On April 12, 2024, the third full album by the American Death Metal band NECROT, titled “Lifeless Birth”, will be released worldwide via the Tankcrimes label. Taking advantage of this we decided to interview them to learn more about them and this new album.
First of all, receive a cordial greeting from the entire METAL WORLD UNITED team and I thank them for granting us this interview.
1. How did the idea of creating a Death Metal band with a clear tendency towards Old School Death Metal arise and why not in another style of metal, be it Thrash, Black or Heavy Metal?
Luca: I have always considered death metal the style that most represents the brutal reality of living in this fuck’s up world. I always liked the riffs more than the atmosphere and Death Metal gives you the possibility of writing interesting music while also including other influences. For example the most aggressive and dark part of thrash metal or the most aggressive part of punk can be found within Death Metal. NECROT is a band that does not try to sound like any specific band and our influences come from many metal styles and not simply Death Metal. When we started the band in 2011 we were listening to a lot of Death Metal from the late 80’s and early 90’s and this influenced us a lot, especially our first demos.
2. How did you meet, because we know that your Bassist/Vocalist, Luca Indrio, is of Italian origin?
Luca: I was born in Italy, but I went to live in the Bay Area in the United States when I was 21 years old back in 2008. We all met in Oakland California where Necrot still operates. My life went through many changes. I lived stably in Oakland for 12 years, but now for 4 years I have been living in Mexico. I still travel to the United States several months a year to go on tour and record with NECROT.
3. It causes a lot of curiosity, where do I include myself, in the name of the band, why did they choose that name?
Luca: It is a mix between Necro and Rot so NECROT. Like the natural process of aging and rotting that we all carry out with great success.
4. NECROT was born in 2011, and already has 2 full-length albums, “Blood Offerings” from 2017 and “Mortal” from 2020, the latter being the one that gave the band the leap. Did you thought at some point that this album would become so well received and classified as one of the best Death Metal albums of 2020?
Luca: It was not so coincidental and rather the result of a lot of work. “Blood Offerings” was received extremely well and qualified in several Billboard categories. We did over 300 shows to promote the album in the following 3 yearsand toured with well-known bands like Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, Suffocation, Exhumed and more. We were on the cover of Decibel Magazine and then when the next album “Mortal” came out there were many expectations and many people bought the album when it came out. It was received super well and ranked as one of the best for that year.
5. From your 2 previous works, what differences do you find in terms of composition, both the themes, the music and lyrics, for this album, how was that process for ‘Lifeless Birth‘?
Luca: It’s a natural progression, in every album there are some little things that you would like to have done differently and with the next album you have the opportunity to fix them. Also the experience of playing so many live concerts makes your band have more and more experience and improve a lot. The biggest difference this time with “Lifeless Birth,” our most recent work, is that I had much more time to write the music and lyrics. In the case of “Mortal”, the composition of the album occurred entirely between one tour and the next, I had to write all the lyrics while traveling in the van and we only had two weeks of rehearsals before entering the studio to record. For “Lifeless Birth” I had a lot more time to write the songs and I also had a lot of inspiration from all the shit that had happened with the pandemic and the way most people showed their ugly side during this period. What affected me most was seeing how easily they managed to turn people against each other. It seemed almost like no one wanted to stop and think for a second that your enemy wasn’t the people around you and that we were all simply forced to deal with an unfortunate situation. We also went through many personal problems, for example our drummer Chad Gailey had to face two back surgeries and almost a year of rehabilitation. I also had to deal with a facial paralysis called Bell’s palsy that blocked me for a few months and serious health problems that hit my father in my country of origin. They were difficult times but they were also great inspiration for the new album “Lifeless Birth” which in my opinion is our best work to date. The good thing about this period for me was meeting and marrying my Mexican wife Claudia and going to live in Latin America, which in all honesty, I really like.
6. As of the date of this interview, February 12, we have been able to listen to the promotional song for their album “Cut the Cord”, which was accompanied by an official video, where we appreciate a band with a lot of strength and brutality with good riffs, while beat of a drum at a devilish speed, why did you select this song as the first promotional song and to make the video?
Luca: Our record label Tankcrimes decides which song will be promoted first. I don’t care because I like all the songs on the album and sooner or later everyone interested will be able to listen to all of them.
7. The covers of your previous albums were made by the artist from the Netherlands, Marald van Haasteren, which leads you to continue working with him for this 3rd album and whose idea or recommendations were given to the artist to create it.?
Luca: Marald is a fantastic artist and the process of working with him is always somewhat long and complicated that does not stop until we are all satisfied with the final result. We always want something brutal and shocking, in the case of “Lifeless Birth” a cover that represents the hell that is this life, where we are living while condemned to certain death. Like a cycle of endless suffering. We understand each other very well with Marald and it is always a pleasure to work with such a talented artist.
8. Speaking of “Lifeless Birth” we know that it was mastered by Brad Boatright, who was in charge of the same in “Blood Offerings“, but he did not participate in “Mortal“, why did you decide to return with Brad?
Luca: We decided to go back with Brad Boatright from Audiosiege because even though there were things we liked about the master of “Mortal” and also the master of “Blood Offerings” at the time we thought it would be easier to communicate and achieve what we had in mind with Brad. I think in the end the decision was mostly because Brad knows well the working style of Greg Wilkinson who recorded our album and so it was easier to prepare a mix made specifically for Brad’s working style.
9. What is the band trying to convey with this new work, and where do you want to go with your music?
Luca: We want to play music that we would like to hear so we can be excited to play our songs live everywhere. We want to convey a message that can perhaps reach all these metalheads who feel that metal is taking the wrong directions. So that they can feel that there are still bands that want to make metal in a direct way, respecting the essence of metal and at the same time without limiting themselves by trying too hard to fit into one style or another. Aggressive music, extreme metal for all the people who love metal and don’t like various shit that you hear these days from bands that think they play metal but it’s not even metal.
10. What plans does the band have in terms of concerts and tours, to promote “Lifeless Birth“.?
Luca: We will be playing over 100 concerts from now until the end of August in the United States, Canada and Europe. We will also be on the lookout for new offers, we would like to come and play in South America, especially now that I live in Latin America I feel especially connected to this part of the world.
11. What have you heard from the Latin American public, do you know some bands from our continent, could you mention some?
Luca: The Latin American public looks very much ready to be crushed by Necrot haha. There are several good bands from Latin America such as Morbid Stench, Masacre, Disgorge, Force of Darkness, Perversor, Invincible Force, Anarkhon and more.
12. Thank you for the interview, can you send a greeting and a few words to your increasing legion of followers in Latin America.
What’s up metalheads, I hope to see you soon because we’ve been wanting to come play there for a long time. Go listen to our new album “Lifeless Birth” so that you can have a beer for each song and a shot for each guitar solo. This is what Dr. Necrot recommends, Haha. Februus thank you for taking the time to write the questions, see You soon, Cheers!
Interview Made By: FEBRUUS FENRAEL
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