On 5th April 2024, death metal band Ingested release their new album The Tide of Death and Fractured Dreams (review here). Hotel Hobbies spent some time with vocalist Jason Evans discussing the history of the band, their approach to songwriting, guest vocalist and the evolution of the new album.
Hotel Hobbies: I have been listening to the new album quite a bit ahead of this interview. It is not long until the release of the new album. How are you feeling with that date fast approaching?
Jason Evans: I'm really excited. I'm super proud of this album. This album's been recorded for nearly a year and a half because we work so far ahead. We recorded this album four weeks after we released the last album in 2022. We have been keeping it secret for so long. It's exciting that it's finally about to come out and people are gonna finally get to hear it. I know it's a cliché. Every band always says their newest material is their best but I genuinely believe that this is probably the best album we've ever written. I'm probably coming from a place of bias, but I think it's the best modern death metal album of recent times. I really do believe that.
HH: We will dive into the album in detail soon. The band is approaching your twentieth anniversary and you are known for being, particularly recently, one of the hardest work bands on the scene. It is very hard question to ask you to answer in a short space of time but how do you sum up that time and the journey for the band?
JE: It's crazy. I find it hard to remember when I wasn't in the band. It has been most of my life. This is our brainchild. This is our baby. When you start you just want to be in a band and want to make death metal. You never think its going to get to the point where it is our career. This is what we do as a job. This is what keeps the rent paid. It's wild to even think it because we're just three working class lads. I'm from a council estate in Manchester. I grew up with fuck all. We were taught if you want something, if you want something that bad, go out and earn it. Go out and work for it. And that's what we've done. That's such a huge part of the personality of our band. We have a great work ethic. We were never the band that got a leg up or a handout or anything. We were never the industry darlings. We were never in the magazines. We were the black sheep of the scene. We were the band that everybody told you're not good enough, you'll never make it. It will always be a hobby for you guys. When you say something like that to people like us, that basically makes us bite down and go. You know what? Fuck you. We're going to show you why you're wrong. We're going to prove that you're wrong, and then we're gonna ram it down your throat. And then that's what we spent 18 years doing. We're just three working class guys with a chip on our shoulder, a fuck you attitude and an absolute love for death metal. And that's part of why we're still here nearly 20 years later. All the bands that were around at the time when we started or that started around the same time as us that were being pushed by the magazines as the next big thing, where are they now? They're all gone. Because none of them had the drive. None of them had the will or the passion. We're real people. We don't ever try to appease anyone. We don't pander to anyone.
HH: I also think its interesting that the three of you have been in band since the beginning. Bands often have line-up changes in the early days. That drive from all of you must help because you are all coming from exactly the same place.
JE: Exactly. That's the thing. We used to have a bassist and a second guitarist and they were original members as well. But over the years, their priorities changed. The things that they wanted in life changed and that was okay. But me, Lyn and Sean always knew what we wanted to do and the goal has never changed. We want to make the best death metal that the world has ever seen. We don’t give a fuck about fame or money. As long as my rent’s paid, my bills are paid and my wife and kids have got a roof over their head, that’s fine. I don't care about being the most famous or being the biggest. I want to be the best. That's what I want. And that's why our work ethic is what it is. Because we're striving for greatness. We want to leave an impact, a long-lasting impact on the scene, something that's a legacy. We want to be undeniable after being denied for so many years. When we're too old to do death metal anymore, I want people to be able to look back and go fucking hell, Ingested were the best death metal band on the planet. For their time, they were the best death metal band on the planet. Their albums were great and their live shows were even better. And if you didn't get a ticket to go and see them while they were playing shows, then you missed out. Do you know what I mean? I want, when I'm dead and gone, my kids and my grandkids to be able to look back and go Grandad was a bad ass.
HH: Turning to the new album now, I think it's an album that builds brilliantly on the last one but also has much evidence of you still pushing forward. The opening track Paragon of Purity has a lot of references to being in a band, resilience and personal growth like you mentioned. There is also much about the support you have from those around you. There is a sort of wonderful dichotomy between the brutal power of the music and a quite beautiful personal message.
