BLEED FROM WITHIN – Interview with Ali

BLEED FEOM WITHIN is one of the best young and talented deathcore bands from Scotland. I asked some questions about their new release “Empires” and other band-related stuff. Interview with their drummer – Ali.

Hi there! First question gonna' be about Poland. I know you guys are coming to tour in Europe and you will come to our country too. How you feel about that? I believe this is your first polish interview?

We are mega excited about playing in Poland. This is our first major European tour, playing in alot of cities that we have never even heard of! And yes, this is our first polish interview. So thank you for having us!

Do you ever listened to any deathcore/metalcore bands from Poland?

I can't say I have heard alot of deathcore or metalcore bands from Poland, but you are home to death metal giants Behemoth and Decapitated, so I am certain there is plenty of underground talent that has yet to be discovered. Hopefully our gig will give us a taster of the scene in Poznan and the surrounding areas!

Tell us about new record.

The new record is entitled Empire, and is released worldwide on May 10th. During the writing process we went through a line up change, and lost our management, but at the same time, pulled everything together doing headline tours and securing a slot on Download Festival, UK. It was a hard year, but we pulled through. This record stands as a milestone in our career, signaling a change and proving that we have found our sound.

How it gona be diffrent from „Humanity” ?

The overall sound has matured drastically. Each song follows a better structure, with so much more groove and power than anything on the last album, aswell as melodic sections throughout. As soon as you put the album in your CD player, the change is obvious. Humanity seemed to fall into place very easily, but with the ability of hindsight, there was alot of things that could have been changed. With this new album, everything feels right. Its definitely a new start for us.

Many deathcore bands are changing to more death metal style, like DESPISED ICON or JOB FOR A COWBOY. You guys thought about something like that?

Our style seems to have fallen the other way. They are some great bands you mentioned there, and over time their sound has pointed more towards death metal, but we have found that our new material has taken a step towards traditional metal, but obviously we have put our own mark on it. Mixing new influences with the old, we have made a sound we are proud to call our own. The death metal style just doesn't fit us anymore.

I saw you guys are corfimed to Brutal Assault festiwal -wow, that's big step. How you feel about that? When you guys hit Wacken Open Air? Hehe

Brutal Assault is going to be a fucking sick gig. Having the chance to play alongside Children Of Bodom, Necrophagist, Fear Factory, Black Dahlia Murder!? Its a real honour. We have never played a festival outside of the UK, so are eager to see how things are done over in Prague! Hopefully not too long till we play Wacken either. Bring it on.

Many people who listen to your music for first time says „THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER rip off”. You think it's good or bad for you?

I think it's very narrow minded to say we are a Black Dahlia Murder rip off. Sure we listen to their music, so they influence us in a way, but I guess we just have to put with this sort thing given that we are a young band. Coming into the worldwide market with your own music is hard, and ten times harder when you are younger than most of the people listening to you. We have had many comparisons, and Id like to think that this new album will show people that we are serious competitors in this genre, and that we are not trying to get famous ripping off other bands.

Do you ever play any other bands covers live? You're planning something special for this tour?

When we first started touring we used to cover Job For A Cowboy, but we very quickly grew out of that. Covers are pointless at this point in a bands career. You have 30 minutes to show people your music, your songs. Why waste time with someone else's? Saying that, we have covered a few songs over the years for certain gigs. Some Pantera, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit covers have been thrown around. Our European tour will be a selection of new songs, and some songs from Humanity. Any requests?

What you guys think about artist that are tagging their music with christian/satanic tag? Is it really necessary? I mean bands like IMPENDING DOOM…

If Impending Doom or whoever else wish to give their music such tags, then they are free to do so. Again, its narrow minded if people judge such bands for whatever their personal beliefs are. With Humanity, there was alot of people thinking we were either really into christianity or satanists. It was nothing to do with that. Kennedy (vocals) had a lot of personal reasons for such artwork and lyrics. He had to get it off his chest and done so with lyrics about having faith then being betrayed by it. Alot of bands latch onto religion as it is an easy subject to sing about, though many of them don't understand what they are singing about. That was relative to a certain time in his life, as our new album is about what has happened since. We aren't influenced by either christianity/satanism, but feel free to sing about it. We won't judge.

What you would say to all „true death metal” – deathcore haters? Why do you think so many people who loves extreme metal music can't tolerate 'core stuff?

This is another example of people being incredibly narrow minded, and not giving music a chance due to its genre. Its pathetic. Leave the tag out of the equation, and listen to the music. Davie (bassist) is heavily into his extreme metal/black metal, yet he can appreciate good music when he hears it. The extreme metal fans who aren't giving this new wave of music a chance are going to fucked when all their favourite bands kill each other or retire. Times are changing, its a brilliant time for music, but the people who aren't open to new things are making it hard for those of us who are trying.

Do us a little „2009 Awards” , hehe. What CD's and bands did great job in 2009 and which really sucked?

Amazing albums of 2009?! Where to start! To give you a run down, Lamb Of God, Black Dahlia Murder and Mastodon. UK bands such as Architects, Viatrophy and The Arusha Accord also bought out some amazing albums last year. Albums that were shit? Steel Panther. Without a doubt, the most annoying album of the decade.

Ok, guys what are your plans for 2010 – touring and promoting new CD?

2010 is going to be a good year for us. We have our European tour that lasts 3 weeks, and covers most of the continent. The dates are on our myspace page, so go and check them out! We are back for 1 day, then are are off round the UK for 3 weeks with our good friends, Trigger The Bloodshed. Hopefully we get a chance to play at Download Festival again, then there is Brutal Assault, and we recently confirmed for Summer Breeze in Germany. We live for being on the road, playing shows in any place possible. With that in mind, hopefully we get more tours and festivals. The year can only better!

Would you like to add something?

Make sure you grab a copy of Empire when it hits the shelves on May 10th, and hopefully you can make the show in Poznan on May 3rd at Pod Minoga. Thank you for having us!

photos from MySpace page