All Consumed New Album Approaching (interview)
Preston based mob, All Consumed, have always delivered that straight-up, UK death metal sound you are familiar with.
No bells and ribbons. Not a crossover in sight. They know how to work it, and they work it well. In the past seven years, the have spat out an initial demo, followed by two albums and an EP. The time has now come for new material, and the next album, Rise Of The Godless, is all set to be let loose later this year. At Slow Dragon Music, we’ve been treated to an advance listen of four of its brutal tracks. They are rather tasty. However, a thought occurs; It’s surely no small task to pull together an LP in the midst of lockdown…
Darren Mcgillivray (guitar): Its been difficult, but we managed to take advantage when there was the ease of restrictions after the first lock down. Mostly be writing at home and send tracks to each other.
Michael Skeech (vocals): We’ve managed to keep things going over zoom, and through the group chat, but it’s a poor substitute for being in the room together.
Richard Galbraith (bass): Garage Band has been helpful to allow us to send recordings back and forth.
MS: Luckily we managed to get the structure of everything down before we were isolated, and we could refine them (the songs – ed) online.
All Consumed – Demo 2014Continue reading: All Consumed New Album Approaching (interview)
Those of you reading who are already familiar with them, will know the All Consumed sound has remained very consistent from the start. Have the band thought much, though, about the basics of where it comes from?
DM: If you’re talking tones, it has been driven by the style of the songs. As for writing, we just wing it.
RG: From a bass guitar sound point of view, an element of consistency should remain, because the bass amp has outlived the former bass player (I bought it off him).
DM: Also, on a serious note, our influences haven’t really changed.
MS: Yeah, I think we have pretty similar influences when it comes to the more old school stuff, so we have a pretty consistent view of how we want things to sound.
As laid back as this comes across, it has already been mentioned in this article that things have maintained a solid core sound in camp AC. With Rise Of The Godless being their first release to feature both Michael and Richard, is what was it like indoctrinating the newbies? Did they feel like they had the room to add their own expression?
MS: Obviously, I don’t know how things were with the previous vocalists, apart from the other albums. So, I tried to get a feel of the way that they executed vocals on those, and tried to bring my vocal style into that feel.
DM: Mike was already familiar with our style, and Richard has been a friend of the band for while, and was frequently at our shows, at the front, so he knew exactly what he was getting into.
RG: Yes exactly. I had the advantage of being familiar with the band.
MS: Yeah, they said right from the beginning that I had free reign over lyrics, and any changes go through all of us pretty democratically.
RG: Everyone gets to express any opinions, and make any suggestions.
No World Order – Album 2015Continue reading: All Consumed New Album Approaching (interview)
A fifty percent line-up change, and an open, democratic approach… It’s surprising that hasn’t had a major effect on the overall sound. It’s still 100% unidentifiable as the same band.
MS: Yeah, I loved what the guys were doing on the other albums, and I didn’t wanna come in and make massive changes.
RG: From my point of view, I joined with the album half written, so it would be a bad time for sweeping changes.
An almost complete recording, then? Maybe. However, some of you may have noticed there has been no release date mentioned yet. This could be purely down to waiting until it’s finished, but one has to suspect that the pandemic had an influence.
RG: The pandemic has impacted on the recording schedule, but things are progressing now.
DM: Yes, massively! Not being able to get into studio means it would be foolish to set a date when can’t guarantee this. Especially with it being a crowd funded project
Are they also holding out for the possibility of promoting the new album through live events?
MS: That’s absolutely the ambition. It’s just all dependent on when things open up again
DM: In reality, that’s the way it going to be, anyway. We will promote with teasers of the art work, and merch, etc. Also, we have sent out a demo to select people for reviewing.
Birth Of Ruin – Album 2019
Continue reading: All Consumed New Album Approaching (interview)
Battling their way through recording a lockdown album isn’t the only thing AC have going on, though. One interesting development is their signing with Unearthed Music.
DM: Signing to unearthed is a more effective way of promoting the band. Matt is our manager, and looks after all our pr, promotion, and social media. We’ve been a friend of Matt since the beginning, and he supported us all the way. So it made sense, when the opportunity came up, that we grabbed it.
MS: Yeah, definitely. Being associated with someone that has the contacts that Matt does helps us a lot.
Then there was the successful crowdfunding campaign, getting the wheels turning to begin with.
RG: People were overwhelmingly generous in their support. This fuels us with even more determination to deliver a product that people can be proud to have been a part of.
DM: The main pro is, obviously, it releases the band finances to invest in merch, etc. Especially in these current times, when we have very little income with there being no live shows. The only con is it may add pressure, as we are contacted to release the album.
So, finally, with the possibility of live events on the horizon, one more question had to be asked. What would be their ultimate tour, or event, to introduce Rise Of The Godless to metal audiences?
MS: I’d personally love to play some festivals over the summer, to really hype up for the album release. Then as many shows as we can get over the next few months, to promote, and really give audiences a live experience of the new material.
Dave Kenyon (drums): If we’re talking ultimate tour, then some European gigs, followed by a Bloodstock appearance, and finishing off at The Twa Tams (*our regular venue for smaller shows – SDM).
DM: Then the USA
RG: Then finishing in the Bahamas. Get it done, Matt!
It sounds like they might need to refine their democratic processes for the purpose of route planning…
Read more Slow Dragon Music interviews
All Consumed New Album Approaching (interview)
