Tyrants Blood impressed Berns von Bernington with their recently released Into the Kingdom of Graves album, which is full of the band's own bland of extreme speed metal, hitting upon black/death thrash metal as well. It resulted in a very positive review by Berns and he therefore jumped on the opportunity to be able to ask guitarist Marco Banco some questions.
(((o))): Can you give us a bit of background on how Tyrants Blood came into this world?
Marco: Of course and thanks for taking interest in us, all power to Ech(((o)))es and Dust.
We came together in the summer of 2005. I had been asked by our original drummer and co-founder, Kevin Volatile, to come write with him. He pestered me incessantly for a good year until I finally agreed to it.
When we did finally got together, we wrote a song quickly after jamming some old songs, within a few weeks we had a good feeling about it, so we began to seek out other musicians that would suit what we were going for.
By January of 2006 we had our first lineup , began writing the rest of the debut album, recorded it and started to perform live.
(((o))): You guys play a very abrasive style of black/death thrash, which is absolutely fantastic, what are the influences at the core of Tyrants Blood?
Marco: Well, there is 4 decades of metal music that influences this band, from the old days of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, the early 80’s groups like Venom, Saxon, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Exciter, Cirith Ungol, Merciful Fate, onward into the mid eighties Possessed, Celtic Frost, through to the 90’s with groups like Deicide, Autopsy, Morbid Angel etc. etc. and on and on.
There is and have been many many groups that have influenced Tyrants Blood's style.
(((o))): What influences the lyrical themes of the songs and for that matter the Into the Kingdom of Graves record?
Marco: Heavy themes suit heavy music. So we follow this, and seek inspiration from all that is found sitting on the darker edge.
There is plenty to inspire that sort of thought process.
For Into the Kingdom of Graves, we followed suit, because the title would be best served that it holds passages to things that are within the realm of the name of the album.
(((o))): How did you guys end up on Ablaze Productions?
Marco: They asked us after we released the album independently, if we would like to have Ablaze make a version of the album also. We talked through a deal with them; it has not been finalized or released by them yet. So for now we are with Tridroid Records for the vinyl release which should be here within a few weeks, and of course we have the CD out independently for the time being also.
(((o))): What personal influences being the guitarist of an extreme metal outfit?
Marco: Some of my influences are Micheal Denner, Hank Shermann, Jake e Lee, Gary Moore and Alex Lifeson.
(((o))): In terms of writing material, you guys seem to have a good combination of guitar and bass sound, generally one doesn’t hear bass, but in this record both bass and guitar really lives as two very distinguishable entities, which is absolutely fantastic, is their any reason for that?
Marco: Vinnie [Borden] plays very upfront with his style, and always has. He is not in the background; we have always been this way. Since he is also a main writer for songs with me, he comes up with quite a large number of riffs on bass and I think because we are following one another this way, the bass almost takes a lead role in the verse riffs sometimes, this is our style.
(((o))): Being South African, I don’t get to see that many extreme metal bands from abroad unless I venture up to Europe. Do you guys plan on any big tours toward Europe with regards to festivals?
Marco: For sure, we are arranging our European/Scandinavian tour for 2014 in support of the album. I look forward to the campaign; it is the lifeblood of any band I believe.
(((o))): What are your favourite riffs and/or track off the Into the Kingdom of Graves record?
Marco: Personally I like Spiral Sea's main riff, and also the hook at the end. Also for me, Revelation in Damnation has a great riff that stays in the pocket, so I like to play this one too. Destroyer, and Into the kingdom of graves also flow excellent and smooth I find.
I would say that Revelation in Damnation and Spiral Sea are my 2 favorite tracks.
(((o))): Can you give us some insight into the writing process that went into the Into the Kingdom of Graves record?
Marco: With this album we let loose completely. Everything from everybody was thrown down, and from there we created this album. Whether I brought in a song, or Vince had part of a tune, Matt [Modder] wrote a song on drums, or Brian [Langley] had a riff, we took that, tore it apart and sewed it back up.
We wanted to make it more than what it was, it was a theme that just grew organically without question, so we just attacked every riff to make it faster and heavier.
(((o))): What’s the over all atmosphere in the band with regards to the new release and playing some new numbers live?
Marco: Excellent, we are familiar with each other and what’s expected from one another. Our live show is unified and aggressive. The new songs are great to perform, and I only look forward to creating more new material, crushing onward and moving forward.
(((o))): Thank you very much for this interview Marco!
Pre-orders for the Into the Kingdom of Graves vinyl are now available through Tridroid Records.
