Interviews: The Funeral Procession

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Progressive Death Metal band The Funeral Procession from the USA. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. How did The Funeral Procession first come together, and what originally inspired the band's formation?

The Funeral Procession originally came together in 2008, formed by Nakoa Arnold, Mike Sanchez, Bryan Cox, and Mike Miller. Mike had just come off a big win — his previous band, A Dozen Furies, had won the Battle for Ozzfest on MTV — but after they broke up, the four of us saw it as an opportunity to build something new. The vision was to take the atmospheric, progressive feel of Opeth and push it into heavier territory, adding black metal vocals and drawing from a wider range of influences. From the start, the goal was to give everyone in the band a real voice in the creative process.

2. Where did the name The Funeral Procession come from, and what significance does it hold for the band?

The name came naturally from the themes we always knew would be at the heart of the band. Loss, and that difficult journey through life, were central to what we wanted to explore musically and lyrically — so The Funeral Procession felt like the right fit. It captures that weight and movement, the sense of carrying something heavy forward, which has always been at the core of what we do.

3. Looking back at In Still Silence, how do you feel the band has evolved leading up to the release of Carrion?

Looking back, In Still Silence was really just about getting back together and putting out a studio project — we didn't have grand expectations beyond that. But the response surprised us, and it pushed things into something bigger than we originally anticipated. That whole experience became a learning process. We took the lessons from making that record and started refining our sound, so by the time we got to Carrion, everything had tightened up. We were heavier, more comfortable moving between the growls and the clean vocals, and our tracking process had improved enough that we were getting better guitar tones across the board. It felt like a natural evolution — In Still Silence laid the foundation, and Carrion is where we really started to find our footing.

4. What inspired the title Carrion, and how does it connect to the themes explored throughout the EP?

The title Carrion felt right because it speaks to something decaying — and each song on the EP explores a different dark corner of the human experience, so that imagery ties everything together. The Whispering Dark digs into that internal voice, the one that creeps in and tries to pull you toward depression. A Wretched Elegy is about the quiet desperation of feeling trapped — going through the motions of a life that doesn't feel like your own, doing things you hate every single day with no way out in sight. And then the title track, Carrion, brings it all to a head. It's about those who live selfishly, only to find themselves facing death and scrambling to make peace with it — not out of genuine remorse, but out of fear of what comes next. The repentance isn't real. It's a survival instinct dressed up as conscience. Together, the three tracks paint a picture of the weight people carry — the battles in their own minds, the lives they feel stuck in, and ultimately, the reckoning that waits at the end.

5. The EP feels deeply emotional while maintaining a strong progressive and melodic death metal foundation. How did you approach balancing those elements?

This band has always been a vehicle for expressing the things that weigh on all of us — the concerns and thoughts that feel too heavy to carry alone. That's really at the heart of how we approach everything. These are universal experiences, but so often it feels like you're facing them in isolation. If we can write a song around one of those moments and have it connect with even one person, make them feel like they're not alone in it — because none of us truly are — then we've done something meaningful.

The metal framework gives us the range to do that honestly. Anger, confusion, resentment, impatience — all of that lives naturally in a growl. But sadness, depression, understanding, even love — those come through in the clean vocals. When I can match the right emotion to the right voice, I think that's when the music stops being just sound and starts feeling like something you recognize. Something you've lived. That connection is what we're always chasing.

6. Was Carrion written with a specific concept in mind, or did the themes emerge naturally during the songwriting process?

Each song came about separately and organically — there was no overarching concept mapped out from the start. We weren't sitting down and saying, "This is what the EP is going to be about." The themes just emerged naturally through the writing process, each track finding its own footing on its own terms.

But when we stepped back and put them all together, everything locked into place in a way that felt almost inevitable. Three songs, three distinct corners of the human experience, and somehow they fit together seamlessly. I think that's actually what makes this EP special — it wasn't forced into a concept. It just became one.

7. Bryan described the EP as moving through sorrow, anger, and indignation while exploring the human condition. Can you elaborate on those themes and how they shaped the songs?

These are themes we keep coming back to because they're universal. Everyone has felt all three at some point. That's what the human condition is — it's messy and complicated and full of contradiction, and we love exploring that space.

8. The record carries a strong cinematic atmosphere. How important is mood and storytelling when composing music for The Funeral Procession?

It's everything, really. From the very beginning, the goal has always been to connect emotionally — to tell a story that means something. We're not just writing riffs or putting together technically impressive parts for the sake of it. We want the music to take you somewhere, to make you feel something in the moment, and still carry that weight years down the road.

9. Which track on Carrion best represents where the band is today, and why?

I'd point to Wretched Elegy as the one that best represents where we are right now. It's one of the newer tracks we wrote, and I think it captures the direction we're heading more than anything else on the EP. When the next full-length drops — which we're aiming for late this year or early next — I think people will hear a lot more in that vein. That song is really a preview of what's coming.

10. Was there a particular song that proved especially challenging to write or record?

The title track was definitely the most challenging. It has the most moving parts of anything on the EP, and getting the mix right without losing the subtler elements was a real balancing act. There's a lot happening in that song, and every layer matters, so making sure nothing got buried in the process took real care and patience.

It's also a little bittersweet for that reason — Carrion is the last song we recorded with Greg Fender handling the mixing and mastering. He's been with us through this whole journey, and having that chapter close on the title track feels significant. It's a hell of a way to go out together.

11. How does the songwriting process typically work within the band?

It usually starts with Nakoa laying out a basic framework on guitar — the bones of the song. From there, it goes to our drummer Jerrin, who builds the drum parts around that foundation. Once that scratch version is in place, everyone else comes in and writes their individual parts around it. When all the pieces are together, we run through the scratch version as a whole, make sure we're happy with where everything sits, and then go back and nail down the final versions for mixing and mastering. It's a process that gives everyone room to contribute while keeping things moving in a clear direction.

