Interview by Patrick with guitarist Lawrence September 2012…

Shadows In The Crypt have quickly burst their way into the US black metal scene, signing with and releasing an album on the mighty Horror Pain Gore Death Productions out of Philadelphia (my old stomping grounds and former headquarters for Canadian Assault! ~ Dale). Check out this interview to find out more about this promising young band. 

 

 

Hails! Thank you for taking the time to fill out this interview. Please introduce yourself to the readers.

My name is Lawrence Wallace, I’m 27 years old, I live in southeastern PA, and I have always been a huge metal fan ever since I was a young kid. I first started playing the guitar when I was 16 back in 2001, and I progressed very quickly. I was in a few different rock and metal bands throughout the past decade and I have met a few famous people, studied under some great teachers and played onstage with some great musicians. Music has always been my passion ever since I was little. Other than that I’m pretty calm but I enjoy listening to local acts and hanging out/drinking with cool people from the local metal scene every once in a while. I also love art and graphic design. I hope to get really good at it one day.

When did you first discover metal? Who were some of the first bands you listened to? Who are some of your current favorite bands?

I first started listening to heavy metal when I was about 11 years old and some of the bands I liked to listen to were Metallica, Ozzy, Testament, Slayer and similar 80’s thrash related stuff. I still love that old stuff and I use it in my playing even now days but after the years I gravitated toward more extreme genres like black metal/death metal. I don’t really have any actual favorite bands right now but some of the bands I listen to now are bands like Emperor, Watain, Wolves in The Throne Room, and still a lot of old thrash metal, and also a lot of ambient, soundtrack and electronic stuff.

When did you and the other members of shadows in the crypt meet? What is the "current" line-up of the band? For the readers who have never heard the band how would you describe the music?

How we all met goes back about 7 years or so. My friend Chris knew Stephen Corridean, who became a close friend of mine, and about year after meeting him I found myself in a local death metal band called “Improper Burial” where we recruited Jesse Beahler. Then about 4 years later Steve introduced me to Josiah, and we all got along very well with the same musical interests. Then after some disagreements happened there were some changes to the lineup. Chris Simms left the band, then Steve called up George Loveland (aka Necrodemuius Hammhorde - Dale) and asked him to check out our material, and he later became the new vocalist. Jesse also had to step away from the band after the last album “Cryptic Communications” was made because he was very busy with work and his 6 other musical projects. He was very busy. I can describe our music by stating that it is a black metal band with a lot of thrash elements and guitar solos. It is very dark, occult and raw. The music on the recordings are polished but not overproduced, the riffs are used with heavy distortion, atmospheric lead guitar riffs with delay and a decent amount of guitar solos. Also there is mostly screaming but there is also some clean vocals once in a while on the second CD. The first CD was basically all screaming. Most black metal fans have given us very good feedback.

The band recently released it's second cd "cryptic communications" through Horror, Pain, Gore, Death Prod. How did the band come in contact with the label? Are you all happy with the job they have done so far?

George was friends with Steve Corridean ages ago, before I even knew how to play guitar. They are both a generation older than I am so back in their day, they used to do tape trading with local bands and friends that they had in the area. They knew Mike Juliano, who is the owner of HPGD Productions from back years ago. George still kept in contact with him from time to time because he had his other project “Decieverion” out playing live gigs where some of his old friends would come out and hear them. George showed Mike Juliano the album we recorded and he offered to sign us, so we jumped to it. We actually met up with him first thing in the morning after a night of heavy drinking to sign the contract and put the CD out. That was a very memorable day. Hahaha.

How long did it take to write and record the songs for Cryptic Communications? Which usually comes first the music or the lyrics? What are some subject/topics the bands writes about?

When we recorded the album, we took our time. We used my logic program so during the recording for the guitars we just brought the equipment over to our friend’s houses and tracked it there as we got drunk and goofed off. The drums took a while, we tracked them over Justin Dipinto’s house (one of Malevolent Creation’s old drummer’s). That was a pain in the ass because the computer kept acting up and it was the middle of the summer of 2011 with no air conditioning. We are pretty happy with the turn out of the album. The production is very raw but it fits perfectly well in with the black metal genre. To me the music comes first because I am a guitar player but the lyrics are important also. I’d be pretty mad if George started writing songs about a rainy day, or how he dropped his lollypop on the dirty ground outside. He is in charge of the lyrics but I trust him to keep it metal. The topics have been the typical anti-religion, suicide, and war content so far but I am not sure what he has planned for our newer stuff yet.

How has the response been from the press and the fans?

The response has been great! I have seen about 16 or 17 reviews on the internet so far for our CDs and there has only been 2 of them that says our music is just “OK” or about a 5/10. The rest, which is almost all of the reviews say that it is one of the better black metal projects they have heard, which is great to hear. The fans at the shows usually always show us a lot of attention after playing live. We have been very successful at selling CDs that way also.

