Interviews: Hades Descent

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Symphonic Death Metal/Melodic Death Metal band, Hades Descent, from England. Check out the interview and follow this band on their FACEBOOK PAGE. 

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name?

Honestly, I can't remember. During some of the early demos, I was reading a lot of mythology, and tales of both Hades and Sisyphus stuck in my mind. It got me thinking about the journey to hell, and the path to hell — the Hades Descent. 

2. Where is the band based?

Berkshire, UK. Except our vocalist DM, who's in France.

3. Why did you want to play this genre?

We love melodic death metal and grew up listening to all the classic melodic death bands. But more recently, I've been appreciating crossover and fusions between different styles. Taking death metal and putting a classical orchestra with it just adds this incredible dimension, especially with some choral operatics, that can really ramp up the intensity. I love it.

4. What is each band member's favourite band?

Lorna Shore, Cattle Decapitation, Fleshgod Apocalypse and Septicflesh. The intensity and aggression these guys achieve is insane, and it's well refined. The mixes are clear, and there's a great composition and melody to everything they do.

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

A lot of inspiration comes from TV and films. We've already started work on our third album, which has a heavy influence from some of Hans Zimmer's film scoring for a very famous film trilogy, and some stuff hopefully coming further down the pipeline based on Hugh Howie's Silo trilogy. But often I'll just think of a cool song title and work backwards from there, to build out something from literally just a track name.

6. Where would you like to play?

Royal Albert Hall, London, UK. One of the most iconic and best-sounding venues in the world. It's only fairly recently that they've opened their doors to the metal scene. I've had the pleasure of seeing some quality performances in there, including Opeth, Meshuggah and Devin Townsend.

7. Who would you like to share stages with?

Arch Enemy, Soilwork or At The Gates. Big fan of the Swedish scene!

8. Which bands/artists have inspired you the most?

Devin Townsend, no question. Without his music, his albums, Hades Descent would probably never have happened. Following his journey, from the Vai days, through SYL, DTB, DTP, and all his other side projects, has been transformative to my understanding of what a person can achieve musically. I've lost track of how many times I've seen him live (record was 6 times in 8 days!), but every time it's been an awesome night — and I love that he's enjoying it every bit as much as the fans are. Long live Heavy Devy!

9. What do you think of your fans? How important are they to you?

Honestly, I'm just honoured that people take the time to check out our music. It's not about achieving notoriety or making big bucks for us; the music is a labour of love. And we're proud to share it with fans who appreciate it and to know that somewhere someone else is enjoying the records we put so much effort into creating!

10. What do you think of our website?

I've discovered some really cool bands on here! There's so much emerging talent in the metal scene right now, and it's hard to shine a light on everyone that deserves it. A lot of the big streaming platforms are really geared towards the established bands, the big names that don't really need the help to share their work, but you're representing some real quality bands and helping them to get discovered and to grow — keep up the good work!

11. Anything to add? New music, gigs, etc? 

 Our second full-length album, "The Monolith", is out now on all major streaming platforms, Bandcamp (www.hadesdescent.bandcamp.com) and our website www.hadesdescent.com. It's the pinnacle of our achievements to date, and features some incredible guest performances from Brian Kingsland (Nile, Imperishable), Karl Sanders (Nile) and Bjorn Strid (Soilwork). We poured a lot of time and effort into this, and we're really proud of the results. We're also working on remasters for some of our early releases and have a third album in recording at the moment. Lots going on! Thanks for checking us out!!