass and drums, in a band, plus or minus a keyboard player, there’s very little you can do to be original. Stepping outside the box for our music meant that we had to change the way our music was written. That is what we did and we have in essence, created a new way of writing music. A new style, so to speak. So, although you can make a million comparisons as to what SOR sounds like, you can’t name just one. Not ever! You could say many bands and say how we slightly differ from all those bands, but you could never draw a direct comparison. There is no precedents for what kind of music SOR plays. It sounds like Epic Fucking Brutality!
Where was it recorded and how much time did it take you to record it? Any interesting stories from the recording/producing the material?
Casting Ruin was recorded by Brian Elliot at Mana Studios in Florida. It took us about 3 weeks to record the album. We had a really great experience in the studio and really couldn’t have asked for a better engineer. Brian was as interested in making the album great as we were. He pushed us really hard the entire time we were there and demanded that we put 110% into every note we were playing. Brian was a perfectionist, and his work ethic shows when you listen to the album. Brian has an ear for music and he really could hear the final product long before any of us could have imagined it. He did a really wonderful job and I am thankful to have had the chance to work with Brian before he left engineering for exploration. Brian has recently decided to quit making albums and start a new life, travelling the world and helping the poor. What a hell of a guy! We wish him the best! But we also wish he’d come back and make our next album when the time comes! HaHa I suppose that counts as my story.
What can you tell us about the cover artwork? Is there a link between the artwork and the lyrics? What are the topics of your lyrics?
The number “3” comes up a lot in our music. Not only does it show itself mathematically in our music, but it is also represented in many other parts of our band. As I mentioned before, our music is actually 3 songs in every 1 song. There are also 3 meanings to our lyrics. There is a superficial meaning that is taken at face value and is just a literal meaning of the lyrics. The second meaning is a musical one. Most times this meaning is describing the exact music being performed at the point in which the lyrics are being sung. The third meaning is a secular meaning. This meaning usually describes the benefits of a secular world and often times gives you a perspective of someone growing up in a theistic environment and the harm it caused. Sometimes it shows you the moment of escape from that lifestyle. So the third meaning is obviously our main one. However, you’ll notice that the lyrics are a triple entendre. They are actually meant to mean 3 things, simultaneously. There are also 3 of us in the band. That’s another 3. There are more, but the point is that it brings us perfectly into the cover artwork. The corpse guy has the arms of 3 men. He represents Christ, with his crown of thorns, and a few other deities when you look closely, but I won’t tell you and spoil the fun of discovery. He represents us (3 men) and he has a literal interpretation as well. So that’s yet another 3. The artwork “is” the album! The artwork stands for everything the album stands for! It is the call to arms for our lord, Science, to damn the world of fairytales to the doldrums of history, where it belongs! Our lyrics, videos, music, image and everything we do is in this regard.
What do you expect to gain through this release? What are the band's aims at the moment?
“Expect” is such a large and powerful word. I can’t say what I expect. However, I can say what I “hope”. And I am hopeful that the album gets the attention and credit that I know it deserves. I really hope that people are able to see the complexity and how infinitely intricate the music is built. I really hope that people see SOR as a band that is doing all that they can to make the world a better place. I hope that metal can be changed forever. Or, at least new ways are being considered and created more frequently in the metal genres, instead of every band latching onto the first band’s trend. If I could change the way young musicians looked at music and the way they understood theory. That would be my greatest hope of all. However, to say what I expect. I’d have to say I expect more people will die today, more people will starve, more rich people will get richer and I will continue to breathe. That last one isn’t really an expectation either. I suppose that should go in the “hope” column as well.
Is there a special format the material is released in? Or is it released in multiple formats? How many copies were pressed?
The album was made in all digital formats, as well as CD and Vinyl. As for how many copies were pressed, I really don’t know. That’s a question that my label would be better to answer. I do know that it is much harder to sell CDs and LPs in 2014, than it was in 2004. Music sales are just not what they used to be. Downloads do extremely well. We still sell a lot of music with the digital downloads. But for physical album sales, the number has really went way down. We still sell physical copies. Especially when we’re on tour. But as for regular sales, it has become more and more difficult over the years to sell physical albums.
Where and how will you promote this new release?
Well right now we’re debating amongst each other if it would help to open the windows and start screaming our band name to passing cars. The problem with promotion is that the bigger labels and bands will swallow you up. It’s hard to compete with those guys because they have so much money behind their promotion and we just don’t have the kind of big money that they have. So we obviously can’t compete with the really big people in the business, but we’ve made a hell of a run at it, regardless of our stature. We’ve made a really great new video for one of our new songs. We made the video to be an artistic representation of the history between science and religion. Spoiler Alert: Science hasn’t had any history of ever winning that battle. It wasn’t called the dark ages for nothing! Anyway, so we made the new video, we made an album trailer, we have a Euro tour with Ulcerate coming in November and December, we have new merch and we are donating 10% of our online clothing sales to children’s charities that teach secular values and/or are educators in science, art and/or music. We are trying to bring our music and our message to as many people as we possibly can! So that means we have to do all the things that we can possibly do to promote. Which includes yelling at cars out of my window!
Where can we order it from?
You can find us on Itunes, Spotify, Amazon, etc.. etc.... So all you need to do is Google Search the band name Solace Of Requiem and you should find everything you need. You can also find all of it in one place on our website. We have our videos, a full stream of our new album, buy links, charity donation links and much more, all on our websites. Hail Science!
FREE STREAM | BUY IT NOW: http://solreq.com/news.html
Watch The Album Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dFeiY62HP4
VIDEO - Uncensored (NSFW): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DhHvyLhmRI
VIDEO - Censored (SFW): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MamIw-NnZXw
Buy Merchandise: http://solreq.com/order.html
HOMEPAGE: http://www.solreq.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/solaceofrequiem
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/solreq
REVERBNATION: http://www.reverbnation.com/solaceofrequiem
GOOGLE PLUS: https://plus.google.com/+Solreq
SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/solaceofrequiem
MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/solreq
September 2014