12. Your music combines technical musicianship with emotional depth. Which aspect tends to come first when developing new material: the technical framework or the emotional direction?

Honestly, it depends on the song. Sometimes we'll have something simple that just has a deep emotional pull to it, and we'll flesh it out and build the technical framework around that feeling. Other times it starts with a great riff — something technically interesting — and we find the emotional core from there. We don't really have a formula, and I think that's actually one of our strengths. We follow wherever the song wants to go rather than forcing it into a process.

13. What lessons did the band learn from creating In Still Silence that helped shape Carrion?

The biggest lesson was that we can take risks with our sound and trust that it's going to come out great. With In Still Silence, we recorded all the final parts separately and sent everything off to be mixed and mastered without really knowing how it all fit together until we got it back. And it was great. That experience built real confidence in each other — knowing that everyone is going to bring something special to their part without needing to micromanage the process. By the time we got to Carrion, that trust was already there. We could take bigger swings because we'd already seen what this band is capable of when everyone is given the space to do their thing.

14. The Funeral Procession has earned recognition through the Dallas Wacken Metal Battle, UK iTunes Metal Chart success, and growing streaming numbers. Which milestone has been the most rewarding so far?

As a band, the Wacken Metal Battle win stands out as the biggest collective statement we've made. That's something we all earned together and get to carry with us — it's a validation of what we're doing on a really meaningful level. But personally? The iTunes Metal Chart is my favorite milestone. There's something about being able to say you charted in your genre as an independent artist that just hits different. No label, no machine, just the music finding its audience and the numbers reflecting that. That one felt special.

15. You've shared stages with bands such as Orbit Culture, Anciients, Life Cycles, and Fervence. Have those experiences influenced your approach to performing or songwriting?

Every one of those experiences has been valuable. Watching how those bands carry themselves — the energy they bring, the professionalism, the way they interact with an audience — there's always something to take away. I think any artist who isn't paying attention when they share a stage with someone great is missing an opportunity. All of those bands have helped us become better in one way or another, and that's something I'm genuinely grateful for.

16. How important is the live environment to The Funeral Procession's identity?

The live environment matters a lot to us, and every time we get on stage, we're looking to make it better than the last time — tighter, more intentional, more impactful. We want to bring something genuinely different when we play, not just run through the songs. That said, we're at a point where we're slowing down and being more selective about when and where we play. The goal now is to make each show mean something rather than just filling a calendar. So if you get the chance to catch us live, take it — we don't intend to play often, and we want every show to be worth remembering.

17. What was it like working with Greg Fender on the mixing and mastering of Carrion?

Greg is incredibly talented at what he does, and working with him has always been a great experience. He has a real ear for this kind of music, and that comes through in the final product. It's a shame he doesn't have the time to continue doing it — we're genuinely going to miss that collaboration. He's been a part of this band's sound in a meaningful way, and that doesn't go unnoticed.

18. The progressive melodic death metal genre continues to evolve. Where do you see The Funeral Procession fitting into today's metal landscape?

We fit somewhere in that space between raw and refined. We have the heaviness and the aggression, but we also want you to feel something when you listen. The progressive elements give us room to explore and tell a real story within a song rather than just hitting you over the head for three minutes. I think fans of progressive death metal will find something here that connects — but we're not trying to sound like anyone else. We're just trying to be the most honest version of what we are.

19. As an independent band, what are the biggest challenges and advantages of operating without a label?

The challenge is the same one every independent band in this space faces — breaking through in an incredibly crowded field. The progressive metal fanbase is passionate, loyal, and always looking for something new, but there are only so many hours in a day and far more bands than anyone has time to discover. Getting your music in front of the right ears is a constant battle.

But the flip side of that is pretty great. Nobody is breathing down our necks, nobody is trying to steer us in a direction that doesn't feel right. Everything we do is because we want to do it, exactly the way we want to do it. For a band that's always been about giving everyone a voice creatively, that kind of freedom is hard to put a price on.

20. What has the response been like from fans since the release of Carrion?

It's been incredible, honestly. We hit all-time highs in monthly listeners and streams, and it's still growing, which is something we're really proud of. But beyond the numbers, the messages and comments from fans have meant just as much. Anytime we get a great response from someone who connected with the music, we share it in the band group chat so everyone gets to appreciate it together. That stuff never gets old — knowing the music is reaching people and actually meaning something to them is exactly why we do this.

21. For someone discovering The Funeral Procession for the first time, which song would you recommend they hear first and why?

I'd say A Wretched Elegy. It's the track that seems to be resonating the most with people right now, and I think it's the best representation of where we are and where we're headed. If someone hears that song and connects with it, they're going to understand exactly what this band is about — and they'll be ready for what's coming next.

22. Looking ahead, what are the band's goals following the release of Carrion? Are there plans for touring, videos, or work on the next full-length album?

We're already deep into it, honestly. We're currently writing a new full-length, eight—song album, and alongside that, we're working on a couple of music videos, some playthroughs, and behind-the-scenes content to go with it. We also have a couple of big live shows in the works. It's a really exciting time for the band, and I think everything we're building toward is going to make a real statement. The best is definitely still ahead.

23. Carrion explores darkness, grief, anger, and resilience. If the EP were adapted into a film, what would the final scene look like when the credits begin to roll?

I think something like the mist's final scene would be the most appropriate. A man who makes an irreversible decision in the final moments out of pure fear of what's coming — not faith, not courage, not genuine conviction — just terror. And then the mist clears. What he thought was the end wasn't the end at all. The repentance isn't even possible because there's nothing left to repent to.

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