Legacy of Torment - Interview 2025

I was a massive fan of Legacy of Torment's first release, "Inherited Methods of Cruelty".  Like, re-visit and re-listen weekly since it came out type fan.  So I was fucking PUMPED to see the news about the new full-length AND the extra push that Inherited Suffering Records would give.  Well, it has been a week or so since the release of "Ritual Exsanguination".  It is everything I hoped for and more.  Please go stream it, buy it, buy merch, support these guys.  They are putting their all into it!

Enjoy the below interview with Legacy of Torment

CEREBRALREVIEWMENT - Boys, thanks for doing this!!!!

Real quick, for our readers who are not aware;
Who is Legacy Of Torment?  How did you guys get started?  Where are you living?  How would you describe your sound?

Benjie: Legacy of Torment is a 3 man slam band brought together by the powers of the internet. Sam originally made a post on the r/brutaldeathmetal subreddit that both Zsombor and I replied to. We made a discord chat so we could start sending ideas and songs back and forth and from there the band was born. I’m from the United States, Sam is from Australia, and Zsombor is from Hungary. When we started the band, we all got into it with the idea of making dumb, fun, caveman slam and I’d say we’ve stayed pretty true to that so far.

Sam: I’m Sam, I play bass in the band and I’m based out of Melbourne,Australia.                           I met the other guys through a post I put up on r/brutaldeathmetal advertising for an ignorant online slam band. Both Benjie and Zsombor responded, and immediately from the stuff they sent through it was clear they were both insane musicians and a great fit for what I wanted to make which was really exciting. I made the post because unfortunately there was/still is an absence of slam and BDM bands in my local scene so I felt like I didn’t have an outlet for this stuff in person.

Stylistically LoT is definitely your more classic slam band with an emphasis on groove above all else. We also made the conscious effort not to lean into the meme stuff or pick a hyper specific niche early on so that we had a fair amount of room to change things up stylistically and thematically without it being a huge problem. If I had to choose a current band who we sound like I’d probably say someone like Traumatomy or Deprecation.


The beginning of 2024 marked the release of your debut EP, "Inherited Methods of Cruelty".  Over a year later, do you guys feel like that EP was well-received?

Benjie: I feel like most of the comments I saw online were fairly positive. I don’t know if I saw any reviews, but in general most of the commentary I saw was really encouraging.

Sam: Releasing anything independently always comes with reach issues but looking back I was definitely surprised by how many people liked it. I think I just assumed a handful of sweaty sickos would find it, jam it for a week and that would be it. However yeah from the comments I saw and conversations I had with people I was blown away by the love that EP got honestly especially over on YouTube.
 I think more than anything that EP was a test to see if this online dynamic worked for us. We all had fun making it and we all really liked the tracks so once those two boxes were ticked we didn’t really care what happened post release and I think that sentiment has stayed true for the full length as well.

Now we have the debut full-length, "Ritual Exsanguination".  I've listened to it twice, and it has completely drained my blood already! (First time I've actually looked up the word!)  Can you talk about your writing process and what has changed, if anything, between the EP and the full-length?

Benjie: Honestly, not much has changed about the core of our process beyond just getting more streamlined and tighter all around. We’re still doing mostly the same rigamarole of sending ideas, riffs, and sometimes whole tracks back and forth until we solidify a final version of the song.

Sam: Funnily enough my day job entails working with blood so I’m trying to make a conscious effort to suggest LESS blood related names cause the guys are definitely getting sick of them.        I think the writing process is more or less the same as it was for the first release but just much more focused and refined. The basic rundown is we write and send each other tabs, whether that’s just a couple of riffs or a whole song idea, and then from there we suggest changes or revisions depending on what the track needs.                                                                                                     For this release that whole process was just way smoother. We all have a better understanding of how we each write, everyone is really chill when it comes to making changes, and three members is just the perfect number for quickly voting on shit!

 

One big difference was that we were given the amazing opportunity to release the album through Inherited Suffering Records this time around, which was a really big deal for us. Originally we planned on a shorter release but when Alex reached out and said he’d be interested in having us on for a full length we jumped at the opportunity.   Personally I felt like writing for a label definitely came with a new kind of mental pressure but I don’t think it affected the process too much. 

