Interview with SHRIEKING DEMONS

!!!DEATH METAL FROM ITALY!!!

We had a conversation with Giorgio (Guitars). Enjoy!

Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.

Tell us a few things about SHRIEKING DEMONS (Members, Starting Year etc).
Γεια σου Σταύρος και ευχαριστώ πολύ for this cool opportunity. Shrieking Demons started out as a three-piece in 2021 with just Gabri on vocals, me on guitar and bass and David on drums. With this line-up we released our first EP, Diabolical Regurgitations, via Caligari Records (USA) in the same year. Soon after that, Valentina and Nino joined in on guitar and bass respectively, thus allowing the band to go out on stage and play the first few gigs. The Festering Dwellers is our very first full-length album.

You have recently released your album ''The Festering Dwellers''. What is the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
The reactions we got so far are overwhelming to say the least. People seem to be digging the album pretty much everywhere and we got a good coverage on press and zines. I guess most of it, if not all, is due to the huge promo work that's being carried out by our label, Transcending Obscurity, and our friend Marco Gargiulo's Metaversus PR office.

The cover artwork has a sick atmosphere! Tell us a few things about it.
It was drawn by Roberto Toderico, a very talented metal artist from Naples. He has an impressive portfolio and he was one of the first names we thought of when the songwriting for our album was nearing its completion. There's a pretty obvious Considered Dead influence on the art and we wanted the painting to represent a dungeon where we, the festering dwellers, eternally lie in the disgusting condition of our own profane existences...

And what about the lyrics?
Gabri, our singer, comes up with all lyrics and song titles while I've only contributed to our record titles. His lyrics reflect his love for gothic literature and horror movies, which is, of course, shared by all in the band. His themes and ideas showcase a morbidly deviant taste for the macabre and the uncanny.

How did your cooperation with Transcending Obscurity Records occur? What do you prefer most, Label or DIY and why?
Nothing fancy, really. We just put up a private, 3-track promo on Soundcloud for a bunch of labels to evaluate. Transcending Obscurity's boss, Kunal, was one of the first to reply positively and off we went. As for my preferences, I'd say it depends on your individual means and purposes. DIY can be great if you want to keep a full grip on record sales and revenues but it can be a big pain in the ass if you haven't got some solid channels to promote your release. Nowadays the market is constantly getting flooded with records of all sorts, so much that it's basically useless to even put out anything unless you find a way for it to get to the ears and heads you're aiming for.

Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
I'd say that the recordings were quite stressful and challenging for the whole band as we did a full-on live in the studio with only vocals and guitar solos being overdubbed. This means that if anyone fucks up halfway into the song, the entire band has to stop and re-play the song from scratch. Everyone had taken days off from work in order to be in the studio for 5 days in a row, which is all the studio time we could afford to finish the album. Some aspects such as drum arrangements had to be rushed and we emptied our meagre band fund to record the album, which all in all is a positive thing because that's just what happened to bands like ours back in the day haha! Sometimes if you're sitting too comfortably on your ass you're not going to pull off anything relevant. You've got to have some issues to fight against, in the studio or elsewhere. Plus, some of my favourite records ever were done in pretty poor conditions, so all is good.

Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
I'm a sucker for cassette tapes. I was born in 1988, so I belong to what is perhaps the last generation to actively use tapes on a daily basis. It's the most analog and nostalgic-sounding format of all, even more than vinyl. Everything on tape sounds OLD, no matter what you dub on it, and its compression is just lovely. Furthermore, there's something magical about how quickly they deteriorate: you can only listen to your tapes this many times before they begin to fall apart. They implicitly invite you to listen carefully, whereas streaming is a boring, dull and soulless activity being devoid of any romanticism.

Your music style is Death Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
We are obsessed by bands such as AUTOPSY, DIVINE EVE, early MORGION, GROTESQUE, GOD MACABRE, MORGUE, CELTIC FROST, CREMATORY (SWE), REVENANT, DR. SHRINKER, DECEASED, DECOMPOSED (UK), NUCLEAR DEATH, early DEATH and the very early output of the Peaceville 3. We're all deep into original death metal and our slow, counterpoint riffs are a product of love for TROUBLE, CANDLEMASS and MEMENTO MORI.

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?
Yes. I've sacrificed my whole life unto the altar of music. It's my obsession and I'll keep messing around with it until the day I die. To some extent, everyone in the band has sacrificed something dear to them and it's all because of the music.

Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
We try to give people an honest representation of who we are and what we do, but the overall quality of our performance depends on the amount of beers and spliffs we've had before the gig.

What attributes do you think that a new Death Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
Riffs. If you haven't got RIFFS then you might as well call it a day. I don't like over-complicated, ultra chromatic and dissonant death metal. I think 90% of that stuff is nothing but a sophisticated mask for musicians to hide behind. Musical ideas should be clear and straight to the point – not stupid, not dull, but transparent - and a composer/songwriter should take all credit and all blame for what he does. I like bands at their most sincere and spontaneous. Rock-based stuff should always retain some degree of wildness, otherwise it turns into something else which I might like, but I wouldn't call rock or metal.

Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Death Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
I don't use Spotify. Matter of fact, I despise that dystopian organization and its wicked deeds. The only essential platform for all musicians out there is Bandcamp and the world of underground music would surely be much harder without it. Some bands live off it and it helps integrate resources that'd be unavailable elsewhere.

Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Italy (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
There's a bunch of northern cities like Milan, Bologna, Padova, Turin, Florence or Parma that make our national live music scene look almost good, or at least on the same logistical wavelength as the rest of the EU. Alas, below a certain latitude, Italy isn't as great as you would imagine. Central to southern cities have to face major issues as far as the booking of live events is concerned, but luckily there's many exceptions. David and I come from Palermo, Sicily, a place with a very cool live scene that's being kept alive by a handful of brave friends who still try hard to put up shows there or in Catania. For what concerns the historical bands, my two all-time faves are BULLDOZER and BLACK HOLE. I suggest you check out contemporary bands such as ERASER, TENEBRA, MESSA, BUNKER 66, GOTHIC STONE, ASKESIS, GORRCH, FERAL FORMS, CADAVER MUTILATOR, BALATONIZER, HORROR VACUI, MARTHE, DEMON SPELL, BURIAL, HATEFUL, CONTINUUM OF XUL, AD NAUSEAM or VALGRIND.

Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
Of course. Greece is in my heart! I've desperately fallen in love with your immortal country when David and I first toured across it with our now defunct death grind outfit HAEMOPHAGUS in Autumn 2019. We got to play Ioannina, Larissa and Athens and it was a crazy good experience. You guys have some outstanding stuff going on. Aside from the ultra-well known black metal scene I definitely have to mention my trad heavy heroes DECEPTOR, SARISSA, DOOMOCRACY and ANGELO PERLEPES' MYSTERY. Don't forget that I'm Sicilian, so μια φάτσα μια ράτσα!

What are your future plans?
We'll try to go out and play live as much as we can although we're all quite busy with different bands and projects. Plus, we're already writing some new material for our next LP.

Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thanks to you and Filthy Dogs of Metal for this nice chat. LET'S ROT!

By Steve the Filthy Dog.

SHRIEKING DEMONS CONTACT:

https://www.facebook.com/shriekingdemons

https://www.instagram.com/shriekingdemons

https://shriekingdemons.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5UfxnpXkDd793IPKhXBOLv