Garza Podcast - 67 - DEVOURMENT: The Heaviest Band of All Time

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

DEVOURMENT is an American death metal band from Dallas, Texas. The heaviest band on the planet. https://www.devourmentofficial.com SPONSORS: Click this link to purchase from Sweetwater & help support the podcast: imp.i114863.net/rnrmVB DEVOURMENT is: Ruben Rosas, Brad Fincher, Chris Andrews & Dave Spencer TIME CODES: 00:00 - On Tour With Ingested 03:04 - Paving the way for Slam & Deathcore 05:56 - Devourment started in ‘95. 12:36 - Special Formula 14:32 - Being About That Groove 21:06 - How Did Brad and Ruben Meet? 23:04 - 1:38 on the clock 25:57 - Writing process for Molesting the Decapitated 1999 30:16 - The Infamous Album Cover 36:55 - Recording MTD in the 90s and its Effect on Heavy Music 39:40 - Cryptopsy 43:07 - Unique Blasting Techniques 45:45 - The Legendary Glen Benton/Deicide 48:00 - Having a Solid Lineup/Ruben Continuing Devourment After Brad Left 55:35 - Texas Death metal Scene in the 90s/2000s 57:48 - (2:13 on the clock - Slayer Reference) 59:34 - Cannibal Corpse 01:01:24 - Obscene Majesty 2019 01:05:32 - Focusing on New Material and the Future 01:12:25 - Non-Metal Influences and Song Structure 01:18:55 - Devourment is the Heaviest Band on the Planet

Oh, wow. These bands that are legit now are huge and that I listen to, name check us or whatever or something like that. That's the ultimate compliment for an artist, I think. So that must be kind of a trip, like, the environment has been a band for you, you know, 20, 30 years. And there's still work to be done. There's still a whole, like, other fan base still coming in. It's never heard it, right. Whenever I need music gear, I always go to sweetwater.com. If it's mics, headphones, or studio and recording gear, Sweetwater has you covered. Next time you need any music gear, support the podcast by using the link in the description and comment section below.

Close. Holy moly. What's up, man? What's up, bro? Well, today is a very extremely special episode for myself. And I am honored to have one of the heaviest bands on the planet, arguably the heaviest band on the planet, the barment. I'm stoked to have you guys. Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for. Thank you for being here. I guess by coincidence, your base player, Dave, lives pretty close to here. So that actually worked out pretty damn good. Yeah, we got to rehearse yesterday, which was cool. Yeah, gave us an excuse to come to L.A., hang out and, yeah, jam, and hang out with you. Yeah.

Dust off the cobwebs. Exactly, yeah. It's been a minute, so we needed it. even when you're on it you still need to kind of like put it in some some time it's funny how quick it goes away like I mean like oh yeah she mean like we're gonna touch up some stuff oh yeah well well luckily we play death metal and kind of cover up some some stuff you know extra distortion yeah that's what I do down tune a lot down tune extra distortion look that that is literally what I do because a little bit more more more more gain and

exactly you're not going to hear the little little things yeah exactly dude so you guys were going so you're going to be on tour with ingested and that's going to actually be coming here and I was

fucking pissed that I'm gonna be out of town yeah on your own doing your own thing yeah I was pissed and I was like wait is a day up because I was gonna I was literally gonna fly back out here

oh wow I was like I was planning but I have to talk I have to There's no, I'm not going to not talk to them, but it was literally the same day on, it was May 20th. Like, literally that day, you have a show here, and then we have a show literally May 20. I'm like, can't, obviously can't make it happen. But then I believe I was talking to you, Brad, uh, via IGDM. Mm-hmm.

And, uh, made it happen. So again, I really appreciate you guys being here. Yeah, thanks, dude. Yeah, we're hyped. I've been talking to, like I said, Mark for a minute. Mm-hmm. Howman, and I've been a fan of you guys forever, so I'm like... You serious?

Yeah. Oh, yeah, dude. Because, like, I mean, people get surprised or something by, like, whatever old school death metal bands or 90s death metal bands. Like, I've always, like, been one of those guys that kept up with the trends and whatever bands are playing. Like, the new wave of, like, death core death metal bands to you guys in Whitechapel and, like, you know, the early 2000s.

To me, it was like, okay, what's the evolution of brutal death metal? Kind of, where's it going? And you guys were that first wave of, like, dude, that. fuck it's different but it's just as brutal you guys got the chugs and the heavy shit and it's like that's legit to me it's fucking awesome I was stoked about it so and still you know I was a fan especially the first first two records whoa yeah dude I was I've been listening you guys forever so wow yeah that was always kind of a thought like you know they did they even like like the deadcore stuff or like or are they are they listening to you know I mean there's

I was always curious about it, you know? They're sure our purists in the scene. They're like, yeah, death chord. I'm like, I've never, I mean, I don't think most people listen to the one genre of music 24-7. They listen to other stuff. I do. I always have, so I appreciate it. As long as it's shit's heavy, I'll listen to it.

That's kind of my only Rick rule. Isn't it kind of a trip where, you know, now you guys have hindsight to where, like, look what we fucking did? like what like what devirement did has started this whole wave of i guess you could say slam you know like again you just spoke about you know us thank you for that and uh like the white chapel the death court thing to be more exact but like that came straight from debarment like like straight up right you know and that's something i learned later on is like talking to you guys and like when i would listen to you i was like i'd hear elements of what we did or what we were doing years earlier i was like they might

must may have listened to us or something and i talked to you like a despised icon i talked to eric and and uh those guys from despise and they told me that i mean they mentioned it a million times like yeah they listened to old development that's why they did some of the slam parts in their in their songs and stuff i was like oh yeah i can hear it now that you tell me it's like okay so they did listen us and we had some kind of impact and it that's rad right it's like bands i listen to now it's like they say that we did something that they thought was cool enough to be influenced by or whatever and it's like yeah it's cool perspective

to like you say now like 20 or 30 years later removed go oh wow these bands that are legit now are huge and that I listen to name check us or whatever or something like that that's the ultimate compliment for an artist I think for me anyway yeah and you know you mentioned

like you know the bands are now you're starting to hear about it you know always they do this part because of you guys I mean so that must be kind of a trip but like you know environment has been a band for you know 20 30 years and um there's still work to be done there's still a whole like other fan base still coming in it's never heard it right you know i mean because you know bands things like this are people are going to hear like you know oh like the barraming

and people you which we we experience too like you know people forget who the ogs are you know we have to still like continually like put like the narrative out there and like you know you know put it out there and bands like us you're still you know inspired by you guys and i think there's still going to be waves of bands are going to be listening to you guys and therefore if that's happening with bands, it's going to be fans. You know? Yeah. Which means, you know, it's got to tour.

Exactly. You just got to get out there, put your stuff in front of people and hope they like it or they don't or whatever, but just getting, like you're saying, we're playing with a death core band or whatever. And I know a lot of those fans that love that band you know, have never heard us or heard of us before and they may get exposed

to us and go, I like this band. and this band has something similar and they do it well I'm gonna check this out when I get home or buy their CD or whatever you know that wouldn't have otherwise yeah and but it happened to us to like like the influence of the deathcore bands and brutal death metal it's like for us like the reason I started of our mount was out of the idea I was listening to early dying fetus and early suffocation and stuff so that was to me it was like you know those bands I see as direct influence on that and then it just kind of it's any evolution of any musical genre right that you keeps pushing boundaries or whatever. Yes, because the barament formed in 95, correct? Technically, yeah, 95. We didn't really start playing together with the lineup that was like on MTD until 97 or so.

But yeah, early mid-90s, mid-late 90s. Okay, yeah, because I kind of count like, you know, we probably have very similar stories. How, I think, like, the band starts when, like, you have, like, a band name and, like, we are a band. You know, so it could be, you know, I guess to some people that that year might kind of go, you know, back and forth.

So like the name, the environment, like, okay, this is 95. Yes. Okay, cool. That's literally how it happened. It was surrounded by. Let's hear about it, dude. Yeah, come on. Yeah, I'll just bust out real quick as fast as I can't.

So I moved to Dallas in like the 93, 94. I joined a local death metal band. It was kind of 90s. It was like playing death covers and stuff in a couple of originals. and it was called the Kill Switch which is kind of funny now but anyway and then I joined and I was like I'd just been exposed to like too many mutilated

and stuff like that I wanted to get heavier than death I love death but and I was like okay let's change the name as kind of push heavier so I changed the name to necricide which is whatever it was cool one in your 19 I guess and then I got this found this guitar player named Braxton had him joined the band we were kind of on the same way

like to want to be more brutal heavier and we started listening to Pyrex a sermon of mockery a bunch that like it was a huge influence on me and him to like push the band and we did it and we made like a record with that and it was cool but then i had this all idea i wanted just start from scratch and make like the most brutal death metal band i can ever possibly make that was just started with an idea i had and then one day i was just talking to him i was like i have a name just popped into my head devourment i was like i told him and i was like what if we call devourment he's like yeah that's pretty cool that was literally at me and the guitar player brackson

was the original, original devour, technically. So it was based around an idea of just, like, because I love the brutal death metal, all the stuff I was listening to early 90s, stuff of dying fetus, internal bleeding, pyrexia, the New York and stuff. But I just wanted to, like, take that and push it even more brutal if possible, you know, down tune,

and what, pull out all the skank beats and stuff that I thought was kind of filler stuff. That was like the only rule I had. It was like I just didn't want to play a bunch of slayer beats. Of course. So I wanted blasting. Oh, and, Cryptopsy. That's where I got the hyper-blasting stuff.

