Interview by Parisa Eshrati Necrot vocalist, bassist and songwriter Luca Indrio brings nothing less than sheer hostility when writing music. Their brand new album, Lifeless Birth, speculates on mortality, and demands rejection of the modern norms of uniformity and weakness. As Luca notes, "To me, this album is aggressive and calls for more awareness to what our human condition is." We caught up with Luca in an email interview to delve into the Lifeless Birth LP and talk songwriting, thematics, and more. Let’s start by discussing the production process for your upcoming album, Lifeless Birth. If I’m not mistaken, you’re now living in Mexico, so what’s it been like logistically to meet up and share ideas, rehearse, record, etc.? We were never a band that goes in the studio and jams trying to find the best riff. I have been writing the songs for Necrot since I started the band with Chad in 2011 so I can be anywhere and do that. Living in Mexico actually made it easier because I have more peace of mind to concentrate on the creative process. We do get together often before tours and spend a lot of time together on the road, I’m only a few hours plane ride to the Bay Area from Mexico so it’s not too bad. You’ve stated how you feel Necrot has reached full maturity on this album, being both your most aggressive and most melodic record to date. Talk to us about reaching that balance - was it an intentional goal, or something that came naturally over the thirteen years of being together? We have always had aggressive and melodic elements, and I feel that we are getting better at it. Melody was always part of the Necrot sound as well as some not so obvious tempos and aggressive riffs. I feel that we are getting to the point after playing for 13 years together that we know exactly what each of us need to do and bring to the table and we try to do it at our best. We also have a great chemistry from being super good friends and from never having a change of line up in all these years. The album name, Lifeless Birth, encompasses many of the themes of living in a futile, superficial society. Can you elaborate on how you developed the album’s themes? Do you feel as though people are doomed from birth, as the title name may suggest, or have we all succumbed to stupidity with time? Possibly a little bit of both, but I don’t think people were necessarily not as dumb before. Unfortunately, we are easily influenced and manipulated and the people in power wants us to be superficial and constantly distracted to the point that we are missing out on what’s important and dedicating a lot of time to meaningless shit, while the world continues to run on injustice and exploitation of the more vulnerable ones. “Lifeless Birth” is the inevitability of dying, being completely forgotten and erased which is at the base of everyone’s existence. No matter what you do in this life you’re sentenced at birth to the human destiny of having to lose everything. The thematics of the album go from human mortality/human condition to the way modern society wants us all weak and constantly divided. It also doesn’t feel like a “bleak” album, even with such a grim message. How would you describe the overall temper of this album, especially now after having performed these songs live? To me, the album is aggressive and calling for more awareness for what our human condition is and how wrong is the way we live. At the same time it is obscure and depressive, and at moments. hopeless. I was never able to write positive lyrics, but I feel that if you read between the lines you might be able to find some positive or empowering message in there. While this album feels more instrumentally technical than previous releases, it’s still very straightforward and undeviating in its overall sound. Is accessibility at all of importance in Necrot’s songwriting process? Accessibility is definitely a factor. I don’t want our music to be pretentious or accessible only for people who have a master degree in music or philosophy or some shit. Whoever knows me personally knows that I’m a down-to-earth, straight-forward dude and I enjoy making music that is not trying to just be a show off of what one can do technically. I grow up listening to Motörhead and the Ramones before getting exposed to more complicated music and that kinda stuck with me. I enjoy an album that I can listen to from start to finish without getting tired of it or having to make such an effort to get to the end of it. I want Necrot albums to be somewhat easy listening but also not obvious nor super accessible. The premiere single, “Cut the Cord”, is a call to disconnect and refuse to live in fear. It has a very direct and anthemic sort of feel to it, as if talking to the audience one-on-one. Talk to us about the significance of writing songs in that type of perspective. And what are some of your personal favorite songs that have that anthem-like quality to it? A lot of Chuck Schuldiner’s lyrics are like that and I always loved his lyrics. I always liked the engaging part of asking questions instead of affirming things, or at least a mix of both. It makes the listener think, because you’re asking a question and people are used to try to find and answer when asked something. You all have roots in punk/crust/hardcore scenes, so I’m interested to hear more about your gradual evolution into metal. Additionally, a lot of bands that make that shift have that “crossover” sound whereas you all are strictly death metal. How do you feel you still carry the ethos and influence of your roots into your music, sonically or otherwise? I have always listened to metal and punk/crust all my life, but I was never influenced by music that was too clean or not aggressive enough. I was never attracted to certain bands that look and sound like they were started by some kid with money in the garage of his parents’ million dollar house. I grew up going to dirty squats in Europe and having