The new album also has 3 AMAZING vocal features, Azerate Nakamura, Angel Ochoa, and Polwach Beokhaimook.  How did you decide to reach out to them, how was working with them?

Benjie: Sam did most of the work talking with the guests and coordinating it all, but I do just want to pop in and say that Angel has been one of my favorite death metal vocalists for years and also one of my biggest vocal influences. Getting to share a track with him was kind of a dream come true. Azerate and Polwach were both awesome as well. I remember when we got their tracks in and they both blew us away. They both brought some real heat (with some super sick predator style vocals) and it’s a real honor to share a track with them.

Sam: Yes!! All those dudes absolutely crushed it too, still blown away by how sick those parts turned out.                                                                                                                                        During production we basically put together a short list of who our dream vocalists were that we’d want on the album then just shot out some messages and hoped for the best! Once again I feel like expectations were low, especially since most of these dudes were coming off the back of major AOTY releases so we thought “yeah right, as if they’d have time to jump on our stuff”.



But in the end we got some great responses and everyone was so incredibly easy to work with. Even just from chatting with Angel, Azeraté and Polwach during tracking it’s so obvious how much passion these guys have for the genre and it was such an honour to get them on.  It’s honestly still so surreal because we’re such huge fans of their music. Of course there were also a few names on the list that for scheduling/ personal reasons couldn’t get involved this time around but we’ll make sure to get them on the next one.

Can you talk about the art and imagery behind the band?  Who did the EP art and the full-length art?  How are the lyrics written?  Is there a theme you try and stick to?

Benjie: The incredible Daemorph did the artwork for both of our releases and honestly, we couldn’t be happier with his work. As for the subject matter, it kind of came about pretty organically once we settled on the general idea of what we wanted the album title to be. For this release, the artwork was heavily inspired by the story told in the lyrics for the track Sanguinary Artifacts.

Regarding the lyrics, for the most part, they’re almost all written off the cuff. My process basically boils down to just listening to the same section of a song over and over until I come up with something that sounds good and then moving onto the next section. All of my lyrics are tied thematically to the title of the song and, usually, the title comes first based purely on the vibes we get from it. Every now and then we’ll come up with a cool theme for a song related to some piece of pop culture we enjoy or we’ll get a silly idea for a song that I then go crazy with. Cranial Collapse in particular is another one I had a ton of fun writing. It’s goofy and takes the typical subject matter of death metal and flips it on its head. So far I’ve written 1 song about Hellraiser and 2 about some real deep cuts from Star Wars and I can’t wait to see what else I can work in.

Sam: When it comes to lyrics Zsombor and I will chip in some ideas but Benjie’s the one with the magic touch for that stuff so he writes it all. 
Like I said we don’t really have a hyper specific niche so lyrics and concepts are always super organic and mostly just whatever strikes us as being brutal at the time. 

This time around the Album had a pretty good range of stories from human atrocities, eldritch horror, medical nightmares, going back to the medieval ages all the way to sci-fi with some wild Star Wars deep cuts.

We still hone in heavily on a lot of gore and horror stuff but there has to be some kind of twist, peculiarity, format change or irony that makes it interesting and engaging rather than just the usual “Victim killed with a knife” route. It is funny to me that we do put so much effort into the lyrics and story only to immediately track them with the most brutal incomprehensible gurgles and crickets Benjie can muster but honestly I wouldn’t change a thing.

Both the album art and the EP art were done by Daemorph and we’ve been thrilled with both. I remember for the first release we barely gave him any direction, we just said “…you know cartel beheading vids? that but medieval.” And he absolutely nailed it. 

The album cover this time was definitely more thought out and we felt what he delivered was amazing. The art is so fun, brutal, and in-depth but also clearly tells the story we were trying to tell! The man is insanely talented.

Thanks again guys!  Loving the new album!  Any last words to wrap up?

Benjie: I just want to thank everyone who checks out the album in some form or fashion! It means a lot to me that people would take time out of their days to check out our music. Cheers!