So I wanted like the speed of cryptopsy and the brutality of like dying fetus and stuff like the early fetus. So that was devourment. And then we started and then, you know, Braxton fell out of the way. I got a new member. And the original that we recorded the demo was I got a new singer named Wayne Knup who's passed away. But he's, it wasn't amazing. And he had a friend who was a guitar player, so I needed a guitar player, to him Brian Wynn. We called him Brain.

So we all hooked up, jammed one time. And like, that was it. It was like, that was devourment. That was the sound we were going. It was just grimy, sludgy, the low-tuned, heavy, brutal, chuggy stuff that we did with the hyperblasting. And that became, we immediately said, yeah, this is something, we're on to something. So we recorded a three-song demo called Impaled. And that was so well-received.

Like, everybody, you know, locally in Dallas is like, dude, there's something here. So that kind of, like, pushed us. Like the first show we ever played was just me, Brian, I'm going to. guitar and Wayne on vocals. He had three piece band. And we only had three songs. And we were opening for Dying Fetus in like 96 or something in Dallas. Before Dying Fetus is who Dying Fetus is now. And yeah, so we only had three songs. We had to play them like twice. So we played like three songs twice. That's sick. So fill out a set. But. And there was probably like 30 people there. But it was, that was like our first show show. And that's kind of, but yeah, it was the whole thing was

born out of an idea and a name. So, so right out of the gates, you had it in, like, you had, like, a vision and, like, you had it in your head, like, we want to, uh, push it to the limits as far as, like, heaviness. Like, this needs to be, like, over-to-top heavy. Yes. It has to be. Absolutely.

And it wasn't out of, like, an ego or competition thing. Sure. It was just because that's what I always gravitated to, like, my natural progression to metal, I listen to thrash and I found death metal and found suppletern. I was like, ooh, this is heavier. This is heavier. You know? It's like, that's just what I thought sound.

the best sounded amazing. I just wanted the heaviest music we could possibly make. Because I would hear these bands. I was like, it's almost what I want to hear, but it's not exactly that. And I think I can take that and make it something else and filter it through us, and it becomes something different. So it's like you take your inspirations, but you play it.

And it's not a copy, I mean, unless you're doing covers or something, but you filter it and you write and you listen, you're inspired by and you become what we became, I guess, unintentionally or intentionally sort of, you know. That's still the formula, you know. Exactly. That's still like the driving vision behind devourment is just to be the,

to write the most brutal, heaviest, disgusting death metal we can, period. Well, I'm here to say mission accomplished. Thanks. It's funny how, yeah, like, you just mentioned, like, that's the formula. You know, we do something very similar. Like, it's funny how you get older.

Like, you kind of, you might lose it and you try to go back to, like, what made it good in the beginning? Yeah, you know, we, I mean, I do it pretty often. Yeah. Because what would this is? Because it stems from like who you are, really. You know, it's like, you know, how do we make this shit sick?

It's like, well, you know, let's go back to where, you know, that innocent first thought, you know, when we make the heaviest shit possible. Wait, I'll call it the bar, man. That's fucking, that's fucking great, man. Thanks. I mean, yeah, it's, it was cool. It was like, yeah, I keep like, it sounds pretentious or whatever, but I like, keep trying to push it that it's like it's about an artistic vision or an aesthetic about a sound

and you know this kind of thing so that's what it was all created around it's not created around just like oh i want to start a band and write some songs it's like i have this idea of what i want to hear sonically you know and in it in its entirety like how thick it is how fat it is and how heavy it is and hooky and catchy and all the other stuff that's another thing i loved about when you had glenbenton is like he emphasized hooks and like you know catchy things and rhythms and melodies and death metal, which I think is a key part of good songwriting that I think a lot of some modern bands

that are amazing bands, but overlooks maybe some of the songwriting, songcraft aspects of death metal. But that's another thing we focused on. And why I think we have, like, within death metal, somewhat memorable songs, you know, or like a cannibal does or a Diochusad does. You know, anyway, that's just philosophies.

Great, yeah. It's funny, not a lot of bands or artists talk about it that way, but it does start with the vision first. You know, very similar in that way. And I was curious, like, you guys were so focused and so around the groove, where even to this day is lacking in, like, maybe like modern death metal or, like, the mid-2000 death metal to late 99-death metal, like, you just out of the gates. Did you get any kind of backlash? at all because it was still like groove nothing. What do you think? No, I think the human mind wants to move their head when you're at a show.

So, and that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, be able to see people moving. We don't want people just kind of stand there watching, you know, intricate tar playing or whatever it's, yeah, so that's, that's not quite as important as the, as the, as the song, per se. So yeah, yeah, it's always been about that groove. I've actually had people tell me we're like the Pantera of Death Metal before.

That's a compliment to me. Yeah, absolutely. It's all about the crowd movement, you know? Yeah, it's about making people want to get up and move and slam or pit or punch or whatever that. And as a musician, I can appreciate good musicianship and technical stuff. But that's not what I'm trying to listen for as a listener.

I'm trying to listen to something that grabs me sonically or melodically or something rhythmically that makes me go, oh yeah, that's, hell yeah, dude. You know, that's just so brutal. I just, I got to hit something. Not like, whoa, did you see that, you know, sick arpeggio he played there?

That's like, that's cool, but that's not what I'm listening for. But yeah, no, we never had any, like he said, we never had any backlash per se. Because, and that's another thing. It's like, we never, I think that was just natural. We always just gravitated towards groovier or heavier parts over, like I said, skank beats or just constant fast stuff.

Because to me, that's where the meat of a song is, is like some kind of rhythm. I don't know. Maybe it's because I'm coming from the drums. I'm always looking for groove or I feel groove in everything. You're just a caveman. Yeah, I'm total. Caveman slam roofs and caveman beats and caveman grooves. Yeah, it's all, you know, basic.

Yeah, that explains your longevity. Was that a lyric or what? You're going to get that a lot today. Sick. Yeah, that really explains like the longevity of devourment, really focusing on the group and making people move. You know, it'll be surprised how many bands don't do that. You know, so it explains like, you know,

anyone could write, you know, a sick song, but, you know, try lasting 20, 30 years of being in a sick band. People still talking about you and wearing, and wearing a shirt and still moving at shows. Yeah, I think that's why we've always had, I felt like, again, not a calculated move, but why we've had kind of our own niche inside death metal and brutal death metal.

There are some bands that focus exclusively on groove. There's some bands that focus exclusively on tech, but there's not one that kind of blends it. I feel in a way that we do it. I mean, Suffo does really, you know, amazing stuff. They're super technical and fast, and they have, I mean, they basically banded this. slam riff, but we did, yeah, maybe put more emphasis on that.

And I think, I mean, not to be, again, the pretentious artist thing about like, we always wrote music for us, what we wanted to hear, not what we give a shit, what anyone thought of, that's why I think it was so surprising when we did our first album, it kind of, within that sphere, within that world it kind of blew up or took off, or people seemed to resonate with it, is that we wrote this stuff completely for us. stuff completely for us, not giving a shit if anyone liked it or not, just this is the music we wanted to make for us. And that other people said, no, that's amazing.

I've never heard anything like that or no bands doing this the way you're doing it. It's like, it's just the ultimate affirmation for, you know, doing your own thing as an artist or a creative person, you know, within music or whatever, is like, if you have a vision, you do it and you execute it with, you know, blocking everything else out. and then the people just come, you know what I mean, with it. It's like, because people can tell if an artist is genuine or fake or they're playing, pandering or playing to an audience or something, right, versus they're just doing their thing.

