Galy Records recording artist, Anonymus plays a style of metal that is hard to pigeonhole. When asked how he would describe his band’s sound, vocalist and bassist Oscar Souto said it is just metal. It is not all thrash, death metal, black metal, hardcore, but a blend of many style of Metal. Combined with a desire to create a catchy, hook-laden, aggressive song, the diversity of “Chapter Chaos Begins” is what makes the album stand apart from bands that only look to their style for inspiration. Vocalist and bassist, Oscar Souto was kind enough to talk to Metal-Mayhem about how to construct a Metal masterpiece and promote it to the masses.
Metal Mayhem: Anonymus may not be a familiar name to many of our readers. Considering this, please give our readers a brief history of your
band.
Oscar Souto: Well, before we started
this band we we’re best friends. I mean we’ve known each other for over 20
years now. We used to play hockey, soccer, video games, whatever…. we we’re
kids getting along pretty well. We were inseparable. Then in high school, we
started listening to heavy music. We were attracted to Def Leppard at first
(the Hysteria tour was my first concert), then Kiss, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue,
and then we discovered Metallica. That really had an impact on all of us. We
wanted to do the same thing. So we decided to start a band without even knowing
how to play an instrument. We were really bad at first, but we thought we we’re
not that bad, so we kept practicing has a band; we never sat down alone and
just practice. We kept getting better and better by doing covers from whomever.
At first, we were doing more rock stuff, easier stuff—Metallica was too
difficult to play. It took us a while to be able to play really thrash metal.
Carlos Araya didn’t have a double bass drum, but I remember when he got one we
learned “South of Heaven” from Slayer, and that really was the style of music
we wanted to play. Then came the
“Justice” songs from Metallica. “Blackened, “...and Justice for all, “One”, “The
Shortest Straw”; we started doing concerts in bars without having the legal age
to go in, but since the beginning we always wrote our own stuff, that was
really important for us. We didn’t want to be just a cover band. We had a lot
of ideas for songs, so we always did like half-half. Doing covers for us was like doing our homework, and when the
first album came out, we we’re only doing our own songs. That’s really what we
wanted: be a band with our own identity. I got to say that the first album is
really inspired by Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer, but I think over
the years, we came up with our own stuff. After the first album and all the
concerts made we already had our own feel. We were more comfortable with our music and it helped us a lot in the
search of our own identity. When we started writing the second album, we knew
we wanted to be more aggressive, and we wanted to have a much more in your face
kind of attitude. We discovered bands like BARF and Sick of it all that really
were more hardcore oriented, and we were amazed by the fury of their music.
From this point, I think, it sounded like Anonymus…. we had found something
unique and personal. And the fact that everybody in the band was bringing ideas
was just a way of mixing things up and pushing our limits as songwriters. Now
there are a lot of young bands out there that are naming Anonymus as a big
influence for them, so I think it means something.
MM: Anonymus has a diverse sound that is very hard to label. If an inquiring head banger asked you what
your band sounds like, what would you tell him/her?
OS: I would say that we are definitely a metal band at large. We are a METAL
band...that’s it!!! That’s all. I don’t think we’re more thrash than metalcore or
whatever. We don’t concentrate on just one aspect of the metal genre. We listen to all kinds of metal; we listen to
everything in fact. We like the classics like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, the
Thrash bands like Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and the new stuff as Lab
of God, In Flames, black metal, death metal, power metal, progressive metal,
hardcore. So yes, we like to mix up all
those different style into Anonymus. That’s maybe the reason why we are so hard
to label. We like it that way; we like to surprise people with different vibes
and styles.
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MM: How do you feel about your new album “Chapter Chaos Begins?” How does this album compare to you previous
efforts? OS: I think that with each album, we are doing something different every time. Yes, it’s got the Anonymus signature but every album is different from each other. The first one “Ni vu, ni connu” is very Metallica inspired. We learned so much with that album. The second one “Stress” has a more hardcore feel. It’s really more in your face. For the third one, “Instinct” (which was produced by Colin Richardson), we just let things out. We did things we had never done before. There are more mid tempo songs, but the overall is still really heavy. “Daemonium” has a more “metal” feel. It’s kind of a mix of our three first albums. We really had the time to work on arrangements for this one and the vocals are really big, we put a lot of harmonies. But before writing an album we don’t compare it with our previous releases. When we have the album finished on our hands you listen to it and then you realize that this new album is very different from the previous ones. And that’s what’s cool |
MM: You recorded the drums at a different place than where you mixed and engineered
the album. The mastering was done on a completely different level, on a whole other continent (Europe, Sweden).
