Survival Zero talk about their upcoming album, “The Ascension”
Band picture: Credit to the owner Hello Survival Zero, thanks for your time. Would it be possible to introduce your band to our readers, as well as your roles in it? Hey, guys. So, I'm Pierre, I'm the lead singer of the band which consists of Ben and Régis on guitars, Thibaut on drums and another Pierre on bass. Survival Zero is a French metal band created in 2017. The five of us had known each other for several years and had even played in bands together. I launched the initiative of this band because, after long months treating with depression, I felt the need to express all the feelings the disease had brought up. This illness stole words from me to describe what I was feeling. It was like a virus. I was its patient zero, I had to be survivor zero as well. Ben, Pierre, Régis and Thibaut are longtime friends. They played in Death Metal, Black Metal, Metalcore or Post-Hardcore bands. By mixing all these elements together I thought we could create an intense, striking and dark music. I've been talking to them about the whole thing and I've been giving them ideas for songs to listen to. I guess they liked it. From there we created the band, its music and its visual identity. With what I had presented to the guys our name came pretty naturally: Survival Zero. How do you spend your time during quarantine? In these trying times I think we're all refocusing on our family lives. Most of us are working from home. Otherwise, we are all busy with pretty similar things: movies, TV shows, reading, video games and of course music. Like a lot of people, we regularly have parties via Skype. I can tell you that many of us listen to the latest albums of Igorrr or Benighted. Of course, we work on our songs and create new materials. Personally, I've started reading Dan Simmons' Hyperion again. It's one of the best Science Fiction novels full of poetry, mysticism and reflections on humanity. You’re about to release your album, titled “The Ascension”. What kind of songs can we expect on this record? Like I said, we’ve tried our best to create a striking and dark metal. The most important thing when we compose is the work on the atmospheres. We spent a lot of time on each riff of each song until we were fully satisfied with the atmosphere and the energy that came out. We didn't hesitate to throw ideas out or entire songs because they lacked that vibe that united us initially. We also wanted this intensity to unite the tracks as a whole. THE ASCENSION is not an end-to-end death-metal or hardcore album. On all the songs we tried to vary by drawing from thrash-metal, extreme metal or more ambient things. This mix of styles is the fruit of our combined influences.
How long have you worked on this album? First of all, you should know that the creation of the band was built around the production of this album. The five of us have had more than twenty bands in the past. We've all agreed not to repeat a fairly common mistake when you're a young band: rushing into things. We took the time to create this band, its music and its visual identity. In any case we wanted to reveal the band with solid foundations. To answer your question, from the first rehearsals to today it's been almost 3 years. If you had to pick one song that best reflects the spirit of this upcoming release, which one would it be and why? It's hard. It's like choosing who you like more of your kids. Nevertheless, I will say THE OTHERVERSE, the last song of the album. It's also the last song to be composed. I think it best reflects what we're trying to create: there's groove, intensity, and that long, haunting outro in a post-hardcore spirit. I think my bandmates will join me on this because I really feel that the next steps will be based on this kind of song. I could also have answered GLORIOUS NEMESIS for the same reasons although the song is faster. How’s your usual writing process for your songs? For this album, I brought the song ideas to the guys. They could freely butcher those ideas, grind them up in every direction, or even say they were crap. Between the initial proposals and the finalized songs there were a lot of changes. One idea led to another, everyone brought their own ideas and we all experimented on them together until we were fully satisfied. We also took a lot of time in pre-production to get ready for the studio. For the lyrics, I wrote them by myself but before that I took the time to explain the meaning of each song to the band. I didn't want to go into it without their approval. It's an illusion to believe that every riff or every word can be written by five people. We also need to work alone or in pairs before coming back to the band. In the end, what matters is that each member of the group raises the others up. For future songs we're going to intensify that. The production of THE ASCENSION inspired everyone. I can tell you that during the quarantine we are starting to build up a pretty extensive list of new riffs. The last words are for you. If you have a message to convey, here’s your chance! Well I'd like to take this opportunity to thank several people, starting with you, and the Distrolution team for your questions and your interest in Survival Zero. I would also like to thank Mat Chiarello, the producer of the album. As well as Cerhnac and Olivier Gobert, the artists we worked with to make the artwork for the album and our first music video for the song "ASCENSION". Many thanks also to M&O Music our label. We are very grateful for their interest in the band as we are coming from nowhere and only one gig so far. This allows me to conclude by thanking the fan community that is building up day by day around the band. We are looking forward to playing more shows and meeting you. Thanks for your time!
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