And like, I like the thing they're doing, you know. And it's because we had, there was, you know, so many bands out of Dallas at that time we were playing with shows with and stuff. They were doing records and they were great too, but they maybe were a little more derivative or didn't have as quite a unique niche or, idea about how to do that kind of stuff and we kind of felt like we did and it kind of worked out for us I guess that way that people singled us out out of all those bands not as being the most technically proficient or best band but like the songs were there and the idea was there

that maybe wasn't in other places you know even then you can still single out you guys it's such a identifiable sound right it's still like oh that's that's that's the environment. Yeah. Still, it can't, it's like, and now you got, you guys touched on like, you know, like, like, like, like, like, like, the very primal. And I definitely hear that in your music. Right. You know, and it's, because that's kind of the toughest thing to do. Yeah. You know. I agree. That's, that's a good point. Like, because, I mean, people joke around and say that, the caveman riffs and. Sure. Slam. And yes, it's basic, it's, you know, four, four chugs and bobbing your head and all that stuff. And it's like, but I think,

again, what may have separated us is that we wanted to play dumb, lowbrow, heavy music. But the way we did it and the way we wrote it, we were very meticulous and smart about how we constructed that. You know what I mean? So we're expressing ourselves through this lowbrow medium or whatever, but we're doing it in kind of a sophisticated way we felt. You know what I mean? Because you can hear a lot of bands that play those type of riffs, but the song is just like, of that riff and then four of a blast and four of that riff and it's that's boring after a while it's it can be it's like what's different it's like it's the same type of

riff it's in same tempo and the same but it doesn't catch with people the way some of our songs did early on I guess so well then that that leads me into my next question you know how did uh how did you personally meet Rubin I mean talk about like a match being in heaven you know you do it um I actually had met Wayne the original vocalist many years ago when we were kids through another mutual friend wind up hearing them on K&O in Dallas one time they had a phone number I called it turned out Wayne was the guy that I had met you know way back when it was in middle school really middle

school yeah that's that's when I first met Wayne he wasn't a singer you know we weren't yeah no ambitions of being in a band or anything. Of course. But yeah, it was just funny. And wind up going over to their apartment. He was living with him and Hound. TXDM, corpse gristle, records.

Our Svengali, our manager, the guy who came up with the development logo, he drew the logo. The Hound. This guy, Paul Haybar, we called Hound. He was a tattoo artist that kind of like he had money and he liked our band. He kind of helped us out and financed us early in the beginning. and he was friends with us. So it was kind of like, he's kind of like the unknown fifth member. Whoa.

So shout out, Paul. Yeah. He's still doing stuff for the environment. Exactly. Yeah, sure. Whoa. Yeah. So kind of started hanging around and stuff and going to their practices.

I was a huge fan, like, immediately when I heard the demo. And I was so big of a fan. I actually learned the lyrics. And start going on their practices, Wayne many times wouldn't show up. So I just kind of grabbed the mic once or twice. and the rest was kind of history. I got a phone call from Brain a couple months later, hey, we're thinking about getting a new vocalist.

And he's like, you're fucking crazy? Who's the fuck you're going to get? He's like, we're thinking about you. You know? I just had to point out your clock says 1-38 right now. Oh, what the fuck is up, dude? That is sick, dude. Have you been waiting that whole time?

I was just been watching it a whole whole. Yeah. That's why we change the time to one o'clock, isn't it? Yeah. Oh, that's good. That is great. Great marketing. Thank you for that.

So dumb. Holy moly. But yeah, I mean, that's kind of how we met. Yeah, the rest of became history. Because we were, like, we were jamming with Wayne, like he said, he's, I didn't even know he was, I didn't know him at all. I saw him at our apartment with my, that we lived at, like you mentioned, as some random dude that would show up around.

I didn't know who he was. I was like, he was. some weirdo. I thought, kids get out of here. And then, like you said, Wayne started having some issues

with, you know, showing up and doing the work. It happens. It happens. And then he just happened to be there. One of the times Wayne wasn't there, they were like, get on the mic.

We were at a practice, and we're just jamming songs. I literally, like, just grabbed the mic just to see what it sounded like. Yeah, and we started playing. I had no intention of,

you know, taking that vocal spot and anything else. No, okay. None. So I was kind of shocked when Brain called me, like a few months later, hey, you know, it's like, what the fuck? It's because he got on the mic, like I said, we were practicing. He got on the mic just for no reason. And me and Brian were like, whoa, this guy's sick.

This guy might be better than Wayne. Oh, like, holy crap. I mean, he's, he's heard it on MTD. The guy's nuts. Wayne is, sick. Yeah. They're both God tiered vocals. But, like, we heard to him.

He was like, sick. He smoked us and we were just like, call him. Call that clear to him. Yeah, call that guy. That is nuts, dude. And this was like what, like how long before we recorded the album, MTD? It was like, I want to say it sometime in early 98, late 97.

Yes, like less than a year before we were going to go record our first album. So when Rumin came in, like, were you guys already in the process of writing that record. Are we writing it or did Ruben come in and then you started writing that record? So when I joined, they were in the middle of writing post-mortal coprophasia, which is the third track on the album. They had already had the three-song demo. Yes.

And those three songs made it to the album as well. So technically they were kind of halfway through the writing process already. it's kind of a it's kind of a good time to come in yeah like you because you can still you still had time to put like your like your stamp on it you know sure sure so okay so that is my next question so what was the writing process for molesting the decapitated because that's like literally the record I mean you know like what was that what was that process like were you guys in like like a room in the garage jamming like what was yeah it was it was uh Like I said, when we first jammed, me and Brian ever jammed, it was at his house in Haltam City, outside of Fort Worth, Texas, and he had a little garage in the back. We jammed out there, and that's where we started writing the first songs for the demo, the three songs. And then when we started trying to fill it out for MTV, yeah, it was the same deal. We just, me and him, it was kind of like a James and Laura situation.

He'd come on with riffs. I'd come on with rhythm ideas and beats and stuff, and we'd kind of mash them together for the most part. and like, so I felt like I was, he's a good riff writer, and I felt like I was a good arranger, song arranger, as far as, like, constructing, you know, the parts and where they go and how long we should play X and Y and that kind of thing. So that's, that was pretty much most of it. And Kevin Clark also had some riffs, our second guitar player at the time,

came in with, you know, a few riffs here and there. I can't remember which song specifically. But, yeah, the gist of it was me and Brian Wynn writing all the, all the songs together makes like i said riffs and just ideas and putting them together playing and working them out you know old school great up old school old school dude work working him out probably some fights probably some oh absolutely probably some bickering you you suck or you're out of the band now and you come back the next day right okay yes yeah yeah dude that's just the way to do it man you got to hash it out yeah you know you're just there riding and you're just this blasting fucking

brutal death metal and like you know you're just playing the effluent for for for for hours and hours. Exactly. Let's say like a normal day. Like how long was like a day, you know? Of like writing? Yeah. We'd usually jam for like, I don't know, three or four hours at a time.

Wow. You know, probably work on one or two songs at a time in terms of like arranging, instructing. Because like I said, he would come in with a bunch of riffs already and then we'd kind of massage them and work them into stuff. Occasionally he would come in with like an almost completely written song. Like Devour the Dam, I think he mostly had completely written when he came in. So it was just me learning it and making tweaks here and there. Yeah, so it was slow and, you know, slow in jam room writing as it is.

But, yeah, I guess we got those other five songs done within like nine months or something before we're going to go record the record or something like that. That is, there's a magic to that, just hashing out in a room. There's just something to it. I don't really know, like, the wording to put to that, but there's just something about it. It's just, yeah, it's organic. I love writing stuff and sending files on the computer now. That's great and stuff.

But yeah, getting in a room and just like yelling at each other, there's no replacement for it. I think you have to have that. You got to have the two people, you know, arguing back and forth. And, you know, me, I'm kind of always been the middleman with him and Chris. And, you know, I kind of feel like it's like, okay, let's listen to him. Let's listen to him, you know. And then we try to work this out.

Exactly. He can be the objective mediator and go, no, that. Rift's better. Nope, he's right on it. Oh, wow. Yeah, that kind of thing. So, Ruben, you are also in the room as well? A lot of the times, and it's usually if they're writing for a while, and then I'll kind of get a message from him, it's like, dude, you need to come up here. We need to try to work some stuff out.

We're stuck. And I know. We're not getting along. So then I get up in there. I'll get up in there. It's like, okay, you got to listen to each other, you know. I know he gets pissed. Chris, you know, he'll get offended.

and stuff. Of course. But at the same time, you have to have that. Otherwise, you're just going to have, you know, in my opinion, a crappy record. If everybody's like, oh, this is great. It's going to be sterile. It's not going to have the edge. Exactly.

Yeah. You need that creative push and pull. Totally. Yeah. It just adds an unexplainable something. It does. Conflict makes for great music. Exactly.

If you learn how to, you know, communicate back and forth and not exactly. The hard part is not to break up and completely hate each other. If you can get through that part, you know, you can get through that part, you do your fucking set. Exactly. You know? Yeah. Okay, now let's...

We need to get into the record cover. You gotta talk about the cover. Do we really? Jay, uh, not, me... We don't have to do it for a lot. No, no, no. I'm just kidding.

But Jay... I love it, dude. I don't even know Google will even find the fucking cover, man. Oh, it's right there is. The uncensored version? Yeah. It's right there.

So, yeah, so the uncensored version. Who came up with his cover? Was, was it Mike? No. That's actually a real photo. Hound came up. Hound had a book by an artist, Joel Peter Whitkin. Yep.

So please don't sue us. I'm sorry. We found it. He had been towing with the idea of calling a song, Lesting the Decapitated. It's like maybe you should call the album that. And then, you know, that was kind of in the book. I came over that song title. He showed me that photo.