JE: Oh yes! Death metal is aggressive, it's intense and a lot of the times, the lyrical content is aggressive and intense. Some of the lyrics in Paragon Of Purity are aggressive and intense, but the passion and the love behind the lyrics are for the people that are the backbone of what we do. It's a really important message and the families of people who are in bands are like the unsung heroes. Everyone puts band members on a pedestal and bands always say thanks to the fans. But the family members are the ones who are putting in as much, if not more, hard work while you’re away. They're doing everything that you usually do 50% of when you're back. They're doing 100% of it when you're away. Without them, we wouldn't be able to do this. Without the fans, we wouldn't be able to carry on like this but without our family and our support structure, we wouldn’t be able to do it at all.
HH: On this album, it seems you have also given yourselves the opportunity to explore a lot of different timbres and rhythms. The band has become adept at maintaining your power but showing there is more to you than simple brute force.
JE: Absolutely. I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The best way that I can describe our musical journey is when we started, we were fresh faced 18-year-olds. We were making the most brutal music. When we did our first album, Ingested had a toolbox and in that toolbox was one tool – a giant fucking sledgehammer – and that did the job. It was great at the time. But as we’ve progressed on journey and through our career, we’ve written and released all these albums. What’s happened over the years is that we have added different tools to our toolbox. Now it’s eighteen years down the line and here we are in 2024 and we have a giant toolbox of different tools for different jobs. We're so freed up now as songwriters too. We can do even more of the things that we want to do. It's amazing because it keeps it fresh for us because we write music only for ourselves. We are able to explore things that we have that we weren't capable of exploring earlier in our career. When it becomes boring and the day that we're just retreading old ground and stagnating is the day that it's dead and we won't want to do it anymore. We do it for the love of it.
Some bands find their groove or they find their niche and the want to stick in that wheelhouse, and that's great. That works for them but for us; that doesn't work. I think throughout our career, you've been able to see this gradual growth of us as songwriters. Each album sounds like Ingested. Each album sounds like the same band but each album has its own personality and character. It's just been a slow, gradual evolution and that's got us to the point where we are now. We're probably not going to stop there . The next album will probably have even more changes on it. We never set out specifically to be something or sound a specific way - there's none of that? It’s always been, does it sound sick? That’s it.
HH: It is great to hear you use the word songwriters. Many people who do not follow or understand the intricacies of extreme metal do not understand the craft in playing that hard or fast and simply dismiss it as noise.
JE: Definitely. That’s what we do. We write songs and just because you're fast and you're heavy, doesn't mean there's no thought going into it. There's so much thought going into it. It's not only the way that a song flows, it is also the ebb and flow of the entire album. Recently, we've been much more conscious of the story of the album. Not in a narrative way but the ebbs and flows and the peaks and troughs that take you on a ride dynamically. There’s a clear beginning, middle and end. You’re thrown into this blaze of an album and in the middle, there is calm in the eye of the storm. Then is spits you out into the whirlwind and to top it all, we have a closing track which sends you off into the sunset. We're giving you an album as a complete package. It's designed for you to listen to in order from track one to track 10 and it'll take you on a journey.
HH: You have commented how great it is to work with the people in the band and on this album you have some wonderful guest contributions from Josh Middleton and Mark Hunter. Can you talk about how they came to be and what you think they brought to those songs?
JE: We’ve known Josh for years and always wanted to work with him. Sylosis and Ingested came up through the UK scene at the same time. But we're not the type of band that's just gonna slap someone on a song for no reason or write a specific song for that person. That’s not how we write. It was about waiting for the right song to come along and during the writing process for The Tide of Death and Fractured Dreams, along came Expect To Fail and we demoed it for like a year. We'd been tweaking it and once we were happy with it, we thought this is something that Josh would sound amazing on and suit his vocal style down to the ground. So, we contacted him and he said to send him the song. So, we sent him the song and a couple of hours later, he sent it back already done. It blew me away. I think his vocals perfectly complement everything about the song.
