STACK NZ May #73

FEATURE

MUSIC

QUIETENING THE BEAST?

Not really, but Beastwars’ frontman Matt Hyde tells John Ferguson that the metal mavens’ third LP The Death Of All Things does offer some more reflective moments.

morning and getting the mixes from NewYork... it was fantastic.” As well as a sonic reboot, Hyde also got the chance to stretch his vocal talents a little as well. His trademark guttural roar still dominates, but he also adopted a more restrained ‘singing’ voice on songs like Devils Of Last Night . The Beastwars frontman admits he took some persuading, but he is glad that he did, because again, he feels it added a new dimension to the album. Hyde had similar initial misgivings about the most radical song on the LP, the prog-folk of The Devil Took Her, which he sings over a plaintive backing of acoustic guitar and what sounds like a flute. “I wasn’t too sure if we should put it on the album because it is hard to expose yourself sometimes,” he admits. “It’s about how jealousy and anger can push anyone you love away from you. It’s a pretty desolate song.” 2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the band but unfortunately

B eastwars’ famous mantra has always been “obey the riff.” That hasn’t changed on their third LP, the suitably apocalyptic The Death Of All Things . However, frontman Matt Hyde acknowledges that there is more to their new album than just monster riffing. “We definitely wanted to go to the ‘quiet/ loud’ spectrum,” he tells STACK over the phone from the band’s hometown in Wellington. “We wanted to experiment, we wanted to come out of our comfort zone and we wanted to take risks. And I think we pulled it off – I think we made a great record, with different sounds and different feels all through it.” We think so, too. But don’t worry, diehard fans; that doesn’t mean Beastwars – Hyde, James Woods (bass), Nato Hickey (drums) and Clayton Anderson (guitar) – have gone soft: tracks like the opener Call The Mountain and Black Day are certainly as dark and heavy as anything on their two previous albums. It’s just there their sledgehammer force is channeled with a bit

more subtlety and variety this time around. Part of that is down to a new production team. The first two records were produced by Dale Cotton, but The Death Of All Things was produced by the band and James Goldsmith in Wellington, and mixed by Andrew Schneider in NewYork. It boasts a crisper sound, but one with a distinctive, early ’70s hard rock vibe as well. “We felt we needed a change,” Hyde explains. “James Goldsmith had just bought the new studio in Wellington and he was making great records out of there – Mermaidens, Red Sky Blues – so we gave it a punt. And it worked out really, really well. We had never recorded an album in our hometown, so it was great experience. “Once we passed it over to

Beastwars will be on temporary hiatus for the rest of the year, with drummer Hickey off to the UK. However Hyde hopes the band will be back together again next year in Europe. For now, he is proud of

We wanted to experiment, we wanted to come out of our comfort zone

the guys in the States they added another dimension. I love how it sounds. It was exciting, waking up in the

the work they’ve produced to date and the fact that they have managed to retain their independence throughout their career. He puts much of that down to the dedication of their fanbase, both here and abroad. “We are really helped in New Zealand by Universal Music and they’re good people,” Hyde says. “But when you buy a record from us, we pack it. We send the t-shirts, we send the posters. We actually went out on a limb on this album – we were heavily in debt. But

after one day the band was out of debt because fans bought so many records. We’re very thankful for what our fans have allowed us to do by buying our records.”

• The Death of All Things by Beastwars is out now.

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