And I was like, that's it. That's it, dude. That's perfect. There it is. Press it. You fucks. so disgusting so right now

this is where we would pull this up on YouTube basically the whole screen should be bird basically but if you're listening and watching we're just looking at the cover it's classy dude come on okay so this came from a book

he's doing it okay Jay calm down hey what's up man I mean I'm sure you're familiar with the bin caught buttering is the same guy okay pungent stench

yeah he does like this real life looks like funeral type photograph. I don't know how he does. He takes corpses and makes photos with them. Makes art. Whoa.

Right. I don't know. Well, apparently he makes album covers, you know. I mean, it. Little did he know. No, yeah, right? I mean, it caught people's attention back in the day. It still does, man.

Yeah. It still does. And this is what, like 99? Yes. So when, it's just like a funny process where like you, you see it. it and you're like that's it's perfect yeah it just it literally fell in place it was like everything kind of worked out it's like the logo when we were jamming one time and hound came over and he had the he'd drawn it he said i got made a logo for you guys like okay sure whatever you showed it and we all

sat and there's like that's it wow you know it's just like bam that's exactly what we want and then i came like i said i came up with random song titles i didn't write any lyrics but i would just come up with song titles and lusting the cavitators one of the ones i came up with for a while i've no I don't want him lost any decapitated bodies or anything. Of course. And yeah, and then he'd show me that photo. I was like, I got this title. I was like, whoa, that kind of, that guy doesn't have a head.

It kind of works out. And he's naked. Yeah, and he's naked. And I see his peepy. Looks like somebody else through him. That's what I mean. His pants are gone, dude. He's got his socks on them.

Yeah, he could use a diet. He could use a diet. He could use a diet. He could use a diet. He could use a diet. Yeah. So nuts, dude. Made it.

Yeah. He should go on a diet. He's shit. And like the fact And like I was just looking at like past merch lines that you guys have had

and like you literally put it on T-shirts. We put it on a T-shirt again like last year. Do people buy that? Yeah. Dude, you'd be shocked.

Okay, this is funny. People like bag for it sometimes. What? I want to shout out my buddy Cody Davidson from Sangua Sigel bog. So he's a big development fan. We're friends. I'm a fan of San Francisco Bog and him

and all his bands too. And he bought one of those shirts and came out like last year right when saying so good bog filmed this like video like in studio video and he wore that shirt and the video i was like dude you can't wear that in that video they're gonna like block your video or something he was like oh yeah i didn't think of that well there was there was that stabbing got and it was yes it was that but somebody made a oh yeah somebody made a statue of it yeah there's three-d statue yeah there's action figures of that guy somebody made like an action figure of the mtd cover guy

What the fuck? Really? Yes. It's like a NECA, like, badass, like, detailed, 3D printed. Action figure. Yeah. Like, you get up like a Hellraiser or something like that.

Yeah. Yeah. But it's that dude. Yeah. Unbelievable. Crazy. Unbelievable. There it is right there.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's in the packaging and everything. Buy that Toys R Us. Yeah. I definitely would like to meet someone before I die that is clearly a carous to meet them and they're wearing that shirt. That's such a, that's a very, for a T-shirt.

It's very extreme. I agree. It's very extreme. They're out there. Yeah. They're out there. Yeah, we used to think that, what was it? The cradle fell of Jesus was a cunt shirt.

Yeah. A little bit of a little bit of a little bit of, no, dude. A naked dude's penis with his head missing on your front of your shirt, that's hardcore. You put it on like, you know, orange camo, peak camo and like the whole nine. Yeah. I would never wear stuff like that. Yeah. I can't wear my own band's merch, yeah.

Exactly. I'm still waiting to see the tattoo of it somewhere. somebody's probably someone out there someone in Poland oh my opinion next to you well me again is one of those weird things that just worked

you know yeah we had a bunch of like lucky breaks where we felt like this is what we want and it just kind of fell into place like that did we weren't searching for a naked photo of a guy

yeah do you know with the internet back then uh shut up we had AOL bro we had hot man on holy metal yeah

shit you I'm still man that's just that's that's that's the cover and I was curious like a so when you so when this gets uploaded to like let's say like a Spotify like do you have to edit the cover or what's or I think we do yeah I think most times like you saw some of them they had like steakovers even they're getting creative now because if you look at some of them some of them just like black it out with well not that we'll just make it look like the shadow covers the the part. Yeah, yeah. It's just like, yeah, just a black hole.

Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, because Spotify's getting kind of weird with like artwork where you kind of have to. Yeah, the Apple one is definitely blacked out. Yeah, you can see it, yeah. I saw some of the ones Hound posted were blacked out too. Yeah, if you go on Apple music and look at the album or Spotify, I think, it's just... Apple for sure it has to be...

It's blacked. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Steve Jobs is cool that, dude. So I know this is, no, this is too much. It's Apple. Yeah, okay. It's just blacked out.

Yeah. They just like, make the shadow. going. My goodness. It's like a vagina. It's like a bikini. It's like a hair pie. And one last thing about this record. So what's very interesting about

the sound of the environment is also the recording quality and we're talking 90s. You can't really, it's like where do you go to record something like this? And like the fact that the Impale demo sounds as good as it does and then this record sounds the way it does,

I mean, shout out to you, Braxton. Yeah. I mean, the way, I mean, the sound that you guys got from this record is pretty, I assume there is nowhere else to go in Texas or Dallas to get that kind of sound. No, not really. I mean, there's studios, but yeah, to get like what we were trying to go for was this. Yeah, and they had a history already. Yeah, since Braxton was the original guitar player of devourment, but he was doing other things, but he wanted to produce it, so. Did you just trust them? Absolutely. Because, like I said, since we were in the same band, he knew exactly what my vision of this band was sonically as well, like how I wanted to sound, not just the songs,

but like that I wanted the most brutal, thickest thing we could get on record. And we were doing real-to-reel tape back then, old-school, old-school. Yeah. So, yeah, we trusted him completely and we weren't disappointed. When we got the masters back, we were like, yep, that's exactly what we want to sound like. What did you think? When you first hear it, it's always like, wow. It is that's exactly because that's the first record I'd ever played on or done anything with and it's like to get that back and then to also be like stoked on it.

Yeah. And like it's hard to do. We did the thing I wanted to do for years and it's in my hand and I can listen to it and it sounds amazing. It's like that's the best feeling, right? Yeah. Yeah. How is the, how is like the reaction? Like what did I mean?

I can tell you because I grew up on the East Coast, right? So I was listening to that when it came out And it like totally blew the scene apart up there Where me and my friend would go to shows And we would walk out Because so many bands were copying that sound We're just like another devourment rip off And we'd just walk out

Really? Yeah, yeah It just totally changed everything up there So you guys You guys also experienced like the copycat thing This is like the record comes out I don't know if they did but I did See that's the funny thing

It's not like now back then We didn't since we didn't communicate a bunch on the internet it was mostly still through like tape trading and snail mail and stuff like it. So we didn't know that stuff. We knew we liked it and we knew our local scene dug it and was kind of blowing up there. We had no clue. People like in other parts of the country liked it as much as, that's what I mean, like coming back and like finding out all these bands listen to it.

We had no idea. We knew it did well in that little, our little small pond in Texas. And that was it. We didn't know. Okay, the first thing I knew that like made me go, oh my God, we did something for real, for real. I was obsessed, like I said, with fetus and cryptopsy and all this other stuff. And somehow cryptopsie in Canada got a copy of it.

And John Levesour, the guitar player or whatever at the time, sent me a handwritten letter saying it was amazing and it was innovative. And I was like, oh, my God. I was like, one of my God-level inspirational bands just sent me a letter and told that this record we just did. That was like, okay, maybe we did. something, you know. Yeah, not only people talk about cryptopsy, but they've been around for a long time doing

death metal at a high level. Absolutely. Like high level, what, non-so-vile came out early 90s? Yes. And but like I was, people forget, dude. The record before that was blasphemy made flesh. That's the record that, like, I heard and I was like, what the shit is. That's literally the record that made me decide to put what we call whatever at the time hyperblasting

or whatever in devourment. That's why we have so many, our blast parts are like stupid. fast. That's straight straight up cryptopsie. Wow. Because I like all and that's,

I mean, I try to do all the kinds of blasts. You start out, you're the bomb blast the cannibal, Muzerkowitz, do the hammer blast

from Suffo, you're the old school morbid blast, whatever. When I heard the fenestration, the first track on blast we made flesh

on a cassette that somebody gave me from cryptopsy and I heard that shit was like 300 BPM or something stupid. I was like,

what is that? Is that even drums? Is that human? Then I just sat in my garage and trying to play that song for like ever and then i came back to start devourment with these guys i was like this is what we're going to be blasting you know fucking hyper shit it's like none of this no hyper blasts yeah it's gonna be if we're blasting what's the point of blasting i want to go as

fast as possible cool that cover jay so yes there you go we were uh that's not it is that it no oh you're talking about non so that's blast we made flesh that's is it yes oh shit okay yeah yeah yeah yeah What a record, dude. Yeah, that's amazing. Legend. Yeah, shout-out Cryptopsy. O.G. Cryptopsy is one of the most extreme brutal bands ever.