With Mark Hunter, it was a little bit different. It was a lot different actually from how we usually work. When we get a guest vocalist, it’s someone we know because we have always felt a bit awkward asking someone out of the blue. Chimaira have always been a hugely important band for me and Sean. The Impossibility of Reason is one of the best metal albums of all time; it’s a perfect album. That was a massive influence on us when we were growing up. Working with them was like a bucket list wish. Weirdly enough, when we were in the studio recording the album, we went to a petrol station for a break and some snacks and Sean's on his phone because there was no phone signal at the studio. He said that Mark Hunter had tweeted about us. We couldn’t believe it. So, Sean messaged just to say thanks for the kind words, that we were huge fans and that he had made our day. Mark messaged back and said he loved our band so we were buzzing. A couple of days later, I'd recorded the vocals for the song In Nothingness and I’m sitting there listening to the song over and over. I asked our engineer to put the chorus on a loop for me and I listened to it for ages. I was thinking there was something I was not sure about. In my subconscious, I can hear someone else singing the chorus and it took a while to realise whose voice it was and I realised it sounded like Mark. So, I have run down to Lyn and Sean and explained this to them. Sean said just message him! Lyn said what is the worst that he could say? No? That wouldn’t change the situation we are in now. So, we messaged him and said we're in the studio and we've just finished recording a song that we really, truly believe you would absolutely shine on. We were wondering if you would be up for collaborating with us. Mark said, ‘absolutely send it to me.’ So, we sent it to him and a few days later he sent it back. We thought, oh my god this sounds fantastic. He was the missing piece to that puzzle and that song is an absolute banger.
HH: It shows it is always worth asking the question! The album obviously has many powerful metallic sections but there is some really amazing use of space and the band giving time for things to develop. The opening of Numinous for instance is exquisitely captivating. That also comes at a point in the album where you are giving the listener a chance to reflect on what came before.
JE: Yes, that is pretty much the point of it. It has been heavy and brutal to this point and Numinous is the calm in the eye of the storm. If you think of this album like a tornado, it comes at you and it's ripping everything apart and then when you get in the centre of a storm, there's a calm, there's a clarity. Then it spits you back out. These tracks are placed exactly where we wanted them to be. We have been pummelling people for twenty minutes, let’s just give them a breather.
HH: Having listened to the album many times now, it is hard to pick out a favourite but a track you mentioned earlier, the last one A Path Once Lost would be a strong contender. It has everything that encompasses what you now do as a band. Lyrically, it seems to delve into the human experience of facing your flaws, dealing with consequences while also being a search for guidance.
JE: Exactly. It’s about our personal experiences. Like you said, that track has everything. You’ve got the heaviness, the brutality, the melody and the atmosphere. There is a sombreness to the sound but it is also catchy as hell. When Sean first demoed it, it was stuck in my head for days. It is probably my favourite from the album.
HH: I still like buying physical products and the artwork on this album is particularly special. Did you talk about the meaning of the artwork or collaborate with the artist David Seidman?
JE: We picked David because how unique his vision is when it comes to artwork. His work is so surreal and this all comes from inside his head, which is incredible. Back in the day, on our previous albums, we always had a clear vision of what we wanted on the cover. But when it came to working with David because of how unique he is and because we wanted to work with him, we didn’t want to interfere. We thought we would be doing a disservice to David to tell him what to do. We literally sent him the titles, the lyrics and the music and asked him what he thought the album ‘looked like.’ I think he made possibly one of the best album covers I've ever seen. It perfectly surmises the album; it’s a perfect visual representation of this album because it's brutal and decayed. It's got this air of surreal violence to it but it is beautiful as well. I think the fact that David's never worked with any other bands was important to us because we wanted it to be unique.
HH: You have a lengthy European Tour coming up and I am looking forward to seeing you at the Underworld. As you have been sitting on the material for so long, you must be excited to get out there and play the new material.
JE: Super excited. We snuck Paragon of Purity into our set when we played the tour with Lorna Show in November and December last year, but we didn't even announce it as being a new song. We just opened the show with it. We were able to play Paragon quite a bit, which was which was great but now we're going to be able to play more from the new album. But what's also exciting is because it's our tour, it's our headliner, we've got longer to play, so basically, we're drawing from six of our albums for this set on this tour. We're playing old stuff. We're playing stuff that we've never played before. We're trying to make it a celebration of our entire journey up until this point.
HH: You mentioned that you want to be known as the best band at what you do which is a brilliant thing to aim for. But what other bands do you actually admire at the moment?
JE: Lorna Shore definitely because we toured with them a lot. You get to see how hard they actually work. They work their arses off and as a band that takes pride in our work ethic, we respect that so much. And obviously, Cannibal Corpse because just look at them. They were one of the first, one of the pioneers and they're still here, still ripping shows.
HH: And still putting out great albums.
JE: Yes, still putting out brilliant albums and still packing venues and still just as relevant. I respect hard work and I respect longevity. That’s indomitable.
HH: Thank you so much for your time. I am really enjoying the new album and will publish my review soon. I will see you at The Underworld!
JE: Thank you so much. Cheers for your time. If you see me at The Underworld come and say hello! It’s been a pleasure.
