Vitriol release their second full-length album, the visceral and intense Suffer and Become, on 26th January 2024. See our review here: https://www.hotelhobbies.com/post/album-review-vitriol-suffer-and-become-century-media-records-2024
Hotel Hobbies was lucky enough to speak with vocalist and guitarist Kyle Rasmussen ahead of the album's release about the band, the album, his lyrics and what excites him in music today.
Hotel Hobbies: Thank you for the chance to talk about the album, the band and your work. Suffer and Become is released on Friday. We have been listening to it for a couple of weeks now. It is clear a huge amount of work went into it. How do you go about beginning such a project, particularly after such a well received debut and the expectation that brings.
Kyle Rasmussen: With a huge amount of trepidation. We wanted to challenge ourselves, not repeat ourselves but wanted to be true to what we believed in. Having a successful debut was great but we knew we couldn't just do the same thing again.
HH: To Bathe From The Throat of Cowardice built on the impact you made with you EP and Suffer and Become seems like another huge step forward. There so many interesting nuances to this new album and they trigger a wide range of emotions. In our review, we wrote, "the band create one of the most disturbing, uneasy openings to an album this side of Hell Awaits." How deliberate was the choice to play with dynamics and mood and how much occurred more naturally during the making of the album."
KR: Wow, that description gave me goosebumps. Thank you for the compliment. We really enjoyed making the debut and were proud of what was on it but with this one we wanted to expand the sound without losing what Vitriol is all about. We wanted more range between the highs and the lows.
HH: There appear to be moments on the album when you deliberately lead the listener down the wrong path and then ambush them into submission. For example, on the opening track, a slower section transforms into a cacophony of intensity and one of the most stunning technical sections on the album. Those moments allowing the music to breathe add even more depth to the darker moments. It seems to be an album of extremes. Certainly more so than the debut.
KR: Absolutely. I think the opening song and the instrumental are the greatest examples of that, especially the transition from the sparkling technical section at the end and as it descends into the fast riffing section. Those are the moments with the starkest contrast on the album. To me they are emblematic of the spirit of the record in its entirety.
HH: It sounds like that was quite a deliberate choice to go down that route and to vary from the first album.
KR: Definitely. It led me to embrace more melody on this album, which surprised me. It is clear to me in retrospect that was me reaching for more dimension - building those peaks a little higher. It is hard to sculpt those feelings of triumph and overcoming when you are just using brutal tools.
HH: By doing that you have not just said the debut was well received so we will do the same. You are showing that there are other depths to our writing. Do you feel as a songwriter you have already evolved since the time of the debut?
KR: Yes. I want every album to have its unique identity. I love plenty of bands that have a more formulaic sound but I knew going into this album that I wanted to throw away all the tools from the previous album, at least consciously. Subconsciously, you can't escape yourself. But consciously you should say, I'm done with that; I'm not going to lean on that at all. Now what? It was very intentional to make something different and hopefully better.
HH: The album hovers on the edge of what is possible from an intensity point of view but you have definitely displayed a willingness to experiment as we have discussed. The Flowers of Sadism, for example, is dense and heavy but there is also an unmistakeable groove there.
KR: For sure. There was an intention of discarding the rules from the last album and you need to reach for new ones. I was looking to create a strong counterpoint between the high highs well remaining musical. So low G sharp grooving sections in Weaponised Loss, The Flowers of Sadism, I Am Every Enemy and a little on Flood of Predation was trying to make something that your not used to hearing in a dark delivery. I want more room for headbanging on this album.
HH: There must be some consideration of what you write might have to be played live. There are some very technical sections but there also seems to be more interplay between the two vocalists on this album. Was that a deliberate consideration?
KR: Absolutely, that's a very accurate observation. Thank you for paying attention that closely. On the first album, it was more I have a verse, you have a verse, I have a chorus, you have a chorus. That can be exhausting live. We noticed the songs where there was more interplay, were easier to perform. Not only easier but the quality was better because we could maintain more power if we did not have to hammer sentence after sentence. You can attack each phrase with everything you've got. It was also more musically interesting.
HH: Being a writer for reviews rather than a YouTuber, I tend to write a lot about the lyrics. I think lyrically, the album is a masterpiece. How deep do you have to delve to write lyrics like that? How much is introspective and how much is outward looking?
KR: It's the most important element of my work for me. A big reason I put so much effort into the music is to bring potency to the lyrics. If you put a lot of effort into the music, people often pay more attention. Vitriol is a vehicle for self-actualisation and self-inquiry. With the first album it was more a collage of perspectives. Third person, outside looking in to digging deep into myself. I got a lot of rewarding feedback about the songs that were more inward looking from fans who saw themselves in the words. That empowered me to go all in, in that direction on this new album. the most rewarding interactions and experiences I had from the first album were the moments of vulnerability with our fans. More often than not men, who have lived a life that does not allow a lot of space for that. I have been able to continue this dialogue with them and open myself up more and be more humble lyrically on this album. This one is more in the spirit of questions, whereas the first one was more in the spirit of answers.
