Richard HolmesOutergods may have members of Evil Scarecrow and Raised By Owls in their ranks, but don’t expect anything tongue in cheek from this quintet: their old school death metal is deadly serious.
And they’ve moved fast since guitarist Nathe Sinfield – also of Lost Outrider – and Raised By Owls vocalist Sam Strachan started collaborating during lockdown.
The Nottingham act’s self-produced debut album was originally slated for an independent release.
But Outergods turned heads at Prosthetic Records… and A Kingdom Built Upon the Wreckage of Heaven was unleashed on an unsuspecting world in September.
Rich Holmes got the inside track from Nathe…
Rushonrock: A Kingdom Built Upon the Wreckage of Heaven has been out for a couple of months now. What are your reflections on the record?
Nathe Sinfield: Sam and I wrote the whole thing and our vision is there. The fact that it’s DIY as well is pretty cool.
We struggled to mix it a lot of the time because there are so many layers. I wanted that whole ‘wall of noise’, Strapping Young Lad type of thing and the more you add, the harder it is to mix and make sure everything pops through. But I think we did that. The whole vibe and obnoxiousness that we were aiming for is there and that’s probably what I’m most proud of.
We had no expectations. I thought maybe if we could get 100 people a month to listen to it that would be awesome, but we got signed, we got to play Bloodstock and people are really enjoying it.
Rushonrock: You’ve been very forthcoming about the influence of 80s and 90s death metal on Outergods. What’s special about that era?
NS: Nostalgia is a big thing. I find comfort in anything that has a nostalgic atmosphere. I have a nostalgia for old school RPGs and the same goes for music as well.
That late 80s and 90s era, up until the early 2000s, was fresh and those bands were just discovering their sound with very minimal outside influence to go from. They were the first. I think that’s amazing. Entombed had their own sound, Morbid Angel had their own sound… everyone’s sound was so unique and really inspirational.
The stuff that Trey (Azagthoth) does with Morbid Angel – especially when you get to the era of Formulas Fatal To The Flesh – is just insane. Hate Eternal too. The horror behind the chords Erik Rutan uses is amazing.
(Old school death metal) is a genre I have wanted to work with for ages because it was the first metal scene I fully got obsessed with as a kid. I’ve always wanted to do something in that style. I have dabbled in different genres before, but that’s the style that comes most naturally to me when I am writing.
Rushonrock: With the likes of Undeath and Tribal Gaze in the US, and Celestial Sanctuary and Coffin Mulch in the UK, there’s a rising tide of emerging bands who are mining old school death metal for inspiration. What’s your take on the current scene?
NS: I was in my early teens when deathcore first started, but I was never really into that style. It never really gelled with me. I preferred the previous iteration of death metal.
When more bands started coming out and playing in the style I loved it was great.
Celestial Sanctuary are a phenomenal band. There is Death Collector too, who are on the same label as us. I think it is amazing.
The younger generation are discovering stuff from the 90s, which shows just how well it holds up. (Nineties death metal) made an impact to a point where three decades later, people are still discovering it: that reaffirms how special that genre is and how talented the artists were back then.
Rushonrock: Outergods’ name was inspired by the Cthulu mythos and H.P. Lovecraft looms large over the album artwork and the lyrical concepts. Tell us about that…
NS: I really wanted to do something with a ‘cosmic horror’ aspect. I love that stuff. I was playing a lot of Bloodborne and Dark Souls, and they both have that H.P. Lovecraft style, and I also really like Lovecraft, so I wanted to do a project that had that element to it. I said to Sam that I wanted to have an undercurrent of that in the lyrics, and he’s into it too – he loves dark fantasy and cosmic horror stuff.
With the artwork (created by Nathe’s brother, Tim), my brother was already well versed in the whole metal scene, and he’s an artist as well. He listened to some of the demos and came to us with the concept. All three of us were very much on the same page.
Rushonrock: From Metallica’s The Call Of Ktulu and The Thing That Should Not Be, to bands like The Great Old Ones, the metal scene has a fascination with Lovecraftian horror. Why do you think that is?
NS: It’s an extension of dark fantasy but it’s even more bizarre, and then it adds the element of space, and how many unknowns there are about space. It makes your imagination go wild.
H.P. Lovecraft’s stories are like real life scenarios that have been interrupted with something horrible. And I think you can place yourself in the shoes of the person (in the story) quite easily because of that.
Rushonrock: Nottingham is the home of Earache Records, which obviously had a huge part to play in championing the grindcore and death metal scenes. Has that had any impact on you?
NS: Yes, it’s definitely ingrained. Loads of bands that I love were on that label. And Nottingham has a massive catalogue of amazing bands like Iron Monkey and Pitch Shifter.
In my old band we always wanted to get signed to Earache and we tried a few times. I think Digby (Pearson, Earache founder) might have come down to a gig (we were playing) but we were hammered, so no wonder he didn’t sign us!
Rushonrock: Extreme metal bands such as yourselves, Beyond Grace, Underdark and Antre have emerged from Nottingham in recent years, and have gained international recognition. What’s your take on the city’s scene?
NS: Everyone is interconnected and live scene-wise, we’ve got some incredible promoters, and well thought-out gigs.
Phil Core puts on some phenomenal shows that have really helped the underground scene. We played our first show through him and he’s really good.
And then on top of that, you have Mangata Music as well. They put on incredible shows as well as the Mangata Festival. We played that in July along with bands like Raging Speedhorn.
And there are venues like Rock City, which is iconic, Rock City’s Beta, The Rescue Rooms, The Chameleon and The Angel.
It’s a great scene!
Rushonrock: You played Bloodstock Festival in August before the release of A Kingdom Built Upon the Wreckage of Heaven. How was that experience?
NS: I was a bit nervous because we ended up clashing with Sepultura, who literally came on stage at exactly the same time as us. But even with that, a really good amount of people came to see us. I’m assuming they were curious!
When we came on it was just amazing to see people enjoying it. There was good participation and I could see people wandering into the tent when we were playing, and then thankfully not wandering out! They wanted to stick around to the end.
So it was definitely a proud moment and something that’s going to be in my brain forever.
Rushonrock: Where do you want to take Outergods? What’s next for the band?
NS: I have a bucket list for what I wanted to play and what I wanted to tick off this year!
We definitely want to play more festivals, so fingers crossed, in a couple of years we can go back to Bloodstock. And we really want to play a place like Damnation Festival.
And then there’s album two. I have finished demoing the album already. We just need to finish writing it and next year we’ll start recording it, to keep the momentum going.
While there is space in my head I want to make the most of it!
Outergods photo by Tom Kelly.
