NERO1

Track Debut + Q&A: Nero Di Marte's "Pulsar"

If you happened to hear of a new band that had opened up for, say, Godflesh, Carcass, Immolation or Red Fang, you might be inclined to check them out, no? Well what if they have opened for ALL FOUR of those epic metal acts?! Insert Nero Di Marte, an Italian atmospheric post-metal quartet whose sophomore effort, Derivae, will be released by Prosthetic Records just days before All Hallows Eve on October 28th.

Pre-order it HERE Head below to check out a previously unreleased track from the record, “Pulsar”. I also had the privilege of chatting with the band’s vocalist Sean Worrell via email about the themes of Derivae and touring with such renowned acts; you can find that below too.

— Kelly Kettering

IO: Considering we are a US outlet, can you tell us about some of the distinctive qualities of the Italian metal scene? Any bands/types of metal we might not be that privy to that we should be listening to?

SW: I think some Italian bands are getting pretty good recognition these days, the scene here is really no different from the rest of Europe and there is quite the variety in terms of style and genre. That being said, metal here is perceived as being very underground although there is an abundance of bands; some bands you may not have heard of which are really great are Storm[o], Incoming Cerebral Overdrive, Miotic.

IO: Your new album “Derivae” comes from an Italian phrase meaning “to go adrift”. Has it been difficult for you to let things go in the past, or to move through certain phases of life not knowing what’s to come?

SW: I think most people experience fear of change or of letting go, and the album has those themes mostly because of the music. I don’t know how others write lyrics or song/album titles, but for us it always starts from what the music suggests. We try to interpret the mood and the atmosphere of what we are playing, as if the sounds were speaking to us and we need to translate that into written language.
For one it’s also a way to remember that now and in the future we should not be afraid of what the music suggests and not try to control every aspect of it – but instead be carried away to wherever music between different people will take you.

IO: The album took three years to make and is 100% analog. Why did you decide to go analog for this record? What did it contribute to the record that digital can’t?

SW: We recorded in analog in the sense that the sounds you hear on record, the guitars, bass, drums, were not modified later on with digital effects/triggers and stuff like that. Riccardo Pasini, the guy we worked with at Studio73, did work on a DAW, but we decided that the fundamental sound of whatever came out recorded through a mic would not be modified much. Of course we used compressors, eq, etc., but we didn’t want the end result to be that different from the original take. We did this so we could develop and commit to atmospheres and sounds while recording instead of thinking about how this guitar effect or that part should sound while mixing. It makes it a little bit more true to how we are when we actually play as a band, without the challenges of doing a live recording (which is something we eventually might be interested in doing in the future).

IO: You’ve had the pleasure of touring with a large number of acts with very rabid fan bases, including Carcass, Godflesh and more. What have you learned from touring with acts like this? Has it encouraged your own career in any way to perform with bands that have been making music for so many years?

SW: It’s been truly a privilege to play with and meet some of our favorite bands.

I think what I’ve fully realized is just to do music for art’s sake. I know it sounds like a given, but today so many bands think in terms of “will this give me exposure” or “will this make money” or “will this appeal to more people”, maybe unconsciously. These shouldn’t be expectations. When I see unknown underground metal bands thinking that way it always begs the question, why are you making music in the first place?