I came across Holy Death by random Bandcamp scrolling because I am constantly looking for new bands to enjoy. Holy Death sums up my interest in metal. It is well constructed music that is interesting yet accessible enough to relate to. When the band started out what were your intentions with the music?
When I first started the band I wanted to blend death and doom in ways I hadn’t heard before. There were lots of rad bands making slow Morbid Angel style death metal under the banner of Death Doom. But I wanted to incorporate more elements often left out.
My first exposure to Holy Death was your album "Moral Terror". This was an accumulation of the Moral Terror series one through three. Is there any significance behind the series, or are these more or less e.p.s that were brought together under one title?
I was too impatient to wait a pitch the release to record labels. So I reviewed all the numbers and trends of our previous releases and came up with the idea to split Moral Terror up and release in batches to build momentum for the overall release.
Your most current release is the Neck Wound Session. This is an album consisting of seven songs that were recorded live as a band. Do you find it somewhat stressful recording music in a live format for release without modern editing to fix any inconsistencies?
It was a relatively smooth process. There definitely was lots takes but the current lineup of the really works well together. The recording is rough but that was the goal. We wanted to capture the raw live performance of the band.
Do you think albums may have lost some of their charm over the years due to everything being edited to perfection and taking a bit of the human element out of it?
Yeah there are some recordings I hear that sound too good and would prob benefit from less polish. I do prefer more organic sounding records.
Holy Death will be entering the studio in 2024 to record a new album. Any details of the release you'd like to share regarding it?
This is the first studio album written and recorded as a band. All the previous material was written and primarily recorded by myself. My talented friend Stephen played drums on Moral Terror and Separate Mind From Flesh. Now with a full band involved I feel like we took what was done on Moral Terror and kicked it up a notch. I’ve very excited to get in the studio and track these songs.
You were able to share the stage with Matt Pike recently which is great for so many reasons as a fan of Holy Death and everything Matt has done. What was this experience like for Holy Death?
It was incredible. I had a chance to meet Matt and chat about gear for minute. Such a nice dude. His band killed it that night. It was overall an amazing experience.
Success can mean different things for each individual. What does this entail for Holy Death?
Success to me at this point just means leaving some lasting impression on our lil niche space of Heavy Metal. What that impression is I’m not sure at this point. But if for nothing else than being a heavy ass band with solid songs I’d be happy.
More bands seem to be writing sludge, doom, and old-school sounding material now. How do you think heavy music evolves from one genre to another in popularity?
I think it’s cyclical to some degree. I anticipate faster music will dominate in the years to come. But slow heavy music will alway be the corner stone of it all in my opinion.
A member of Holy Death is dealing with some health struggles. How is everything going with that?
As of right now all my cancer treatments and surgeries have been successful. Only time will tell how it all plays out. But at this time things are looking good.
What is the scene like where you are coming from? Any bands you'd like to give some press to and recommend?
Being in Southern California can be overwhelming in terms of keeping up with bands. There is so many talented musicians here doing amazing things across various genres. I definitely recommend checking out Dowrr, Gone, Karst to name a few. Rad bands putting out rad music. Also, listen to Sleep’s album Volume One. It’s doesn’t get enough love.
holydeathdoom.bandcamp.com/album/neck-wound-session
www.facebook.com/holydeathdoom
When I first started the band I wanted to blend death and doom in ways I hadn’t heard before. There were lots of rad bands making slow Morbid Angel style death metal under the banner of Death Doom. But I wanted to incorporate more elements often left out.
My first exposure to Holy Death was your album "Moral Terror". This was an accumulation of the Moral Terror series one through three. Is there any significance behind the series, or are these more or less e.p.s that were brought together under one title?
I was too impatient to wait a pitch the release to record labels. So I reviewed all the numbers and trends of our previous releases and came up with the idea to split Moral Terror up and release in batches to build momentum for the overall release.
Your most current release is the Neck Wound Session. This is an album consisting of seven songs that were recorded live as a band. Do you find it somewhat stressful recording music in a live format for release without modern editing to fix any inconsistencies?
It was a relatively smooth process. There definitely was lots takes but the current lineup of the really works well together. The recording is rough but that was the goal. We wanted to capture the raw live performance of the band.
Do you think albums may have lost some of their charm over the years due to everything being edited to perfection and taking a bit of the human element out of it?
Yeah there are some recordings I hear that sound too good and would prob benefit from less polish. I do prefer more organic sounding records.
Holy Death will be entering the studio in 2024 to record a new album. Any details of the release you'd like to share regarding it?
This is the first studio album written and recorded as a band. All the previous material was written and primarily recorded by myself. My talented friend Stephen played drums on Moral Terror and Separate Mind From Flesh. Now with a full band involved I feel like we took what was done on Moral Terror and kicked it up a notch. I’ve very excited to get in the studio and track these songs.
You were able to share the stage with Matt Pike recently which is great for so many reasons as a fan of Holy Death and everything Matt has done. What was this experience like for Holy Death?
It was incredible. I had a chance to meet Matt and chat about gear for minute. Such a nice dude. His band killed it that night. It was overall an amazing experience.
Success can mean different things for each individual. What does this entail for Holy Death?
Success to me at this point just means leaving some lasting impression on our lil niche space of Heavy Metal. What that impression is I’m not sure at this point. But if for nothing else than being a heavy ass band with solid songs I’d be happy.
More bands seem to be writing sludge, doom, and old-school sounding material now. How do you think heavy music evolves from one genre to another in popularity?
I think it’s cyclical to some degree. I anticipate faster music will dominate in the years to come. But slow heavy music will alway be the corner stone of it all in my opinion.
A member of Holy Death is dealing with some health struggles. How is everything going with that?
As of right now all my cancer treatments and surgeries have been successful. Only time will tell how it all plays out. But at this time things are looking good.
What is the scene like where you are coming from? Any bands you'd like to give some press to and recommend?
Being in Southern California can be overwhelming in terms of keeping up with bands. There is so many talented musicians here doing amazing things across various genres. I definitely recommend checking out Dowrr, Gone, Karst to name a few. Rad bands putting out rad music. Also, listen to Sleep’s album Volume One. It’s doesn’t get enough love.
holydeathdoom.bandcamp.com/album/neck-wound-session
www.facebook.com/holydeathdoom