Undeath's "Lord of the Grave" Cuts Your Head Right Off (New Single + Interview)

August 13, 2020

Formidable, gruesome, and viscous, the sounds emanating from New York’s Undeath should, in theory, cohere like a mixture of raw honey and crude oil. There’s death metal like that, of course, thickened nearly to concrete, banking solely on atmospherics to carry the music, and some of it works. This band, though, cuts through their own slime with extremely acute riffage, sharp bass and drumming, and growls from a rumbling goddamn coffin — all while maintaining constant groove and just enough saturation to fill your headspace.

In an exploding genre, even just a 1% edge can make all the difference. For Undeath, that edge is, counterintuitively, one of balance: maximizing the extreme by doling it out at just the right moments. Check it out for yourself with a stream of a new single from Lesions of a Different Kind called “Lord of the Grave” below. As a bonus, we’ve got an interview with vocalist Alex Jones to give you more insight into this, frankly, fucking badass release.

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Lyrically, what topics or themes does Lesions of a Different Kind encompass? Or, what story does it tell?

The lyrics on the album encompass death in as many forms as possible. It’s really that simple. We aren’t trying to be too high-concept with the subject matter for this record – we just wanted to write songs about dying and being dead.

What’s the story behind the cover art? It’s equal parts grotesque and mind-bending, and totally distinct.

The artwork was done by our drummer Matt Browning, who does all of our cover artwork. The art is just an interpretation of a lot of the lyrics on the album and made into one painting that contains aspects of death, dying, and otherworldly phenomenon.

In your opinion, why is death metal so badass? What type of energy does Undeath bring to a crowded table?

I think all of us love death metal so much because when it’s done well it sits right at the intersection of pure musicianship and mindless fun. Most metal subgenres tend to lean heavily in one direction or the other but death metal in particular really allows bands to write mind-bending, hyper-technical stuff and actually look like they’re having a good time while they’re playing it.

I believe Undeath is special because we place way more emphasis on the riffs and the composition of our songs than just creating an atmosphere. We didn’t set out to be the heaviest band or the loudest band or the most “evil” and “mysterious” band — we just want to write great death metal songs that get stuck in your head.

What was it like working with Trevor Strnad for his contribution to the title track? It’s a huge name to have associated with your debut release.

It was awesome working with Trevor. He’s supported Undeath since basically the very beginning and he came out to our first New York City show, which was our third or fourth show ever. He’s the nicest, realest dude, and asking him to be on the title track of “Lesions of a Different Kind” was one of the easiest decisions we’ve ever made.

How are you all weathering the coronavirus pandemic? Hope everything is well by everyone, all things considered. Stay safe.

We’re all hanging in there as well as we can. We had a ton of cool tours and shows and shit planned for this year and all of that is out the window thanks to COVID, but it’s not anything that can’t be rescheduled once the world starts turning again. In the meantime we’ve been writing our next album and introducing some new members into the fold (Tommy Wall on bass and Jared Welch on second guitar), so we’ve definitely been keeping busy!

Put your mask on and stay inside as much as you can so that we can come play your city!

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Lesions of a Different Kind releases October 23rd via Prosthetic Records.