We’re just a week away from the release of Dååth’s new, self-titled album (pre-order it here!), and so we’re nearing the end of this almost two-month long look into the making of the record. I’m honestly kinda sad about that.

Today’s penultimate interview is with guitarist Emil Werstler. There was some web-nerd rage back in August when Dååth co-producer/co-engineer/mixer Mark Lewis called Werstler “the best guitar player in metal,” and while I tend to agree with Werstler’s band mate, one Mr. Eyal Levi, that the word “best” is basically impossible to define, I do think there’s a strong argument to be made that Lewis’ assessment is correct. During my brief time in the studio watching Werstler record, I saw him pull off ridiculously sick move after ridiculously sick move — I mean, the guy plays some really, really mind-blowing shit on this album. And little wonder he’s so good: Werstler professes himself to be a “learning addict” and is a tireless perfectionist. I watched him get so wrapped up in his work that he quite literally forgot to take breaks or make sure he was taking care of some of his basic human necessities, like eating.

After the jump, get Werstler’s thoughts on the recording of Dååth, how the band has evolved, his ongoing creative relationship with Eyal Levi, why he enjoys teaching guitar lessons when he’s not busy with the group, and more.

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Because there is. It’s also called Daath. And we love it. And we’re very excited for you to hear it. And we know that some of you think we’re biased because we’re friends with Eyal, and all we can say is, you’re right. We would never actually be friends with a talented person who is a member of a good band, only a hack whose album we can promote because we don’t really believe in it. Eyal was actually, like, our eighth choice of guest columnists, after members of Attack Attack!, The Devil Wears Prada, Oceano, Bring Me the Horizon, and this band, amongst others, turned us down.

SO. While two tracks have already been released — “Destruction/Restoration” debuted right here at MetalSucks, and “Indestructible Overdose” is streaming on the band’s MySpace page — now you’ve got a chance to hear a third: “N.A.T.G.O.D.” has just debuted over at Metal Injection. Go here to listen.

And now that you’ve heard approximately 23% of the album and you’ve come to realize that we’re not just biased and this album really does rule and you’re so excited to hear the rest of it that the October 25 release date can’t come soon enough, go here to pre-order the thing.

And while you’re jonesin’ to hear the remainder of the record… Skulls N’ Bones have now completed their series of in-studio videos chronicling the creation of Daath, and I’ve collected them all right here for you, ’cause these are really fun and I’m a nice guy like that. Here’s the one centering on Eyal…

And here’s the one about drummer Kevin Talley…

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Eric Guenther may end up being the unsung hero of Dååth’s forthcoming, self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here). He’s not even technically a member of the band; his main gig is being the guitarist/vocalist for From Exile (read my love letter to that band here). But as he did for Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms earlier this year, he has made some truly invaluable contributions to Dååth. His synths aren’t of the “Dead on the Dance Floor” variety; they’re far more subtle, adding layers of sound and atmosphere that up the record’s epicness quotient, increase its replay value (I guarantee you, you’re not gonna pick up on everything Guenther is doing the first time you hear the album), and increase the music’s insistence that it be listened to with a good pair of earphones. Praise for Guenther’s augmentations may get lost amidst all the insanity that the rest of the band brings to the table, but without his presence, Dååth would be a completely different record.

I sat down with Guenther this past June, when I was in Atlanta visiting Dååth in the studio. He’s an incredibly smart guy (read the guest blog he wrote for us this past April here), and I think his approach to his particular job on the album was just right. Check out the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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I’m sitting here editing an interview with Eric Guenther, which we’re gonna run tomorrow afternoon. Guenther plays synths on the new Daath album, and did the same on Levi/Werstler’s Avalanche of Worms earlier this year, but his main gig is as guitarist and vocalist for Atlanta’s From Exile. And even though I’ve had From Exile’s self-released Monolith forever, and even though I love and listen to it constantly, I’ve never gotten around to writing about it. It doesn’t say anything about the music; it’s just one of those things.

But I’m gonna write about From Exile now, damn it. ‘Cause this is a damn fine band, and you should all be listening to them.

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Whether you realize it or not, you probably own an album that Mark Lewis has worked on. He started working with Jason Suecof at the already-legendary Audiohammer Studios for 2005′s Roadrunner United collection; since then, either working with Suecof or on his own, he has produced, engineered, and/or mixed a ridiculous number of major metal releases, including albums by Death Angel, Chimaira, The Black Dahlia Murder, DevilDriver, Trivium, Six Feet Under, Whitechapel, Demon Hunter, Charred Walls of the Damned, The Autumn Offering, and more. Hell, just last week we debuted a Holy Grail track, and didn’t even realize that Mark mixed the song until after the fact!

