What the hell does this interview have to do with March is Metal Month? We’re not entirely sure, to be honest. But it was offered to us as part of that ongoing event, and we wanted to do it! So we hope you enjoy. – Eds.

Deströyer 666 put out one of the best thrash/death/black/whatever you want to call it (how about “balls-to-the-wall riff fests?”) of 2009 with their fourth full-length, Defiance (which made my top twenty albums of 2009 list). The record marked the band’s return after some six years’ absence, as well as a tour of their homeland, Australia. Sure, that might not be a long time for Tool or Metallica, but Deströyer always seemed to fill time between LPs with a slathering of EPs throughout the band’s fifteen-year career arc.

Deströyer 666 were originally formed by guitarist/vocalist K.K. Warslut as more of an outlet for riffs that were thrashier than those he could utilize in Bestial Warslut, his then-main project. Fast forward, though, and it seems Deströyer 666’s priorities have shifted a bit over the years… and so have the members. Literally.

I recently spoke with lead guitarist Ian Shrapnel about all things Deströyer 666. Read our full chat after the jump.

First thing’s first: you’re all Australian, but Warslut is in the Netherlands, Mersus [drums] in Germany, and you and Matt [bass] are in England, now, right?

We are three Australians living in Europe. Our drummer, Mersus, is a German… but is almost an honorary Aussie.

Is there a difference in scenes between the two – Australia and Europe? Is the Deströyer 666 seed better laid in Europe than down under?

There is a difference, but it’s mainly due to the geographic layout of the lands. The scene in Europe is just so much bigger than back home. The cities are closer together, and the amount of people into metal is massive here. The opportunities to perform are pretty much endless. Back home, distance really limits things. Nothing is too far in Europe. An hour flight from London and you could end up in a number of different countries with many, many different cities to play. The actual scene in Australia is a good one, just smaller than over here, but there is something to be said for head bangers who don’t have everything on a plate in front of them. Many people over here are spoiled and lazy and take it for granted for how good things are. Aussie ‘bangers, in some respects, are more diehard, wiling to travel, and willing to spend loads of cash to support metal bands that they like. I think Australian metalheads appreciate bands that make it out there because they are so starved. This is true for the South American scene, also.

You guys just did return to Australia for the first time in a long time, right?

Yeah, we just finished touring there. We hadn’t been there since 2003 so it was great to get back there with the band. We had some great shows, particularly on the East Coast, and some great parties… good drinking sessions with old friends.

How do you guys go about dealing with living so far away from each other? Do you guys e-mail and all that stuff the kids call “cool”nowadays to share riffs, ideas, whatever?

We use a lot of computer programs to record ideas and send them back and forth. It’s amazing what you can do these days. Computer recording technology [keeps] coming up in leaps and bounds, and we use this to get around some of the problems of us all living apart. We meet up quite regularly to rehearse, and also to make sure the live machine keeps rolling forward. Even though we live in different countries, it’ s only an hour on a plane for us to meet up, and there are many budget airlines which make this possible. With a bit of planning we can meet without too much cost.

Let’s cut out the bullshit on a different topic: Defiance was fucking awesome. How do you guys come up with something like that? Is it a conscious effort, or is it more, “Here are a bunch of songs” and then you record it and then it just ends up on year-end lists?

Defiance was a long time in the making. We had gone around in circles for quite some time before the album really started to take shape. We had many songs that didn’t make the album and ended up in the bin… In fact, we could have recorded two or three albums with all the material that didn’t make the grade. The songs were written from ideas that one of us would bring to the table. Myself and Matt [bass, also in Razor of Occam with Shrapnel] wrote pretty much all the music this time round, but the band was very much involved in developing the ideas. We made a conscious effort to make the songs work together as an album so the album as a whole had a good flow and dynamic. This has been the same with all the previous albums we have recorded.

Some people peg you as thrash, some as black metal, some say you fall somewhere in between. Do you guys think you fit more in one genre or the other, or do you just write some songs and let people put you into whatever category they think up?

We are a metal band… that’s it. We have elements of many different genres, because we are fans of different styles of metal. This comes out in what we write. I couldn’t really care if someone wants to pigeonhole us a certain style; it’s irrelevant. What matters is the music.

What did you guys grow up on, though? Celtic Frost, Judas Priest, Scorpions, or what?

Myself, I grew up on many different bands: Slayer, Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Black Flag, Jimi Hendrix, Kreator, Sodom. Loads of different stuff. I was into a lot of punk stuff before I discovered Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All. That album changed a lot of things for me; it gave me the aggression of the punk bands that I liked, but with the musicianship that most of those bands lacked. Metallica and Slayer made me want to pick up the guitar and figure out how the fuck they could create just powerful, dark music. Like many, many other people, those bands opened the door to a world of metal that has had me possessed for most of my life.

What are you guys up to now? Do we have to wait so long this time again for a new record? It’s only been out for like six or eight months, but the last release was in 2003. I guess, what are you guys up to now and what can we expect in the near future?

We have some shows and festivals planned in the near future but the beginnings of the writing process are underway already. We have the skeletons of a few songs that are sounding promising, so hopefully we’ll be able to get some serious writing time and get into the studio at the end of the year.

-BC

Visit Deströyer 666 on MySpace.