Sam: A huge thanks to everyone who has checked out the album, we really appreciate you guys! Of course a big thanks to Cerebral Reviewment for hitting us up and letting us talk some mad shit. We’ve already started to move on new material and ideas so hopefully you hear from us really soon!

LINKS

Legacy of Torment Facebook

Legacy of Torment Instagram

Legacy of Torment Youtube

Legacy of Torment Apple music

Legacy of Torment Spotify

Legacy of Torment Bandcamp

Inherited Suffering Bandcamp

Legacy of Torment t-shirt

Knife Fight interview 2025

 Knife Fight, an international two-piece slamming brutal beatdown project, have been making splashes in the underground scene with 2 EPs that have raised the bar for HEAVY.  I caught up with Vocalist BT and Instrumentalist Sebastian in the below interview.  Enjoy, get familiar, and click the links at the bottom!!

CEREBRALREVIEWMENT - Thanks for taking some time to answer some questions! 

Who are we talking with and what is your role in Knifefight?

BT - Hey, of course, thanks for doing this interview with us! I'm BT, Knife Fight's vocalist and I also unofficially handle mixing duties.

What is the origin story of Knifefight?

The idea for a project like Knife Fight's been on my mind for many years with me being as big of an extreme metal fan as I am. And it was all just about finding the right kind of people to do heavy, heavy slam/slamming beatdown with and people that'd agree to start a project like that together with me. 

I started searching a bit more actively last year and after a few rejections and other people that didn't really vibe with the idea of us being fully online, it was around the middle of summer that I found our guitarist/instrumentalist, Sebastian. I first got in touch with him and started talking to him because of a challenge in a Discord server where there was an instrumental provided that was made by him and everyone had to send their vocals to him so that he can throw those vocals on the track, mix it, and at the end people in the server can vote on who had the best vocals (spoiler alert/random trivia: I didn't end up winning). After that I threw at him the idea for this kind of project I had in mind and to my surprise he actually agreed to do it with me. So we started writing stuff together and after going through some name changes that's how Knife Fight was born!

So far there are 2 Knife fight EPs, both incredibly heavy and speaker blowing. 

The most recent release is very collaborative. Can you tell us about how that idea came about and what the process of picking artists to work with was like?

The idea for us having features is something that's always been there. Not once has there really been a point where we've not wanted to have features on *some* material of ours. We wanted the debut EP to be feature-less to showcase what both of us are capable of as musicians without having to rely on others, but anything after that, we've always wanted to have someone. And for our latest release, "Homicidal Instincts", it all started with the first feature, Azeratè Nakamura from Ungraceful, Radiologist, Messmer the Impaler and many other bands. Both of us are huge fans of his vocals and how absolutely rancid and vile they are, plus we're also friends with him, so naturally we hit him up. And shortly after we hit him up he told us he can get us in touch with the other two features on the EP, Hugo Ojeda from Esophagus 08 and Larry Wang from Fatuous Rump, Gorepot and a ton of other bands. So, of course, we agreed since we're both huge fans of both of them too and that's how we got them on the EP as well.

So Knife Fight is only 2 people?  Have you talked about adding more, or playing live?  Do you live close to each other at all?

Yep, Knife Fight is indeed just me and Sebastian, our instrumentalist. We have considered playing live before, but the answer to that more so leads me to your next question, which is that we don't live close at all. We're about 10,000km (6,200 miles in freedom units) away from each other. So obviously us two playing together is almost impossible. We have considered maybe getting some other people that are more local to us to play live shows, but it's not really a thing we've taken too seriously. It just isn't the same if it's not the original members. Plus, I have horrible stage fright and have had it my entire life which further complicates and basically completely eliminates the idea of us playing live. 

What were the original name ideas before Knife Fight?

The first name I threw out was Vomit Cocktail. Then we also had Wormvomit, Parasitic Cranial Rot, Teeth Meet Concrete and I think a few more that I can't recall off the top of my head. We initially settled on Wormvomit for a little bit before I suggested Knife Fight. We were pretty unsure about it for a moment because, and this is something very few people know, Knife Fight was supposed to initially be a gorenoise/goregrind project. We recorded one song that we never really gave a name to, nor even made it into anything more than a proper demo. So initially we were thinking of more gorenoise/grind oriented names. But then when we made the switch to go more slam/slamming beatdown we reconsidered things and settled on Knife Fight

Who is the main creative director?  or is it all discussed with you both?  Like the music, then the art, who runs socials, etc....