HH: It is an album that makes you challenge things inside yourself.
KR: That's the best thing I could hope for. I want Vitriol to a bit of a black mirror. To be destructive of the things in you that are worthy of destruction. At a cursory glance, Vitriol could look like a hostile ball of reckless destruction. But I want Vitriol to do for others what it does for me and that is to hold me accountable. If you don't have someone in your life who loves you enough to hurt your feelings, you have to be able to hurt your own. People are bad at telling themselves truths they don't want to be true. I want Vitriol to be not only a source of those painful revelations but a companion to say there is value in your suffering. Trying to associate vitality, life and growth with suffering because they are alchemically bonded.
HH: Survival's Careening Inertia is one of the most interesting tracks on the album. It opens with gorgeously desolate guitar and ends up as a brilliant bloody colossus. What were the thoughts behind including an instrumental?
KR: The idea for an instrumental has been a pet project for a while. A few years back, I was possessed by a curiosity as to what a Vitriol instrumental would sound like. That was challenging. I wanted the limitation of no solos or any repeating parts. I wanted it to be linear. When I wrote the titles, I wrote all ten titles before the music was written. When I was trying to decide which track title would be right for the instrumental, Survival's Careening Inertia was just obvious to me. It immediately harmonised with the concept I had - this linear thing. It was almost my attempt at writing a ballet; I was trying to write a narrative musically, while still being able to tell a tangible story. Starting with delicate, perfect innocence and then a little bit of friction percolating. When the heavy riffing comes in, it is almost like someone trying to run for the first time. Then it become more and more erratic and down into hell we careen.
HH: Sonically and production wise the album is a triumph. How much effort, time and planning does it take to mould an album that is so dense yet each instrument is vibrant and sharp, ensuring it achieves the brutality you want without becoming something completely unlistenable?
KR: That's the difficulty. Always trying to find the sweet spot. Making sure that the environment of the album is sufficiently oppressive while being intelligible. That's where finding the right mixing engineer is important.
HH: You had a good one! (Note: Dave Otero mixed the album).
KR: We got very fortunate there. At the beginning, it was really hard. I couldn't figure out who to record us. the guys that did technical death metal was too 'plasticy' in my opinion; I wasn't interested in those sounds. It was a big reason why we went to Taylor Young for the first album. He's not a death metal guy. He does hardcore, mostly. He played drums in Nails and I thought he probably understands pressure. All of our production choices are polarising.
HH: How much thought went into the track listing to balance the heavy, obsidian like nature of some songs, the experimentation and the overall flow of the album?
KR: That was hugely important. We want dynamics and we wanted an album experience. The track listing was the first thing I came up with. Through developing those, I realised it would be a linear story. These all relate to each other. I think on a great album everything elevates every other thing. It kind of started with the first few songs, with no real idea about the energy. As the album progressed, I would identify what elements were missing or we weren't striking the right balance. It wasn't an exact science but we were very mindful about sculpting the emotional flow of the album.
HH: It is an album you need to completely surrender yourself to in order to get the most from it. In our review, I wrote, "listeners will find lyrics to challenge their own demons and music to challenge their own resilience. Whether they remain the same person forty-five minutes later depends on what lurks within their own psyche." How much do you revel in the fact that the music is so challenging but that so many find it so rewarding?
KR: Wow! I love that. It shows that Vitriol is a slap in the face to the belief that people don't want hard earned things anymore or that people don't want to be challenged in an age where I media is becoming more bit size. Vitriol is kind of a protest to that and it's so cool that other people want that. I am surprised and touched that so many people want that.
HH: Talking of inspiring listeners, what were your original influences and what bands today make you think I'm really interested in what they are doing?
KR: The last ten years I've been more of a black metal fan than a death metal fan and that shows in the lyrics. In my youth, death metal was my first love. Bands like Immolation, Suffocation, Hate Eternal and Nile were really big for me as formative bands. Bands that push the boundaries of technicality, while championing the craft of song writing. Trying to distil the all the spiritual or philosophical elements of the sub-genres I was interested in was the pet project. Now as we fast-forward to 2024, the bands that have interested me the most have been black metal bands such as Dødheimsgard and their album from last year. Talk about an album experience! Listening to that thing start to finish. When you see pieces like that, that's why I feel black metal is home to me. Anyone who has a devotional feeling to this music finds their way there.
HH: Black Medium Current! One of my favourites from last year!
HH: Once the album is released your thoughts will turn to touring. What are the chances of your making it over here to the UK and Europe?
KR: Very good. Nothing's set but the hope is we can make it over there before the year is done. If not, definitely 2025. We have been slated to go back several times but that damned COVID really through a wrench in our gears.
Suffer and Become is released on 26th January 2024 on Century Media Records
