In a fertile era for throwback old school death metal, Genocide Pact carved their place by shooting for the most brutal and heavy sound possible. The Washington, D.C. band goes straight to the point and assaults us with heavy riffs and guttural screams, laid out over deep grooves. Their new, 3th LP, picks us right where 2018’s Order of Torment left off. They do not reinvent the formula, they simply invite us back in their dirty, crumbled home and we couldn’t be happier. If the disasters, diseases, inequalities and atrocities currently engulfing this world ever had a soundtrack, this new self-titled album would be it.
Genocide Pact’s new album is out December 3rd, 2021, on Relapse Records.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
I’ve been listening to a lot of BOB DYLAN. Otherwise, a lot of old school grindcore.
What’s your favorite period for Bob Dylan?
It’s pretty cliché but Blood On The Tracks but my runner-ups are Oh Mercy and Time Out Of Mind, which were from the 80’s and 90’s, respectively. They’re both produced by Daniel Lanois, whose name’s on a lot of records. With BRIAN ENO a lot, I think he was the co-producer of U2 Joshua Tree. But yeah, Oh Mercy and Time Out Of Mind are incredible. Time Out Of Mind is a very dark record. The thing I like about it is…my dad was into Bob Dylan and I thought it was just a bunch of hippie bullshit. Then I got into Bob Dylan as an adult. I mean, I liked Bob Dylan as a kid but I didn’t really get into that. I got into Time Out Of Mind first and then went backwards, getting into what everyone else would consider classic.
So you do appreciate all the landmark albums as well? Because that’s a bit of an unusual point to start from.
Well, I guess the thing is, I already had a Bob Dylan phase when I was much younger. That was all the classic stuff and I think I just needed to get into it from a different angle to get back into it, if that makes any sense? That’s kind of a reoccurring theme in me listening to stuff is, I feel like for metalheads especially, and punk too, sometimes we dive down these very narrow avenues and then sometimes we just need to zoom out to go, “Oh! The fuckin’ ROLLING STONES are a great band!” *Haha* I mean it feels good to do that. I went to see the Rolling Stones a few years ago and that was a huge band because anything my parents liked, I was like, “This fucking sucks! It’s not Slayer. Not Morbid Angel.” *Haha* Now though, I like a lot of very obvious music.
Going back to what you’ve been listening to recently, what grindcore bands are on your playlists?
Yeah, I listen to a lot of grindcore. Nolan (note: bass player in Genocide Pact) and I we used to do a grindcore band called Disciples Of Christ which was pretty raw, punk-influenced grindcore. One band I’ve been listening to a lot is 324, the Customized Circle seven inch. They were a late 90’s, early 2000’s, Japanese band. They’re a fucking powerhouse. They have an LP called Boutokunoyaiyo, where it’s a picture of the sun exploding on the cover, and that’s one of the most brutal grindcore record that I’ve ever heard. Very much in the style of NAPALM DEATH or TERRORIZER, where it’s not super technical, but it’s very aggressive vocals and relentless songs.
Then a lot of EXCRUCIATING TERROR. That’s a band that I go back to every so often, one of my main go-to for when I need some blast beats.
Are you into rap? How are your favorites?
I listen to a good amount of rap and largely stuff that was popular when I was between ages of six and twelve, because that’s what I got into first. When I was six, I had an older brother and…he passed away and ever since he passed away, I kind of listen to a lot of music that he listened to. JAY-Z is a big one. I’m definitely all the way into the Jay-Z / NAS beef. I’m team Jay-Z all day. *Haha* I think he’s another guy that’s got so popular and famous, going on the David Letterman Show or whatever, and people like that, it’s easy to write them off has a douchebag or whatever. But I think that Reasonable Doubt is a better record than Illmatic. I think The Blueprint Volume One and the Black Album are great records. I think that Jay-Z’s Black Album is much better than METALLICA’s! *Haha*
Do you still enjoy Nas though?
Oh yeah, I love Nas. But I think that, in the words of Jay-Z, he has a one great album every 10 year average. I love Illmatic, I like Stillmatic as well. But I went back to listen to Reasonable Doubt and Hard Knock Life Volume 2 and all that stuff and I think I just forgot how good that stuff was, just because it was so popular.
Also, I’ll take BIGGIE over 2-PAC any day as well. When I talk about rappers, I need to choose sides in beefs! *Haha*
It’s funny how outside of rap, there’s not a lot of other types of music with such open feuds…Well, actually, maybe in black metal with the stabbings and all!
