Derealized have a demo out right now, "Inception of Unreality". It is about 12 minutes long and full of original ideas and raw brutality!!! I am loving this young band! Learn more below!
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Hello! How are you?
(R) Hey man, doing great. We are very appreciative to have the opportunity of you chatting with us
How are you?
I'm great!!!! Who are you? what do you do in Derealized?
Well the whole band is here so we can go around the horn and introduce ourselves
(O) I’m Oscar and I play drums in Derealized
(B) My name is Ben and I play the bass for the band
(N) I’m Nevyn on half the guitars section
(G) I’m Gabriel on the other half of the guitars
Can you talk a bit about how the band started and how everything has been up until now?
(N) Sure thing, well the Toronto music scene is very fragmented and not very large. So based on our music interest alone we already knew about each other just through being at the same shows.
(R) Yea, I mean the way this band formed was literally just through me posting an instagram story saying I want to start a band and these are the yutes that responded.
How did you name the band
(R) For a while I really wanted to start a trippy bdm band, and thought derealized was a great name especially after seeing newer bands like dissonance. The name hadn't been taken yet so I stuck with it, although the original name I had come up with was Delirious Circumvention. Not a very good name.
(O) When River told me about his idea for the band I really loved the name. The idea of Derealization is something I can understand and express much better than something based around gore, physical violence, or sexual assault. It feels like there is a greater depth of emotions to explore within a theme of mental illness and drug induced psychosis. I hope it will help set us apart from other bands in the genre.
(N) I also find the whole realm of mental illness and the concept of the horrors of the mind to be a topic that death metal doesn't really delve into; or when it does, it’s not dealt with in the way we think it should. The idea of fully disconnecting from reality and losing your mind to your own thoughts along with how consciousness and mental illness alter perceptions and cause untold horror and carnage to be truly scary. That sort of plane of thinking is where we as a brutal death metal band want to direct our attention upon.
(B) Importantly, we want to sort of bring light upon these issues while not coming off as a stupid anti-drug band. We want to represent this as grimly and as fucked up as we can.
What is the band's writing and recording process like?
(N) Well for writing we sort of have two avenues we do down. We usually write the riffs first then throw the drums, vocal patterns and bass on top. So firstly what happens is I come to a jam with a full song that I sent to Gabriel to learn. Then us and Oscar will sort of move things around and lengthen or shorten parts until we have the guitar and drums set for a song. The other way we do it is Gabriel will come with some riffs and then we will all hash them over in the jam space. After this we usually play it over and over and let oscar fuck around on the kit to get that sort of “constantly folding in on itself” or rollercoaster feel that we aim for with our songs.
(O) True. Personally, I try to first synchronize my drums to the riff to internalize the rhythm. Then I start deciding on the type of beat that best fits the riff. Put the blast over the tremolo or half time over the slam. Then I start adding diversity in sections where my parts diverge from the riff. With this type of band I try to make simple changes in the beat that shift the song in the emotional direction I am looking for. For my fills, I want them to sound chaotic and a bit sloppy so I just improvise them unless we are transitioning parts because that is the only fill that might feel distinct to the listener. The last and hardest part of writing I do is adding some atmosphere and build to the guitar only parts. Honestly Nevyn and Gabe write the songs, I’m just trying to make their riffs hit right.
(N) Awesome, aside from the writing process our recording for Inception Of Unreality was pretty straightforward. I'm working on another bdm band that's like a broken torso worship project called Ligature. The other guitar player Alex in that band has a proper studio setup. I asked him if Derealized could record with him and he said yes. Then like two weeks later we popped in to the studio set up and banged out the ep in 3 hours on a worknight. We didn't use a metronome and all played together in the room because we were a bit lazy, gung-ho about getting some music out, and also Oscar is our time-wizard. Tried to keep the music with a proper underground demo feel but with a nice enough sound of a studio so you can at least pick apart the instruments and hear what we are playing for the most part.
I think playing all together and not nit-picking every little sound worked perfectly for "Inception" and I hope you never go too polished. The emotions come through nicely!
What bands inspire you
(G) My main inspirations for riff / songwriting come from Cerebral Hemorrhage, Incantation, and Deaden, which is a big inspiration for the whole band. I also enjoy gutrot and try to emulate some of their riffs in my writing. I'm also a big fan of some slam bands like Infertile Surrogacy which I've been listening to a lot along with Cephalotripsy. I've been listening to bands such as Jenovavirus and bound and gagged, trying to take inspiration from them and incorporate a weird edge to our future music.
(B) As for my inspirations, I would say bands in the style of Ton or Dehumanized are where my main influences for a BDM sound. Aside from that I'm a huge fan of early Pyrexia and I want to integrate that dirty old-schoolness into this band more. I haven't gotten much of an opportunity to write for Derealized yet but I am excited to integrate my inspirations into our sound more.
(O) Before joining Derealized I only regularly listened to Molesting the Decapitated. But I have been listening to a wider range of BDM like Eternal Suffering and Artery Eruption to develop my drum sound.