And what year did this record come out? 93. 93? Did you check that, please. 93? So are we going to guess in... 94, 93, something like that. 90?

I'm going to guess, yeah, 93. Because I remember hearing it, and I'm pretty sure I first heard it in like 95, and it had already been out. So I think it was nice. would have been out for a while yeah i think so i'm thinking about non non so vile that came out like mid 90s yeah it feels very mid mid 90s nonsovaal was like that yeah that next level we were oh my god these guys were amazing before now they're just like next level 94 november 94 jesus 12 i was you born yet john i was nine yeah i mean i was like i was like i was like i was like i was listening molestine the gabstated and freshman year of high school like you know yeah

You know, I was listening to like, you know, slip nod and all that kind of shit back then, you know, like, big into that. And I heard that shit and I was like, yeah, it's all those memes of like, so it was over, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's like those. Change your life. Yeah, pretty much. Mean pictures you see of like a kid told like, slipnot's the heaviest thing you ever heard. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Then her head exploded. Yeah, I was like, 13 years old. Yeah. I was like, yeah. Never would have thought it would be jammed with you guys, you know? Like, fuck. Yeah. It's true.

Crazy life, huh? Yeah, man. Nuzz, yeah. We were, now I'm thinking about the conversation we had with defeated San Antonio Welk, and also Diego from the score started out, we're talking about unique blasting. And there's what we're describing. There is the cannibal blast where you put the banyam on it. There's the subpo blast, right?

I just heard about called the offset blast. Or it's like a, it's like, the, I call it a euro. Like emulation. Yeah, it's like, it's like the snare is between. Kick snare, kick snare? Yeah. Yeah. It's like that one.

So that's, do you call it an offset? And I failed to bring up then and I failed as a host, but the varmint has your own blast. It's the fucking first blast. Oh. Festering? It's like a. Yeah. It's like a buzzerle.

Yeah. Yeah. That's like, that's, you literally took what Cryptopsy did and put your own twist to it and made a devourment blast. That's literally what I was intending. I'm doing so that it worked out and people like respond. Because like since no one had ever done it and I never heard it on a record, I was like either people are going to laugh at this or it's going to be stupid. People did though, but in a video.

Yeah, yeah. No, no. Because I did that and then I pushed it even further on one of this. I would start doing the thing I call them press buzz roll blast or buzz grind. Buzz grind. Oh my goodness. Yeah, which is literally just a buzz roll over kicks and stuff. But yeah.

And that was before I heard anyone doing like gravity blasts or any kind of stuff like that. So I was like trying to invent my own little thing. But yeah, the festering thing, that song did start with that beat. That's how we wrote that. I was like, I have this idea. Can we write a riff around that? Yeah. They worked out in brain.

Just like, yeah, that'll work. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's really cool to hear the history of it. I didn't know he got it from Cryptopsy. He's fucking sick. I mean, their cryptopsies are also goats. Yes. Philo Monnier from Cryptopsies.

and Dave Cole Ross, the drummer of Malaulella Creation at the time, but he was also this band called Discourged from New York, but most, and then suffocation eventually. Those are my two favorite. Steve Ashim, maybe? Yeah, definitely D-A-S-I. I love D-A-Side, too. Always have.

How do you see his last name? I always thought it was Ashime. Didn't Glenn said, Steve Asim or something? Because I mispronounced it on camera, so I felt like an idiot. We all did. And then he corrected me. It's his fault for having a weird ass last name.

I was like, I was like, how do you see that guy? Don't say it wrong in front of him? Oh, there you go. Stephen. Yeah, Glenn's intense, man. He is, man. Great guy, though. Yes.

You know, there's a complete opposite, you know, you don't really know someone until you sit down and talk to him. Yeah. It's like, you have like these preconceived notions and you hear the rumors and you see someone and you talk about. I say that's the best interview I've ever seen with Glenn. by the way your interview well the most informative best you got more out of them like that was the most entertaining because I don't know a lot of people like that came from the 90s death-mo scene like me and Rubin like back then like pre-internet tape trading

all that stuff was like all these bands had this mystique because nobody really knew them right yeah they were never so like Glenn Bent was like literally this cartoon character that we heard beat up people and burn crosses in his forehead which he did But like it fed into this like Legend of Glenn Benton Which is partially true But like to see him like And then he when he told you like the reason he does what he does is revenge

I was like that's the most Glenn Bent For anything I've ever heard my life That's like that was spite I do it out of spite Yeah right Wow There's a legend you Glenn Betton Yeah

Another goat another OG Absolutely Yeah I'm still going Still going Still going still going. They sound amazing

that still. Yeah, sounded fucking phenomenal. Psalm that night and I was, oh shit, turns into like a, turns into Glenn Benton.

It was like a, it was like a demon. Yeah, just turned, the switch goes on. Switch goes on. It was watching like, wow,

it's the same person. Yeah, some of those 90s bands, you see him, you're like, okay. And some of you're like, that's what it sounded like

in 93, you know, or whatever, and that's, the site is killing it. Absolutely. When did you see him? Last,

I think, we saw them at MDF, Maryland Death Fest. We played there in 2020. No, we played with them at Hellfest, 2019. And Hellfest. They were both at both.

But we watched them at MDF. Like, I watched their whole set. I sang the whole thing. I was like, I know every word, dude. And so, say, this father can't go to him out. I'm like, dude, it's so nice. Yeah, they definitely sound like an influence on you guys. Yeah, yes.

With the mid-tempo and death metal stuff that we do in our songs was straight up, D-Sid-ish. Dead by Dawn type grooves and stuff Well I got to say As a fan And a fellow musician

It's really cool to see You guys with like a solid lineup Because you were gone for like Like three records Yeah So it's cool It's cool to see like

You guys back And it seems to You know friends Yeah So It's worked out really well We're really happy What did you think

When Rueberman It went on what's that a room in like went on did still still deal were you oh I mean I always kept track of it

but no I was never pissed that they kept going because like when I quit I had a sour taste in my mouth so I didn't want anything to do with Beth metal I'm like or devourment I just like

do your thing whatever and he started up a little bit and then Mike Majuski started up again you know for the middle era of devourment yep who became the singer

and all the switching roles and stuff. Yeah, I thought it was amazing. I had the hugest respect for all the stuff that they were doing with the band. I didn't necessarily listen to all the records and follow it like that or anything, but I had no ill will or anything.

I kind of checked out mostly until like 2011 or something. I kind of got, whatever it is. It's like, you play something for so long, you go away from it, you're like, eventually it comes around, again you're like yeah I want to play death metal again I don't know why I have no clue what and then I started trying to put bands together and then we just me and him

hooked up with Brian the original guitar player from molesting who hadn't played in death metal bands forever so I was like oh it'd be kind of cool the original MTV drummer the original MTV guitar player from Devourment OG Devourment started a band and we started kind of doing that and then he kind of left and that's where John stepped in yep got him on guitar with that project yeah so we jammed with John before Shia, that interim band between me quitting DeVarment and rejoining Devonement. And then when we got the opportunity to rejoin, Chris was like the sole member and he asked me, is like, hey, do you want to come

back to DeVarment and play drums? And it's just me. I'll be playing guitar instead of bass now. Let's jam and see what happens. I was like, yes, try it out. That's cool. Let me try. Because Michia was kind of falling apart at that point. So, and we jammed and I was like, I don't know, you know, if this is going to work. I don't. But then we jammed and I was like, this is going to work.

It was one of those situations again where you just get in a room with somebody and you play and you're like, that's it. That's what I'm looking for. You know, everything just fit again. And we've been going since since 2013,

2014. 2014. We had our first tour and reformed. And I mean, obviously, like one of my things was like I was telling, Chris, if I rejoined,

can we get Rubin back on vocals? It was like, like bring it all the way back. Yeah. He was all too happy to oblige. Yeah, and we didn't know that, though. I didn't know that because he hadn't sang in what? I hadn't sung in forever.

15 years. There was things about molesting where it was like I didn't really like the way the vocal came out. But then I started thinking about it, you know, this is my chance to kind of fix, you know, write those wrongs and fix all that. Yeah. You know. So I was pretty nervous, but, you know, in the end, you know, I came in that first practice. to us and it was like, oh, this is it. Just like he said, you know.

It felt good? Yeah, oh, yeah. I could tell you were nervous, too. That was funny, because I was asking, you were like, I don't know, man, I don't know if I can do it. Then it was like, I could tell from our perspective, too, and me and Chris jammed and he showed up, got on the mic, and we jammed like one song or something. He was like, yeah, this, we're back, dude.

I think we're back, man. John Wick, I'm thinking we're back. I think I think we're back. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, because Ruben, you and you've been playing guitar for years. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I still play guitar, like, in my house and stuff. But, yeah, I don't mess carrying any of the car.

