AENIMUS INTERVIEW
Aenimus is a progressive, extreme metal band formed in CA. The band released their debut album, Transcend Reality in 2013, engineered by Nick Botelho of NB Recording. Aenimus takes elements from the best in extreme and progressive metal and seamlessly blends them together into one cohesive crushing debut album. Having been compared to the likes of Whitechapel, Veil of Maya, All Shall Perish, Born of Osiris and more, the 5 piece metal juggernaut from the Bay Area in Northern California has incorporated all of their collective influences and have managed to create an album that is so much more than the sum of its parts. Aenimus just wrapped up their sophomore album to be titled 'Dreamcatcher' which is to be released February 22, 2019 via Nuclear Blast Records.
Twinmusix got to speak to Seth Stone about Aenimus up coming album and more.
TM - What can fans expect from your new album Dreamcatcher?
SS - Fans can expect something different one thing about our band is we change things up a lot even with in the records. Transcend Reality our first record was very diverse no songs sounded the same unless we wanted them to, but we tied in some parts together on that record same with this record. We really strive to have songs that are different than each other. Dream Catcher being the concept that we chose It created a really diverse Outlook which is something I am really happy about it is kind of refreshing be in the Tech Deck community and it can be overwhelming sometimes when a record is Non-Stop you can expect some surprises in this album.
TM - What was your writing and recording process for Dreamcatcher?
SS - We are scattered around the US so one of us would write the foundation of a song and send it out. We would also write down our ideas, we would write a riff on a guitar then put it on guitar pro get a copy of all of the songs, change them up a little bit and send it back. We bounced ideas around that way.
Once we got a foundation set we would do a production that re-recorded it ourselves. We added our bits and then Jordan went back through and added a simph orchestral track to every song to give it that movie cinematic sound. We all collaborated on the vocals the recording process was done at home. We recorded it ourselves then we stood out to Jamie King who did Between the Buried and Me and the contortionists who did the mixing and mastering.
TM - What was it like working with Jamie King?
SS - It was awesome when we first Hit us Up. I was worried because we recorded Dreamcatcher before we signed to Nuclear Blast so it was on our own time and we were paying for it all.
I said I really want Jaime King because our album is diverse and he is use to doing diverse albums. We hit him up and that was our perfect budget it was brilliant, he is a master of his craft.
We went in and told him we love to see guitar tones on these records and this is the bass tone I like and he nailed it it took a bit longer than we hoped. We were unorganised on our end, I felt bad for him when you are recording an album like ours some songs are 30 different tracks because there are Orchestra trucks and we weren't lining them up properly, he was trying to move everything around and try and guess. We said we are so sorry but he nailed it knocked it, out of the park. One of my favourite mixes it is so clear out you can hear everything being the bassist I love that you can hear the bass it is so clear it just comes through.
TM - Since you are all in different parts of the country how do you all practice?
SS - It takes a dedicated person to practice. We all have a backing track and play along to it as long as everyone is practising on their own two their clip trucks or metronome. We come together for two or three days to rehearse before the tour and it works. When you are at home you are playing with perfect trucks it is a little different sounding if the dials and mixers in ears but all my guys are dedicated to their instruments and learning their parts really well.
TM - Your new album is based on horror movies what inspired you to write about this subject?
SS - There are two reasons, one is we could all agree that it is something that we all loved. We all love horror movies and the books behind them too and we wanted to write about the concept that the metal community would all enjoy. Horror and metal has always gone hand-in-hand.
you think of too Iron Maiden and all their artwork had monsters, so we thought it was easily accepted in the metal community. We enjoyed these stories it was fun it was like trying to write scores for a movie, we were going to write something dark and scary but we were also like sometimes horror movies have happy parts or sad parts it really allowed us to write different music. Other than our standard Tech Deck the idea happened when we were on to a deliriously driving. I was talking to Sean I was like dude what is the next album going to be about and we were probably going to fall asleep after a 12 hour drive and were like I like horror movies.
TM - what is your favourite horror movie?
SS - I'll give you my most favourite that's the most recent that I watched Get Out.
SS - Have you seen it?
TM - No
SS - It is different you either hate it or you love it, some people think it is the lamest horror movie they have ever seen. I get why some people think that but the reason that I like that movie is it really got me thinking after that movie. I was thinking a lot and the concept of the movie stuck with me and what it was trying to say really say stuck with me.
TM - If you could have any bands play one of your songs which band would it be which song would it be and would it be in your style or their Style?
SS - just because they are my favourite band I would want to hear what Thrice would do with one of us in their own style.
TM - If you could collaborate with anyone who would it be and why?
SS - Right now I have been into R&B and hip-hop and there's this underground artist called Riley who was randomly on Warped Tour last summer. I have been blown away by his music for this last six months and I am also a singer I have been singing my entire life so I would love to collaborate with Riley.
TM - Is there anything else you would like to announce to your fan?
SS - I would really like to emphasize with the new record there is something for everybody, it is not your typical metal record. If you are not a Metalhead like my father, he loves 70s prog he asked for an instrumental version because he can't stand screaming at all. He was so Blown Away by the instrumentals so I just want to push that to our old fans or new fans that might not even have heard of us.
TM - It would be cool if you released the instrumental version of your CD to your fans as a special pack. I'm sure everyone would love to hear it.
TM- Thank You for the interview today, we really appreciate it and hopefully we will get to see you in Australia soon.
CHECK OUT ALL AENIMUS ALBUM INFORMATION
AUST iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/dreamcatcher/1442057631
For NZ iTunes Link: https://itunes.apple.com/nz/album/dreamcatcher/1442057631