Hey Guyom! First of all, congratulations for your full-length! It’s an awesome album.
Hey and thanks for this interview! Well thanks again, this time for your comments about the full length “From Blast To Collapse”; all the feedbacks are excellent so things couldn’t be better for us!
I think Goryptic offer a cool mix of brutality and technique. But what’s the preference when you write a song, the technical parts or the sheer heavy impact?
We love both and cannot choose! As you say, Goryptic is a mix of Brutality and technique so if you take one off, it’s not Goryptic any more. We need both of them when we write a track to be 100% satisfied. We like the fast blasts and the heavy break but we need to add technique and this can different ways: the riffs, the structure or the transitions.
How are the reactions to „From blast to collapse" so far?
The feedbacks are really good actually as well as the reviews. We couldn’t expect more! Thanks to the full length we also got the chance to feature on awesome fests this summer. We shared the stage with great bands like Dying Fetus, Gorgasm, Immolation, Suffocation and lot more. This is an amazing year for us so we are very happy to see how things turn out!
Where did you record your debut album? How long took the sessions?
We recorded the album in November/December at the 3x8 Studio which is managed by Ugo who is the guitarist of GORYPTIC. It was a big advantage because you don’t loose time to know people you work with. Ugo, as a member of GORYPTIC exactly knows the sound we want and thus we don’t waste time to explain our vision of the full length. The recording sessions took almost 3 weeks and the mixing a little bit much. The mastering has been done by Colin Davis from Vile at the Imperial Mastering Studio. Both have done an excellent work!
Who’s writing the lyrics? And what are they dealing with? Are they all in this bloody and anyhow strange direction as i.e. „Malformed pig fetus" indicates?
Dam (the vocalist) used to write the lyrics but on the couple last songs we wrote ‘em together. Mostly of the lyrics deals with the psychiatric sides, mental illness and so with some gore aspects. However a song like Circle Pit deals with the Underground freaks who support bands like us, whicho to the gigs and so on; guys who support this amazing scene which is the Underground. So I would say that this track is a tribute to all these UG supporters. We are not narrow-minded regarding the lyrics but we never treat subjects like politics for instance.
And there’s no special concept at all, I think.
No there isn’t…
Do you personally have a favorite song on „From blast to collapse"?
Well I like Circle Pit, Eight shitty and malformed pig fetus.
Did you look for a record company to release „From blast to collapse" at all? Or was it your intention to keep it all in your own hands?
We decided to release this first album by ourselves time ago. We got several proposals by labels with the 2 tracks promo CD; some of them were quite interesting but it wasn’t the right time. We wanted to focus on the album and try to release it by ourselves to understand and manage each step. Now we know how it works and could do it again. Sure a label could be helpful regarding the promotion, the gigs… But I think alone we do not work that bad. Promotion and distribution are for sure not the better ones but it could be worst haha. So it’s too soon to tell you if we will stay like this or work with a label in the future. We will see when the time comes.
What can you tell us about the other releases of Goryptic?
The first release of GORYPTIC was the 2 tracks promo CD in November 2005; the idea was to send it to tons of webzines to get the maximum of reviews. It worked quite well and the feedbacks were cool. In 2006 we focused on playing some gigs and writing the album. Here we are, 2007 and the release of our first full length “From Blast To Collapse”.
What did you force to shut down actions with Heresy? Or is it simply a renaming...
There were two reasons: first one, the name. We were fed up with the name and feedbacks about it and Heresy’s legend; second one, between last Heresy MCD (“Psychotic Carnage”) and the new tracks or this period (Promo CD in fact), there were too many differences; new tracks were more brutal death, more technical. So it was the good opportunity! Things were quite fast, new name, new logo, new graphics arts and new CD.
If there is any, what’s the exact meaning of the band’s name? Sounds like a fusion of „gore" with whatever.
As you guessed, GORYPTIC is a fusion of Gore and Cryptic. There is no special meaning behind it. It just sounds cool.
Now for the inevitable. Please introduce the guys of Goryptic.
Ah man I thought you forgot this common question cuz usually it’s the first one hahaha. So GORYPTIC is a 4 members band composed by Ugo/Guitar, Dam/Vocals, Jon/Bass and I, Guyom/Drums. The band is born is Sept 2005 from the ashes of Heresy. The line up remained exactly the same, only the music we play changed: more brutal and more technical. 2 months after creating Goryptic, we released a 2 tracks promo CD and sent it to each webzines, zines we knew. This worked quite well because we got lot of reviews and great feedbacks. At the same time we discovered myspace and started to run our page. This helped us a lot as well to spread our name.
