Italian thrash metallers Adversor discuss their fourth album, This Mortal Coil, exploring musical evolution, powerful social messages, personal tragedies, creative influences, and their relentless commitment to pushing boundaries and moving forward.
1. Nearly
a decade after Adversor emerged from the Italian underground, you are preparing
to release This Mortal Coil. How would you describe the journey from Beware of
Soothsayer to this fourth full-length, and what has changed most in the band
along the way?
We
perfected our sound throughout these years, I think you might realize listening
to all our albums and I think that with "This Mortal Coil" we finally
reached a good point in our sound mixing Thrash Metal with Death, Black, Heavy
and even some punkish stuff.
2.
Social commentary has always been an important part of Adversor's identity.
What made you want to confront subjects such as authoritarianism, genocide,
violence against women, and today's increasingly difficult living conditions on
This Mortal Coil?
The time
has come to be more vocal about all these events. In the past we always used to
talk about social matters, it is what Adversor was and still is all about, but
nowadays things are dark and getting darker so we wanted to be even more
explicit to send messages and invite people to reflect.
3. “Burn”
is dedicated to Giulia Cecchettin. How did her story inspire the song, and what
did you want listeners to take away from it?
The story
of Giulia is extremely sad and has to be told so everyone has to be aware of.
The facts occurred
had touched me in many different ways and I felt the urge to tell her story and
warn the people to end this sick culture.
The song
starts with a slow and sinister melody that burst into a violent riff straight
after that is how we wanted to picture the events that happened. After that
there's this mid-tempo part that flows into a very powerful guitar melody and
solo that would represent the mourn but with pride and the will to end all
this: something like we don't bow our heads to these horrible crimes.
Burn closes
with a very powerful message inspired by the poetry that her family chose to
remember her at her funeral.
4. “The
Heritage” deals with the loss of a friend, while “Ghost of Ourselves” explores
questions about who we are and what we have become. Was writing about these
deeply personal subjects different from addressing broader social and political
issues?
"The
Heritage" is another tribute to a dear friend who left us few years ago.
He was literally the man who taught me everything I knew in my early metalhead
days and I wanted to tribute him properly. "Ghost of ourselves"
instead is a deep question I ask to everybody out there: What have we become?
Are we proud of this world?
Sometimes,
if the correct music follows, I also write more personal and deep stuff.
5. The
album also contains a cosmic dimension with “Gargantua,” inspired by
Interstellar and Event Horizon. What attracts Adversor to themes of space, the
unknown, and humanity's place in the universe?
We all love
this kind of music and imagery and I always wanted to give "Event
Horizon" a proper follow up and this song with its atmospheres seemed the
perfect fit for it. The improbable search for a better place to live as our
mother earth collapsed and the trip that follows go horribly wrong.
6. The
artwork depicts a small anonymous figure staring into the void. How closely
does this image represent the emotional atmosphere and central ideas of This
Mortal Coil?
It is
exactly what we wanted as representation of This Mortal Coil: we are absolutely
lost and small towards the void that is actually the future.
7. Your
sound combines the ferocity of classic thrash with elements reminiscent of
Nevermore and Vektor. How do you balance aggression, technicality, melody, and
atmosphere when writing new Adversor material?
To be
honest these bands are not exactly what we thought people would think about
when listening to us, more to German thrash metal like Kreator or Sodom. But
this is the cool of the music, isn't it? Anybody could hear and feel something
different and it's amazing.
By the way,
we try to balance everything to craft our sound in a specific way and it's a
mix of many different things: Thrash Metal rawness, Death or Black Metal heavy
parts and some more atmospherical ones, especially the intros or the outro
which are full instrumentals.
8. You
have toured extensively across Europe and the UK and shared stages with bands
such as Exciter, Nifelheim, Protector, and Discharge. Which live experiences
have had the biggest impact on Adversor as a band?
The next
one haha! No seriously, I think every time you go on the road you learn
something. But this is the game: you learn and you have to do your best every
night. So forward to the future!
9. With
the current lineup of Dado, Ale, Phil, and Ja, how does the songwriting process
work inside Adversor? Do the songs usually begin with a riff, a lyrical idea,
or something else?
Usually,
it's a riff or idea of mine (Dado) but could be anyone. Ale adds technicality,
Phil the melodies, Ja the rawness and powerfulness of drums so it's like a
chemistry that grew during these years as each of us almost listen to different
kind stuff from Black to Heavy to Thrash, Death, to also many more genres and
this helps to create something personal.
10. This
Mortal Coil was mixed and mastered in March 2026. Looking back at the finished
album now, is there a particular song or moment that represents Adversor's
evolution better than anything you had previously recorded?
I do generally
think that the whole work could represents at best the evolution of Adversor
both lyrically and musically.
11.
After four albums and almost a decade of activity, what do you hope This Mortal
Coil will accomplish for Adversor, and what can listeners expect from the band
once the album is released?
We send
messages and we hope people would hear them. Hope also that they could recognize
the hard work that was behind this album. We think we improved since the
previous one and it's all about this: working hard, improving, learn from your
mistakes and move on.
This Mortal
Coil is different even if it has classical Adversor music's path. Expect us on
the road as more shows will be announced and more videos sooner than you think.
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