Florida’s INFERNAEON offers a brutal mix of death metal with a European edge, first having stormed onto the metal scene with their 2007 debut effort entitled A Symphony Of Suffering. The act has now completed their second full length which is slated to be released later this summer via Prosthetic records. The group recorded at Erik Rutan’s infamous Mana Recording (GOATWHORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE) in St. Petersburg, Florida with producer Brian Elliott.
The Metal Den’s Randy “Rocket” Cody has conducted an exclusive interview with vocalist Brian Werner of INFERNAEON for his loyal worldwide Den Headz.
Rocket: Where were you born and raised?
Brian: I was born in Chicago and lived there most of my life from childhood and on and off through most of the yeas that was always kind of a central point. I lived in Wisconsin for a while and went high school there for a min till I got said fuck this place freshman year and went back to Chicago until because I was minor I was forced to go to a different school that lasted about 3 weeks finally they just gave up haha. I love Chicago that is one of the coolest cities on earth dude I’ve been all over the place and I’ll always call that city home. It’s a better new York in my opinion just as cool, better baseball team (White Sox, Fuck the Cubs!! Real men wear black!!!), and plus Chicago actually has real pizza instead of that crap they call pizza in NY hahaha sorry I’m just stating the facts, NY pizza tastes like cardboard and sauce.
Rocket: Do you come from a big family?
Brian: Not at all. I never met my father due to certain circumstances surrounding the conception of my birth. I knew my mom then i got adopted by her new husband and they had 2 daughters (one of which “Becky” died in 2004 at 20 years old from menengitis). I had a really shitty family life I lived on my own as a homeless teenager since the time I was 15 till 19 living under bridges and friends couches, band rehersal sheds always helped. But hey shit happens I’m not fucking emo about I’m glad I had it that way I never had shit handed to me, I had to fight, claw, and kill to get where I’m at in life and it’s all a matter of strengh and perseverence. I see it as natural selection in it’s purest form and I was the one who was smart enough and fast enough to survive and it made me and even stronger adult.
Rocket: What bands initially drew you to heavy metal music?
Brian: Megadeth, GWAR and Anthrax were definitely the first initial 3 when i was in 4th grade I remember I was the little kid and my best friend was the fat kid and he was into metal and his brother played in a death metal band that was around 1990 I was about 9 or 10 years old. After that in like 1991 1992 it was all Pantera’a Vulgar came out Sepultura and Obituary. After that in middle school we were hard into Fear Factory right after Demanufatcture came out and Machine Head’s Burn My Eyes for sure and of course Slayer I mean fuck I remember when Divine Intervention came out and that shit changed my life. Through high school years it was all Cannibal, Morbid, Deicidelater on like 17 or 18 when all these fucking little scene kids were into their gay ass rap rock and acting like fucking KORN-FLAKES Iwas listening to Dimmu, Skinless, Dying Fetus, King Diamond..a lot of King Diamond. Then everyone jumped on the shit nu metal band wagon and I was still listening to King Diamond and Mercyful Fate through the early 2000’s then here we are a few years ago and now all these same “scene” type kids are into realy metal now the same motherfuckers you know in the mid 90’s would have been little rap rock fags that we hated then but now it’s cool to be metal and it’s the “in” thing and it’s fucking insulting. All these people talk about are “fuck the trends” and “this is who I am” the same stupid bullshit the said when they were listening to Nirvana then 6 years later they were saying the same thing when they were listening to KORN and always talk this shit but yet they follow EVERY FUCKING TREND THAT COMES ALONG!!!
Rocket: When did you first start singing?
Brian: I started around 15 or 16 doing death metal right out the gate, then it evolved to more mid ranged thrash stuff. Then when I was 19 I started singing for this band in Milwaukee called Autism that was really cool I had fun with that really gave me a chance to refine my voice early on. keith Devito from Pyrexia and Catastrophic was a major help and influence I always loved his work on Hatred, Anger and Disgust and System of the Animal was a huge influence. I was lucky enough to meet him early in my career before I was really set in my ways as far as how I sing and he mentored me alot and taught me more correct ways of singing this genre which has defined my entire way of singing now as a professional.
Rocket: Who are your biggest vocal influences?
Brian: Well, like I said in the last question about Keith being a HUGE influence but that is also a 2 part question because as a singer there is also lyrical content and influence and in that department I’d have to say King Diamond through and through. He really enlightened me to how this music IS spiritual and release certain emotions that can only be described through music because to try and describe certain emotions this music portrays using only spoken work would require you to swallow your own tounge, but the lyrics can enhance the rest of the music to play of the landscape that the music creates.