Mark is obviously ridiculously good at what he does, but he also happens to be a super cool dude — which is probably why artists are so ready to work him over and over again. In fact, Daath’s self-titled album, which Century Media will release on October 25 (pre-order it here), is his second time working with guitarists Emil Werstler and Eyal Levi (who co-produced and co-engineered the album with Lewis) just this year — he was also on-board for their excellent Avalanche of Worms album (and wrote a great guest blog for MetalSucks upon that album’s release).

When I was in Atlanta for a few days this past June visiting Daath in the studio (read my report here), I managed to pull Mark away from his console for a little while to pick his brain on the creation of this ridiculously good album. Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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Eyal Levi’s studio resides in the basement of his family’s home in suburban Atlanta. It’s a small room that couldn’t comfortably hold more than five, maybe six people; if your only mental image of a band making a record comes from A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, it might be a little off-putting. You’re perpetually aware that you’re actually in the middle of someone’s house; various non-local metal denizens (including this blogger) populate the guest beds and couches, while members of Daath who live within driving distance but aren’t necessarily needed at the moment come and go as they please to share meals, jokes, vape rips, and the work-in-progress. It’s only when you really look around and soak in the details of your surroundings — the box full of copies of Daath’s self-released debut, Futility; the Misery Index vinyls; the post-it note by the door that makes reference to an incident involving Arsis’ James Malone, the house security system, and the local police department — that you realize: Oh, yeah. I’ve got albums on my iPod that were recorded in this room!

Daath have returned here to make their new, self-titled album after recording 2008′s The Concealers at producer Jason Suecof’s Audio Hammer Studios in Florida. The relaxed and homey environment was chosen deliberately for this outing. The name of the game this time is “creative freedom,” and the atmosphere at Eyaland (the studio doesn’t have an official name) definitely seems to breed open thinking — which is key, given that the group has only written and demoed skeletal versions of the songs, with the flourishes that, frankly, make Daath Daath still-to-be-added.

The decision to work this way came about because the band has felt, in the past, as though sometimes their preproduction demos “would sound better than the records we released,” Eyal explains. ”Lots of times we’d feel we were making better-sounding-but-more-stale-versions of what we did [on the demos], because lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place… This time we didn’t allow that. We got the songs to the point where we’re comfortable hitting ‘record,’ and we’re taking them to the next level in the studio.”

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Well, we’ve been talking about it for some time, but now you get to hear some of Daath‘s new, self-titled album and make up your mind for yourself — we’re giving away “Destruction/Restoration,” the second cut off the record, as a FREE download.

It should go without saying that we love this song. It sounds like Daath have been let off the leash: Emil Werstler is playing insane shit which should make guitar geeks everywhere cream their pants, Kevin Talley is going absolutely nuts and playing anything but what’s expected, the production, by Mark Lewis and Eyal Levi, is filthy, and the music is darker than Vince Neil’s liver and more misanthropic than Glenn Danzig at a doctor’s office. “Destruction/Restoration” is only about two-and-a-half minutes long, but you’ll never be able to appreciate it after just one listen; it’s just too layered and crazy for that. So download this one on us, get a good pair of headphones, and blow your ear drums to smithereens.

Daath comes out October 25 on Century.

DAATH – “DESTRUCTION/RESTORATION”

Daath – “Destruction/Restoration”

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I think bassist Jeremy Creamer may be the biggest question mark for most Daath fans; he’s not front n’ center like vocalist Sean Z., and unlike guitarists Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler and drummer Kevin Talley, his work outside of Daath is not, at least currently, that well-known by the metal community (very likely because his work outside of Daath is often not metal music). But he’s an insanely cool dude and an insanely talented dude, and… I’m not gonna tell you more ’cause I’m gonna run an interview with him as part of the massive behind-the-scenes series I’m working on. So for the time being, just watch the below video that Skulls N’ Bones posted of him laying down bass for Daath’s new, self-titled album, which comes out October 26 on Century.

Daath has also released the track list for the album. Even with a band I love (like this one!), I don’t usually find track lists all that interesting, ‘case song titles don’t actually tell you much, but this being Daath n’ all, I’m gonna run it anyway. Check it out after the jump.

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Its 4:21 am on June 14th, 2010. We’re exactly one week into the drum sessions for the new DÅÅTH record. I’m sitting in a makeshift control room that was constructed for us at the Atlanta Institute of Music. After a very insane start, we’ve hit a great workflow.