Does the band play live very often or do you prefer to work in the studio? Who are some bands you have played with?

We don’t play live very often. We play about once or twice a month on average, and when we are in the studio, we usually step away from live gigs for a little while. I personally like to play live as much as possible, but unfortunately it’s hard to do that when everyone in the band is on a different schedule. It can be hard to work things out. We always find ways to make it work though. We have played with some great bands in our area like Crucifier, Sapremia, Haethen, Hollenlarm. We also played with some bands from out of state like Vex, Abigail Williams, The Lurking Corpses, we had a show where we were going to open for Horna but it didn’t happen.

Does the band have any upcoming tours/shows in support of cryptic communications? Where are some places you will play? If you set up a "dream" tour/show who are some bands {past or present} you would like to play with?

We don’t have any tours or shows directly showcasing the new album but we do announce that it is being sold at every show we play. If I were to set up a dream show, it would be on a stage with the capacity of tens of thousands of people with lawn seats like when Jimmi Hendrix played Woodstock. It would be Dimmi Borgir, Slayer, Testament, and Metallica, and we would headline the show with a huge 35 foot banner with our logo behind us as we play. That’s what I would call a dream show. … Oh yeah and the president will have to be there also.

Everyone has their own ideas/opinions on what "black metal" means to them. So I was curious what does black mean to you?

Honestly, it means raw album production, a lot of alternate picking, screaming and blast beats. That pretty much sums it up for me. Also there must be a few dark sounding key changes to make it legitimate black metal, as far as the music goes. As far as the lyrics are concerned, just evil church burning stuff is good and anti-theistic themes are good enough.

Do you or any of the other members of Shadows In The Crypt, have side bands or projects you are currently working/playing with?

George has a side project called “Decieverion”. They have been out since 2001 and they have recorded a few demos and EP’s throughout the time they have been around. They are about to go into the studio to record their first full length CD in about a month from now. They have a typical black metal sound based on the last EP they released. It is pretty good. You can download their stuff on www.bandcamp.com. Other than that, no one else has any side projects yet. Both George and I helped out our old bass player with his solo project called “Serpent ov Old”, but he is just recruiting new people as he goes along rather than keeping a solid line up. We volunteered to track with him because we are his friends. You can also find his CD on HPGD Productions when that comes out this November.

What is your opinion of the black metal scene here in the u.s? Who are some of your all-time favorite bands? Are their any new, unknown bands you think the readers should check out?

I have no problem with the black metal scene in the U.S. I like some bands in the states like Wolves In The Throne Room, Black Funeral, Absu. There aren’t any U.S. black metal band that I can say are true favorites of mine but they are definitely good. Some new/unknown bands I would recommend checking out are Fisthammer (death metal), Haethen, Decieverion, Serpent ov Old, Crucifier (They been around for a while), and Nightfire (Tech death).

You handle the guitars for the band at what age did you start playing guitars? Are you self-taught or did you take lessons in the beginning?

I started playing guitar when I was 16. At first I thought I wouldn’t amount to much but I ended up learning pretty fast. I took lessons from a few different instructors. I was taught by Ernie Carletti (Former Iced Earth guitarist) before he got the gig with Iced Earth. I was taught a little bit by Greg Howe (Shrapnel Records) and also I learned a lot from Chris Gordon (director of the grand school of music in Wilmington). I learned a lot from each of them. I stopped taking lessons after I have been playing for about 6 years. I just didn’t have the money or time to keep going. I would if I could though. No one ever stops learning.

Who are some of your influences/favorite guitarist? Do you play any other instruments?

I am very influenced by Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, Michael Angelo Batio, and other shredders from the 80’s and early 90’s. Some of my favorite guitarists are Andy James, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert. I also like Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom, but more than anything it’s his guitar tone that grabs my attention. I don’t play anything else really. I can play some rock beats on the drums and I can put together some synth stuff on the keyboard but I don’t have any real technical skill with those instruments.

Well Lawrence we have reached the end of the interview thank you for doing this interview. Do you have any final comments for the readers?

I would like to thank everyone for reading this interview, our music from the first CD and the promotional demo “Baphomental Affliction” is currently free for download on www.bandcamp.com. My YOUTUBE channel is “LawrencePAPHL” for those of you who are interested in checking out our band’s channel along with my instrumental solo album that I have posted up there. Also we are on facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/shadowsinthecrypt for those of you interested in checking out our page and lastly, the new CD is available on the site also @ http://hpgd.comoj.com/store/hpgd048.html for those interested in a physical copy. Thanks once again to all of our fans and friends for their support, and thanks to you Patrick for the interview. Hails from S. Philadelphia PA! \m/ 

 

 


The Shadows In The Crypt Discography 

Beyond The Grave Self Released Full-length, 2011

Division of The Soul Demo, 2012

Baphomental Affliction Promo Demo, 2012

Cryptic Communications Full-length, 2012

Fanatical (Ready To Die) EP, 2012


 

 

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