I'm not going to lie. Like my microphone, I usually hand. He makes me carry his microphone. He doesn't carry his mic. Of course. That's a joke. Sort of. Sort of, but not really.

No, dude, it's great that you got the OG lineup. You guys are going on nine years as solid. It's crazy how long it took you guys to get like this is like a solid. lineup you know yeah from from little i know from you dave like you're a very chill guy and i mean you have like a very chill base player it kind of locks everything in and it's eases the mood yeah yeah yeah so you were talking about that yesterday and some of the conflicts we're getting into and they called me basically switzerland right like i'm the neutral one trying to smooth it over here you go make sure everybody's happy getting along me and chris are the brothers the butt heads and fight

while we're writing the music he's the dad and he's the like calming whoever cousin the aunt I don't know the aunt yeah the sweet aunt yeah yeah yeah's great so I mean that so uh Rubin you're you're back and you and you were in the room too right the first gym I don't think so no because not initially I was like bug and Brad like hey yeah remember me your old bass player oh yeah I want to be a devourment too he's like we'll see we'll see I'm like I was not what it did well y'all you didn't know what you're doing that's my point I was like I was like Like, I don't even know if me and Chris are going to gel.

Right, right. That's what I was, I was like, first I got to jam with him and go, is this going to work at all? Then him. But I was like, hey, we played some of those songs in the Shia. So I was like, I know half the set. You're going on tour like next month. They're like, all right, thank you. Thanks.

Oh, thanks, dude. A couple days into the tour, like, hey, you're pretty cool. You want to join? I'm like, I try to hide it. I'm like, yeah. I'm like, fuck, yeah. I forgot about that. I forgot.

Because I listened to them in high school, right? And now I'm jamming at them. I'm like, how hell did that happen? That's such a crazy moment, huh? It still is. I still look at on stage sometime. I'm like, how would I get here, right? I'm in the barrenage.

That's basically how I felt when I initially joined to. It's just like, how the fuck did this happen? Yeah, because you guys didn't have the intention of like drug. No, mine was just 16 years later. Yeah. Either way over a decade. Yeah, right? Long day time.

Yeah. No, this is a good lineup, and this is good material, right? So it's a good time to be in the band. for sure. I think this year marks our longest continuous lineup right? This will be like you said nine years so yeah pretty solid yeah very solid no

I just so I take you guys are you know communicating and you know being being friends it's really cool to hear the back story where like it really you were you know with Rubin and and Dave like you were a fan first and then and then he joined that that's such an interesting way to join a band I don't know

what that's like really right yeah because you know we're just like Yeah. Or this is it. You had an idea. You did your thing. Yeah, you didn't try to like... That's really cool, man.

You didn't try to weasel your way into a bigger band. Not yet. No, I'm just kidding. Oh, my goodness. Let's not. Here he comes. Yeah, right. Dave, how long have you been living here?

Only less than a year and a half, dude. Less than a year and a half? Yeah, yeah. Oh, shit. Like the end of 21, I moved out here. Were you East Coast or what? So East Coast, but then I was in Texas for like 10 years. That's how I met up with them.

Yeah. Yeah. You're like, I gotta, you know what, I'm going to have like a life plan just to join this fucking... I wish, right? It's going to fall and have worked out. I'm going to move around, around Dallas. Yeah, yeah. That's fucking sick.

I'm pretty ignorant about the Texas metal scene. How was, like, the death metal scene like in, like, the 90s and the early 2000s? It was pretty fucking rad. I mean, I came, like, from, like, more the old school thrash, so we had, like, rigor mortis. We had an old band called Sedition. There was a club out in Fort Worth I used to go to all the time. I saw Diazada in their first tour there. I was called Joe's Garage.

But, yeah, dude, we had Prophecy. We had Mietas. We had Century. Prophecy. Prophecy. Yeah. Some of the heaviest vocalists out of anywhere I've ever heard come from Dallas for whatever reason. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. I moved there just after some of those bands. So there was like there already was a legit. And it's not like a rose-colored glasses that you're just like, they were really good bands. There was like a whole contingent of Christian death metal bands was kind of strange, but they were amazing. Like disencumbrance, a band called Embodiment. Embodiment was amazing. Are they Texas?

Yes, they're Dallas. I've jammed with the guitar player and hit subsequent band called The Famine. Oh, shit. But, yeah, embodiments from there. When we were starting environment, me and Brains would watch Embodiment live all the time. They were one of them. And they were kids. They were like 16 or something.

Holy moly. Embodiment, dude. They were like child prodigy, death metal band. They were a killer. Dude, that's sick. Embalmed. I mean, yeah, embodiments,

one of the sickest guitar players I've ever heard in death metal is Andy Godwin, the primary songwriter, singer of the early embodiment stuff. What do you think of their later stuff? I liked it. It's just, I mean, the reason I got into them

was because of their heavy stuff because they did it so well. But I respect them for, like, changing. Everything they wrote, even when they changed styles, was good because he was such a good songwriter. So I listened to it and when they had the different airs. And like when they even morphed back into more metalcore with the famine, it was still good. The riffs were amazing.

So that's why I was like, yeah, I want to play some of the stuff. This is between me, like, rejoining, trying to do full-time death metal again. So it was a good, like, entry point for me to kind of get back into heavy music. Oh, wow. I just want to point out your clock says 213, and that's the Slayer song. Stop it. It's also different dominole. Turn to figure out.

Don't let Dave see the clocking. What's next? Six, six, six. Oh, yeah. Well, this clock goes to six, six, six. We'll listen to this podcast for four hours. Come on. All right.

Hit it. Wait, isn't two things about Dahmer? Yeah, it's a apartment number. Good show. I did not know embodiment was from a Texas. Yeah. Now you know. Yeah.

D.FW. I guess it's something about Dallas that's this brutal, vocals, huh? I don't know what it is, man. It's the barbecue, the tamales or something. The heaviest vocals, yeah. Yeah. Oh, my goodness.

It's totally true, too. Phil Holland, dude. Phil Holland, the prophecy, original prophecy singer. I'm not going to say me, but. Rubin. I'll say Rubin. Of course. Wayne.

Wayne can up, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I don't know. You're right. A lot of those bands had a very big focus on just really brutal, heavy stuff, and they were good at it. so good at it. And I don't know how that compared

to like other scenes at the time. Like we only knew the California bands and the New York bands. It's basically, you know, stuff with the Pyrexia. And then we heard disgorge like on their first cassette.

Maddie Way. We're like, yeah, that's fucking sick. Because we'd always, then we'd start getting loved together. Like it's the two most brutal bands at the time or whatever. True. They had a different,

obviously different approach, which we were fans of them. They were fans of us. So it was kind of big, you know, I talked to Ricky Myers, the drummer back then and stuff. And we played, I think we played one show with him. I can't remember. Anyway.

That's a brutal show. Yeah. Yeah, it was cool. Speaking of a brutal show, there's a tour that I want to see it happen. I want it to be cannibal corpse, devourment, to feed a sanity, and make it the heaviest tour of all time. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody call us.

How you guys did a present with a cannibal? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we did a couple of weeks with them across the U.S. and 2010. I did like a few dates in Texas prior to that. Okay. Yeah. That was what the different lineup.

That was probably like the seed the sewage era? Yeah. Maybe unleash. Unleash. Yeah. Because you did the Cannibal Tour first, right? That was the first full tour you did? No, we actually did the cattle decapitation back to back.

Okay. Cattle was first. Canable. Then you had a dying fetus tour scheduled that that's right. You went in alphabetical order. Yeah. Seabance. All the Cumbars guy.

He's the letters guy. Yeah, there you go. Let's go board it. D-S-I. What's next? Beheaded, cannibal. There you go. D-Asside.

There we go. Yeah, Cannibal is like the coolest fucking dudes. They are. I mean. Yeah, he's friends with Alex. Pretty well. Yeah, I kick his ass all the time. Awards with friends.

What's up, Alex? I think that's a big part to their success. Cannibal. I mean, they're one of the not the biggest definal band on the fucking planet. I think it's because they're, they're so cool. They're cool.

They're just cool. They're just cool dudes, man. And they've always sounded like cannibal. Yeah, and they tour a lot. But they've maintained that cannibal sound. It's like a slayer kind of situation, I think. If you hear a cannibal worker, you know what you're going to get. It's going to be good, right?

It's going to be good. It's hard to be consistent, dude. It is. Especially when talking to death metal, I had this conversation all the time on people. It's so hard to be like an extreme band and have that consistency and still stick out, you know. you guys have it you know I was listening to the band your record that came out in 2009

obscene obscene majesty and there's there was a word that bubbled up in my brain and the word murder just popped in my brain

like if it's like if murder had a sound that was it like someone was killing me it was just that sound you guys just master that that fucking sound thanks man

that's what I'm going for Great, great cover. And again, it's the first record, I mean, wow, it's, I didn't realize to right now. It was a full decade after, you know. Conceived you. Yep. Yeah. And you guys are back making records together.