Both of us contribute to the making of the music. Since I'm the one who's more into slamming beatdown stuff and slam in general, since I've been listening to that sorta music for the better part of a decade now, I'm the one that recommends the suggestions and ideas for the material we write. I take certain parts from some releases that I like and maybe throw a few other suggestions that I think would go hard as hell and then Sebastian throws his suggestions and ideas into the mix if he has any and from there we just write the songs as a sort of mish-mash of ideas we have. The artwork for the releases is also something both of us are involved in, even though it's mostly Sebastian who's contacting the artists. And as far as socials go, for the most part, I'm the one who manages them. I run our Youtube channel, Bandcamp and almost everything that gets posted on Instagram (which is where we're most active) is posted by me. Though when it comes to promoting stuff it's both of us sending our material to everyone we know.

How old are you guys?

Both of us are young! I'm 22 and Sebastian is 17. And, fun little trivia: I'm born on Halloween!

BT, what other bands or projects have you been apart of?

 I've gone through a *lot* of projects but I'll try to list all of them off. The first one I had was an ambient project called Abyssal Darkness that I started in very late 2019, just a few months before COVID. I just made super, super long songs with that one, sometimes even going on for more than an hour. The longest one I ever made was about three and a half hours off an album that never saw the light of day because I ended the project around 2021 or 2022. Then I had a super short lived project called Rotten that I called noisegrind when in reality it was just noise. Everything on there was recorded with a broken guitar cable that I had plugged straight into my PC, since I didn't have an audio interface, and I was just messing around and trying to make riffs on a 6-string Jackson. But in reality it was mostly just incoherent garbage and it's the project I hate the most. Then I had a hypertone project called Blvck that gained me some of my first "popularity" in music, since I was making songs with BPMs that people had never even thought were possible. Or so everyone thought, because I was just straight up blatantly lying about the BPM and I admitted to it afterwards and then killed the project. I "revived" it once and then killed it again for good and that's been dead since around 2022 too. Then I had my first band called Inherit Dissection which was a brutal death metal band I made with someone that I met online that could legitimately be my dad. That's how big the age gap was. I was 16 and he was in his 40s. That's also the first band I ever did vocals for. We released one song which is now private everywhere and then called it quits. Then I was in a goregrind project called EOTBBIYAA, which is an abbreviation of the full name, Exacerbation Of The Bitter Bacteria Inside Your Annihilated Anus. That one I also didn't really have a lot of fun in and even though it lasted longer, I only ever recorded vocals for I think two songs. Then I started a downtempo project called Kirai. And that's sorta where I personally like to pretend my career started because that's sorta where I started making music that I genuinely liked. Since I couldn't, and still can't program drums, everything on there was only recorded on guitar. But not a real guitar like the one in Rotten. I have a 9 string guitar plugin and a pitch shifter. And so I was literally making the slowest, lowest tuned songs ever. The lowest tuning I got to was a C#-7. I released two full-lengths with that one before calling it quits in 2024. Then I started a project called Noosehanger. And that's the earliest project that I started that's still semi-active. And say semi-active because it's currently on a little bit of a hiatus. I initially tried making deathstep with it, but later I decided to make it sort of a "successor" to the first project I mentioned, Abyssal Darkness. So I took the concept of that project, tweaked around some things and just started making the most unsettling ambient music I could muster up. I've still got songs I'm sitting on and I promise those will be out at some point. Then I formed Knife Fight around summertime last year, though we didn't start writing anything until around September. And then finally there's my newest project,

 . That one's blasting brutal death metal/goregrind and also still active, in the process of writing some new music as we're speaking, actually. So yeah, those are all of my projects over the last five and a half years, all nine of 'em.

Can you talk about some of your influences?  Whether it's art, music, movies, or anything in your life!

