Dying Fetus pour l'album "War Of Attrition"

Hi, I'm Scum from the french webzine Thrashocore, thanks for accepting this interview! Dying Fetus has changed his line-up since Stop At Nothing, can you sum up who arrived, who left the band and for what reason?

Hi there! The first change since Stop at Nothing was in autumn 2004, when we parted with vocalist Vince Matthews due to professional and musical differences, and our bassist Sean Beasley began taking over his vocal parts. We also lost Erik Sayenga on drums in May 2005 because of conflicts with his commitments at home, so we now have Duane Timlin as our new drummer.

Last album has been released in 2003. Why did you "kept" silence for 4 years ? Was it a need of a break ? Did you think you would split up ?

We definitely didn't want four years in between - we would have expected 2 or 3 years at the most due to the time we spent touring and the time it takes to make a new album, but we lost an extra year because it took so long to find a new drummer. We continued writing the new album, and we even made demos with the help of PC Drummer on our computers, but that was a time-consuming process.

Are you still in contact with the members who leaved Dying Fetus ?

We are still close with them, especially John who is closer to all of the former members, not only Jason and Kevin and Sparky but also Brian Latta. Rob Belton has come to a show of ours recently. Jason and Sparky came to a show we did in Baltimore with Napalm Death in December. We have even toured with Misery Index in the US.

Do you think that one day, there will be a split album or a split EP with Misery Index ?

Maybe if we were to do another split album one day, Misery Index would be a great band to be on with us.

Dying Fetus had much line-up changes. Can you give a "reason" ? Are you hard to work with ?

The reasons vary, but as with any metal band it usually comes down to conflicts with commitments at home, or differences with the band in regard to music or personalities. The need for day jobs at home is a frequent potential conflict that maybe other more mainstream bands don't experience. I'm relatively new to the band myself, but in the five years I've been with Dying Fetus I don't see us being hard to work with any more than any other band who does extreme music. Line-up changes happen, I can hardly think of a band I like who has never lost any original members.

In the beginning, we have heard that it would be Kevin Talley who will play drums. But finally it's Duane Timlin. Is that right ? Does Kevin Talley gave up ? How did you "choose" Duane Timlin ?

This is a good question which we almost managed to avoid, ha ha! The simple answer is that Duane outshined everybody in his performance in auditioning, both on video and in person, and in his show of commitment and readiness to the band. After spending a year without a drummer, it was important to us that we get someone with strong dedication as well as skill.

Dying Fetus is signed in Relapse since Destroy The Opposition. Are you still in good terms with this label ? How many albums do you have still in contract ?

Our latest release War of Attrition fulfills our contract with Relapse Records. It is a bit early for us to say what our future plans are, but Relapse have been good to us and they are doing a great job promoting the new album. Right now we are just concentrating on promoting War of Attrition with some new tour plans.

So, we will now talk about the new album War Of Attrition. Can you introduce it to us ?

War of Attrition is our third album with Relapse Records. On this album we wanted to return to the classic sound of releases such as Killing on Adrenaline and Destroy the Opposition, while continuing to progress in our songwriting and also in terms of production. We also wanted to take the classic sound to a more aggressive level. I think this is our most intense release to date.

How long was the engineering process? Was there any problems ?

There are always things that get changed along the way, things that cause you to re-record parts or other problems that have to be worked out. Many times you don't truly know what your music sounds like until going into the studio where you have equipment that really lets you hear any parts that still need some polishing. We spent a couple of months in the studio during various stages of the process, and although we always wish we had more time to make everything sound better, we are satisfied with how everything turned out.

The title of the new album is a kind of mysterious. What is this "attrition" ? What does the artwork stand for ?

The concept of attrition as a military tactic is something I've wanted to use for many years. But on this album the attrition also means the pressures that society and the media put on people to try to wear them down into buying something or changing the way they think and behave. The artwork was done by Orion at Relapse, and at first we worried that people could misinterpret the images, but we feel the artwork represents the conflicting feelings that make up the album concept and the themes of each song. There is definitely a feeling of ambivalence, and of some cold hard realities.

John Gallagher has composed 6 tracks on War Of Attrition. Who did compose the rest ?

Sean wrote "Parasites of Catastrophe" and I wrote "The Ancient Rivalry" and the main opening riff on "Homicidal Retribution". John wrote basically all the rest. I also wrote all of the lyrics.

As you're back on the scene, there's a european tour planned with bands such as Skinless or Cattle Decapitation. How do you feel about this ? Are you in a hurry to play ?

We are very excited to play as always, and it has been two years since we were in Europe so we are obviously very anxious return. We are also looking forward to the bands on this tour - Skinless are good friends of ours from many shows together in the US, and it will be awesome to have Cattle Decapitation with us as well!

Dying Fetus has been formed since 1991. What do you think about the band's evolution ? Do you have regrets regarding line-up changes ?

Being part of one line-up change makes me respect the previous members - in particular the sound that was created on the two albums before I joined. I feel it is important to maintain that sound and style, while also contributing something of myself and helping the band to evolve and progress. As far as changes since then, I do occasionally miss having Erik in the band - he was a great guy not only as a musician but as a friend, and very helpful on the road.

There has been some changes while theses four years of silence. With the hindsight, what do you think about Stop At Nothing album ?

I still love the sound we created on that album, although it sounds best turned up loud because the guitar was maybe too compressed, and there needs to be more low end overall. The music is great though, and we definitely enjoy playing those songs live.

Is there bands that you have still admiration for ?

My admiration for certain bands endures as they keep making great music over the years - bands like Slayer, Exodus, Cannibal Corpse, and Suffocation. They have maintained their standard to this day and that is a big inspiration to me.

What do you think about the last Suffocation album ?

It's one of my most-played albums at the moment! I listen to it often in my car or at the gym, there are some great songs on it. The tone took some getting used to - their two newest albums both sound a little different than the classics like Despise the Sun or Pierced from Within. But I think they are still great, and even better to see live.

What your playlist of the moment ?

My iPod has many playlists! The band's live set is comprised of 17 songs since we are doing many headlining dates over the next few months - these songs are from all of our relases and naturally include all the favorite songs people expect, but we have three new ones and of course a few older songs that we haven't been playing for some years. Apart from that, I listen to the bands I mentioned above, plus anything from Goatwhore, Testament's First Strike Still Deadly album, I have a "Morbid Hate" playlist that includes a blend of best Morbid Angel songs and Hate Eternal songs, and I have a "Vice City" playlist of 80's music from the awesome PS2 game.

Thanks for answering all theses questions. I hope you guys enjoy it. I can't wait to see you on tour! Last words are yours !

Thank you for this interview and thanks to the fans for all the support and loyalty over the years! We hope you will enjoy the new album and we'll see you out on the road!