Why did you decide to use so many places for your recording process?
OS: Honestly, it just happened that way. It’s not something we planned like that. I
mean we knew that we were going to record the drums at Victor Studio and that
we were going to do the rest at our producer’s studio. We wanted to have a nice
room for the drums and JF Dagenais told us that this was the place, so why not.
For the mastering we looked on our album collection to find someone that has
made a nice job on recent albums. We stuck on albums of Meshuggah, Dimmu
Borgir, Dark Tranquillity, all done by Peter In de Betou. We just sent him a
mail and that’s it. He was pretty interested and liked the album. So we sent him the tapes and he did it. And
also it’s a fun thing to have our album mastered in Sweden.
MM: Tell me about the writing process. How did Anonymus write “Chapter Chaos Begins?”
Who wrote most of the music/lyrics; was it a group effort?
OS: We write as a band and everybody brings ideas, everybody has something
to say on the arrangements. That’s really important for us; it’s the thing that
elevates the songs. It’s not one man’s view. If there is someone unhappy with
something we change it and change it until everybody is happy. We like
technical stuff but we don’t push it over the limit. We still like to see it as
songs with the simple stuff have intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus.
When it’s too complicated, it doesn’t work for us. People have to remember our
songs after one listen, that’s it. We like the idea of people singing our songs
and remembering a certain part. It’s really important to have hooks. We like to exchange
ideas, to work as a team, and everybody is contributing to the writing process
and that is something that is really opening doors for us. We like to come up
with new songs and work together to make the best songs that we can. It’s still
challenging to write new stuff and to push our limits as songwriters and I
honestly I think we do. We don’t repeat what we’ve done in the past and we try
to do things differently at each album. Most of the
riffs are done by my brother Dan and me but the cool thing about this album is
that even Carlos Araya (drums) came up with pretty amazing riffs for that
album. Carlos has always been very good with arrangements and stuff like that
but for this album he really came up with killer riffs. So yeah everybody is
bringing ideas in the process and it’s very open to everybody.
Lyric-wise, this album is really more personal that
the previous ones. I had a lot of demons to fight and the way I’m working that
out is writing lyrics. You know sometimes I say just read my lyrics if you
wanna know me. But I really have to work hard for the lyrics it doesn’t come
out easily, but I’m very happy with the lyrics from this new album. Well I’m
happy with everything I’ve done; otherwise I don’t use it. It really reflects a part of my life. I’m
not a person who talks about my problems to anybody, I don’t want to bother
anyone, I keep it to myself and it’s not a good thing to do. On the other hand
I like to write about universal problems. I’m not preaching anything just
saying my opinion. If it helps by waking people’s mind we’ll great!
MM: “Chapter Chaos Begins” features so many abrupt tempo and style changes. How did you decide where to place your
transitions? Does the writing process for Anonymus consist of many rewrites to get the give the music its proper flow?
OS: The thing when we write is that we have to keep the listener up and awake to
the music. If it takes a tempo change or a break to keep that, then we’ll do it
but without compromising the flow of the music. It’s all about the song. And
like I said before, everyone is involved in the arrangements so we have all
kinds of opinions that really brings a different version and different ideas.
But yeah we write the songs and by playing them we change a couple of things
along the way. We listen to it back to see if it’s good or not.
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MM: “Chapter Chaos Begins” credits all three band members as vocalists; however, it
is obvious that the bulk of the vocals are done by one member. Who contributes the majority of the vocals?
Is this the same member doing the growls? OS: I do the majority of the vocals. Growls, screams included. Carlos (drummer) does some lead vocals on “I am addicted” and “Technology Kills”. We all do back vocals. I tried different things for this album. I just let myself go and have fun. I don’t like doing vocals in the studio, never liked it. It’s a hard job repeating the same line until it’s perfect. I always was nervous before the recording of the vocals. I’m not the best singer out there, I mean I do the best I can with the voice I have. But this time I said to myself, “let it go man, just be comfortable with your ideas and kick ass.” And it paid big time. I’m not saying that it was an easy job this time, it’s never gonna be, but I had fun this time, trying many different approach. I’m not too much into death metal vocals, I mean when it’s only that, but sometimes it fits the music. I like to sing melodies. I just try to fit the music, sometimes I scream, it depends. I like it when people are able to sing with me, so I try to work on melodies, but it definitely has to be aggressive. |
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MM: “Fonce ou Creve” is sung entirely in French Canadian. What does the song title
mean in English? Why did you choose to sing this track in French?
