San Diego deathcore merchants Carnifex release new album Die Without Hope this week.
As we think Carnifex are pretty rad, we decided that this is definitely a good thing. We grabbed frontman Scott Lewis to find out how the album came together, what made them decide to return from hiatus and what the rest of 2014 holds for them.
You announced your return from hiatus relatively soon after taking it. What caused that decision?
“We originally made the choice to take a hiatus in June of 2012. We did out last tour in June 2012 as well. When we announced that we had signed with Nuclear Blast it was July 2013. In total we took nearly a year and half off from the road internationally and in the States it was a month shy of two years. Two years off from the road in the states is far from short for a band of our size. Thankfully the support of our fans and the enthusiasm Nuclear Blast had for the band along with what we felt was our best record was the motivation we needed to give it another shot and see how life would be with the support of a respected and hardworking label. It was a choice we’re glad we made. The response the album so far is fantastic and Nuclear Blast has been nothing short of amazing with all their effort.”
What did that time off teach you guys?
“For me personally it was appreciation. When you tour as long and as hard as we had been touring for the last seven years, it’s easy to lose sight of how fortunate we are to have the support from our fans. It was nice to have the time away from the industry and away from touring. From when we went full time we never had a break and during most of that time we barely made enough money to keep the wheels turning. It was a very exhausting time. Stepping back and just relaxing, spending time with family and getting the business of the band in order were some important things that had to be done if there was any chance of us continuing.”
** How did that affect the way you approached Die Without Hope?**
“It affected us greatly. With our previous records we were on a schedule that left no room for writing. We toured non-stop and would be pressured into deadlines that left us with very little time to write. With Die Without Hope we took nearly two years of focused writing time. Writing and rewriting over and over again until we had every song refined to the best of our ability. The extra time we had to write and our motivation to push ourselves beyond anything we had done before.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By0LmL9aPG0
Death metal and deathcore is as big as it’s ever been. How much do you feel you’ve earned some credit in bringing that extreme slant of music to younger fans?
“I can’t say that’s something I’ve really thought about. We’ve been releasing music for about nine years now but it’s been a long road for us. We haven’t had too much time to be self-congratulatory. We do our best to write music that we enjoy and music that we believe is genuine to who we are. Hopefully we’ve been able to inspire fans and connect with them on an emotional level. Beyond that you can’t really ask for much more.”
How’s the rest of your 2014 shaping up?
“Busy, but that is to be expected. Currently we are on a five week headline tour in the US. That will be followed by a brief run with Whitechapel around this year’s New England Metal Fest followed by a six week North American tour yet to be announced. In July we have a short European run, including Sonisphere in the UK and then some time off in August. We’re doing our best to get out there and bring Die Without Hope to as many people as possible!”
Die Without Hope is out now via Nuclear Blast. Order it below:
CD - http://smarturl.it/CRNFX-DWH-NB
iTunes - http://georiot.co/1ULR