Let me explain what I mean by “insane.” One of our stated goals for this record is to make it real. What I mean by “real” is that what you will hear is what we played. No smoke and mirrors, no trickery, no using the studio as a crutch. In the older days, when albums actually sold and recording budgets were high, albums would take months and months to create. Of course, the technology that is available to us today was not around back then, so things that now can be done in an hour would take a day or more. Like editing drums, for instance. It’s much easier to edit drums on a computer with a monitor than on tape that you have to cut together. For a good example of what I’m talking about ,check out that scene in A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica where they’re talking about editing together the drum fills. While the editing capabilities have gotten better, lots of people have taken these new tools to the level of completely manufacturing what in the 90’s and earlier would be performed. Why do you think bands these days sound so damn tight on record? Its not that they’re actually tighter. It’s that they’re edited better. Bands, for the most part, were actually tighter in the analog days, because they HAD to perform their parts. They couldn’t rely on the editing skills of the engineer to fix their shortcomings.

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If you’re like me and you love watching great guitarists play because you yourself are a terrible guitarist but you just love the grace it takes to be a good guitarist, than you will enjoy this clip of Emil Werstler playing some of “Dura Mater.” The song is the first taste of Avalanche of Worms, the debut solo/side/not-really-sure-what-to-call-it project from Daath’s guitarists (with Cynic’s Sean Reinert on drums!):

If for some reason you still haven’t listened to the complete stream of “Dura Mater,” well, you’re depriving yourself of awesomeness, and you should go listen to it now.

Avalanche of Worms comes out 4/20 on Magna Carta. And while we’re on the topic, you should also head over to Noisecreep for a pretty cool interview with Emil and Eyal – they talk about Avalanche and also explain a little bit more why Kevin Talley (who I can assure you is still very much the drummer for Daath) sat out a chunk of the band’s 2009 tour.

-AR

If you loved Daath’s The Concealers as much as we did – and both Vince and myself included the album fairly highly on our 2009 year-end lists – than you’ll be as excited as we are to learn that there’s a buttload of activity going on in the Daath camp right now. For one thing, guitarist/MetalSucks columnist Eyal Levi and guitarist Emil Werstler have completed a solo/side album with Cynic’s Sean Reinert playing drums, and while we haven’t heard that record yet, we know people who have, and those people have good taste, and they assure it’s awesome. As though there were any doubt that it would be.

If that wasn’t enough, Daath have no apparently begun the songwriting process for their next release. I’m so stoked to see where Daath go from here, I can’t even tell you – The Concealers was a major evolutionary leap forward from the band’s first album, The Hinderers, and I’d wager we’re gonna get something pretty different once again. In fact, the band has said as much.

But why take my word for it? Here’s a lengthy statement from the band giving you the skinny on all their various goings-on:

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We’ve all fucked up. Some worse than others, but we have all fucked up. And if you haven’t fucked up, it’s because you haven’t had the chance. It’s hard to fuck up if all you ever do is go back and forth between this website and World Of Warcraft. Unless you fucked up at that. But that doesn’t count because it’s not real life.

I’m talking about real life. We’ve all fucked up. And most of us have gotten away with some shit we shouldn’t have gotten away with. GUILTY. I have done so many idiotic things that sometimes I wonder why I’m not dead or have a record (Criminal, not musical.). I could write a leaflet entitled, “The Joys of Driving Drunk,” but I won’t. I’m just gonna tell you guys here about some stupid shit I’ve done. I learned my lesson. You guys shouldn’t do this, but those of you who will aren’t gonna listen to me anyways so whatever… have fun!

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So I’m sure you’re all aware of this major lineup change for Dimmu Borgir. I’ve been a fan of that band since ’98, and I’ve liked every single one of their records except For All Tid. My favorite lineup of theirs was the Puritanical and Deathcult lineup. For me as a fan, the music those dudes made together is what really sealed the deal for me with that band. I still enjoyed some later stuff, but for me those two records are where it’s at.

I’m sure they’ll find some amazing people and continue to put out great records, but the band that I became a fan of is now altered. And that got me thinking. How many times has this happened, and when does it really matter?

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Jeez Louise, has it been two weeks since the awesome Daath/Goatwhore show we checked out already? Wow. Time goes so fast. One day soon I’ll wake up dead. Deep.

ANYWAY, Metal Injection‘s Rob Pasbani (on-camera) and Frank Godla (manning the camera) were on-hand at said gig to interview 4/5ths of Daath (drummer Kevin Talley sat this tour out), and in typical MI fashion, they did so while everyone was completely fucked up. Which is probably why the interview is entertaining.

And we’ll have a brand new “Jumping Darkness Parade” from Daath guitarist Eyal Levi later today!

