Interviews: Phenomy
1. How did Phenomy originally come together, and what inspired you to begin creating metal music from Lebanon?
Phenomy really started with friendship before it became a band. Loïc and Rudy grew up together and spent years jamming in basements and garages, playing the music we loved: Metallica, Pantera, and all the bands that made us want to pick up instruments in the first place. Eventually, we started writing our own riffs, and at some point it stopped feeling like something we were doing just for fun. We realized we actually had something we wanted to build.
The lineup evolved over the years until Sam and Peter became part of what Phenomy is today.
Being from Lebanon was never a reason not to play metal. If anything, it gave us more reasons to do it. Metal is built around intensity, frustration, resistance and expression, and those are emotions we understand very well.
2. Where did the name Phenomy come from, and what does it represent to the band?
The name came from the word “phenomenal.” We went through different ideas in the beginning, but Phenomy was the one that stayed with us. It sounded strong, memorable and, most importantly, versatile.
We never wanted a name that locked us into one particular subgenre or sound. Phenomy can evolve with us. Whether the music becomes heavier, more melodic, more cinematic or goes somewhere completely unexpected, the name still works.
Today it represents everything we've built together.
3. Your new single is titled “Death May Die.” What inspired such a powerful and unexpected title?
The title represents the contradiction at the center of the song.
Death is usually considered the absolute ending. There is nothing after it. But what if even death isn't final? What if something survives underneath the destruction?
That idea became very powerful for us because it can apply to a person, a country, a memory, a dream or almost anything that has been destroyed but refuses to completely disappear.
“Death May Die” sounds dark, but underneath it there is actually a very stubborn kind of hope.
4. The song explores destruction, survival, and the possibility of resurrection. When did these ideas first begin taking shape during the writing process?
Those ideas weren't necessarily written down as a concept before the music existed. They grew together.
As the song developed, there was this feeling that something was being crushed but refusing to stay down. The music had darkness and weight, but it wasn't surrendering to that darkness. There was movement inside it.
Once we recognized that, the concept became clearer, destruction, then survival, then the possibility of rising again.
And obviously, living where we live, that cycle is something that feels extremely familiar.
5. Lebanon has experienced generations of destruction, rebuilding, and survival. How has the environment and history surrounding you influenced the way Phenomy approaches music and songwriting?
You can't completely separate yourself from your environment.
Growing up in Lebanon means living with contradictions. It's an incredibly beautiful country, but there is also instability, uncertainty and this constant feeling that something can change overnight. We've watched people lose things and rebuild them. We've watched plans collapse and then watched people somehow find another way forward.
That inevitably enters the music.
We don't sit down and say, “We're Lebanese, so this song has to sound Lebanese.” It's much more subconscious than that. The aggression, darkness and resilience in our music come partly from what we've experienced around us.
“Death May Die” probably makes that connection more directly than many of our songs because the idea of something being destroyed and somehow rising again feels almost instinctive to us.
6. “Death May Die” suggests that even death itself may not be permanent. What does that idea of resurrection mean to you personally and creatively?
For us, resurrection doesn't necessarily have to mean literally returning from death.
It can mean rebuilding yourself after losing everything. It can mean an idea surviving the person who created it. It can mean a memory refusing to disappear. It can mean finding the strength to start again when logically you shouldn't have anything left.
Creatively, that's very powerful because destruction and creation are closely connected. Sometimes you have to tear something apart before you discover what it can become.
That's the resurrection we're interested in.
7. Is the song intended to tell a specific story, or is it more of an open-ended reflection that allows listeners to find their own meaning?
It's intentionally open.
There is a world and an atmosphere around the song, but we don't want to tell listeners exactly what every image means. If someone hears “Death May Die” and connects it to Lebanon, that's valid. If someone connects it to losing somebody, surviving depression, rebuilding a relationship, overcoming failure or simply refusing to give up on something, that's equally valid.
Once the song leaves our hands, it belongs partly to whoever is listening.
Sometimes the most interesting interpretation of a song is one the band never consciously intended.
8. How do you translate an idea as emotional and complex as resilience into the actual music? Were there particular riffs, rhythms, melodies, or vocal approaches that helped communicate the feeling?
For us, resilience isn't something soft. It's violent.
It's getting hit and still moving forward.
So musically, the heaviness needed to feel physical. The riffs and rhythms carry that weight, while the dynamics give the song somewhere to go rather than keeping everything at maximum intensity all the time.
The vocals are important as well because there is a difference between sounding angry and sounding defeated. We wanted aggression, but aggression with purpose.
The music needed to feel like something fighting its way through the darkness rather than simply drowning in it.
9. The song is described as dark and heavy while still carrying an underlying message of endurance. How did you balance darkness with that sense of hope?
We didn't want hope to suddenly arrive wearing bright colors.
That wouldn't fit Phenomy.
The hope in this song exists inside the darkness. It's the tiny pulse underneath the wreckage. Everything around it might be destroyed, but something is still alive.
That's much more interesting to us than pretending everything eventually becomes perfect.
Sometimes hope is simply the fact that you're still here.
10. Was there a particular moment during the writing or recording of “Death May Die” when you realized the song had become something larger than its original idea?
There comes a point with certain songs when the individual parts stop feeling like riffs, drums, vocals and lyrics and suddenly become one thing.
With this song, that happened when the concept and the atmosphere really connected.
We realized we weren't just writing something heavy. There was an emotional idea underneath it that could exist beyond the music itself.
That's when the title really started carrying weight for us.
11. What musical influences have helped shape Phenomy's sound, and are there any Lebanese or Middle Eastern artists who have influenced the band's approach?