A huge chunk of my influences are from brutal death metal and slam. Obviously some of them aren't really influences anymore and were more influential to younger me when I initially started, but the first ever influence I ever got was Chris Barnes. I always wanted to have my vocals be as low as his and lower. Then when I moved onto deathcore, some of my influences were Mitch Lucker, Rheese Peters, Ben Duerr, Ben Mason, Alex Terrible (I know that aged horribly), Alex Teyen, etc. But as far as my current influences go they're Angel Ochoa (Cephalotripsy, Abominable Putridity), Andrew LoMastro (Cerebral Incubation, Nemesism), Kyriakos Destounis (Embryectomy), Brandon Smith (Agonal Breathing, Incestuous Impregnation, etc.), Hugo Ojeda (Esophagus 08, Puthroatfucktion, etc.), Azerate Nakamura (Ungraceful, Radiologist, etc.), Ricky Sotelo (Flesh, Messenger of the Covenant) and Joe Wolfe (Heinous Killings, Sick Hymns) James Shuster (Delusional Parasitosis, Ineffable Demise, Necessary Death), Justin Boehm (Orchidectomy, Gutvoid), Larry Wang (Gorepot, Fatuous Rump, etc.), Mikko Friberg (Torsofuck, Limbless), Jossi Bima (Abhorrently, Dissanity), Martin Funderud (RIP) (Kraanium, Psychosomatic Self Mutilation, etc.) and Benjamin Wingmark (Diphenylchloroarsine)

SEBASTIAN - A few of my musical influences stem from movies. Especially psychological movies such as The Cube film series. I find them to be useful for creating musical themes for my projects and it ultimately fuels a big part of my creative process. Another major influence is my older siblings, who have been part of the rock and power metal scene for over two decades. They have been incredibly supportive and have shaped me into the musician that I am today. While they do not make slam, their rock project Part Time Apes is worth checking out.

How long have you been doing vocals?  Always extreme vocals?

 Truthfully, I'm not sure when I started. Because the earliest footage I have of me doing vocals is from around May 2019, but back then I sound like I've been doing vocals for a decent amount of time already, at least over a year. But I can't find any recordings of myself from before then. So at the very least, I've been doing vocals for 6 years, but in reality it could be close to 7-8 in total

Can you give us 3 albums by 3 different bands that have really inspired you?

Cephalotripsy's Uterovaginal Insertion of Extirpated Anomalies. My favorite slam album of all time, been that way since I started listening to slam. Heinous Killings' Hung With Barbwire. The reason I love predator vocals so much and why I wanted to learn them. And lastly, Cystgurgle's Ubi pus, Ibi fermento. The most extreme album I've heard in all of metal and it's not even close. Unmatched brutality

Three albums that inspired me are Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory by Dream Theater, Molesting the Decapitated by Devourment, and L.D. 50 by Mudvayne. These albums have taught me so much about what I know about music now. Although they are vastly different in style, I have always taken elements and put them in a way I see fit, turning odd ideas into digestible riffs, if you will. These records helped me become a better musician and instrumentalist, enabling me to create instrumentals for projects like Knife Fight, Unrecognizable, and Gurgling Fluids.

I know we are just coming off of a crazy heavy EP release, but are there any other plans for KF's future yet?

 Yeah, we're constantly thinking of new stuff! We even had a talk earlier today about some potential stuff we can do for the next release. Both me and Sebastian are really creative and constantly have ideas running through our heads so we've definitely thought of some stuff for the future. We're thinking about what direction we wanna take Knife Fight going forward and we've already got a pretty good idea. And we may not be done for the year just yet. Just maybe. That's all I'm gonna say.

We have talked about future music but nothing is currently set in stone.

Thanks again for creating such heaviness and answering some questions!!!!  

Anything you would like to say?

 

Thank you as well for this interview, we really appreciate it! Nothing much I can say other than just go and stream the new EP and everything else we have, destroy your sound system/speakers/headphones, share it around with your friends, keep supporting the bands you love and keep an eye out for us. This is only the beginning!