Yeah, maybe we’ll start some beef with another band. I don’t know who yet. Bring some excitement to the new wave of old school death metal!
With rap seemingly being your first point of music discovery, what were some other milestones in your music discovery after that?
Well, I don’t know how I skipped over this, but JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE is my favorite band. The two records I heard very young that stuck with me were Master Of Puppets and DR. DRE 2001. I liked them a lot, I listened to them a lot, but when I heard Jimi Hendrix Experience for the first time, probably a couple years later at like eight years old, I was like, “I want to play guitar. This is what I need to be doing.”
Was there a song or album that really struck you, or it was just the entire body of work?
Funny enough, the album I heard first was a tribute record that my dad had on tape. The song that got me into the Jimi Hendrix Experience was actually BODY COUNT covering Hey, Joe. It wasn’t even Jimi Hendrix’s playing! So oddly enough, it was Body Count that got me into Jimi Hendrix! *Haha* But I think later that week, I bought Are You Experienced? I listened to the first three Experience records religiously, the Band Of Gypsys record, and that really has not changed. I went through a lot of phases musically, but there’s a few artists that you get into and they’re a staple. Jimi Hendrix is the best and in fact, at some point, I want to do a Jimi Hendrix cover band. I spend a lot of time learning Hendrix songs on guitar.
Then what were some other major discoveries in your world? At what point did metal and punk came into play?
After that, I got into metal pretty early. I guess I was a metalhead first and then I realized metalheads were a bunch of assholes, then I got into punk but didn’t realize punks were a bunch of assholes until years later! *Haha* Now I just like both as their own thing. Getting into punk, it was bands that were heavy and that I would consider punk bands but still had elements that a metalhead could get into. Off the top of my head, like SHEER TERROR…listening to that, it just sounds like if CELTIC FROST, their singer was your fucking plumber or something! *Haha* Especially now, I’m a construction worker so I listen to a lot of Sheer Terror on my way home from work.
HIS HERO IS GONE, Monuments To Thieves, that album had a big impression on me. That was one of the albums that had a little more going on socially. In like eighth grade, I was just trying to figure out what the parts of the Necronomicon were or whatever and then in ninth or tenth grade, I was like, “That’s just kind of stupid”, all because His Hero Is Gone were saying a little bit more. ASSÜCK was another one because that’s a band I think everyone thinks is a punk band but to me, it makes more sense for someone that’s been into death metal to get into Assück then someone that’s only listened to punk. But for some reason, they were in that world, they’re in that backpatch type of band, you know?
You know what, that’s a band that I guess…one of the reasons I got more into punk was because a lot of my friends that I listened to metal with started getting into the fucking lamest shit ever. Super technical stuff…I guess Relapse wouldn’t be happy that I disparage a bunch of bands but I’m trying not to do that.
No need to drop names anyway. I mean, it doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just not for you…or me either! *Haha*
I will give one technical death metal band that’s an exemption from my hatred. This isn’t just cuz you’re from Quebec but GORGUTS. I fucking love Gorguts. In fact, I think all the good technical music comes from Quebec.
I’ll take that!
Between Gorguts and VOIVOD. It all starts with Voivod. You guys have CRYPTOPSY too.
What is it that makes you see those in a different light?
Honestly, it’s the feeling of it. I feel like there’s a lot of technical bands where it seems like an exercise whereas, when I listen to Obscura by Gorguts, especially that nine minute song Clouded, the kind of doomy one, you can tell that that’s a genuine emotion they’re trying to communicate. That’s how it came out, which makes it even cooler because if what you’re trying to actually emotionally communicate comes out as those songs, you got to be a fucking nutcase. It’s just awesome! Whereas you can tell there’s bands that just program stuff on Guitar Pro, try to put it in a weird time signature and try to put as many sweet licks in as possible. I feel like Voivod and Gorguts are bands that I listen to and it’s like, no, these guys just have unique brains and this is what came out of them.
Is that a common thread for you where, when you hear new music, you’re just looking for that vibe? Or is there anything else that you’re a sucker for, that will reel you in every time? Any instruments or production value, anything like that?
Production value isn’t a huge factor for me. Honestly, when I listen to music, I like to notice that this is something that the person making it needed to get off their chest. So whether it’s the best produced album ever, or like Take As Needed For Pain (EYEHATEGOD) or the early NAPALM DEATH stuff, where the recordings are horrible, but you can feel the energy. I think that’s the biggest thing for me, there’s a certain energy I need to get out of it, whether that’s aggressive, or…you know what, I guess one band I should mention, is BOHREN & DER CLUB OF GORE, dark jazz band from Germany, that’s some of the best stuff I’ve ever heard too. It’s a very somber music. But yeah, I guess don’t care that much for quality. I love BOB DYLAN and he’s not the best singer on Earth but the songs he writes, I think he needed to write them.
