While there will always be detractors, it’s hard to argue that the metal scene isn’t in a great place right now. Not only is the genre getting the commercial and critical attention it justly deserves, the music itself is expanding its already broad stylistic parameters. One band that has embraced change and gotten stronger because of it is New Jersey killing machine, God Forbid. Born out of the late 90s East Coast underground, the quintet built a reputable reputation hashing out album after album of Scandinavian flavored metal.
Groups like
In Flames and
At The Gates are always name-checked when writers talk about
God Forbid but on their latest opus, "
Earthsblood," the band have finally stepped away from the comparisons. The album brims with some of the most emotionally charged performances of their career while their songwriting has grown leaps and bounds above many of their contemporaries.
God Forbid were dealt a potentially lethal blow when founding guitarist Dallas Coyle abruptly left the group shortly after "Earthsblood" was released. But the band has soldiered on and don’t seem to be slowing down despite the loss. In this Ultimate-Guitar exclusive, we spoke with Doc Coyle, the band’s other guitarist and sibling of the departed Dallas. As you’ll read below, it doesn’t look like God Forbid is going away anytime soon.
UG: The thing that sticks out about ‘Earthsblood’ is the songwriting’s breadth. You really explored a wide-range of sounds. Was there a “fuck what the world thinks” attitude going into the studio?
Doc Coyle: We’ve always been a band open to change. If you listen to us you’ll know that we have always changed from album to album. Going into this album, we mentally and philosophically knew we were all about the exploration of our sound.
The genre in which a lot of people lump you into could stand for some change.
Yes, definitely. Our genre has become formulaic and we didn’t want to rely on all of those gimmicks. We’re the kind of band who loves to get in a room and jam for hours. With ‘Earthsblood’ we took a lot of time and put it into jamming and seeing where the sound went.
Was there any aspect that you weren’t as sure of?
The only reservations we had were the vocals. We knew that we had pushed the musical side really far. There is a lot of over-the-top melodic stuff going on so we weren’t sure if the vocals were going to mesh well. When we heard everything together, we knew that we had succeeded. There are more parts with cleaner vocals but they fit in perfectly with what the music puts out. I’m really happy with the end result.
"Going into this album, we mentally and philosophically knew we were all about the exploration of our sound."
He’s actually a great producer too. Christian did the production on Mnemic, Threat Signal and some Fear Factory stuff. If you listen to the FF stuff you know how huge the vocals sound. The hardest part is making the clean stuff mix well with the death metal vocals but we knew he was the guy to get it done. One thing he did was tell us that he didn’t care how long it took but we were going to get the vocals down just the way we wanted no matter what anyone said. That was comforting because we had always felt rushed in the past. He was also a leader in the studio which is always welcomed in that situation.
You have gone on record to say that half the time you don’t know what the other members’ lyrics are about. Is there anything threading ‘Earthsblood’ together conceptually?
In all honesty, I don’t really think so. Dallas and Byron write their lyrics separately for the most part. Sure, they help each other out from time to time with ideas but they like to work in their own worlds. They were both going through their own issues so that spilled into the lyrics I’m sure. I know one thing we did talk about was trying to get away from the overwhelming negativity of our other records. The older material always had an apocalyptic vibe about it all so we wanted to try and do something more uplifting with ‘Earthsblood’ so we did.
What kind of guitar rig/set up did you use in the studio?
The majority of the tone comes from a Bogner Uberschall which I love. We also used a Krankenstein from the folks at Krank. For the cleaner tones we went with Randall. For the guitars, I used an ESP LTD Stephen Carpenter model because most of the stuff we wrote required a 7 string and it’s got a killer sound!
So you didn’t experiment with any other guitar models?
We didn’t really have the option (laughter). My brother had a cool Fender but he sold it at some point. Maybe next time out we’ll try and see what happens.
How did you handle the guitar solos in terms of the tracking? Are you more of a spontaneous kind of player in that regard?
I prefer and usually about 80% of the time I like to go into that situation prepared with something written. I just think I work better like that. I’m not that kind of guy to just go in cold and knock out something great. When we write the songs, I go in and listen to the sections and try to find little melodies and stuff like that.
The funny thing is, there are a few parts on the new album where I did improvise and I seem to love those sections the most (laughter). I guess I should try that more.
Your brother Dallas left the band shortly after ‘Earthsblood’ was released. How does your family feel about it now that it’s been a few months?
That’s a tough one to answer and I don’t really feel comfortable getting into details at this moment. I have mixed feelings about everything. It’s definitely caused a lot of tension in the family. His departure is bigger than the band and it made everything in our lives messy. He chose a bad way to go about everything and it came off selfish. There are repercussions when you do things in that manner.
"Our genre has become formulaic and we didn’t want to rely on all of those gimmicks."
Matt Wicklund is playing with us now. He used to be in Himsa and also played on Warrel Dane’s (Nevermore) solo album recently. He’s a phenomenal player and I picked him because of that and his easy-going personality. That’s important too.
Will he be playing on the next album?
I don’t know to be honest. Right now we’re just concentrating on all of our touring obligations and getting better. But we’ll see. I just know he’s kicking ass right now.
Growing up, who were the players that had the most impact on you?
Slash is the reason I picked up a guitar in the first place. Everything about him and his playing style just ruled. His melodies were so infectious and they grabbed me from the beginning. From there I went into a heavier direction with guys like James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, and Marty Friedman. I was really into the right handed palm-muted stuff and I emulated it. As the years went by, I got into all the underground stuff. Chuck Schuldiner from Death and Meshuggah come to mind. Now that I’m older I go back and rediscover bands like the Beatles and classic groups like that.
Which bands are you listening to these days?
I love All Shall Perish but their guitarist Chris Storey left the band. He is so good!
I interviewed Kirk Hammett recently and he mentioned being a fan of All Shall Perish which took me for surprise.
They are an amazing band! Let’s see who else comes to mind. Ollie from All That Remains is a kick ass guitarist and you should check out The Absence. They have 2 guitarists who will blow you away! Oh wait! Another band your readers should look for is Periphery from Maryland. I think they might get huge.
Have you ever go on Ultimate-Guitar to look up a God Forbid tab?
Yeah, I actually have (laughter). There not really all that accurate though which is understandable. We use all of these weird little things that are hard to catch when you listen to the records. There are all of these rhythmic nuances that we throw in there. We call them “ghost notes” or whatever. We had to show Matt all of the little tricks when he joined us for these tours.
Interview by Carlos Ramirez
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