Thank you for the interview! Hopefully, people enjoy Homicidal Instincts as we have worked hard on it. I would like to give a special shoutout  to Azerate Nakamura, Hugo Ojeda, and Larry Wang for their incredible contributions on this new release. Homicidal instincts would not have been possible without them. I also want to thank all of our supporters who have been with us since our debut EP Disfigurement, and all of the new fans and listeners we have gained due to the new release. It has been a crazy journey so far, and I am excited to see what the future holds!

----------------------------------------LINKS----------------------------------------

KNIFE FIGHT 

HYPERMETASTATIC SUBEPIDERMAL ESTHESIONEUROBLASTOMATICRHINITIS

GURGLING FLUIDS

UNRECOGNIZABLE

UNGRACEFUL

ESOPHAGUS 08

FATUOUS RUMP

PART TIME APES

Azerate Nakamura Interview 2025

Azerate has been taking the brutal death / slam world by storm with his insane and inhuman vocals.  Learn more below!

CEREBRAL REVIEWMENT:

Azerate, is that your name?  what do you go by?

AZERATE NAKAMURA:

yes my name is Azerate Nakamura 

How old are you and where do you live?

I am 34 and im originally from NY currently in california 

How did you first get into extreme music?

I started listening to blackmetal and pornogrind in sixth grade. a few older girls i was friends with put me on Torsofuck and exposed me to limewire and isohunt. the rest is history.  i was in a blackened thrash project in sixth grade it was my first band. we were called Hellion. 

I know you are also an emcee correct?  Has hip hop always been a part of your life?

Yes I am. My mom actually has history as an emcee. I took after her. I started rapping and producing at age nine on cassette tapes.  I begin learning about Schumanns Resonance and radionics in my freshman year and tried applying that to my music as well.

From social media I get the feeling that you are a spiritual person.  Could you talk a little about that?

Everything is spiritual to me and it is everything I do is devoted to my practices yes.  I have studied alchemy and the occult for many years.  I was raised in christian cult and the indoctrination ran deep.  I became strongly versed in sciences and discovered alchemy and the allegory of spiritual purification in junior high school.  Observing the patterns and symbolism over and over, my life became horrifyingly responsive to everything I thought and said.  I drove into all things taboo before long.  It started a journey of inner exploration and soul searching before discovering witchcraft and luciferianism and both of these practices illuminated me.  They saved my life. My eyes were opened to a different side of being. 

I have been known to hit a endo-keo spin and then track stand until the light turns green.  Why is your bike so tall?  Have you been riding fixed gear for a long time?

You are a savage.  That takes a remarkable amount of skill. 

I ride a tall bike for a lot of reason but being able to see so far ahead changes everything especially when you ride brakeless.  It gives me some peace of mind because prior to it’s construction, I was in a freak accident on a vintage time trial pursuit and it changed my life. Believe it or not, I actually feel a lot safer on the tall bike.  It’s exhilarating and extremely heightening of the senses.  I lost a lot of confidence after getting hurt and it’s definitely helped me overcome a lot of personal barriers.  I’m working on locking some of my tricks in on it.  It’s definitely a challenge.  To say it’s rewarding is an understatement.  I've been riding fixed over 20 years and it’s my preferred mode of transportation. 

Can you list all of your past bands?

past bands would be 

Hellion

The Veil Thinning

Alchemia Hospital 

Mindless Corruption 

Oculus

Shapeshifting 

Chapel of Autumn

Eternal Turtle 

Cinnabar Island 

Lakeborn

Malenia

Cephalophore

Darxifer

and a few others

live vocals for Esophagus 

Can you list all of your current active projects you are part of?

present bands

Ungraceful

Surgical Abnormalization

Messmer the Impaler 

Sumijigoku

Tomb of Scabs

Vid Flumina Sotra Facula

Human Ivory

Acharayim

1diazidocarbamoyl5azidotetrazole (c2N14)

Putred Incision

Dilatation 

Fetters

Paimon

Shalicu

Wakaba

Radiologist 

Silver Coil

and a few more i cannot mention at this time 

It must be so hard to keep a sense of balance with so many projects and things going on?  On top of a job or different gigs?!  Any tips for people out there trying to juggle many things at once?

I had a pretty good handle on it but the tour kinda messed up my routine a bit so I’ve been making some changes.  It’s important to know your own limits.  People who tend to be selfless suffer in different ways from those who are more selfish.  

