During the early months of 2011, officials from Zero Tolerance began to make their strange and secret investigations of certain conditions surrounding the modern formation of the Australian band Innsmouth, located in the distant Blue Mountains. The public had first learned of their past activities in the bands Grenade and Sacriphyx, before a series of raids and releases occurred, beginning with the demo ‘The departure of Shub-Niggurath’ in 2009 to be followed by their EP ‘She-Goat’ unleashed at the start of this year. These recordings, such thunderous bludgeoning Death Metal, thick, odious and worm-ridden, caused a stir in the global village, many a fiend was enamoured by these dark sounds.
With reported sightings of this beast of Death Metal at a premium, we hope you find the following investigation with guitarist Beau Dyer useful for aiding your own discoveries of their present and future work.
If you were to describe what Innsmouth sounded like to a deaf person, how would you describe the band? And what more would you say to those that can hear?
An unusual question to be sure. If the person had at some point lost their hearing and was familiar with what the metal of death sounded like it shouldn’t be too difficult, however if they had been brought into this world without the ability to hear it would be much more of a puzzle with many pieces missing, as how the hell do you describe music to someone who has never heard it? I’m fucked if I know as I cannot even imagine what it would be like to have never heard anything, let alone music. I guess I’d let them read the lyrics and see the artwork and encourage them to read some of H.P.L’s literature and give them some sort of shock, then get them to rub sandpaper on their face, throw them a wasps nest and make them eat something that my ex girlfriend cooked to leave a foul taste in their mouths and a taint on their soul. It may not have the desired effect but it would make them angry as hell and maybe that is the key.
Hell man! I don’t know, I’m stumped! To those that can hear I’d say it sounds like dark, old school metal of death with no bullshit, played with spirit, if not the greatest skill, by Architeuthis worshipping, Dagon cultists of doom.
But why does Lovecraft hold such a fascination over a large number of metal listeners? In essence his message was one of ‘there are some things you cannot know, and some things you should not even attempt to know. Lock your doors, close those curtains and stay in bed, it’s just not worth getting up as the universe is a far more terrible place than you could possibly imagine…’ Is this a healthy attitude to have? To be terrified of all things unknown, to resent any form of progress that may lead to disaster? Will all of your lyrics deal with Lovecraftian subjects?
If they’re anything like me, the people who appreciate the dark and macabre in their music also look for similar qualities in their fiction; E’ch Pi El fits the bill perfectly. Being terrified of everything you cannot understand would not be a particularly wholesome attitude to have I would imagine.
Were some of the entities born of Lovecraft’s imagination to be made flesh all of a sudden though it may quickly become a very wise attitude to adopt.
In the end the world, in reality, is a pretty fucked up place and probably best avoided wherever possible by whatever means necessary. The majority of Innsmouth lyrics are, to date, Lovecraftian in theme although not wholly restricted to this and in the future will more likely be less so than in the past. There are many avenues to explore and we will not close our doors on everything else that lurks without.
And how do you deal with the unknown? Are you trying to plan things out with a firm vision of what you are doing, or is it more chaotic, taking things as they come?
The meanderings of Innsmouth are definitely more chaotic than planned vision; although we are not altogether without vision, at least not yet… Inspiration and purpose change with the course of time and I cannot honestly say where this band will end up exactly, both musically and lyrically. The initial path we headed down is gradually eroding away leaving something different beneath; although I’m not sure what will be found there.
It’s been nearly 5 years since Grenade split up, was Innsmouth created instantly following this split or was there a larger period of time between the two bands? What do you want to achieve with the band, what would you regard as a success? The opportunities for underground Death Metal are somewhat less than they once were 20yrs ago, so is the meaning of success today completely different? Do you regard Innsmouth as more of a profession or a hobby, and what have you sacrificed personally to make the demo and EP happen?
I guess Innsmouth came into being a couple of years after Grenade split, give or take a few months. I don’t think too far into the future; but if we can keep our sanity intact long enough to put out a good LP or two and get over to Europe for some shows then that would be achievement enough. I don’t suppose the meaning of success has changed much if one is interested in selling albums and gaining popularity but I agree it’s a lot tougher to do now with so many bands out there in the cosmos.
Innsmouth is a hobby- we all work to keep ourselves out of the gutter and give our spare time over to ventures such as Innsmouth. The biggest sacrifice we make is of our time and money- but I guess it’s not really a sacrifice when it’s something we enjoy and feel a need to do is it?
After a slight delay, the She-Goat EP emerged just this January. As the Departure demo has been well received thus far, how do you think reactions will be for the new material? And how do you feel about the recording yourself now that it’s finally out? Have you been working on new material in the meantime, what recordings can be expected in the future?
The demo was pretty well received and more so than I expected, the she-goat 7″ isn’t a departure from the sound on the demo too much and hopefully will go down alright – as to be honest it’s more of the same haha! I have heard some positive feedback so far and some maniacs seem to think it’s a progression so it’s all good news to the fell beings of Innsmouth.
I’m happy enough with the recording, the drums came out better than the demo and the kicks are much more prominent, although there’s always room for improvement. Otherwise we’re already doomed as we’ve got along way to go still I reckon.
Our next release is a split 7″, once again on Abysmal sounds, with Mongrels Cross (Black thrashin’ mania from Queensland for the uninformed) and should be out in the coming months. The song for that is a definite progression and has a different, harsher, guitar sound and feel to the other two releases. At present we’re busy trying to catch giant squid down in Antarctica and rehearsing songs for a full length. We’ll pull no punches on the album and get the heaviest, warmest sound we can conjure from the Challenger deep. The new material is to my mind much better and should burn our previous releases to ash. Time will tell!
All their releases can be found here, along with song samples:
