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Sam: It seems since you joined
the band there's been more of an old-school thrash/hardcore edge that
it's gone back to...
Phil: "I think that me joining only just was
well timed with their cognizant effort to do that. They decided that
that's what they wanted to do, and I had joined. I didn't cause that.
I think my writing style will kind of show that, but I think that I
get falsely credited with the direction change, and it's not accurate."
Sam: You guys started off with a track that's
like 13 minutes long, was that a conscious effort to... most albums
you put the track that's that long in the begining you know?
Phil: "I think it came about by...we wanted the
epic opener you know? 'Dividian', 'Ten Ton Hammer', we wanted the big
epic intro song, and it just kinda blossomed into a 10 minute,
10 1/2 minute song. I think alot of that has to do with the 2 minute
intro, you know because it was 8 minutes to begin with and that's
just a little bit longer than 'Imperium' was. But it kept growing
and growing, and then we had this...Robb came up with this awesome
acoustic intro to put in front of it, so that's kinda where it gets
all it's length from."
Sam: So it was originally like 8 minutes and
you guys sorta kept adding parts to it?
Phil: "Yeah, as a whole I think the song is
like 8 minutes but then you put the 2 minute intro in front of it,
that gives it..it's got a long fade at the end too. It's deceptively
long".
Sam: You actually don't realize that it's 13
minutes long when you're listening to it.
Phil: "Yeah, see that's the thing, the songs...
I mean we've got the running joke to where it's like 'man, it
doesn't seem like a 10 minute song' but then there will be a song
that we hear from another band or something and man that seems like
a 10 minute long."
Sam: I haven't figured out all of the lyrics
yet but it seems like you guys are a little pissed off about what's
been going on the last 6 years.
Phil: "Yeah, yeah, I mean well, 4 for sure,
the anniversary just passed, so...yeah. We're four individuals
you know, that think individually obiviously, and it's hard for
us to agree on anything political, religious-wise, stuff like that.
But the one thing that we do agree on, is that we're against this
war, you know, and so it fueled alot of inspiration for the record.
We're not a political band, we don't want to be a political band,
but this is something that's...there's something definately wrong
with the world today, and it's just our way of releasing a little
bit."
Sam: I noticed in the past Robb has taken
on some social topics that tend to be ignored by the media/people
don't want to talk about.
Phil: "Yeah, no so much on this record...there's
'Slanderous' about the racial issues, and 'Halo' with the right
wing christian consipracies and stuff like that. It's not at the
forefront of what we're about, but it's something that's underlying
that needs to be brought out."
Sam: You guys ever fight over lyrics or have
a topic where you're like 'I don't that should go on there'?
Phil: "He's really good about approching us
and saying 'hey, this is that I'm thinking about writing about, this
is what I'm thinking, are you guys cool with that?' or, you know...
The war thing, it's kinda touchy because, you know a couple of us
aren't against war per se, but just against this war in general.
It's...you know what I'm saying? There has to be..."
Sam: Alot of grey area.
Phil: "Some grey areas, so he's really
good about coming to us."
Sam: How much of the new stuff are you playing
live?
Phil: "A couple songs, we're playing 5 a night
so two are new. I donno if you've seen the setlist online or anything
yet, so we're playing 'Clenching' and 'Asthetics'."
Sam: Is this album going to have any special
digipack releases or any vinyl?
Phil: "I think Europe is doing a special
release with the O card, I think we're going to put 'Battery' on
that, that we did for Kerrang!, and I think that's it...a little
DVD section of the making of the record, stuff like that, and I
think that's pretty much it."
Sam: You guys didn't record any more covers
for B-sides this time around?
Phil: "No, we did, we recorded one B-side,
one song, an original song, but it's not done yet, so...I think
it's just going to be available on the internet."
Sam: How long is this tour going and what do
you plan to do after it?
Phil: "We have another 2 weeks on this, so
the first week of April we'll be done, we're off for 2 weeks, and
then we start the Heaven and Hell tour with Megadeth. So it'll be
us, Megadeth, and Black Sabbath with Dio. So those are arenas for
a month in the states, and then we're going to Europe for a month
to do festivals, and hopefully get on Ozzfest or Family Values here
for the summer. Then September, October, November we're doing
Europe a full run, and then probably back here to headline the
states in late January and February. So a year from now, we'll be
back."
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