Portuguese death metal force Visceral returns with Eyes, Teeth and Bones—a darker, faster, and more collaborative evolution of their brutal sound. We spoke with founder Bruno to learn more.
1. "Eyes,
Teeth and Bones" arrives nearly three years after your acclaimed
debut The Tree of Venomous Fruit. How do you feel the band’s sound
and vision have evolved since then?
With “The Tree of Venomous Fruit” some of the riffs and ideas I had from quite
some time, the difference with “Eyes, Teeth and Bones” was that most of the
material was written in a shorter period of time. Of course there are obvious
differences, as I had other musicians with me to record the songs. Also, the
idea I had behind these new songs, was to go to the extremes in all levels,
both as a faster more brutal approach, but also some heavy and doomed slow
parts. Also I like to dwell in the opposites and go between harmony and
dissonance. At moments I feel these songs are a bit darker than the first
album.When I
2. This
record features a revamped lineup. How did the current trio come together, and
what kind of new energy or direction did each member bring to the album?
When I recorded the first album, there was no intention of playing live with
this project, but as soon as the album came out, that changed, and I found
musicians to make a live line-up. We played some shows, and when I started
working on new material, I felt I had to have the people that were with me in
the rehearsal room instead of asking friends from other bands to play in the
record.
3.
Bruno, this band was originally born from your personal creative drive.
With Eyes, Teeth and Bones, how much of it still comes from that
initial vision, and how much is a product of group collaboration?
As I said, the first album was thought as just a studio project, I sent the
songs to Menthor ( drums ) and Alex ( bass ), but I never took the role of a
dictator, as I never did with any of the bands I’ve been involved with, even
when it was mw writing most of the material. When working with talented and
technically expert musicians, it would be demeaning to cut down their creative
views, so I instructed them to feel free to put their ideas in the material as
well. It works both to the quality of the songs and also their involvement in
registering the songs. The same applies with the new album, even when I had
some of the parts already in my mind, I would always ask them for their
opinions and what would they change, and things went smoothly.
4. The
album is produced and mixed by yourself and mastered by the renowned Dave
Otero. What made you choose Otero for the mastering process, and what did he
bring to the final result?
I think Dave Otero is at the moment the top producer in extreme Metal. Listen
to the most recent stuff os Aborted of Akhlys and it sounds as what brutal
extreme music should sound, powerful, crisp and everything is perceivable
without compromising any of the brutality and harshness.
5. Can
you tell us more about the title Eyes, Teeth and Bones? What themes
or concepts are buried beneath those words?
As with anything I have ever done, I’m not telling stories, more than that, I
start with titles of phrases I feel I like, and then I evolve the concepts,
more in an abstract way, but keeping things dark and extreme, as with the
music.
6. Your
sound blends classic old-school death metal with much more extreme and modern
elements. How do you balance that brutality with atmosphere and songwriting?
Visceral is Death Metal. Point. But as I write most of the stuff, my influences
come around, and there is some Black Metal here and there, some very slow and
heavy Doom Metal, and even space for some Grindcore. It is strange as some of
the reviews and opinions I’ve been reading, tend to tie us to Grindcore, which
I guess comes from the majority of the material being vey fast, with blast
beats and gravity blasts, but I feel this new album is far more melodic than
the previous. And here and there you can find some Thrash Metal riffs also.
7. From
Grog to Gaerea to Nightbringer, your past and present members all have roots in
highly respected underground bands. How has that collective experience shaped
Visceral’s approach to making music?
I asked the guests the worked with Visceral to give their personal inputs and
to do things their way, which got the material richer, their involvement was
more than just studio musicians. I’m fortunate to have such talented friends
that are available to help me when I need it. The musicians that are now with
me, Mauro Santos ( drums ) have some other projects and had bands that played
live quite often, as Mauro with Creation Undone. Ruben is not with Visceral
anymore, as his other band, Apocalypse Conspiracy and his personal life suck
much of his free time, and now we’ve added a second guitars/vocalist with Zé
Marques, which had some projects in Metal, but is a more unknown musicians in
the scene.
8. Were
there any particular songs on this new album that proved especially
challenging—or especially rewarding—to create?
I quite enjoy the album as a whole, and I think the first half of the record is
very extreme and fast, but the space for experimentation that closes it, is
also quite rewarding for us as musicians. I kind of don’t have favourites, and
it was not easy to choose the singles, “Where the Wretches Are” was chosen
because it is relentless and kind of exposes what the album is about, and
“Loathe” because it is such a different song were chosen, but any of the other
songs could have been the first to come out.
9. Death
metal often channels chaos and darkness. What’s your personal connection to the
genre, and what continues to inspire you to write in this extreme space?
I got introduced to the term Death Metal with Possessed, as they have a song
called “Death Metal” in “Seven Churches”. It got stuck with me as a teenager,
and when I started my foirst bands, we always called ourselves Death Metal. In
the end of the 80’s and beginning of the 90’s I had correspondence with people
from all over the world, which included Dead, from Mayhem, who had a
particular vision on what Death Metal should be. If you read fanzines from that
era, you will find that Death and Black Metal was almost the same thing, the
term Black Metal was never really used often, as it was more connected to bands
like Venom. It was with the popularity of “Morrisound” sound Death Metal and
the radicalisation and going darker of scandinavian bands that people felt the
need to get away from Death Metal and “refurbished” the term Black Metal. The
rest is history, I guess.
10.
With Eyes, Teeth and Bones out via Raging Planet Records,
what’s next for Visceral in 2025? Will fans see you on stage soon?
We are getting ready to play live and rehearsals have been quite productive,
the new guitarist is fully adapted to Visceral and things will be very brutal
on stage. I can’t wait to be playing these songs live, as they’re sounding
great.
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