   Musically, I’d like to say my turn around is pretty quick but technology issues typically makes things a little less convenient than anything else.  I try to stay organized, naming and dating things as you would in the kitchen or laboratory.  I do a lot outside of music.  The only time living my dreams isn’t working for me is when I neglect myself and my basic needs.  I think the best bit of information I could offer anyone is “to take care of yourself first and your loved ones and foremost. have regular, healthy conversation with yourself and ask yourself questions. Prioritize what’s important and question everything especially in a group setting with a shared goal.  Create realistic deadlines and goals that you know you can and will meet.  Be kinder to yourself.  Understand that occurrences unseen are a normalcy when we seek out to do anything.  Otherwise, have no expectation.  Take nothing personally.  Keep learning!  Things tend to get hard right before you meet a goal.  Never give up!  Keep your word and always follow through! 

You do a good amount of features correct?  How do those usually go?  Are bands seeking you out or are you contacting bands you’d like to work with?  Then they send you the song and you record vocals at home?

I do quit a bit.  I’d say that’s pretty balanced.  But these days a lot more people are reaching out to me than me to them and I feel a sense of accomplishment from that.  Maybe five are so years ago I was more into directly contacting bands and artist I grew up listening to.  Even now sometimes I shoot my shot and get shot down or left on read.  It’s become easier to accept and it took me a while to get here.  As I became more recently established, I have become more selective about approaching other artists.  I’ve been contacted by quit a few extremely talented musicians to feature on their material or to even start a new project and it’s beyond flattering.  I’m honored to work with all the people I’ve had the pleasure of creating with thus far.  Everyone has taught me so much in ways they could never understand.  Not to mention the praise I receive from them and their individual fan bases.  It fuels so much inspiration to keep going. 

Can you tell us your favorite vocalists?

I love a lot of different vocalist for a lot of different reasons

my top five are

-deep gurgle of Surgical Abnormalization 

-BT of Knifefight

-Richard original vocalist  of FLESH

-Hugo Ojeda of the original Esophagus 

-Anon of Induced and Bleeding

I am also a big fan of Haruka, Larry, Angel, Don, Skuta and WHS

Are you totally self taught or did you have some mentors?  Who would you say helped you?

My exhale guttural style is self taught as well as my grindcore croaking and gurgles. 

I learned inhales recently and got some really good pointers from Deep Gurgle, Parasitic Infection, Victor of deformed Esophagus, Hugo Ojeda, and a few undiscovered fans who are extremely talented and coming to establish themselves in the community as well.  I learned 3 different predator techniques this year.  Two exhaled one inhaled.  Currently trying to master them and have been developing my own way of implementing my style into using them.

You took over vocal duties for Esophagus on a tour. How did this come about? What was that experience like?

Around this time last year, I initially made contact with Victor.  They were preparing for a US tour and getting ready to announce a new single.  We talked on Instagram for a little while after I have responded to a few story posts. One was an inquiry about vocalists and since it was one of my favorite bands, of course I responded immediately.  I was asked to do a vocal cover of one of their songs which I did and sent to him. 

I seemed to get pretty good feedback on it then I was sent an instrumental and asked to record over that.  I was urged to sound monstrous.  I said I wasn’t confident in my ability to do the predator vocal sound and he told me that that’s OK because it isn’t necessary. 

I did my best and sent the recording, I wasn’t very proud of it, and he seemed to be happy with it and asked me how I felt about performing with them live.  Of course I was ecstatic. within a few weeks time, I was given a set list of songs to learn and rehearse.  Leading up to us meeting in Houston these songs would be the only songs I listen to for three months.

In March, we met up at the Gulf Coast death fest 3.  We had a great time but the initial tour that was set up was canceled and we only got to play at the festival.  I definitely felt bad for the guys because they had come all the way out from Chile so I in communication with a few other people begin trying to plan a West Coast tour for them closer to the end of summer. 