Rocket: Do you recall your first rock concert?
Brian: Not really, I was really really drunk!! I was 14. I remember it was Napalm Death it was my first introduction to Jagermeister and the rest of the night was pretty much a major blur.
Rocket: INFERNAEON is signed to Prosthetic records. How is that relationship working
out so far?
Brian: Amazing!! We love being on Prosthetic — it’s kind of like a badge on honor they don’t sign just anybody. They may not be the biggest label out there but in my opinion they are one of the most respectable ones out there. They aren’t a label that just signs a bunch of shitty bands because it’s the cool new thing. They sign talent, we have some amazing bands on this labels from all different backgrounds. We sound nothing like Kylesea or All That Remains, Funeral Pyre isnt anything like Lamb of God or Acatia Strain and NO ONE even comes close to sounding like Gojira! Everyone at the label works very close with their bands and helps out in any way possible but I respect the fact that they are a very DIY label. Makes the bands work harder for it which makes you appreciate it that much more when you achieve it! The best things in life take work and assholes that get shit handed to them tend to be the ones that dont appreciate what they have, so it’s nice to work with a label that pushes you to do things for yourself, it makes you very self reliant which in my opinion is the best way to be in this business, if you dont do it for yourself no one is going to do it for you.
Rocket: Your band has a new album that you are making. Who’s producing it, where was it
recorded and when will it hit the streets?
Brian: We initially hired James Murphy as most of you know to produce the entire album, however it became evidently clear that continuing to work with him was not going to a positive experience but also a professional one without getting into specifics, we finished recording drums with him and then took to rest of the project over to Brian Elliot at Mna studios which was the best decision the band could have made!! Recording at Mana was fucking amazing and totally pro and Brian knew EXACTLY what we were trying to accomplish and devoted 110% of his effort into it and we are blown away with how well this turned out, it definitely exceeded our own expectations!!
Rocket: Who are some of the bigger metal bands out there that you’d like to see INFERNAEON share the
stage with one day?
Brian: GWAR for sure is always going to be a dream come true there were one of the first metal bands I ever heard in my life that turned me on to this life at a very very early age. King Diamond or Mercyful Fate would be so huge we would all sell our souls 9as if we havnt already lol) to go on tour with King, I could kill myself after that tour and die with a HUGE fucking smile on my face. Danzig or Candlemass we would all die to tour with, for myself I’d have to say Hypocrisy or Slayer as well.
Rocket: I like to have fun with this next one. What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to
you while performing on the stage?
Brian: Either tripping my balls off on mushrooms in Portland and stopping the whole show in between songs so I could take Bibles that i stole from the hotel and tape them to my drummers feet in front of the crowd to see how fast he could play double bass with Bibles taped to his feet!!!! Ahh I love Portland I have yet to ever play in Portland NOT on mushrooms!! I love that city! Lol or the other time I could think of LMAO was on another tour we played in Portland on the Pyrexia tour and me our keyboard player and guitar player ALL took a bunch of mushrooms before we played! Brian broke a string 10 sec into the first song and was tripping so hard he couldnt find his back up guitar and while I’m singing was asking me for the van jeys to get his back up out of the trailer but he was so fucked up he wasnt making any sense and he pissed me off so I saw the keys off to the side of the stage and made his ass look for them in the dark tripping his balls off lmao
Rocket: What are some of the important upcoming shows for your band?
Brian: We have some major fucking tour news coming out very soon but I’m not at liberty to discuss at the moment but we intend to be very active very very soon. We should be all over North America this fall and winter then hopefully we’ll get over to Europe for this album too. we really plan on almost not coming home for almost a year and just hit the road hard as fuck for the next 12 months then get right back into the studio by fall of next year for a follow up album and just crank out as much shit as possible before 2012 lol.
Rocket: Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?
Brian: Either in a shallow self dug grave because I can’t take fucking people and their bullshit anymore or fat dumb, stoned and happy in front of my Xbox we’ll see.
Rocket: Thanks very much for rocking this out with me. Best of luck with your music. Go ahead
and give special thanks to any of your friends, family and supporters.
Brian: Dave Brockie and GWAR, King Diamond, Our manager Eddie and Red Rocket, all of our sponosrs ESP Guitars, D Drum, Vic Firth, DB Drum Shoes, Obascenitease Clothing, Erick Rutan and Brian Elliot at mana studios, a nice healthy Fuck You to James Murphy, Mike Poggione, David Vincent, Laura Mayhem, Pia and Fetus Productions, luke Leonard, Victoria Kirchner, Crystal Brackett, and a big thank you to statute of limitations!
http://www.myspace.com/infernaeonoracleofarmageddon
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