(R) Well as for myself I have already discussed my love of the trippy sounding bdm stuff, im a big dripping fan and want to take the band in that sort of direction thematically. Additionally and more importantly is orchidectomy which is probably my main inspiration. I Gotta represents the best bdm thats from our home city. Additionally im really inspired by this bdm band called bubba *BUBBA INTERVIEW HERE* which are super trippy with their melodies but are brutal asf. Their vocals utilize a lot of almost singing with the pig squeals that's unlike other bands. Last but not least I gotta shout delusional parasitosis as those vo-kills are still some of the nastiest pipes ever laid down to this day, my predator vocals were inspired by them.
(N) Lastly for myself. I'm not gonna lie, especially at the time of writing the songs on Inception of Unreality I wasn’t listening to alot to bdm (still dont listen to a whole lot of it anymore) I kinda moved past it. Bestial black / war metal is what I usually jam to. For writing the derealized riffs my biggest inspirations are the first two immolation albums, their influence on bdm is undeniable to me. The weirdness of the riffs on both the albums (especially Here in After which is the best album ever made) is a principle element I wish to carry into this band. In that same vein I am really influenced by the first Sacramentary Abolishment album as the whirlwind of riff changes is a huge part of my playing style. Aside from these two bands I am inspired by the war metal band Proclamation as that is the most fundamental influence in how I write songs, also I really dig early Lividity and Deaden stuff for their songwriting and riffs as well as Cerebral Effusion which is a band I think is really underappreciated *C.E. INTERVIEW HERE*, I use them as an inspiration for a lot of the more faster parts and slam parts I write.
R - I do, although they are not all finished. I try to reflect my own experiences in the lyrics as well as the overall theme of the band. To me it sort of serves as an outlet to express feelings I wouldn't normally. The name Inception of Unreality comes from the idea that the EP is like a bad trip, Unreality being the altered state and the Inception being the ingestion of a substance.
What music other than heavy stuff are you guys into?
O: My Grandpa had “Songs of a Russian Gypsy” by Theodore Bikel on vinyl. That's a record I have always loved and made me search for more folk music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Now I have found contemporary bands creating a really interesting fusion between the traditional sound and modern western rock/punk. The Bands that I think pull this off the best are: Kultur Shock, Besh o Drom, Rotfront, Russkaja, and the Anakronic Electrico Orchestra.
G: On the occasion that I’m not listening to heavier music, I really enjoy 2nd wave emo and various other forms of alternative rock. Some bands I’m really into are: Everyone Asked About You, Eldritch Anisette, Cap’n Jazz, susquatch, and Plumtree.
R: Aside from metal I'm really big on techno and electronic music. I spend a lot of time listening to schranz and jungle, but I also really like underground alternative metal and metalcore bands
Some of my favourite artists include Speedy J, embodyment (both eras but I love their alt metal), frisbee aerobics, strain theory and bladee 😬
B: Hard question for me to answer. I don’t really know what the genre’s would be but I listen to a lot of Vietnamese music and artists considering I grew up there. I do like a lot of Japanese rock and a bit of Japanese pop as that's a genre I am aware of. Some of my favourite artists are Táo, Yoasobi, and Den Vau
N: Nothing, if it aint bestial black metal its wimp shit. On a real note however I dig a lot of ambient music, Scottish folk songs, and Japanese funk guitar. I also have a soft spot for midwest-emo and shoegaze adjacent things. My favourite non metal bands would probably be Duster, Rush, Casiopea, The Corries, and obviously Masayoshi Takanaka.
Are all of your families supportive of the band?
G: My parents are super hyped about it and think what we’re doing is really cool, and my mom makes me compile all the videos and photos taken during our shows so that I can send them to her.
O: I'm very lucky that my parents have always been supportive of my bands regardless of the genre. But when I've asked if they like Derealized they just say “atleast it's better than Slam”
R: My parents think it's cool but they aren't really involved.
N: Yea my family has come out to shows to support. My parents also genuinely dig the music.
B: Yeah they seem pretty cool with it. No reactions to write home about really.
How often is practice, and what is the jam space like?
O: We practice once every one or two weeks at my parents house in the basement. I've got my drumkit down there and over time me and my friends have been able to build up a pretty great set of equipment for us to use.
N: Yea the jam space is very spacious and pretty well equipped. Pretty much consumes the whole basement. Its hot as fuck though sometimes.
What is coming next?!
G: U.S shows!
N: Yea seconding Gabriel's point, we’d like to try to get some shows outside of Ontario and explore north america while delivering the hallucinogenic riffage of Derealized. Additionally we have a whole new EP's worth of tracks that we have been working on. As the principal riff writer I have been trying to push my songwriting on these tracks into an even weirder BDM context while still holding onto the sound we’ve already carved out in Inception of Unreality. I would like to maybe shop around for a band to do a split with.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer these questions!
Any last words?
N: Keep it underground… and death to hardcore!
G: Thank you for having us. You’re doing something amazing for the death metal community!
SUPPORT DEREALIZED HERE!
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