Do Goryptic have confirmed for open air festivals this year?
This summer we toured with Eternal Bleeding from Slovakia in Europe. We got the chance to play in tons of countries and to be on the bill on great festivals. We played at the Sziget fest in Hungary, at the Brutal Assault in CZ, at the Mountains of Death in Switzerland! We were confirmed at the MHM fest in Ukraine but due to fucking problems at the boundary in Moldavia, we had to cancel. This is a long story and to summarize I would say: never go trough Moldavia. We will be on tour again this year in November with Infest from France and will play in France, Spain and Portugal. Can’t wait to be back on the road, so cool experience!
How about periodic rehearsal? Do you have the time and place for it?
We try to rehearsal once a week. We can not do more unfortunately because GORYPTIC members live in Valenciennes in the North of France but I, due to my work, have had to move to Paris and in 2 months to Strasbourg (East of France, near Germany). I try to come back each weekend to rehearsal. So once a week is already great but unfortunately not enough to write new stuff quickly. Besides if we have a gig usually on Sat, we automatically lose a rehearsal. Last but not least Ugo works as sound engineer and usually works during weekends. This doesn’t make the things easier but you know we are motivated and motivation is the key.
Concerning your personal musical preferences, are there just Metal bands, or is there a wider range?
Yeah it’s a lot death metal or grind bands of course. Then I am quite open-minded to other style like jazz and so. As a drummer it’s always interesting to pick up ideas in different style.
Do you remember the first Metal album you’ve bought, stolen or simply listened to?
First metal I listened to and I bought by the way was the official live of PANTERA. Dude you can not imagine how pleased I was when I got it. This album is so great!! Then I bought the rest of the discography. Heresy started thanks to Pantera so it means a lot for us!
‘cause you’re the drummer, are there any „paragon" musicians for you. When did you start with tormenting cymbals and snares?
There are so many drummers I like: John Longstreth from Origin, Darren Cesca from Goratory, Flo Mounier from Cryptopsy and so on. I started drumming in 1998, almost 10 years. Time goes so fast haha
Some years ago, the french Metal scene wasn’t really big. Now it looks like that there are more and more great bands in your country rising to show a huge potential. Especially in the extreme sector. How do you estimate the situation?
I think you’re right dude! Lots of bands emerge but I’m quite sure in the past years we had as many good bands as we have now. The problem was I guess that they were too discreet. Now lot of French bands play abroad: Inhumate, Blockheads, Kronos, Sickbag, Trepan’Dead, Infest and so on. The list becomes longer day after day so we gain in exposure and people start considering France as a Metal country with cool bands.
What do you think about modern medias and their options, for example with MySpace and such platforms. Looks like every damned band of this planet got a site there.
Yeah everybody has his own myspace and some bands stop updating their website to use only Myspace. IMO myspace is sth great for bands and in particular for underground bands because it’s an easy way to get exposure and more important it’s free. To run a myspace, you only need time to add friends and promote your band. Then of course you have to be suspicious because myspace is like everything else and fills with bastards who only want to fuck you.
Which were the most impressive gigs you’ve played?
Hum tough question… The Soul Grinding Fest was awesome, we had a blast at the last edition of the Mountains of Death and the Brutal Assault was an amazing experience. During the tour, gigs in Slovakia were great as well.
Goryptic wanted to play gigs in Ukraine in August. Sounds really great. But what went wrong exactly. And how did you get this chance (or adventure?)?
I discovered this fest thanks to Sickbag guys who played there last year. As you sais we were on the bill with Benediction and so on but unfortunately we couldn’t attend it due to fucking problems to go trough Moldavian boundaries. We have been blocked during 13 hours there, lost lot of money due to corruption and so. They stole the car passport; we had to pay to get it back and so on. It’s a long story and because of those bastards we had to cancel MHM and drove more than 3000 km during 3 days for nothing. Fortunately the rest of the tour was just great and this bad experience is just a bad memory.
Now, as usual, here’s the place to leave your final words, your greetings, any advertising...
Thanks again for this interview and your support! To the readers, feel free to check out our myspace (http://www.myspace.com/goryptic) or our website (http://www.goryptic.com) to listen to 2 tracks of our full length “From Blast To Collapse” and to be aware of our forthcoming gigs!! C ya guys on the road! SUPPORT THE UNDERGROUND