-AR

So in metal it seems like one of the highest honors your band can get is to score some high rankings on the brutalometer. If you hear “THAT WAS FUCKNG BRUTAL MAN” and the dude is covered in sweat and looking at you like you have led him through war victoriously, you have won him over via metal.

It’s really amazing to me that music can be described as brutal. What an emotion to try and communicate. I can’t think of anything more cathartic than playing a brutal show where the band and audience are 100% on their game (It’s a two-way street, dudes.). But the other part of the brutal coin isn’t as much fun or psychologically rewarding. I wonder before every tour about which injuries I’m going to come home with. What new permanent marks will I have to add to the collection?

Well this past time it was a whole amazing array of bruises all over my body and random cuts on my hands and wrists and last but not least, a broken rib. Yes, a broken rib.

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The first time we spoke to Dååth guitarist Eyal Levi, it was purely about being a Jew. That’s all well and good, but now that Dååth are about to release an excellent new album, The Concealers (out April 21 on Century/Roadrunner), it seemed like a mighty good time to actually speak to the dude about, y’know, music n’ shit.

In addition to being a ridiculously talented musician, songwriter, and producer, Levi is also just one of those people you meet who is all-around good dude. After the jump, get Eyal’s thoughts on the band’s new album, the media and metal scene’s perceptions of Dååth, why ATL purp is tops, and more.

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While in the studio recording their new album, The Concealers, the members of Daath decided to record a medley of classic death metal songs by Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel and Dying Fetus (see behind-the-scenes video above). Charmingly dubbed “Fecal Finger,” the track won’t actually appear on the band’s new album, so they decided to let us pass it on to you… for free!

Daath drummer Kevin Talley explained the genesis of the track to us via e-mail:

“Fecal Finger”… a beautiful name for a beautiful piece of music. One day we jammed some death metal songs and we jokingly said we should play them at a show… so we did. We chose the DYING FETUS song because I wrote and recorded it with them and many people never saw me play it live. Matt DeVries [Chimaira] and I used to jam that MORBID ANGEL riff a couple years ago so we brought that in since it is crushingly brutal. And you can’t jam a jam without Jim Carrey’s favorite death metal band CANNIBAL CORPSE. We recorded this freakin shit because kids these days need to recognize who influenced the newer bands they listen to. After hearing the originals for so many years, it’s weird hearing these songs with a newer style recording. But Sean Z’s vocals are fucking sick and Jonny Davy’s (Job for a Cowboy) guest vocals on the MORBID ANGEL part are amazing. This recording is finally growing on me and it’s actually my favorite thing to listen to right now.

-Kevin Talley

And so, without further adieu…

Daath, “Fecal Finger”

The Concealers will hit stores sometime in early 2009.

-MetalSucks

Daath have unleashed a new song, “Sharpen the Blades,” which will appear on their sophomore album, The Concealers, sometime in ’09. What immediately struck me about the track is how it’s much more in line with traditionalist death metal than most of the material from the band’s last album, The Hinderers, which was more in line with modern American melodic death metal trends (see: DevilDriver, etc.). But it also seems like a more complex, intricate piece of work than anything I’ve heard the band do in the past.

Also worth mentioning: drummer Kevin Talley is still the fucking man. He can play as fast as anyone but his parts tend to be somewhat more creative (e.g., not metal by numbers) than most of his peers, which is why he’s so much damn fun to listen to.

Check out “Sharpen the Blades” below and weigh in in our comments section.

-AR

I mean, really. The above headline is so unfair. Lots of perfectly respectable metal musicians give lessons when they’re not touring ’cause it’s a good way to make some extra money.

Of course, those musicians tend to be talented, hard working, blue collar dudes in real metal bands. And, also, y’know, musicians.

And none of those words describe John Otto, the Limp Bizkit* skinsman/resident hobbit who is now offering drum lessons for $150-$200 a pop (depending on if you want a little alone time with him or don’t mind sharing him with someone else who thought that “Rollin’” was a good song). Having never taken a drum lesson, I have no idea if that’s a fair price or not, but if I were gonna take a drum lesson and it was gonna cost me $200, I would probably want it to be with Dave Lombardo or Gene Hoglan or Paul Bostaph or Kevin Talley or Jiminy fuckin’ Cricket, or at least, like, David Silvera.

Anyways, you can get more info here. Please book something soon and help Mr. Otto get his Ferrari out of the shop – Fred and Wes tell him the LB reunion is still at least a year off and he really, really needs that car to get laid.

-AR

*Frodo – uh, that is, Otto – is apparently also in a band called The Killer and the Star, but I think even fewer people have heard of them than have heard of Black Light Burns.