Interview with NIGHT SLASHER
!!!BLACK/SPEED METAL FROM LITHUANIA!!!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about NIGHT SLASHER (Members, Starting Year etc).
We started off as "Alcotopia" with more of an alco-thrash metal attitude back in 2014. We've released an album called "It Hits The Spot" in 2019, but before we finished writing the second album, we realized the music got way to dark and intense for the old band image, so we decided that we needed a fresh start and a proper new vision for the band. So that's how "Night Slasher" came to life. Clad in leather armor with saw altars above the stage intent to do some serious sonic carnage.
You are going to release your first full length studio album ''Night Slasher''. Tell us a few things about this project.
It's a molten metal hurricane of ferocious thrashing, majestic black metal chaos, face melting solos and ominous melodies that'll tear your ears out. We've started writing it almost a decade ago, and we've always had a very strong sense on what we want to make musically and now we've got the means to do it. Sound-wise we also knew that we wanted as much of the human element in our playing on the record as possible and a lot of the natural nastiness of our own analog gear, so we used only real amps on both guitar and bass, didn't use any drum samples or auto tune. Even the synths on the album were made using the bass plugged into a reverb pedal while the various thunder and explosion sounds were made with the guitar.
The cover artwork has a great atmosphere! Tell us a few things about it.
We got Mindaugas Mališauskas AKA Shpy to do the artwork, since he also did the artwork for "It Hits The Spot" and he did an amazing job so we spent an evening explaining how "Night Slasher" is going to be different, and he captured the spirit of the new album perfectly.
What about the lyrics of the album?
Most of them are about Dark spiritual journeys, mental nightmares and some more tongue in cheek topics. It's kind of a good representation of how we've been feeling throughout this decade.
Recently you have released 2 official music videos "Pit Of Hate" & ''Black Trip''. Tell us about the experience of making video clips.
We wanted to hit hard with the first single and the new band image, so "Pit Of Hate" was both a music video and a photo shoot which would unveil "Night Slasher's" stage image. It was a massive undertaking, but thanks to a some very inspired collaborators we managed to demolish our own expectations. As you can see in the video we got a lot of help from a fire dance troupe called "ALT13" and a very talented director and wardrobe guy. So we worked out a script that matched the lyrics, we found a creepy location, borrowed a couple of flame throwers and rolled the cameras. We wanted to do something completely different for "Black Trip" though, and we really wanted to do justice for the lyrics of that song, so we leveraged some recent technical advancements, and we got something that messed with our minds just like the lyrics of the song so we're also very happy with that too.
How did your cooperation with Sliptrick Records occur & what your prefer, Label or DIY and why?
We'll we've actually had to do a last minute self release of the album so you can draw your own conclusions as to why that happened. One thing we know is that the covid years had completely annihilated the underground record label scene so we didn't have much choice in the first place.
Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
I think we've had a couple of shows where some guy in a horse hard mask came up on stage and gave us shots and I still don't know who that is.
Your music style is Black/Speed Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
We could keep giving examples for days, but I'd say the main ones are Razor, Piledriver, Bulldozer, W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Raven, Nifelheim, Bewitcher, Venom, Midnight, Butcher (from Belgium). If you like those, you'll probably find something to listen to on this album too.
Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
I've seen a lot of musicians get held back by ego and pride and once you get rid of those your mind opens up and and you find yourself in the most wild situations doing the most wild things, but that's where the real opportunities are at.
Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
A big stage with plenty of room for thrashing and good sound for the audience. We can take care of the rest. We did have quite a few of shows like these and those were just cathartic to play at.
What attributes do you think that a new Black/Speed Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
It's all in the music and the live shows, the band has to have a genuine identity in both cases. This crowd doesn't take kindly to cheap gimmicks, but they do actively listen to the music and go to the shows. That's why I love this crowd the most.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Lithuania (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
The Lithuanian metal scene is a total hidden gem right now. We've got two bars called "Narauti" and "Lemmy" in Vilnius and Kaunas respectively who have collaborated closely with the local bands to provide really good live show conditions and created a hotbed of metal for good bands to start off. And a couple of good examples would be Hellhookah (seriously amazing doom metal) who are doing proper European tours regularly now and Twisted Possessor who have been on hiatus lately, but might just show up when you least expect them. We also have a pretty big festival called Kilkim Žaibu which we'll be playing this summer.
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
I actually wanted to go to Up The Hammers festival in Athens this year, since the lineup is sick and I haven't been to that city yet, but we'll be playing a show in Vilnius on that date. I know it's also home to No Remorse records which have been pumping out some extremely good bands like Riot City for quite a while now and I know the bands Sacral Rage, Suicidal Angels and Rotting Christ to name a few off the top of my head.
The last 4 years, worldwide in the world, we have faced many dark, strange & new situations in our everyday life (covid, lock-down etc.) Did all of this affect you positively or negatively?
Well, as I mentioned, covid had completely railed the underground label scene. We also lost most opportunities to promote "It Hits The Spot" live since it was released in 2019 just a year prior to the lockdowns. Not being able to go to any shows or festivals was also lame, but we focused on writing and preparing to record "Night Slasher", planned out the whole new band image and promotion strategy so we made best use of the time that we had.
What are your future plans?
We're constantly working to book live shows in Europe to promote the album, so keep an eye out, we might just be closer than you think.
Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Infernal thanks to those who read through this and thank you for some very interesting questions! Don't hesitate to contact us for booking or to buy the album or any merch directly from us. Keep thrashing and stay nasty!
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
NIGHT SLASHER CONTACT:
https://www.facebook.com/NightSlasherOfficial/
https://www.instagram.com/night.slasher.band/
https://nightslasherofficial.bandcamp.com/
https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/229277855
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/night-slasher/1705776706