South Africa’s Dredge the Lethe unleash Blood Metal—a fierce, independent tribute to metal’s raw spirit, blending genres, mythology, and defiant emotion into a sonic storm that refuses compromise.
1.
"Blood Metal" is an intense title. What does it mean to you, and how
does it encapsulate the spirit of the album?
"Blood Metal" is a semi-parody and tonal tribute to Venom's
"Black Metal", which is an album that had unquestionable influence on
Metal as a genre. "It's in your blood" is a simple and effective
idiom that encapsulates the soul of the album. All of us have been metalheads
since our early days. For the most part this album is the product of us doing
what comes naturally, evoking years and years of listening to various kinds of
extreme music. The introductory track as well as "Hekate" were
lyrically influenced by our band name based on Greek Mythology, while most
other tracks dig deep into the very essence of metal and the community that
celebrates it.
2. You mentioned creating this record entirely on your own terms. Can you
walk us through the freedom and challenges of doing everything independently?
Songs such as "Lord of the Pit" and "Triumph Over the
Horde" had been written, recorded and performed live long before their
appearance on "Blood Metal." On the other hand songs like
"Hekate" and "Maledicta" were only finished in their
compositions shortly before the release of the album. Our previous 2 albums
excluded several of these tracks as we kept our strongest efforts for what
would be our strongest album.
Recording an album in a professional established studio is an unaffordable luxury that is not realistic for most Alternative musicians in South Africa. Luckily, this was hardly a hinderance. Our team consists of a seasoned sound engineer and a gifted graphic designer. We have all also had years and years of experience with composition, lyric writing and mastering our instruments. We had all the time in the world and complete creative control to craft and shape this album with nothing but determination and limited equipment to drive its release.
3. The album blends black metal, Swedish melodic death, thrash, and even
avant-garde elements. Was that eclectic mix intentional from the beginning, or
did it evolve organically as you wrote?
The writing process for Dredge the Lethe has always been organic. We
take a very Taoist approach to composing. The natural flow of expression is
what created the mix of genres on the album. The diverse mix of subgenres also
comes from our wide range of influences. Between the members of the band we
love anything from Death to Slayer, Darkthrone to Dimmu Borgir, Machine Head to
Pantera, and more. A notable exception is "Peer Into the Abyss."
Noisy and over-the-top. The epilogue song was crafted in a blender of cosmic
fear to push the Avante-Garde envelope.
4. South Africa isn’t typically the first place people associate with
extreme metal. How has your local scene shaped you, and how do you think you’ve
shaped it in return?
South Africa is a dangerous country filled to the brim with corruption, violent
crime and poverty. Though we are all in very fortunate positions in the third
world, the danger and instability of our home country has affected us all on an
emotional and spiritual level. However, South Africa is beautiful. Landscapes
of all shapes and sizes, cultural brilliance and a ubiquitous sense of humour
have been the highlights of our lives here. We channel the chaos and beauty of
our lives into our music. In regard to the local scene, we hope to have
reinvigorated the "Black" sound along with bands like Swazi and
Demogoroth Satanum. We have also been heavily influenced and inspired by Mind
Assault, Megalodon, Bleeding Spawn, Mad God and Kobus! to name a few.
5. What was the most emotionally or physically draining part of making Blood
Metal — and what was the most rewarding?
The most draining part of making "Blood Metal" falls upon Corné
Marais, who single-handedly recorded, mixed and mastered the entire album
(besides the intro) on top of writing most of the songs. For most of us it was
several recording sessions followed by a waiting game, but for our lead
engineer it was months upon months of arduous, detailed sound work.
Practically
the most difficult thing for us was getting the vocals tracked. The songs on
this album were written across a span of roughly two years. A lot can happen in
two years. At some point in that time our vocalist (Floyd) relocated to the
other side of the country, which made tracking vocals quite a challenge. If it
wasn’t for Floyd’s general optimism, we likely would have never gotten this
album done. Playing gigs on both sides of the country helped making that
process possible.