Metallica was probably the biggest common influence at the beginning, and bands like Pantera were hugely important as well. But Phenomy has never wanted to become a copy of one particular band or stay trapped inside one genre.
Over time we've taken inspiration from heavier and more extreme music, melodic music, cinematic composers and completely different styles. Film music has been especially important because we're very interested in atmosphere and storytelling.
Being surrounded by Middle Eastern music also affects you whether you're consciously trying to incorporate it or not. Certain melodies, rhythms and textures are simply part of the musical environment we grew up around.
We don't want to insert Middle Eastern elements just to prove where we're from. If something serves the song naturally, we use it.
12. How important is it for Phenomy to maintain a connection to Lebanon through your music while still creating something that can speak to listeners anywhere in the world?
It's extremely important, but we don't see those two things as opposites.
We're Lebanese. We don't have to force that identity into the music because it's already part of us.
At the same time, emotions like anger, grief, fear, survival and hope aren't Lebanese emotions. They're human emotions.
That's what we want Phenomy to do, come from somewhere very specific while still speaking a language that somebody thousands of kilometers away can understand.
Heavy music is actually very good at doing that.
13. What emotions do you hope listeners experience during the darkest moments of “Death May Die,” and what do you hope remains with them when the song ends?
We want them to feel the weight of it.
We don't want to protect the listener from the darkness because the darkness is part of the point. There should be tension, aggression and maybe even discomfort.
But when the song finishes, we want something else to remain underneath all of that.
The idea that being broken isn't necessarily the same thing as being finished.
If there is still a pulse somewhere beneath the wreckage, there is still a possibility.
14. Can you tell us about the artwork for “Death May Die” and how it connects to the song's themes of destruction, survival, and rebirth?
The artwork needed to feel like part of the same universe as the song.
We wanted something that communicated destruction without making destruction the final image. There needed to be the suggestion that something was still alive underneath it, something emerging, transforming or preparing to rise.
That's really the visual language of “Death May Die.”
It's not an image of victory after everything has already been fixed. It's the moment before that, when everything still looks destroyed but you begin to realize that the story isn't finished.
15. Did the visual concept for the single come before or after the music and lyrics, and how closely did the two develop together?
The music and concept established the world first, and the visual side grew from that.
Once we understood what “Death May Die” represented, the imagery became much clearer. We didn't want artwork that simply looked cool next to a metal song. It needed to continue the same story.
Phenomy has always been interested in creating atmosphere around the music, so visuals are another way of expanding the world of a song beyond what you hear.
16. What was the most challenging part of creating “Death May Die,” either musically, lyrically, or emotionally?
Probably avoiding the obvious.
When you're writing about destruction, death, survival and resurrection, it's very easy to fall into clichés. Especially in metal, because these are themes the genre has explored thousands of times.
The challenge was making the idea feel personal.
We didn't want to say, “Everything will be okay.” Sometimes everything isn't okay.
The message is more difficult than that, things can be destroyed permanently, people can carry scars permanently, but something can still survive.
Finding that balance was important.
17. As an independent metal band from Lebanon, what challenges and opportunities have you encountered while trying to build Phenomy and reach listeners outside your home country?
There have been plenty.
Touring from Lebanon is complicated and expensive. Visas can be difficult. Equipment, travel, recording and production cost money, and for much of our history we funded the band ourselves while also having normal jobs.
Even organizing metal shows locally hasn't always been easy because there aren't endless venues or resources available to bands like us.
But those limitations also taught us to become extremely independent.
We've recorded ourselves, produced ourselves, toured internationally, handled the business side of the band and learned things because we simply had no other option.
Playing Wacken Open Air was an important moment because it showed us that a band starting in a basement in Lebanon could eventually stand on one of the world's biggest metal festival stages.
The internet has also changed everything. Someone discovering Phenomy today doesn't necessarily care whether we're from Beirut, Berlin, London or Los Angeles. They hear the song first.
That's a huge opportunity for bands coming from places outside the traditional centers of the music industry.
18. What do you think makes metal such an effective form of expression for themes like pain, destruction, survival, and resilience?
Metal allows ugly emotions to exist without apologizing for them.
You can express anger, fear, grief, violence, frustration and despair at full intensity. You don't have to make those emotions comfortable.
But there is also something strangely positive about that.
You put those emotions into a riff, scream them into a microphone, hit the drums as hard as you can, and suddenly something destructive has become creative.
A room full of people can scream the same words together and somehow walk out feeling better.
That's one of the beautiful contradictions of metal.
19. With “Death May Die” arriving worldwide on October 2, what can listeners expect from Phenomy next, and is this single a preview of a larger body of new music?
“Death May Die” represents where our heads are creatively right now, heavier, darker and very focused on atmosphere and emotion.
We're always writing and developing ideas, and we definitely don't see this single as an isolated moment. Phenomy keeps evolving, and every release teaches us something about where we want to go next.
We don't want to reveal everything yet, but “Death May Die” is a door opening rather than a door closing.
There is more on the other side.
20. Bonus Question: If “Death May Die” were represented by a single image showing the moment when something destroyed begins to rise again, what would that image look like?
A completely destroyed city just before sunrise.
Everything is silent. Buildings are collapsed, the streets are covered in ash, and at first there appears to be absolutely nothing alive.
Then somewhere beneath the rubble, you see one hand pushing through.
Not somebody standing triumphantly on top of the ruins.
Not yet.
Just that hand.
Because that's the moment “Death May Die” represents to us.
The destruction has already happened.
The resurrection has only just begun.
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