Interview with Plagueship, Progressive Death/Groove Metal Band from Leeds, UK

Interview with Plagueship, Progressive Death/Groove Metal Band from Leeds, UK

 Progressive/Extreme Metal Messing with guitars in bedrooms around Leeds est 2012. Heavy as a cruise ship; catchy as the plague. John gave us some information about Plagueship. Check it out.

Tell us about Plagueship?

John: “We're a metal band from Leeds, UK. Musically I'd say we're very groove-oriented death metal band, with influences from thrash, post and prog metal, and dare I say it “Djent”. We just released our first album “Shyrkull”, which you can download completely free from our bandcamp page: https://plagueshipofficial.bandcamp.com/

We were originally just a hobby project really. We started about 3 years ago, releasing our first demo "The Falling Façade" via bandcamp in August 2013. At the time, I'd just left another band, and was little bored of intense gigging, so I needed something casual. I'd go round to my mate's house every week or song, he'd record my songs and put bass and drums to them. We ended up writing so many songs together that we were so proud of, I thought it would be a shame not to form a proper band and jam this stuff live.

We completed our line up last year. I knew most of these guys from other bands I'd gigged along side, in older bands, and the group just seemed to gel together really well.

Now we've got this album out there, hoping to do a bit of gigging to promote it, and get set writing the second one!”

What are lyrical themes of Plagueship?

John: "Shrykull (our album) is loosely themed around revenge and emanipication. The album's lyrics concern how modern life and working, kinda erodes who you are. You spend so long at work, as a slave to money, you forget what you actually wanted from life in first place. You're kinda boxed in? and it really fucks with your mental state. Every goal and dream you had as a kid, is forcably sidelined, because you need the money to eat and pay bills. Our lyrics to 'worms eye view'

"Work, sleep ad-infinitum, We're running in a wheel No way to opt-out I got the raw end of this deal

Burdened with expectation A million lives all the same Our passions extinguished Like damp fingers to a flame"

It talks a lot about capitalism, and how essentially, we have no choice but to work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep, and how hard it is to escape that cycle.

‘A Slave In All But Name’ and ‘Worms Eye View,’ describe life from the bottom of society looking up, how we are stood on by the elites, and our need to fight back.”

I 'borrowed' the title from a video game, If you're familiar with the oddworld games, the Shrykull is mutant god who kills it's masters. I figured it would be pretty apt titlewise."

What are your influences?

John: "Our influences are quite broad I think. Personally I listen to everything from meshuggah to cult of luna, dragged into sunlight to epica Opening the album our the groovy songs, but I think as you go you can hear tech metal, a lot of thrash and post metal”

How were the songs written?

John: "These songs were written pretty slowly. I usually started with a two or three guitars riffs, and built the around it. Making sure there's was a big crescendo, or a sudden twist that the listener is not expecting, something to keep the listener on their toes whilst still making it flow smoothly.

I very conscience of making music that people want to listen to. And one of my biggest bug bares with modern metal is it can be very formula, song nearly always go where you expect them to. I think a lot of metal, that's very stereotypical of it's genre can become quite uninteresting and predictable. I really wanted to avoid that. I didn't really want to conform to any genre, it was more just a case of “Oh that riff fits in nicely, and sounds massive,” It didn't matter if it was a big melodeath riff, or a djent-esque rhythmic chug pattern.”

How did the recording process go?

John: "Very slowly! Haha. It took us about 3 years from recording the first song to releasing the album. We were pretty busy people at the start, and didn't have much time to commit to it.

When we started we had no idea what we were doing, it was very haphazard, a lot of trial and error. I'd spend a few hours at home, refining the songs, tabbing them, and then we'd track them straight into the computer, using a the DAW software “Presonus Studio One”, reamp it. Eventually consulted a friend of mine Sam, a sound engineer to finish the job.”

What are your future plans?

John: “Sorting out physical copies of the album right now, and organising gigs to support the album. We're just finding our feet as a band really.”

Are there any countries you’re interested in touring or performing in? Why?

John: “I'd love to tour all round Europe personally. Visit all the places all our favourite bands came from. Poland, Sweden, Germany.”

What bands would you like to play alongside?

John: “Gojira! haha. Honestly, I'd love to play alongside our heros. Bands like Carcass, Sylosis, Scar Symmetry, Decapitated, and Revocation”

Any last words?

John: “Our album is free! Download it! You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll change your life. “ https://plagueshipofficial.bandcamp.com/”

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