a pretty punk approach to life so I feel that in Necrot you’ll hear many different influences, but never some wacky shit. I feel that a lot of music now is based on impact more than feelings. Some bands are sonically gigantic with huge breakdowns or hyper technical parts but they miss the soul. They get a lot of “playlist fans” that add one of their songs to one of their Spotify playlists and that’s it. I know our fans are looking for something else, something that is getting lost in modern times and that’s why they listen to Necrot. I know they’re excited when we release a new album and I know they will listen to it from start to finish. We never compromised our sound to become a bigger band with the intent of getting any kind of fans, we play music that we like and not to please anybody. Our people know that and that’s why we might not be the biggest band, but we do have an extremely loyal fan base built on keeping our integrity and doing metal our way. The album artwork was once again done by the amazing Marald Van Haasteren. Did you specify any ideas or give him samples of the album to work with? How would you say the art reflects the album’s themes for those that haven’t heard it? We have been working with Marald for many years so we do have a formula. Usually it goes through me sharing the lyrics with him and us chatting about possible ideas both conceptually and visually. It always takes a lot of tries and redoes and I’m grateful that Marald has the patience to deal with us. Anything that is great takes effort so there is no other way. There is a lot of mutual respect and that makes the project exciting and doable. The images on the Lifeless Birth cover represent the struggle that is life knowing that you will die and be forgotten. The people flying around the demon facing suffering and challenges resulting in them being eaten and destroyed, while at the same time a new life is born from the Demon’s crotch to participate in the circle of torment. “Lifeless Birth” is being condemned to certain death from the very moment you were born. I remember reading that the song “Dying Life” on Mortal was partly inspired by The NeverEnding Story soundtrack. Were there any cinematic, or otherwise surprising, influences that made its way into this album? I get inspired by the most random shit. Anything can spark an idea in my mind so yeah sometimes you’d be surprised what one song or another was inspired by. I am always taking notes when I have an idea and then I go over them when is the time to write a new album. Well naturally while we're on the subject I also gotta ask, do you cry at the scene when Artax dies in the Swamp of Sadness?! Or has Necrot reached the level of sheer brutality from making this new album that even such a famously soul-crushing scene feels trivial? I have never cried watching a movie yet, because I know what’s real and what is not. I have cried a few times in real life tho, reality is always scarier than fiction. My favorites movies are Back to the Future and Lord of the Rings. I know you didn’t ask that, but there you have it. Now that you're wrapping up the Brainsqueeze tour, what have been some of the highlights? You’ve stated how previous tours have translated into your records by facing new audiences and becoming more confident in your capabilities. How do you feel this tour has assisted in that particular process so far? This tour was straight up fun. We love all the guys in Municipal Waste and Ghoul. We have been friends with them for a long time and this tour was very successful for anyone involved. It was pretty much a big smiles on everybody’s face kinda tour going around shredding every night. What else is in store for Necrot this year? Anything else you’d like to mention? We are about to do our headlining tour promoting Lifeless Birth. We are having Bat as direct support for most of the tour and Phobophilic for the last 12 shows. Street Tombs is also coming on the all run with us. We are starting June 5th in Berkeley at Cornerstone and ending July 13th in Portland. We’ll be playing 36 cities in the USA and Canada so don’t miss it! Not even 2 weeks later we start our European tour that will last a full month. Exciting times, our new album Lifeless Birth drops April 12th though Tankcrimes Records so go listen to it! See you all down the road! Lifeless Birth is available now on Tankcrimes. Stay up to date: https://necrot.bandcamp.com instagram and facebook 2024 Headlining Tour Dates: 6/05/2024 The Cornerstone – Berkeley, CA 6/06/2024 Constellation Room – Santa Ana, CA 6/07/2024 First St. Billiards – Los Angeles, CA 6/08/2024 Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA 6/09/2024 Nile Underground – Phoenix, AZ 6/10/2024 The Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM 6/12/2024 Parish – Austin, TX 6/13/2024 Three Links – Dallas TX 6/14/2024 Vibes Underground – San Antonio TX 6/15/2024 TBA – Houston, TX 6/16/2024 TBA – New Orleans, LA 6/18/2024 Orpheum – Tampa, FL 6/19/2024 Will’s Pub – Orlando, FL 6/20/2024 Boggs Social – Atlanta, GA 6/21/2024 New Brookland Tavern – Columbia SC 6/22/2024 Chapel Of Bones – Raleigh, NC 6/23/2024 Cattivo – Pittsburgh, PA 6/24/2024 Metro Gallery – Baltimore, MD 6/25/2024 Broken Goblet – Bensalem, PA 6/26/2024 The Meadows – Brooklyn, NY 6/27/2024 Sonia – Boston, MA w/ Phobophilic, Street Tombs: 6/28/2024 Le Source – Quebec City, QC 6/29/2024 Piranha Bar – Montreal, QC 6/30/2024 Dominion Tavern – Ottawa ON 7/01/2024 Hard Luck Bar – Toronto, ON 7/02/2024 Sanctuary – Detroit, MI 7/03/2024 Reggies – Chicago, IL 7/05/2024 The Swamp – Lincoln, NE 7/06/2024 Oriental Theatre – Denver, CO 7/07/2024 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT 7/09/2024 The Shredder – Boise, ID 7/10/2024 Ray’s Golden Lion – Richland, WA 7/11/2024 The Cobalt – Vancouver, BC 7/12/2024 Clock Out Lounge – Seattle WA 7/13/2024 The Star Theatre – Portland, OR
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