From the depths of industrial metal and existential philosophy, London's MeK emerges with “Unawaken.” Creator Faust discusses the project's biomechanical universe, musical influences, and the mysteries behind MeK.
1. MeK
is a new project, but you have been active in the London music scene for more
than 15 years. What led you to create MeK, and what did you want this project
to express that your previous and current musical work could not?
One of my
first bands was called MekanizM, and some of the DNA of MeK goes all the way
back to that period. Some of the material I wrote for that band has even
reincarnated in different forms within MeK. It was a great band and I think we
could have gone further, but we were young, probably a little stupid, and like
any relationship, not every band survives. When it ended, I kept developing
what I'd written and chasing the sound I could already hear in my head.
I've been
fascinated by the relationship between human and machine since I was a kid, and
discovering H.R. Giger had a huge impact on me. I wanted music that could evoke
that dark, biomechanical feeling while exploring existential questions and the
fear of the unknown.
Life
happened in parallel. I've been the bassist in Damim for almost ten years, and
for the past two I've also played live bass with Lowen, while quietly
developing MeK in the background and being a reasonably good citizen. 😄 It's taken years, but I've finally
reached a point where, with the skills and resources I have as a self-funded
artist, MeK feels as close to that original vision as I can make it.
2.
“Unawaken” revolves around a confrontation between two sides of the same mind,
questioning existence, meaning and the need to see life as something divine.
Where did the original idea for this internal dialogue come from, and how much
of it reflects your own philosophical questioning?
I was
raised by religious parents, so questions about what happens after we die,
whether there is an eternal purpose and whether we're somehow divine have been
around me since childhood. At the same time, I've always been fascinated by the
occult, alchemy and alternative ways of trying to understand existence.
Unawaken
came from a paradox I started thinking about later: how can any of us claim to
be truly “awakened” when we have no way of knowing what the ultimate truth
actually is? Maybe the real awakening is the moment you realise that what you
thought was enlightenment was just another illusion. That's where the title
came from. You wake up to the possibility that you were never awake in the
first place.
So yes, the
two voices are very much reflections of my own philosophical questioning. I
don't think the song gives either one the final answer, because I'm not
convinced there is one we can actually know.
3. The
title “Unawaken” is deliberately paradoxical: rather than awakening to a truth,
it suggests waking up from the certainty of believing you have already found
one. What does the idea of becoming “unawakened” mean to you personally?
To me,
becoming “unawakened” is accepting that certainty itself can be an illusion. We
build beliefs around religion, philosophy, science or our own experiences and
naturally want to believe we've understood something fundamental, but how can
we ever know we've reached the ultimate truth?
I like the
contradiction of waking up only to realize that what you previously considered
an awakening might have been another layer of the illusion. So “Unawaken” isn't
about replacing one truth with another. It's about becoming comfortable with
questioning what you think you know.
4.
Musically, “Unawaken” combines modern metal with electronic, industrial,
atmospheric and cinematic elements. How did you approach bringing these
different influences together while still giving the song a coherent identity?
I think the
coherence comes from the fact that I never really set out to combine genres
deliberately. I'm of Spanish origin, so flamenco was naturally part of my
upbringing, and my father is a huge music lover. Some of my earliest memories
are of him putting me to sleep while playing Beethoven's symphonies, so that
classical and cinematic sense of scale was there very early.
Then in
high school a friend introduced me to Pantera and it all went downhill from
there. 😄 I went down the rabbit hole through Guns N' Roses, Testament and
increasingly heavier music. Discovering the artwork for Celtic Frost's To Mega
Therion had a particularly profound effect on me, and later I became obsessed
with electronic and industrial music as well.
Over time all of those things naturally found their way into what I write. Unawaken is actually a much newer song, so by the time I wrote it those influences had already been mixing together in my head for years. I don't really think of MeK as metal with different genres added on top. It's more the result of a lifelong obsession with all these different forms of music and imagery eventually finding their way into the same place.
The main
vocals are heavily layered, with my highs and lows forming the core and Mark
adding another layer that makes the whole thing feel increasingly deranged and
uneasy. That was important because the song is essentially moving through this
hallucinogenic, almost shamanic journey of self-discovery, so I wanted the
voices to feel like thoughts overlapping and fighting inside the same
consciousness rather than separate characters.
The chorus
is where the argument becomes much more direct, with all three of us
questioning and answering each other. Felix ultimately cuts through it with the
idea: why insist that this life has to be divine? Just get on with living it.
That moment almost kills the argument by challenging the need for an answer in
the first place.
6. The
song eventually moves away from conflict toward what you describe as an
“alchemical integration,” where the human and the Construct become spiritually
joined. How did you translate such an abstract idea into the music, lyrics and
final progression of the track?
Towards the
middle of the song and onwards, the concept of reality, life and the infinite
starts to collapse into this almost hallucinogenic state. The mind is fighting
against the possibility that reality and the infinite may ultimately be the
same thing, and that an individual life might be nothing more than a brief blip
within eternity.
By the time
the chorus returns, “why say this life is divine?” becomes almost a resolution.
Instead of endlessly searching for some higher justification for existence, you
accept being here and become whatever this brief stage of our evolution allows
us to become without overthinking it. For me, that's the alchemical
integration: the conflict ends, the human and the Construct become whole, and
you reach that “I found myself” moment. You become Unawaken.
7. At
the centre of the wider MeK // CONSTRUCT framework is The Medium, a human
conduit connecting the Construct with the organic world. Who or what exactly is
The Medium, and how important will this figure become as the world surrounding
MeK continues to develop?
The Medium
represents the point where the human and the Construct stop being separate.
He's neither the master nor the victim of it, but something evolving between
the two.
How far
that transformation goes is part of the wider MeK story, and I'd rather let
that reveal itself over time.
8.
Before the release of “Unawaken,” you introduced the project through a sequence
of audiovisual TRANSMISSIONS, moving from CONTACT and RECOGNITION through
FRACTURE, RESISTANCE and ultimately UNAWAKEN. What story are these
transmissions telling, and how closely should audiences examine them for clues
about the larger concept?
The
TRANSMISSIONS trace a progression through CONTACT, RECOGNITION, FRACTURE,
RESISTANCE, DEVELOPMENT, CONVERGENCE and FINAL APPROACH, eventually leading
into UNAWAKEN. They're fragments of a journey rather than explanations of it.
There are
definitely clues throughout, and some will only make sense as MeK develops. How
deeply people choose to look is entirely up to them. I've got to keep a few
secrets for later. 😄
9. The
introductory TRANSMISSION campaign generated more than 110,000 views across
social platforms within its first two weeks, before MeK had even released its
debut single. Were you expecting that level of early engagement, and what have
you learned from the audience’s reaction to this unusual way of introducing a
new project?
It actually
reached just over 140,000 by the end of those first two weeks, but every little
helps. 😄 I definitely wasn't expecting that kind of response from a project with
no music officially released yet.
The
TRANSMISSIONS were partly an experiment to see whether people would engage with
the atmosphere and concept before they could even hear a full song. Watching
how differently they performed across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube taught me a
lot very quickly, and some results genuinely surprised me. More than anything,
it showed me that there is an audience willing to engage with the world around
the music, not just the finished song. That's really encouraging for where I
want to take MeK next.
10.
“Unawaken” involved an extensive creative team, including Matt Hyde on mixing,
Scott Elliott on additional mixing, Joel Wanasek on mastering and Caitlin
Simone Stokes directing the music video. How did these collaborators help shape
the final identity of the song and its audiovisual presentation while
preserving your original vision?
Matt Hyde
is a mixing engineer and producer I've admired for years. His credits include
everyone from Slayer to Slipknot, so having him hear my demos, understand what
I was trying to achieve and actually want to help bring that vision to life was
incredible. And he absolutely did.
I later
wanted the guitars to be more aggressive, so Scott Elliott from Chernobyl Audio
re-amped them, mixed some of Mark's additional vocals and rebalanced the stems
from the existing mix so everything still felt like it came from the same pot.
Joel
Wanasek, co-founder of URM Academy and Drumforge, then took the final mixes and
gave them that last push and sheen in mastering.
Visually,
Caitlin Stokes understood the concept almost immediately. She's a musician
herself with Corlyx as well as a filmmaker, and after our initial conversations
she came back with my vision written down almost as if she'd read my mind. She
found an amazing location in Turin and brought everything together beautifully.
I also collaborated with visual artist @Anthroponeural on some of the
biomechanical imagery that Caitlin incorporated into the final video.
Considering
we weren't exactly working with a Hollywood budget, I think it came out quite
okay. 😄
11.
“Unawaken” feels less like a standalone debut and more like the opening chapter
of a much larger world. Following its release on October 9, what comes next for
MeK, and how far have you already mapped out the evolution of the music, The
Medium and the wider MeK // CONSTRUCT framework?
Unawaken is
definitely an opening chapter rather than a standalone release. I have a lot
more material already written, but the next two releases are finished: Golden
Ratio and All Means To An End. Together with Unawaken, they form the first
trilogy and continue developing the ideas introduced here, both musically and
conceptually.
Beyond
that, there's a much larger framework for where MeK, The Medium and the
Construct can go, but I don't want to map it all out publicly before people
have had the chance to experience it. Part of the fun is revealing the world
piece by piece while still allowing it to evolve.
For now, Unawaken is the door. Let's see who walks through it. 😄
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