At Vilnius in Lithuania, the Night Slaher quatuor, Laurynas Karka (vocals), Juozapas Bočkus (guitar), Tomas Ivanovas (bass) and Dmitrijus Matvejevas (drums), is thrashing mad on his instruments to produce a wide range of heavy black speed metal. Their first self-titled album is an outstanding achievement of ferocity. Out on Bandcamp, the eight tracks are varied enough to avoid boredom. The singer of the band kindly answered our questions. Interview.
Can you tell us more about Night Slasher, introduce the members... ? Is it musically far away from your former band Alcotopia ?
Laurynas Karka : We're a black speed metal band spawned from the smolders of Vilnius back in 2014 under the name "Alcotopia". After our first release, our creative direction started morphing into something a lot darker and intense, completely out-growing our old alco-thrash image. That's when we decided to torch everything and emerge from the ashes as "Night Slasher". Heavier, faster and a lot nastier. And as for the members we haven't done any lineup changes since 2016, so we're still the same people as Alcotopia.
How was the recording of your first album available on Bandcamp ?
We've recorded everything except the drums ourselves, because we really wanted a very specific, unique and, most importantly, nasty sound, to fit our style of music. The whole album had been recorded with real drums in a large hall with plenty of room mics, without sample replacement or even enforcement. Real guitar and bass amps, no autotune or copy and pasted parts, etc. All noises on the album had been recorded from scratch with our instruments, even the synth parts were made with a bass pedal. Besides that we tried to use the most non-standard equipment that we could get our hands on. After the production was done we ended up having label issues, so we self-released a limited edition jewelcase CD-R, but we're working on getting the album released in more different physical formats.
Can you tell us more about the musical direction, the lyrics, the artwork ?
When we get asked to describe the album in words, we usually tell this : from slow ominous melodies to ferocious thrashing to majestic black metal chaos and face melting solos. With a unique voice that conjures mind corrupting melodies while still engulfed in soul tearing grit and growl singing Lyrics that guide you through dark spiritual journeys fueled by visions of the absurd nightmares of our reality and total demonic self annihilation. Clad in apocalyptic leather with buzz saw altars over the stage and without ever compromising the raw metal sound that is and will always be the core of Night Slasher's music. As for the artwork, we got Špy to do it, since he did an amazing job with Alcotopia's album "It Hits The Spot". We played him the new songs, explained the darker vision of the next album, and he captured the spirit of Night Slasher perfectly on the album art that he made.
What wave of thrash metal/Heavy Metal are you closest to ?
We didn't really aim to fit in to any movement, when we were writing the music, but now that the album is done, it turned out to be a black speed metal record at it's core. So some examples would be Midnight, Butcher (from Belgium), Nifelheim, Bewitcher, Witchtrap and similar bands which all have been a huge inspiration for us.
How is the metal scene in Vilnius right now ?
The metal scene here is is full of gems if you look close enough. Even though our geographical location places us relatively far away from the main hot beds of metal, there are plenty of bands to listen to here, a few examples being Regressive, Hellhokah, Twisted Possessor and Pekla.
Does the current geo-political situation influence your state of mind ?
Of course the Russian invasion of Ukraine is mentally affecting almost everyone in Lithuania, since there are strong signs that the Baltics are next, but it won't happen as long as everyone does what they can to help Ukraine win.
Night Slasher, Night Slasher (Bandcamp)
Out on the 6th of February
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