The most rewarding part is the immediate influence and response we are currently seeing in the European Metal scene. None of us have ever come close to garnering a following of this size, and thinking about the current hundreds of people listening to our music puts smiles on our faces every day.
6. If Blood Metal is a love letter to everything you cherish about metal,
what specific bands or albums were you subconsciously writing that letter to?
The albums that had the most influence on our sound would arguably be:
• "Reign in Blood" by Slayer
• "Blackwater Park" by Opeth
• "Storm of the Light's Bane" by Dissection
• "Nightmares Made Flesh" by Bloodbath
• "Damage Done" by Dark Tranquillity
• "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" by Iron Maiden
• "Painkiller" by Judas Priest
• "Damnation and a Day" by Cradle of Filth
• "The Blackening" by Machine Head
• "Ylem" by Dark Fortress
We are beyond excited to see how our own album influences the creative minds of
other metalheads.
7. Your music often leans into chaos and sharp emotion. How do you strike a
balance between disorder and control when composing?
That’s another thing that comes organically. Among the bands we’ve already
mentioned, we draw quite a bit of influence from prog bands too. At heart we’re
probably prog musicians, even though Dredge isn’t necessarily the most proggy
band out there. We play by the very simple rule of "if it sounds good, it
is good." We ended up being relatively happy with the final product being
a good combination of heavy, melodic, rhythmic and inventive.
The more spiritual answer to that question ties into what Blood Metal means to us to begin with. Our members come from differing philosophical viewpoints, but at the core Dredge has always been humanistic from the start. From the very beginning our music has been themed around cherishing the human experience. We are not afraid to show true expression in our music whether it’s heartbreak, anger, or pure worship for heavy metal like Blood Metal’s title track.
8. This being your third full-length, how would you compare this chapter to
your previous albums in terms of growth and evolution?
We honestly thought after the release of "Blood Metal" that our
previous albums would be painful to listen to. That hasn't been the case. Some
of our older tracks like "Poison Frog" and "Humanimalism"
hold up well to the standards we have set in "Blood Metal". However,
we believe that at this point we are undoubtedly vastly improved as composers,
sound engineers and musicians and we will continue to improve on our individual
skill sets as the Dredge machine keeps moving forward.
9. There’s a raw, almost defiant tone in the way you talk about your work —
refusing to chase approval or follow trends. Has that mindset ever come at a
cost?
It’s not a mindset of intentionally refusing to follow trends. "Lord of
the Pit" is a classic Thrash song. "Mortal Throne" is a Melodic
Black Metal song. "Swedish Chainsaw" is a "Swedecore"
Melodic Death Metal song. We consider songs like "Hekate" and
"Maledicta" to be the apex representation of what "Blood
Metal" is supposed to be, which like all other music is just a collection
of influence and inspiration from music that is near and dear to our hearts.
We’re a group of individuals who are who we are unapologetically. If being yourself comes at a cost, you should consider surrounding yourself with better people. Easier said than done. This same mindset is reflected in how we write music. We express ourselves naturally and we have a strong belief that collaboration brings out the best in our songs.
10. What do you hope listeners feel or take away after hearing Blood Metal
from beginning to end?
Our audience is everything. We want them to experience the same exhilarating
punch in the gut they felt the first time they heard "Painkiller."
The same angelic, joyous freedom the first time they heard Ronnie James Dio
sing. The cosmic satisfaction and mental bliss of an Opeth song. The bleak,
gothic, sinful sweetness of Cradle of Filth. Metal is plain awesome; it brings
birds of a feather together. You know how it's supposed to feel.
11. Finally, you said you want to keep making music for as long as you’re
alive. So what’s next — is the next chapter already forming in your minds?
This is a funny question, because before our guitarist even finished the
finalized masters for Blood Metal he’d already started writing very early
concept demos for a potential 4th album.
On a more
serious note, we’re trying to make our move on the European metal scene. It’s
going to be a very slow process, but we’re going to work on it until we make it
happen one way or another. We have a dream. The Dredge machine stops for no
man!
Kopha'emhanaq (@dredge_the_lethe) • Instagram photos and videos
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