OS: We sing mostly in English, French, Spanish and Italian. That’s kind of a
trademark for us. The first album was all in French and at that time there was
not many bands that were doing that. So it opened a lot of doors for us. We
started doing the multi-language thing by the second album and found that it
was pretty interesting to sing in Spanish, Italian, French and English. It was
really different for the fans to listen to a Metal song in a different
language. For many people at first it was bizarre, but for us it was just a way of showing to people that it doesn’t
matter what language you’re speaking there is always a way to get the message
through. On the other hand, we all come from different countries. My brother
(Dan-guitars) and I are from Spain and Carlos from Chile. So it was also to
show our different roots. We speak French, English and Spanish so why not sing
it and bring something different. And it’s always fun to see people making
efforts to understand the lyrics. Anonymus fans are very open-minded, so it wasn’t a problem for us, ever.
But it’s definitely something that we will always do.
Fonce ou crève means, mmmm, well the best translation for that would be “Do or die”.
Why this one in French? Well I just say to myself, “well this one is going to be in English or French or Spanish and
that’s it”. I just write the lyrics. We always write the music first and then I
write the lyrics. I always start with the English ones and by the end switch language. It really doesn’t matter to
me.
MM: Anonymus has a large following in Canada. What factors have led to your popularity in your home country?
OS: We wouldn’t be where we are if it wasn’t for the touring that we’ve done that’s
for sure. It’s really important for us to go and visit the fans in their
hometown. That’s what made a name for this band. There are a lot of bands out
there that our practicing like maniacs in their basement but I think they don’t
get the point. Practicing and making an album is very important, but you have
to promote it. And the way we have to do it is by doing concerts. And one thing
that a lot of people like about us is that we are accessible; we don’t act like
fuckin’ rock stars and finish our concerts and go back stage and don’t talk to
anybody. As soon as the concerts are over, we go down there and are friendly
with everyone. And it’s not like an obligation for us, we like to hear what
they have to say, and you know what, after the concert it’s the best thing of
the evening. But yeah it’s really important for us to make has
many concerts that we can. Share our music with new fans. Go to places we’ve
never been.
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MM: Please tell our readers about some of your tours. OS: We toured and toured over and over again in Canada. We have a pretty big fan base. We did two European tours and a third time with L’Académie du Massacre in France. We did concerts in France, Belgium, Swiss, and Italy. We played mostly with Watcha and Out, two French bands. We had a lot of fun. It was nice for us to see different crowds. Again, people were impressed by our performance as we received e-mails from our fans out there. We also toured in Mexico and got to play with Blind Guardian in Mexico City. That was like a dream come true for me; I’m a big Blind Guardian fan, so when we had the opportunity to do it we jumped on it. We did the Milwaukee Metalfest two times. Carlos and I toured with Joey Belladonna in the U.S.A. and Canada about two years ago; we then started writing songs for Joey, but then the reunion tour with Anthrax came, so we got back to the writing of our new album. |
MM: Do you have any tour plans for the U.S. (where I live) or the United Kingdom (where Metal-Mayhem is published)?
OS: Well we’re releasing “Chapter Chaos begins” at the end of February in the
States, so it would be wonderful to get an opportunity to play there and
promote the new album. It’s really difficult for a Canadian band to play there.
You have to get a work permit, and just to go through borders, it’s hell.
But hey, that won’t stop us, that’s for sure. We never did the United Kingdom,
but it would be a totally different crowd for us. We are working on that for
now, but it’s too early for me to talk about it.
MM: Now that Galy Records released “Chapter Chaos Begins” what is the band’s next
step?
OS: We have had a new album out since October 24th, 2006 called
“Chapter Chaos Begins” distributed in Canada by F.A.B. We are also working now
to release the album in the USA, it will be in stores on February 27th. It will be distributed by Lumberjack Mordam
Music Group. We are going again on another Canadian tour for 2007, and continue
to support the album. We just released a new video for the song “Suffer the
Consequences” and hopefully it will get some airplay on Much Music or MTV. So
all this sounds pretty interesting. We are very happy with what’s happening to
us and are ready to put the energy to bring this band to higher heights, that’s
for sure. More tours we will try to hit USA and some parts of Europe.
Darren Cowan
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