Yeah. That this record is fucking, it is ridiculous. We're pretty happy. We were happy. And this is, it was great because this record we approached basically like, like MTV. where me and Chris got in a room and took like two, three years of just hammering songs out. Like he had, you know, he's a riff machine. And he's a songwriting machine.

He's a prolific guy, period, an amazing guitar player, cool dude, smart dude. And, yeah, like I said, we get in the room and we start working out arrangements and songs and parts and stuff. And we changed songs so many times. We had so many fights. But, again, we think the result speaks for, how much work would effort we put into. We didn't just write some songs

and go, put it on a record and we're done. We're like, no, these things have to be like perfect for us. You know what I mean? In terms of like what we're making is art or whatever to express ourselves musically. And it's, yeah, like we're happy with the result.

And if people like it, that's just the icing on the cake for us. And then we went back to Braxton for it too. So that helped out. Really? Full circle. Everything. I didn't know that.

Yeah. yeah i think it's a beautiful nod to mtd thanks man yeah we we just trying to yeah again also vision wise it was trying like since we reform the band so it's kind of like i we were i was imagining it sort of like you know if we just timeline jumped from mtd to 2023 like what would happen if the band had gone this route you know what i mean and evolved that record in a different way than the other era did which is yeah amazing too but just like this was what would have come out after MTD if we'd all stayed in the band, I think, you know what I mean, and kind of like just kept going like an alternate timeline type situation.

It's kind of like you guys had a second chance. Absolutely. Which is great. You know, not let the band's great. You know, we're on our list too. When you get the second chance, man, it's a special thing. Yeah. And that's why I was like I was not going to take it for granted.

I knew what it was. So I was going to make the most of it. I'm going to put all the sweat and tears and blood into it and hope it works out. But I'm not going to like just coast on it and go. That's cool. Yeah. No, you don't,

you don't want to do that. No. That's good enough. Yeah, that's good enough. Yeah, everything has to be fucking perfect,

man. The fucking cover, the vibe, the, the, the, the, flow of the songs.

And that's the thing about, uh, writing brutal to have to have to have to have this certain flow. There's like, you can't just like,

you can just like, you can just like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It's just like hammered in. But when,

you could just tell by, like, the flow of, of, of a band and then songs from like, okay, they were literally in a room, they worked your ass off. That's what I mean about the focus on songwriting and songcraft and like constructing a song and having that flow,

like when you listen to a song that takes you on a roller coaster kind of thing or whatever, you know, makes you feel these emotions or makes you angry or happy or whatever the fuck. It's not just, all right, let's write riff A and then let's play riff B. And let's play riff A again. And let's play a verse. And we're done. You know, it's not like I wanted to feel like there's intent behind everything.

And I think we did that. You want, it sounds like you guys want people to feel. Yes, exactly. We don't want to. Murder. That's exactly it.

Beat me too. Yeah, feel it and think it. You know, I mean, that dude, I'm telling that word just popped in.

So I'm going to pitch some, I'm going to pitch a idea to guys. This is going to be a t-shirt. Texas Murder Slam. Good work. Well, I'm.

Or just murder slam or maybe. There's a one, there's a band. There's one caveat. Yeah. There's a caveat. Texas murder. There's a,

yeah. Oh, Yeah, and it's a former musician from Devourment. Yeah. Really? Yes. Oh, wow. Kevin Clark, our second guitar player, he formed a new band called Texas Murder Crew.

Nice. Damn it. We're going to have to shoot that down. Yeah, we're going to. You can have it. I'm triggered, dude. Sorry, man. I didn't mean to trigger you.

This record came out in 2019. Obviously, that's going on three or four years. You know, the guy's doing, guys been talking or vibing any. anything possible that could be new. We've demoed pretty much a full album. There's just some work to do on it. Chris wrote albums worth of material. Yeah.

And yeah, we just haven't done that part yet where we all kind of hash out the fine details of it. But the meat of it is there. Exactly. Yeah. Quit. Yeah. I can't take it anymore.

Yeah. But yeah, it's in process. So, and there's some progress there, you know, get hiccups and we have starts and stops. But there's music there. So we're going to record it at some point. Same, same shit, you guys, you guys locked, going to go to lock in a room, start jamming? Going to try. It's going to be a little more difficult.

Chris lives in Austin now. I mean, you know, he obviously lives here. We're a little more spread out now, so it's a little more difficult than it was with them, see, Majesty. But we'll figure something out. Where are you, Brad? I'm in Dallas, and he's in Dallas. In Fort War. Okay.

Dallas-Fourne. Okay. Still okay. California and Chris is in Austin, which is like four hours, three hours a week. And John's Houston, so that's different part of Texas, too. Yeah. You guys are just invading Texas. It's like a lifelong fucking evasion. There's so much Texas, though, you know.

And Texas is a massive fucking state, too. That's what it is. It's just so big. It's tough. That's a. country in the world. Pretty much, huh? There's something, I mean, being born-raised California, I mean, like the, you just heard about like Texas death metal, Texas slam, oh my goodness.

It's so big, dude. That's a big state, dude. It's too big. I mean, you could drive 15 hours and still be in Texas. Yeah, you can't leave the state. It's like I envy the dudes that I could live in the East Coast and they're like, yeah, I went to Pennsylvania and I went to Connecticut. I'm like one day.

I can't leave my state in one day, dude. Yeah. What's the venue out in Dallas? What's like... Amplified. That changes all the time. It used to be Gas Monkey. Now it's called Amplified Live.

Yeah. That's like the big venue, though. Yeah. There's a lot of venues there. Yeah. Yeah. Austin and Houston have more, I think. Where's that...

What's the one Austin everybody plays? Come and take it. Yeah, come and take it live. That's pretty cool. We're playing there on the tour. Yep. Nice. Is there a venue that was there for a long time

that's still there? or are they all gone? I mean, what we're talking big venues, just clubs? Both? Like, Reno's probably? The bomb factory, but it's called the factory now. I saw shows back in the 90s, and they're still around. Yeah, like all the clubs we used to play in the 90s are all gone.

There's no like... Most all of them, yeah. Yeah, it's not like Atlanta where you have the masquerade that's been there since I was in high school and stuff. We don't have any... Yeah, we had the Galaxy and Curtain Club. Yeah, all the places we played back in the day with early devourment are there's not there. They're not there. House of Blues has been there forever if we ever get to play that.

Amplified Live has been there for like 10 years maybe, something. Yeah. You guys will. As we put it out right now. Put it out in the universe. Cannibal Corps take out. Environment, defeat it Sandy. Heavy's tour of all the time.

What the fuck? Throw on mortician, too. Mortician. I'll talk about a heavy band, dude. Yeah. Remember they're on the Remember when relapse Which you guys are also assigned to which is fucking sick

They did this genius idea where they put out the Contaminated Compilation Yeah Such a cool promo Compilation I found a FNazim About that exhumed Yeah

Man what a fucking And emmortition was one of those bands Yes Yeah I think that's how I first heard him It was like one of those early compilations Relapse I was like What is that?

this. It had everybody on there, dude. It's like five minutes of a horror movie. Then this insane song after it. Two minutes of music. Yeah, they have like, you know, like a 2.0, a 3.0. Oh, sick. Do you relapse is a legendary... Yeah, it's O.G's OG's... Yeah. Oh, my goodness, dude.

If you got signed to a relapse, you just knew that the band was going to be sick. Yeah, man. Like, early 2000s, all those bands on fetus and fell a carnage. Like an elignancy for a while. Yeah, just worship that shit. Yeah, they just had the heaviest stuff.

Skinless. Skinless. Exhumed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, all the stuff we listen to. Yeah, boom. Solidly green.

Nile, slowly green. Wow. Early fetus. Sopholic. Yeah, Cephalic was. Oh, Nile, too. Nile. Legendary label, man.

Yeah, they done a lot. It's funny, like, as like a fan, when I heard that the barme assigned to the slave wall, it's like, oh, sick, they're going to get a budget. It's going to sound sick. But obviously, I don't think he were in a ban anymore at that point. Let's just Ruben. Well, he did the second album, though, on Relapse. Yeah.

But he's talking about it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, when you guys got signed. I wasn't there when you got signed. Yeah. Well, they better get on your ass, but it's time. It's time for a third record. It really is.

Yeah, it is. It's time. I think that's what we're going to focus on the last half of this year is the record. We were starting to do it a little bit at the end of, last year, but then we got this tour, and we got a couple other shows in Asia and Europe. We've got to get out of the way and have fun of that. And then after that, I think we can narrow the focus a little more for the album stuff. Great.

There's no short cuts, huh? It's just like, man, this is going to take a while, but we've got to do it. Yeah. Yeah. At least the meat of stuff is there, though. Yeah, we're not starting from scratch, which is good. We're starting from a good place because we have a lot of stuff there. so really

I'm going to wrap up the MT talk so we talked about like your influences for us starting the band and early 90s when like when you were a kid

what were you listening to that wasn't metal okay like obviously you have your supplication you're listening to dying fetus what were you listening to that that wasn't metal John what were you listening to you got the Pee B. Herman soundtrack

yeah from earlier. We were just listening to that. We were listening to P.P. Herman on the way. Danny Oathman. Danny Oathman. We were listening to the ghetto boys. Soundgarden.

