Interview to GUTTURAL OBLITERATION (New Zealand)

1. Hello dear friend, pleasure to have you on Rotten Pages ´zine. How are you doing today? Let us set the scene first. Where do we find you right now? Please describe your surroundings.

Hey bro, im doing good, thanks!

Im sitting in my jam room at my house here in Wellington,surrounded by guitars,posters, and anything music related !

2. Guttural Obliteration is a duo — how long have you known each other? And how did you discover metal for the first time?

Me and Isaac met back in early 2021 at a local metal bar called "VALHALLA" and soon started creating music together later that year.

3. Death Metal as a genre is one of the most complex genres in music. In my mind. More generally, why you chose to have a brutal Death Metal sound? It is part of yourself?

Well, im one to like most genres of metal,for example, hardcore or black metal,but death metal is definitely where I have got a lot of inspiration from !

Yeah i can definitely say it's a massive part of me growing up with bands like "Death" and "cannibal corpse" and discovering Slam/brutal death in my teen years and have always wanted to do it myself !

4. Congrats on your debut EP “Mounds Of Scum". What effect has this release’s reception on you? How do you fell about it?

Thanks heaps bro that means a lot !

With this release, we have gained a decent following local and internationally! Also ive learned alot from this release,like working with my vocal patterns and the process of putting songs together,I know both me and isaac feel like we have grown from this project too,both being closer friends and also being more confident musicians.

5. You have an heavy and solid sound, can you tell us the typical approach you take when composing a song?

With the guitars,we record the riffs we went to and then go over it again/layer the riffs to give it more punch ! Drums are all programmed and fine-tuned, and with the snare, we used a milo can mixed in with the sample to give it that extra punch !

Vocals I would go through the songs in parts and then record it all in one take!

6. How do you create the new songs? Is it predetermined process, or do you leave substantial space for improvisations?

When creating a new song we start by crating riffs on guitar pro if we don't have anything up our sleeves at the time,then we work on drum programming and bass,then to finish it off I would go over the songs in random vocal patterns for my gutturals/inhales while also adding in my growls and adding lyrics to the vocal patterns.

7. The production on your album is really crushing. What can you tell me about the recording process and what kind of sound you were going for? Are you satisfied with final results?

So the whole process took us 2-3 years as it was hard for us to get time to jam together,but we got there in the end and so happy and proud of us both!

For the sound, we are heavily inspired by bands such as "Waking the Cadaver" and "Guttural Slug" but trying to keep up with the newer bands like "Pellingflesh" and "Embryectomy" which in the end gives us our unique/original sound!

8. When you’re a band on demo level what ways are there to spread the word of the band?

There are plenty of great ways to get your band out there !

Such as sharing links to our music to social pages (Facebook/Instagram) and even direct messages to your friends and family.

Another good one is jumping on promotions that will be seen/heard nationwide(Edu is your man for the job)

9. With so many metal bands coming up these days, how do you manage to keep your material relevant? How challenging is it to come up with newer material?

This can actually be pretty challenging with so many bands out there sounding the same,so to keep it relevant we have mixed a bunch of different genres into our sound (slamming brutal death,Beatdown/Hardcore,Goregrind/Grindcore and death core)

With this, i feel it gives us our own unique style and sound.

We also like to use a lot of audio samples in our songs, which can bring a comedic element or even add to the brutality!

10. What is the thought process when writing new Guttural Obliteration songs? 

Firstly, we start off by choosing a theme and title of the song/songs,for example lyrically I would put my self in the situation of the person/being/thing,like what is surrounding me,what's happening and what's going to happen,I like to use out of the ordinary words ro make people look twice(if they even understand me lol)

Also, it can be a fun challenge if I get a word that I can barely pronounce normally, lol

11. How do you define “underground” and where do you see yourself and your band in it?

To me and im sure it is to most I would define "underground" as being music that is outside the mainstream, which can be hard for new bands like us to get recognized but also i look at it as a good thing,yeah all music has its repetitive aspects and copy and paste bull crap but I find underground music is "real music" as it takes so much skill and talent to pull of some of the things we all do and most people look at that as a bad/weird thing saying it's just noise and not appreciating the passion and love we all put into it !

12. Who are your greatest heroes in the field of grind/gore Metal?

So many out great grind/Gore bands out there, but "Napalm death," "pig destroyer," and gutalax are definitely some of my favorites!

13. Do you support your metal scene and where would you like death metal to go in the future? How can you, as a band, help in moving the scene forward?

I sure do we have a pretty sick scene here in Wellington not to mention the rest of New Zealand,we have a great range of genres spread across the country,which are frequently putting on shows and I try tot go to as many as I can !

I feel like death metal is at a great point. Not much or anything should change,with so many amazing sub genres and artists, the future of death metal is in great hands !

As a band, though, don't just promote yourself,promote your favorite local bands,your friends,and local promoters running shoes and what not,show people the support you want and you will sure to get it back!

14. What is the heavy music scene like in Wellington, New Zealand?  What are some other bands from your area that we should be paying attention to?

Like i said in the previous question, the scene here in Wellington is great. It shows just about every weekend at local bars such as "VALHALLA" and "San Fran"

Some sick bands from here you should definitely listen to are:

Marrowspawn, shuriken, Glassblower, Imperial slave and some other bands from around new Zealand include:

Organectomy, parasitic infestation, Utilize the remains and so many more !

15. I want to thank you, sincerely, for your time. Before we end our conversation, is there anything else in particular you’d like to share?

You're most welcome bro,thanks for the opportunity to chat about our work and the scene !

I would like to mention that we have a new member joining us on guitar "Jack Tippet" who is an exceptional artist and writer that we are glad and excited to work with,also massive Shoutout to Isaac Lundy for all his hard work and time he has put into this project,would not be here without him!

Peace Jacob(Jake) vocals for Guttural obliteration ( G.O )

https://gutturaloliteration.bandcamp.com/