"Vestiges Of Tortured Souls" comes as your third full length album. Looking at where Rotten Tomb started in 2016 and where the band stands now, what changed the most in the way you write death metal?
C.: Maybe the main difference since the beginning of the band it’s the speed, at first, we didn’t have any drummer, so our demos were made simple and slow so anyone who join the band could learn and play it. After time and with a more stable line up we begun to speed up a little more the songs and with that making more variations, but the essence has always been to do death metal with slow and fast parts, also melodic and chaotic solos and the lyrics about Death.
Compared to "Visions Of A Dismal Fate" and "The Relief Of Death", this album sounds more focused and developed. Do you see "Vestiges Of Tortured Souls" as a new chapter for Rotten Tomb?
C.: We have read and heard comments about it, but we don’t see a big difference between what we’ve been doing since a couple of years ago, for example we felt that the songs of “Vestiges” could be a perfect fit for “Visions” because we have not changed the ideas and influences. Obviously the sound and production may differ from “The Relief” because the drums were played by Skullfukk of Ancient Crypts and the execution styles aren’t the same as A. Prophaner, so we could make a difference with that record, but anyway we didn’t have a feeling that it’s a big difference neither.
The new album has a stronger balance between rotten heaviness, doom atmosphere, and darker melodies. Was this direction something you aimed for from the beginning, or did it appears naturally while the songs were taking shape?
Deathbringer: Since we started and from our first demos, we knew what direction we wanted as a band, to do a mix between traditional death metal with slow and fast parts, you can listen to “Necropolis” and realize that. And as we’re two people that compose, having different influences at moment of playing made this mix became practically natural.
How were the recording sessions for "Vestiges Of Tortured Souls"? Did the band enter the studio fully prepared, or did the songs change once the sound, atmosphere, and energy started coming alive?
Deathbringer: Since we don’t have that much time to record, because most of the band travels from Iquique for a weekend, we must be fully prepared, with the tracks polished and everyone knowing what must to be done. But, when we’re recording, some extra ideas can come to live and we add something different, maybe a sound, extra growl, some harmonize. But overall, it didn’t change that much from the original idea.
"From the very beginning of the band we decidedthat main lyrics shall be Death, not in the explicit or gore way, but to talk about it and everything that surrounds it. An entity worthy of respect, everlasting, fears and unavoidable."
The album sounds heavy and filthy, with enough space for the riffs and lead guitars to leave a mark. What were you looking for in the production this time?
Deathbringer: Everything related to sound, recording and mix it’s Pablo’s from DM6 Studios work, he’s in charge to look for that deep and defined sound to our records. About composition, we’ve always thought to bring space for everything so each one of us can “shine” of one way or another, without rushing or looking if the track it’s too short or too long, just what it must last.
Instead of relying on cheap, surface-level gore, your lyrical concepts seem to treat death as a monolithic entity worthy of absolute fear and respect. What central themes or hidden occult doctrines are you unearthing across this new record?
C.: From the very beginning of the band we decidedthat main lyrics shall be Death, not in the explicit or gore way, but to talk about it and everything that surrounds it. An entity worthy of respect, everlasting, fears and unavoidable. That is all about in “Vestiges”, death, desperation, catacombs, etc.
Chile has built a strong name in extreme metal, with bands that sound raw, serious, and possessed. How do you see Rotten Tomb inside the Chilean underground today?
Deathbringer: We don’t think we have that much relevance in the scene, there are too many bands that are excellent here, and we share and we’re friends of most of them, but we see ourselves like one more band in the scene.
The album will be released through Nuclear Winter Records on LP, CD, and cassette. In a time where everything is digital and fast, how important is the physical format for a band like Rotten Tomb? How crucial is it to keep this physical, old-school format tradition alive?
Deathbringer: The physical format will always be the best form to listen a band to, you can immerse in a type of “unique experience”, that the other platforms don’t have… is not the same to sit and listen a band, reading the insert and knowing more of the concept of the band, that listen to random music through Spotify or YouTube. But we also acknowledge that most of the people didn’t have time, or money to do this “music ritual” and it’s much more comfortable to use platforms daily; as a band we hope that physical format never dies, but we know that the streaming and digital music has come to stay.
Now that this third monument of torture is ready to be unleashed upon the earth, what are the immediate battle plans for the live front? Are you preparing to take Chile's extreme sonic violence far beyond national borders to lay waste to international stages?
C.: The actual plans have been always trying to play and show our death metal the most we can, locally and outside the country. We would love to play more often but the distance and logistic costs has always been an important factor to bands from the extremes of the country. That said, we hope we can get more deals after the release of the album.
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