Biomechanical – In Full Technic
Biomechanical are currently one of the most talked about metal bands around. Their second album, "The Empires Of The World", combines the technical prowess of modern metal giants such as Fear Factory with Old-school melodic bands such as Judas Priest, while infusing it with massive, movie-soundtrack arrangements.
John K., the band's vocalist, has been described as the love-child of Phil Anselmo and Rob Halford (the original description was somewhat cruder…) because of his use of both growled screams and high pitched melodic vocals, and he was kind enough to give us the low-down on the band and the new album.
I understand the new album is the number one downloaded album at metaltracks, what can you tell us about that?
Well I have to say we were all very surprised when we found that out. Off course you want your album to do really well but I personally work hard and concentrate on the music until the issue of sales arrives. To find out that we are the best selling band on the MT was great news!
Did you except such an overwhelming response to the new album?
As I said the best thing you can do is to work hard. In our case the album has been a very long journey from the point of view that the writing started around about when Eight Moons was released (Debut album). So the completion of the writing didn’t happen for a long time due to promotional work on Eight Moons. Meanwhile we were looking for a new deal and as any band member knows it’s a total mind field trying to get signed. We looked around for a long time and after a few offers we decided to start recording the album with or without a deal. So we used my studio and when the recordings were done we released a four track demo for labels only titled ’Existenz’. So after about a year and a half of hard work we got a deal through Elitist / Earache records. The journey ended in the best possible way when Andy Sneap mixed and Mastered it. So this amazing response from the press (nine 10/10s and a lot of 9/10s and 8/10s) and the great support from peopl! e can only make us feel that all the hard work was worth wile! We honestly didn’t expect this kind of support both from the fans and the press.
What is the meaning of the album's title?
‘The Empires’ is a manifestation of all evil and the inspiration comes from the fact that nearly every nation on this planet has created an Empire at some point in the human history or craved for grater power.
What do the album's lyrics speak of?
This album is dealing with the fact that we Humans as a race are driven by our genetic code (the same as any other animal on the planet). The code commands us to hate the different human races and to expand our own code to deferent territories with a near cannibalistic manner. This results in all the pain and misery war and genocides cause.
It’s nature’s way but we supposed to be a higher species and see through this reality but obviously we are not. We are just another species of animals with modern appliances around us. Our spirits are still in an embryonic status interconnected with our technology that has now become inseparable to us (this also is the inspiration for the cover) The crude reality is meanwhile masked with our way of life that turns our heads from what can be the solution to all this. All this is portrayed in the album through a Sci-fi type of story (in the vain of The Matrix or Blade Runner) that runs through Eight Moons and ’The Empires of the Worlds’.
I saw on your web-site that one of your favourite metal albums is Operation Mindcrime, one of my all-time favourites as well, do you intend to do a concept album in that vein as well?
As I said on the previous question Biomechanical started with a concept album (Eight Moons) and the story carries on to The Empires of the Worlds and will end with our third album titled Cannibalised.
Glad to see you like this album too! It was weird with this one. When it came out I wasn’t all that blown away but as the time went on I realised that OM was in fact a classic album!! There isn’t one weak song on that record. I find it hard to take this album from the top of my list. I haven’t come across a metal album that I can press play and hear the whole thing till the end non-stop!
You seem to deal with SF related subjects and imagery, what writers of films influenced your lyrics?
I am a huge Sci-Fi fan and it was the logical thing for me to create a story and imagery that revolved around this style. I love Star Wars (old and new) but the story has its own feel closer to Blade Runner maybe or The Matrix for the twin realities. The future is old and used, nearly run down and not brand new and out of the box if you know what I mean. So as I said in terms of feel I would say Blade Runner and The Matrix trilogy.
I've read that HP Lovecraft was an influence on you, are you influenced more by his Ancient Ones mythology, or the more SF stuff, such as the Colour Out Of Space?
I just loved his utterly dark writing. I’ve never come across anything like it! I love the Ancient Ones mythology and if anything the story on Eight Moons is about twin worlds were you can confront your darkest fears. The imagery there is not far from Lovecraft’s writing. I would also love to explore the stories more in the future , about the Necronomikon book and things like that but it depends on how things go.
I find your music quite difficult to categorize, how would you define it?
Just Metal. I think there is too much pigeonholing going on with the labels so we just do what we do.
What are your main musical influences?
Personally, John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith and Elliot Goldenthal. These are film music composers and film music has been in my life since I can remember. When I discovered metal I immediately thought that the two styles would create a very powerful outcome. This is what I am trying to achieve with Biomechanical. Avoiding the cheesy chordal writing but focusing on actual orchestral arrangements through midi instruments (for the obvious reasons). I hope the outcome is both interesting and exiting.