You mentioned the Band of Gypsys record before and now looking for the vibe and the energy, I wonder, are you generally into live records?
I’m not a huge fan of a lot of live records, but there are certain bands like Jimi Hendrix I can listen to. I guess if you’re the type of person that’s going to play something wildly different live than on record then I’m interested in that. JIMI HENDRIX, ALLMAN BROTHERS, BLACK SABBATH…I do like looking for rare Black Sabbath sets because Tony Iommi plays solos a lot different on those performances. Yeah, maybe more for classic rock, people that jam out or maybe do solos for a little longer maybe, or guys that were on a ton of acid and you just want to hear what came out of them in that space. Maybe live records for bands that you knew were kind of a mess with substances.
What are some of the most memorable shows that you’ve seen in your life?
Ozzfest 2004. That was SLAYER, JUDAS PRIEST and BLACK SABBATH. The EXCRUCIATING TERROR reunion at Maryland Death Fest. BOB DYLAN and WILLIE NELSON in 2004.
What are some some of your favorite lyrics ever? Either a song, a line or maybe just the general body of work of a lyricist?
ASSÜCK, the lyrics on Misery Index, I’m trying to think of a line from that album in particular but…Slayer, the lyrics on South Of Heaven, Live Undead! They’re some of my favorite lyrics of all time. The last part that goes “Death walks inside you, Smell death around you, Hell’s evil spell takes a soul, Hear the sound of the bell Counting off death tolls. Laughing as you eternally rot, Searching for human flesh And life’s blood.” I don’t even know if the lyrics are that great but the way Tom Araya sings ’em…To me, Slayer lyrics are how our type of metal should sound.
Let’s see, Bob Dylan Idiot Wind, I think those are my favorites of his. Beautiful song. I mean, anything off of Blood On The Tracks. JAY-Z, Dead Presidents II. NOTORIOUS B.I.G., Things Done Changed.
Is there any up and coming bands that you’d like to recommend?
You know, I’m not gonna lie, I don’t stay current very well. This is the type of question that whatever it is asked in an interview like this, where I don’t feel the need to do a bunch of self PR or whatever, I gotta be honest, it’s hard for me to get into something new. I mean, I guess Nolan will show me grindcore stuff or whatever, but…I don’t want to act like I’m such a curmudgeon that isn’t listening to anything new but honestly, I don’t know.
Well, maybe it’s the same as me. For a lot of new music, I’ll listen to it, I’ll enjoy it, and then I kind of forget about them. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that, unless it’s new sounds and new vibes, it doesn’t just doesn’t stick,you know?
Yeah, exactly. I was gonna go ahead and say that I haven’t been listening to anything new. Or rather, I would say that there hasn’t been anything new that really excited me recently. And I’ll go one step further and say I’m okay with that. Of course, I would love for something to come out and grab my attention but honestly, there’s so much metal that comes out. I read a list where someone made a top 100 metal records of the end of the year and I was like, “What the fuck?” I can think of like, two or three metal records that came out this year that are alright, you know? *Haha* I know that kind of puts me in a weird spot as someone that’s in a band that puts out new music but sometimes I wonder if we’d even come across my radar if I wasn’t involved. If I was in an alternate universe, I would probably never hear about us.
But you know, for metal, I kinda have some go-to’s. Rap, I’m too old to get into new rap. I think at a certain age, when you see people that are in their 30’s and they’re up to date on SoundCloud rappers, to me, it’s kind of like the musical equivalent of watching your uncle go through a midlife crisis and get a convertible.*Haha* You’re too old to understand what 18-year-old rappers are talking about. There’s a whole generation that’s lost on you and if you have found yourself understanding that, it means something isn’t right. So I listen to rap that was cool when I was a teenager. I listen to a bunch of shitty grindcore, not even worth mentioning. And just kind of the staples. Most of the exploring I do musically is in older music. I think there’s more for me to discover in the past and things that are outside of my comfort zone, then in the present. That’s where I see Bob Dylan’s discography or SANTANA recently, I see these huge discographies of things that never resonated with me because I wasn’t in the right space to do them at the time. Now, I’m in a different mindset, and there’s all this stuff in the past to discover, and that’s more important to me than staying current. I don’t give a shit.
That’s fair enough, and there shouldn’t be any shame in that!
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