Hymns From The Apocrypha, the latest album from NY death metal masters SUFFOCATION is another masterpiece of technical brutality that the band have always been masters of and is another triumphant and vital addition to the band’s catalogue. We caught up with bass player Derek Boyer to hear all about how Hymns From The Apocrypha has been received and his time in SUFFOCATION to date.
We begin this chat with Derek by going straight into how Hymns From The Apocrypha has been received so far, now that it has been out for a couple of months and fans of SUFFOCATION have had the chance to dive into the record. “Yeah, so far really well. This time, we produced it ourselves, and there were a lot of moments that were like ‘oh, man, this was great’. It’s always tricky to take certain attributes into your own hands, like producing a record, so it worked out.”
The sick production on Hymns From The Apocrypha was done by Christian Donaldson alongside Derek and guitarist Terrance Hobbs and Derek gave us an insight into this process. “It was new for Terrance, not new for me. I did the live album with Christian Donaldson, he and I had worked to produce the live album. I knew that he was a dream to work with, a total professional and he has all the really high end gear because a lot of guys have a vision or a an ear for it, but maybe they don’t have the facility, Donaldson has both.”
Hymns From The Apocrypha is the first time that vocalist Ricky Myers has sung on a SUFFOCATION album and Derek, who was previously in death metallers DISGORGE with Ricky, is very pleased to be reunited with the vocalist and is very happy with his performance on this new album. “Yeah, he’s a beast! He’s real serious about his death metal. When it comes to the music, he’s always been very serious, very dedicated, very committed, so working with him was a dream.”
In a way for saluting the past while looking to the future, original Suffocation vocalist Frank Mullen actually appears on Hymns From The Apocrypha on the albums closing track Ignorant Deprivation, which is a re-recording of the closing song from Suffocations 1993 album Breeding The Spawn but Myers made such an impression that this may have gone unnoticed as Derek explains. “Luckily for us, most people, didn’t even know Frank was on it. They were like, Yeah, Ricky was great across the whole thing! As far as the transition, it’s always going to be tough. but everybody’s accepting Ricky and he sounds great on the record, sounds great live. We’re doing what we’re supposed to do”.
Alongside the heaviness that is constantly prevalent in SUFFOCATION‘s music, there is more melody involved on the songs on Hymns From The Apocrypha and Derek tells us why their music is constantly evolving while still remaining utterly brutal. “SUFFOCATION will always be facing in one direction. As far as, we’re not going to just add clean vocals or a piano or something like that! It’s gonna be really brutal death metal, but I think while staying in the same direction, you have to branch a little bit out. I’m not saying do a left turn, but experiment with other things that fit within the realm of it and the melodic stuff is primarily Terrance. The melodies have always been there with Terrance, he was able to take something brutal, and add something beautiful.”
Going back to Hymns From The Apocrypha, Derek then tells us all about the stunning artwork for the album which was done by Giannis Nakos. “Giannis is a beast. We’ve used him in the past for some shirt designs, and every time we’ve worked with him, he gave us fantastic products. Giannis is really about the passion. It’s perfect, classic SUFFOCATION style and we love it.”
With live dates coming up all throughout the summer, and having witnessed the power of SUFFOCATION live earlier this year, it is immediately evident just how constantly devastating they are as a live band, and Derek explains how. “You know what, we’re very fortunate. We don’t really have bad shows. Even when quiet on a Wednesday night or whatever, we still get the energy, we still have a good show. It never like ‘oh, man, that show sucked’. We don’t really get that. We’re just fortunate to be able to go everywhere.”
Talk then turns to the incredible sounding and looking bass guitars that Derek uses with SUFFOCATION, both onstage and in the studio, and he gives an insight into where he gets them from. “Those things are a trip. There’s a guy in Germany that makes them for me, the company is called Devil’s Choice, and they’re really unique. This latest one that I’m playing is The Kreature! It’s something I designed in my phone. I just took my finger and drew it on my phone and said ‘can you make this?’ The guy is like ‘yeah, I can do that’, so he literally made me the instrument that I designed in my head. He’s a beast, the quality is amazing. He gets the electronics from the custom guy who gets the hardware made and it’s really unique.”
Derek has now been a member of SUFFOCATION for twenty years now and we round off this great chat with him with some inspiring words about the highlights of his time with the band so far. “To be honest, the whole thing. It has just been awesome. You work hard and good things come. I’m just very fortunate to have done as much as we’ve done since I’ve been with the band. If you just said to me twenty years ago, you will have done this many shows all over the entire world. I’d have been like, yeah right in my dreams! Ultimately, I’m very, very happy and very fortunate fortunate. The harder you work, the luckier you are, so if you’ve got a passion, stick with it. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t do it.”
Hymns From The Apocrypha is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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