Fessus – “In general, in Extreme Metal you have to be mindful of dynamics”

Although more or less recent bands like Tomb Mold, VoidCeremony, Miscreance and Sovereign are keeping the Death Metal scene of today a bit interesting, adventurous and overall volatile. It is mainly in those more outward-thinking niches that the best bands are to be found. In the more Old School territories of the genre there is a lot less going on that is really worth mentioning. But, of course, to each trend there are some honorable exceptions. One of those is Austrian newcomer Fessus, a young band that sounds awfully familiar and, at the very same time, is able to weave all those recognizable elements into something that catches the ear and mind. Their first and so far only feat was recently re-released by Darkness Shall Rise Productions on cassette tape and CD, and apparently, and this may be a minor scoop, will also be pressed on vinyl. High time to throw some questions to Fessus guitarist and vocalist Brenton…

Hi there, first of all, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions. I am not quite fond of those standard introductory questions, but since you guys have only started recently, I am interested in what exactly was the spark that lit the fire of Fessus. Can you tell us about the initial steps of the band?
The band started by me writing material for another band I play in called Unsemblance. That band was going through some internal issues as we were sort of deciding what direction we wanted to go in musically. I was writing music that I didn’t want to go to waste in the case that Unsemblance broke up or would be put on hold. The material also didn’t really fit to the Unsemblance sound at the time. So, I contacted Gumpf, the other guitar player in Fessus, we met up, jammed the first song ‘Acidic Secretion’ which was more or less finished, and things went from there. Musically I wanted the band to be a mid-tempo death metal band based on Finnish and US influences. As a group we had never played music together prior to Fessus, which I still find interesting seeing how well we gelled straight away. Oh, and I can happily say that Unsemblance resolved it’s issues and we have an EP coming out soon.

You have recently released the ‘Pilgrims Of Morbidity’-demo tape, first as a DIY edition and later picked up by Darkness Shall Rise Productions. To me it sounded like some sort of wild hotchpotch of different Death Metal cornerstones. What would you, music wise, consider the main inspiration for Fessus?
Well, I think most bands first release is a little like that, we were trying out different ideas to see what worked and what didn’t. Although from the start I wanted the band to be more mid-tempo as Unsemblance (and basically every band I’ve played in) plays really fast. I’m very happy with the demo, as even though it blends different styles of death metal I think it’s still concise, everything works well together. As said before, the main influences are US and Finnish death metal of the mid-tempo variety. That’s not to say just the older bands, I love a lot of new bands and surely they’ve influenced the sound too, bands like Fetid, Mortiferum, Ossuary, Cerebral Rot, Sedimentum etc. But sure, the main influences of course are bands like Autopsy, Adramelech, Funebre, Cannibal Corpse, Incantation, Necros Christos etc. There are also non-musical things that inspire the music and lyrics. Lyrically I try to look inward at different mental states I’ve experienced throughout my life and heighted those emotions and convert them into lyrics somehow. I think even the happiest of people have experienced the darkest pits of mental anguish that I try to describe in the lyrics, it just part of the human experience and fits well to this style of music I think.

In my review I wrote that, despite using a lot of familiar elements of the Death Metal genre, your music doesn’t exactly comes across as shameless copycatting. How would you describe your creative process?
Thanks, that’s nice to hear, and I know what you mean about a lot of bands being direct copycats of certain other bands. That’s a tough question; when writing, I try to write music I like, I’m not thinking much about influences and I don’t try to replicate things I’ve heard. I think in ‘extreme’ metal in general you have to be mindful of dynamics. The really hard and brutal parts work better if the part before is softer or complicated so that the straight brutality hits harder, or whatever, that’s just one example. What I’m trying to say is, its easy to fall into the trap of not paying close attention to songwriting, with this band almost every song so far gets re-written 4 or 5 times before I feel that everything works like it should. It’s a balancing act of analyzing every section of a song to make it the best it can be whilst also trusting your basic instinct of knowing if something is good or not, regardless of how well it looks on paper.