Little had I known a very prominent contact put us in line to travel in Mexico.  I also didn’t know that the guitarist of Esophagus, Mauro, was a big fan of Ungraceful, and was encouraging Victor to give me a shot on the tour.  I was weary and confused because I didn’t know what had happened with Hugo and every time I would ask questions it seemed to trigger a lot of tension.  I wanted to initially reach out to Hugo and inquire directly, but I was advised from the drummer to avoid him at all costs so far as to block him.   But I didn’t, and then the whirlwind of confused fans and unnecessary comments.  I received quite a bit of passive support from Hugo and one of his bands when we started sharing videos of practice and performances in Houston.  Likes on posts and stories.  Still I had a lot of pressure on myself because I knew they were big shoes to fill and to add to that stress, a lot of the fans were talking.  Despite Victor encouraging me not to do predator vocals I push to do them to give the fans what they wanted.  

Being on tour is an amazing and yet horrifying feeling.  It is truly a love labor.  There is an immense amount of uncertainty that is as thrilling as it is stressful.  We got to travel to so many beautiful places and we had the privilege of meeting so many beautiful and diehard fans.  I have been all over the United States, but it was my first time leaving the country.  MEXICO IS INCREDIBLE and we got so much love when we were there.  It was quite an eye-opening experience.  I ultimately had to drop out of the tour, as finances became an issue, and I had to be concerned for the well-being of myself and my partner, who was basically managing everything by the time we met up with the rest of the band.  What started off great quickly turned into a nightmare, and we realized that we were being taken advantage of, money was being kept and withheld from us as well as important information.  There was not a level of mutual respect, which made it difficult to remain on the same page with the drummer.  The tour was unorganized and very unprofessional.   There were many things promised prior that did not happen.  We were not paid for anything and we were lied to about the band getting paid for shows.  Language barriers. The list goes on.  We lost majority of our savings in the process.  But even still, meeting so many lovely people. Discovering new friends and family is unmatched and my heart swells for the bonds we made along the way. 

Can you tell us anything about Hugo/Esophagus “fallout” if it’s even that kind of thing?  Are band mates on good terms?  

There isn’t much to say. Victor was why Hugo left. Mauro stayed with Victor and was trying to see things through.  But I felt as if Victor should have started something new instead of trying to take the band from Hugo.  Seemed spiteful.  Ultimately, like most of us, I think Hugo inspired Victor and Victor wanted to be recognized in that same way.  As far as I am concerned Hugo doesn’t speak to either of them.  After what i experienced, I can see why. 

What is your relationship with Esophagus like?

We do not speak. I am only associated with Hugo, the real Esophagus.

Which of your many many projects are you MOST excited about and focused on currently?

They are all exciting for their own reasons.  It is difficult to say.  I think the most anticipation I have for releasing a project is a secret one I recorded almost four years ago with Larry Wang. Tracked 12 songs in two days.  That and the much anticipated return of Paimon. 

Do you have one favorite band?

Ungraceful before I joined lol

Induced or Vile Discectomy 

Do you have a favorite food or kind of food?

inarizushi, 

taro shashu, 

blue lotus, lavender and butterfly pea tea 

Can you name 3 pros and 3 cons of touring?

--3 pros--

CONNECTION 

Great way to meet your tribe, network, good exposure, helps develop people skills. 

FOOD AND TRAVEL

I fell in love with so many new things and places. 

CONFIDENCE

It will inspire you to strive for more. It makes it feel as if nothing is out of reach. Great for when you are chasing what you love. 

--3 cons--

HYGIENE AND HEALTH

It’s hard to keep clean and to eat right. Not sleeping and being in public settings has its own list of concerns. I learned of my privilege very quickly. 

DISCONNECTION

Sometimes people you think you know or are close to will show you different things in pressing situations.  There can be confusion and frustration at times and it’s up to you to remain self disciplined in your integrity. 

UNCERTAINTY

No matter how prepared you are, you cannot prepare for everything. 

Thank you so much for these answers and bringing your positive energy to the scene!  Can't wait to hear more from you!  Any last words??

I appreciate you with the utmost gratitude. Stay tuned!  Chaos governs us all.

Just a thank you to everyone. These last few years have been pretty dark for a lot of us.  I wouldn't be here without all the love and support you all give me. In these ways I am rich so I seek to enrich.