Yeah. I've always been one of those guys. It's like, I mean, even when we start back in the 90s again, whatever, a lot of dudes were like doing the death metal thing. We're just like, that's all I listen to. I'm just a death metal guy 24-7. I've always been, like, I didn't start on death metal, so I listened to everything. 80s pop, Madonna, you know, I love Lady Gaga.

I love good pop music, good rap music. good. Texas has some of the best rappers too. They do. Especially where I live in Houston. Willie Dee. Getow boys. Yeah.

Just tons of amazing rappers. Just not Willie Dee, but... Willie D is the best. Yeah. Dirty South? Yeah, dude. Yeah, that's dirty South. So that explains a lot about your band.

Like, you just weren't listening to death and all the people think you're doing. I mean, like, your friends were doing, you were actually, which kind of maybe like expanded, like, a scope and perception of, like, songwriting. That's exactly.

Absolutely. It's 100%. That's exactly where I get my ideas for like song structure and yeah it's pop music or well crafted other types of genres. And you put that in death metal riffs

and it's like it works. It's like why wouldn't it work right? Because it's just same idea instead of just like slapping riffs together. It's like when I listen to a Depeche Mode song or something, it takes me somewhere it does a thing or something, you know? And I was like, I want that feeling

but I just want it heavy. You know? So that's why I was like, like I said, when you guys came out and stuff and right before you, all the new metal stuff, I was into, I was a huge corn fan, Deftone's fan, stuff. Those songs are amazing,

whether you won't think they're metal or not metal enough or heavy. The songs are there, dude. They know what they're doing. They're writing, and you can tell, especially with corn songs or whatever. It's like there's a verse chorus. It's a very pop song structure.

Yeah. But, and it works, which with heavy music. Why wouldn't? So just, take those same ideas and apply them and it's like you don't have to be you know just riff after you can and it works like

you know some bands that do that but that's not what I ever heard in my head when I'm trying to make a song or something I hear a more I don't want to say typical song structure but like something that I'm familiar with that's hooky and catchy and you know you can be proud of in the end

yeah and like you said that is at the end there to make you feel something and make you move and make you want to react and kind of manipulate the listener, like a good movie or TV show does. You're manipulating the listeners or watchers' emotions. That's kind of the point of that kind of art that you take in as a visual stimulus or an audio stimulus.

That explains a lot when you're like, you know, back in the day, you're listening to fetus, but you're also listening to the Peshmo, which makes you kind of find your own sound. Exactly. when you combine it with, let's say, deaf metal, obviously. And then it's what a special time. Like, we were talking, like, 98. And you're writing, like, one of the most important seminal records of our entire genre.

Right. While also, like, new metal is bubbling up. And you just described how, like, you know, you were a fan of corn and deaf tones. And, like, maybe some consciously had to influence. No, absolutely. Yeah, because I remember specifically, they were just, like you said, they were just coming out right at the time we were starting to do our thing, too. Because I remember, like I said, we were before, we were huge embodiment fans, right?

And they were kids. And, like, we'd go watch them play a show, and we'd help them load out their stuff or whatever and hang out and talk, right? And the guitar player, they would have all these corn and deftone stickers on their cars. We were like, wait a minute. They're one of the most, the best metal bands I've ever seen. They listen to corn. It's like, you know, most of the bands, like, throw up their nose at that shit. And we're like, maybe there's something there.

I was like, you know, if the guys that make better music than we do, think it's okay to do that or have some, you know, can take some influence away from that. And I just always have listened to every kind of music. But not country, because country can go fucking close. That's the one he saw me to know I'm really kind of, well. Old country. You know, let's split hairs. Our country, here we go.

I was pretty much raised on like classic, country and blue grass. Hank Williams, old Hank Williams, old cash, that stuff's cool. But not Chenai Twain. I was huge into blues. Yeah, that's not country. That's what I'm saying.

Modern country is bad pop music. Yeah, oldies and stuff was a big deal for me growing up. I'm a huge Elvis fan. Elvis. Oldies was my favorite music when I was a kid. That's all I listened to was. Like 50s? Yeah.

Oldies music. Sam. So we're starting to see, though, There you go. There you go. Look at Elvis. Look at that, dude. Wow.

The king. He is literally... He's got Rubin's hair, dude. We gotta win this race. This rip it right there, dude. Wow. Yeah. Look, there's fat.

Okay. He's on the decline. There's fat. Have you seen that movie? Yeah. I made it watch it. Yeah. With the Tom Hanks.

It's pretty sick. It's pretty good. I love it. Because I was just telling him. I was like, I like it his movie, but especially the those recreations of like the 68 comeback special. They like do shot for shot of like the, you know, the actual shows he played and stuff.

It was so well done. I was like, dude, I couldn't tell that's not Elvis. Yeah, there was backstories that I had no clue about, you know, that were answered in the movie. So it was pretty cool. And then when they actually show the real Elvis in the end, that was pretty emotional, man. Yeah.

Did you cry? I might have teared up a little bit. Yeah, I did. Like a little bitch. No. Wow, well, there's, that's the king, dude. It's still a king, huh? I guess, I guess to wrap it up,

and yeah, it's just, it doesn't matter how heavy you are, or brutal you are, you gotta be open-minded to create your own sound, you know, and have like a certain song flow, you know, that really explains a lot about you guys and why you're still here. You know, I asked defeated, you know, defeated like who do you think is like the heaviest band

ever and then your your name was brought up you know we saw that yeah that's an honor yeah thank you guys it's so cool yeah we're huge fans shout out to defeated because those are our boys absolutely we love those guys great great guys and yeah I mean

bands like you know see we like listen to you guys you know but what you the barma is literally like if not the heaviest band on the planet and you paved the way for us and

all these bands that are out right now would not be anywhere like without you guys you guys are like the goats to me for like the whole heavy genre of like you know death core and it's exciting because it's this you know people are still getting

into death core and they're just going to find you guys like you know wait it's cool like us but this is where we came from like they were playing slam if not heavier than us because it's funny how you're trying to you were like you're trying to do heavier stuff and that's what I'm doing to you you know it's just funny

it's just so like it's nuts but I mean I I I have to say this publicly I mean thank you for everything that you guys have done for heavy music and still still here riding music that we could look look forward to and jam you know thank you so much yeah dude it's the ultimate compliment when somebody you admire as an artist thinks you did something worthwhile as an artist You know what I mean? So it's like that's all I've ever done this for. And it's like, and that I can't for ask for anything more from that. It's like I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish with this music.

And like people. You can do it for revenge? I didn't. I'm sorry, Glenn. I didn't. I'm not trying to get revenge. No. I was just, yeah, dude.

It's ultimately all for the fans. It is. Yeah. Yeah, it is. You know. Yeah. Or for people like me just to jamming like, yeah. Yeah.

So many people like you and other fans and other people that made created their bands that used us as some kind of platform to help them or have something to, you know, is the reason, you know, the music's still relevant, right? And mute metal is where it is and it's kind of growing. It's kind of coming back. And there's all these sick bands now and you guys are still killing it. And like, you know, that's, like I said, that's just the coolest feeling. The goats. Where can people find you guys? Instagram.

Everywhere. Spotify? Yeah. Anywhere? Yeah. What's our website? What is it? Devarmentofficial.com is our website.

Yeah. Instagram, Facebook. A little bit on Twitter. Not really. You can find us on tour too in May. Yeah. Yes. Thanks for playing.

In May, Devarmine is touring with Ingested. They're all over. Let's see, May 4th to June 4th, a full month. Yes. everywhere Florida Fuck Pennsylvania

New York Illinois Here in SoCal Everywhere You guys are even everywhere Trying So check him out on tour With ingested

Who else is on it actually This is a sick lineup dude It's an organectomy And What is it I forgot the other one Extermination Extermination is a memberment

And some killer special guests on like parts of the tour. Oh wow. I did clear war? Oh, shit. Yeah, dude. That's fucking badass. Peeling flesh.

Impulsive. Peeling flesh is up and coming. Yeah, they're cool band. Newcombeam from Texas. And the TBA you might be interested in. Oklahoma. Oh, Oklahoma. That's right.

People may not be noticing that little TBA there. Oh, what is? Oh, shit. Might be another pretty cool band. Damn. That's fucking badass. Well, dude, I am, again, like, I was going to, I was so pissed when I found out that we're going to be gone.

And I was like, I hit, I hit you up on IGD. I'm so glad that this conversation worked out. And people could actually hear your story and where you guys came from and where the heavy genre came from. You know? Yeah.

I think this conversation was awesome. I learned a lot. And yeah, thank you guys for being here. Appreciate you guys. Yeah, man. Thanks for having this, man. This was awesome, man. Thanks again.