The album's sound is much superior to the one on Eight Moons, how did you achieve it?
We researched the guitar tone a lot more than Eight Moons but to be honest I love the ambient sound of Eight Moons. It gives it a separate feel from other sounds that are out there. The drums, bass and vocals were done at my studio too. I then took all the elements and went to Andy Sneap’s studio. We recorded the midi instruments there. Also on the sound front a more expensive studio and the contribution of Andy Sneap played a decisive role to the quality of the album.
Can you give us a short summation of the band's bio?
Sure thing, Biomechanical was created as a music project by me in 1999. When Eight Moons was written and a demo was put together I got interest from my then boss Steve Brown (producer of The Cult, Manic Street Preachers Queen and others) who decided to manage Biomechanical. For the recordings of the demo I collaborated with guitarist Steve Forward who helped record not only the demo but the whole album so I could get a good idea how it would sound like.
After Steve Brown started getting more people involved things got a lot more serious and I realised I had to start looking for band members. Jamie Hunt (Guitarist) was introduced to me be Steve Forward. Jamie is heavily into Dream Theater and loved the songs! Great guitarist and a good guy too. After a very long search through the internet I came across Chris Webb (Guitars) Jon Collins (Bass) and Matt C in 2001. All of the guys are very talented and great guys too. It’s fantastic working with them. After the line-up was finalised we took the decision to finalise our first demo ’Distorted’. It wasn’t available to buy but was sent to Record Labels/ Zines/ Sites only. The outcome on the reviews was awesome and carried on to record our debut album Eight Moons.
It did take a while to get signed and it wasn’t until 2003 that Biomechanical released the debut album Eight Moons through the legendary Revolver Records!! The album also got great reviews and this put the band in a position to become more known in the record industry circles. It was then that Lee Barrett came across some of our good reviews and offered us a deal through ’Elitist/Earache’. Biomechanical signed a four album deal last September and has released our second album ’The Empires of the Worlds ’ June 2005 for Europe and August 2005 for US and the rest of the world
Your vocals fluctuate between harsh, deep ones, and high pitched ones that sound very similar to Halford's, I read that metal rules compared you to Phil Anselmo and Rob Halford (they used a more colourful description) how do you achieve such a variety of different vocals?
Yeah it was VERY colourful!! So much so that I fell of my chair with laughter! It was hilarious man. With the vocals I try to implement different approaches to the texture. It’s much more exciting for me as a singer and I think it also gives the band a signature sound. I never rest with my voice and try to improve all the time. I have to say it took a long time to get this to a point where it feels comfortable so that I don’t rip my throat when I sing growly stuff and I have energy to sing the high pitch notes too. As I said it’s an ongoing thing and I always look to improve and find out new things.
What vocalists influenced your singing?
I would say the greats from the 80s. Halford, Dickinson, Tate and growly wise I think Phil is probably the best growler to date.
Why was the final track, Absolution, divided into four parts?
It was meant to be a 3 part track but that thing kept growing beyond my expectations : -) The first part was shifting and changing all the time until I got to the third part but the ending was too relaxed to finish the album. So I used riffs from part three and wrote Disintegration that then became Absolution- Part 4. I felt that it gave the album a great punctuation. It was the hardest track to write but I think it worked out really well.
The UK's metal scene is usually more nu-metal oriented, is there an audience for your kind of metal there, and how do they the mainstream metal press treat the band?
I have to say Nu Metal is not really happening any more. EMO is the new trend but you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find out that true metal festivals such as Bloodstock and more diverse metal festivals such as Download are sold out!! So I think metal is alive and well in the UK. We have had great experiences with the fans here and also the press has been fantastic in supporting the band in the best way they can. Terrorizer gave Biomechanical 9/10 and has features the band big time. Also the band has been featured heavily in Metal Hammer UK, Zero Tolerance and also supported by Kerrang!, Classic Rock and Rock Sound. So it’s doing pretty good over here
You're now doing shows supporting Stampin' Ground, do you have any international touring planned?
Sure thing, we have a new agency on board ‘Factory Music & Agency’ and we are now contemplating going in Europe for live shows. So far we have a date booked for Athens / Greece (23rd October) and also three dates are coming up in Holland at the beginning of December. Check our stuff on our site and our album The Empires of the Worlds!
That's it, thanks for taking the time doing this interview!
Metal on dudes and thanks for the interview!