Something that appealed from the ‘Pilgrims Of Morbidity’-demo was the rather crude sound. Although most of your musical peers do not opt for a polished sound, the gritty texture of the guitars especially stood out. Is there some band or guitarist that you can mention as a prime influence on the way you are cranking out those riffs?
If you mean production wise, there was very little thought put into our guitar sounds, I used my set up and Gumpf used his. But I really like the production and especially how nasty the guitars sound. I suppose Trey from Morbid Angel is a big influence on both Gumpf and I. I love guitarists that have their own sound and play with conviction, like of course Trey from Morbid Angel but also, Malte from Necros Christos, Toni Iommi, Pat O´Brien, Antti from Demilich, etc.

In the title track, you have a somewhat sinister, almost doom-like guitar lead woven in. Something that gives the song a gloomy character, very well-done and tasteful. Is this a distinctive layering we can expect more from Fessus in the future?
Thanks! Yeah, well on one of the new tracks ‘Pointless Anguish’ which is included on the live recording there is a really big doomy part. Maybe live we played it a little too fast but sure, the doomish elements are something we will keep in our sound.

Just a bit out of curiosity… Google taught me, “Fessus” is Latin for “Worn out” or “Tired”. What exactly made you choose for this band name? Does it have a certain deeper meaning?
Yeah, that’s right. Well, it fits to our band, I mean we play mid-tempo death metal with lyrics about mental exhaustion and anguish. I think we were lucky to find a one word band name that hasn’t been used already by a thousand other bands, not easy these days.

As already cited, the demo tape was swiftly picked up by Darkness Shall Rise Productions. A label that is mainly known for re-releasing stuff by established bands on cassette tapes, yet they have recently added some new bands/releases to their roster. How did you end up on that label’s radar?
I wrote to the label because I was and still am a big fan of Ossuary who are on Darkness Shall Rise. The label boss Denny really liked our sound and wanted to work with us. We had offers by other labels but working with DSR turned out to fit this band the best.

The Darkness Shall Rise Productions version of the demo tape, released both on cassette tape and CD, has the 25-minute ‘Thresholds Of Morbidity’-live recording as a bonus. I was surprised with the quality of those tracks, not only do they sound decent, they also show you are way more mature as a band than you might expect from a band that just have started. How do you relate to your music in a live setting?
Practice man. We rehearse a lot. We take the band really seriously and practice at least once a week. We all agree that the fact that we are a new band means that we have to put the time into rehearsing to get this band quickly up to the level of the bands that have been playing together for years.

The demo has been reissued on both cassette tape and CD, but no vinyl has been announced yet. Darkness Shall Rise Productions has (more or less) recently started to release music on vinyl as well. Is a vinyl version of the demo in the works too?
Yes, there is, but I probably can’t say much more than that. Darkness Shall Rise will announce something in the coming weeks or months I suppose. It was never really planned that this release would be released on vinyl. We recorded the whole thing on one beer, cigarettes and falafel fueled weekend in a decrepit apartment building in Vienna, but there you go.

On the previously discussed live set you have included two tracks that did not appear on the ’Pilgrims of Morbidity’-demo tape. It was hard to hear really distinct differences in song writing or quality level with the three demo-songs. Are they new tracks or just songs that didn’t make it to the demo?
They are new tracks that will be on the album. We have played ‘Asphyxiate in Exil’ at every show we have played as it was finished just after we recorded the demo. ‘Pointless Anguish’ however is new, that took a long time to finish, the live recording is the first time we played that one live. It turned out pretty well I think.

Picking up on the previous question, with this demo and the reissue under your collective belts. What can we expect from Fessus in the upcoming months? What’s cooking? Is there a new EP or maybe even a full-length in the pipeline?
We are writing an album, I’m about halfway through songwriting. The plan is to probably have 6 songs and record the album after the summer. Of course, it’s hard to say when song writing will be finished. We want to make sure we are 100 percent happy with the material before we book a studio, but I’m hoping we will get it done this year.

Alright, that was it for now. Thanks a lot for offering us a bit a peak in the kitchen of Fessus. I would like to grant you the opportunity to round off this interview with some final words…
Thank you for your support and interest and thanks to everyone who has supported us so far. Keep your eyes peeled for an album next year hopefully and catch us at a show if you can. Cheers.