Many bands are labelled as one-of-a-kind; few truly deserve it. However, Mithras truly sound like no other, creating death metal with a strong atmosphere which remains uncompromisingly brutal. Reverb, strange chord, down-tuned droning, hyperspeed brutality, ambient keyboards – all these are to be found integrated into Mithras’ enthralling music. Fun for all the metal family! The foul-smelling denizens of the metal forum got together and arranged an email interview with Leon Macey, Mithras’ main songwriter and guitarist (who also drummed on the first two releases) to get some kind of an insight on the strange and slightly scary world of this immensely talented band.
UG: Are there any candidates in line for filling Rayner Coss's position? (Stranglehold)
As many people now know, Sam Bean (The Berzerker / The Senseless) joined Mithras right after long time vocalist/bassist Rayner Coss departed, in Jan 2009.
As soon as it became known Rayner was leaving, Sam put himself forward. Even though I'd been drumming in Sam's band The Senseless for nearly two years, he was so obvious a choice I'd almost overlooked him! Quite a few people expressed interest but we didn't end up auditioning anyone else. Sam was such a strong candidate there wasn't any doubt; he can play guitar, bass, drums and sing multiple vocal styles, plus he's an awesomely creative musician and intelligent guy.
One thing I always was regretted was Mithras have never been able to do many live shows, for many reasons. One of them was we've always had such complex and technical recordings that it was a battle to even attempt playing the tracks live. However I knew Sam would do the business and since he joined we're re-motivated and playing tighter and better than ever. We can't wait to hit the road and get some shows under our belts!
Is there any pre-Mithras material available? (Stranglehold)
Well, not exactly pre-Mithras but there is some stuff which hasn't been heard bar a few hundred demo cdrs back when the band was named Imperator.
I'm just finishing up a release called "Sands Of Time" which basically chronicles the 10 years that Mithras has existed. It's all our released demos and some rarities remastered on a CD, and a DVD of live shows (including Rayner Coss' last show in London 2008) and studio footage etc. The London show is really good quality, shot with a few cameras, with decent sound. It'll be available from the Mithras site (www.mithras.org.uk) and Myspace page at the very least. This really marks the start of a new phase for the band.
"One thing I always was regretted was Mithras have never been able to do many live shows, for many reasons."
I got taught some guitar basics back in 1996 by an old mate called Julian, I learnt guitar so we could do a band together, because it seemed cool and I was interested. I worked with a guy called Rob at the time who was always showing me his Jackson San Dimas and BC Rich USA custom guitars, he actually lent me a few Charvel guitars to learn with, cheers! I'd actually played a bit of Spanish guitar when I was 10 but never really got into it.
So Julian and me learnt Slayer tunes in my bedroom till I could play to an ok standard, then got some musicians together and formed a thrash band called Reprisal which became more deathly as time went on. We did some recordings and some live shows and went through the normal teenage band stuff. When Reprisal finally split a few years later I had some downtime then formed Mithras with Rayner Coss and Justin Joyce (vocals / drums in Reprisal) as I wanted to do something more uncompromising and original.
Which did you pick up first, the guitar or the drums? And does the playing of one influence the other at all?
I picked up guitar when I was 16, and played about on drums a bit when I was 18, but didn't "start" drumming till the end of 1999, when I was 19. The playing of both influences the other a bit, it's good to have a rhythmic base when playing any instrument imo.
Do you have any particular way of coming up with riffs? Is it through noodling, or do they start from ideas?
A bit of both really. I sometimes visualise ideas whether rhythmically or melodically then translate them onto guitar, or just play and record whatever comes out. Normally I'll stumble on an idea then get a bit obsessed by it and start layering solos and drums over the top!
What first attracted you to use 7 string guitars? Would you ever go back to using a 6?
I started out with two tunings in Mithras, A# and drop C#, but both using 6 string guitars. Eventually I wanted to extend the leads upwards in the A# tuning so getting a Universe for an extra high string was an obvious step. I'd seen Jack Owen (Cannibal Corpse) using one and thought it was an evil looking guitar and would suit the kind of crazy stuff I was planning to do with it. I finally found one for sale and travelled quite a long way to buy it back in 2000. Right now I use 7 string Ibanez guitars (Universes / RG7620's) for the A# tuning and 6 string Ibanez RG550 guitars and Charvel Fusion guitars for the C# tuning, so I use both.
What trems / strings / picks / pickups do you use? Any gear tips?
All my guitars have Floyd Rose tremolos, I use D'Addario strings (10's + .60 gauge for low A#), Dunlop 2mm picks and Dimarzio Blaze/PAF pickups. I also use EMGs in a few guitars but not the 7 strings. One tip I'd give is to have your pickups waxed if you use passive pickups, this can really tighten your sound up and control feedback.
Any particular tips for budding shredders? You have a seamless tapping technique it seems, and i'm sure other people outside of myself would like some insight into how you developed it or any exercises you used. (Dyers’ Eve)
The best advice I could give as regards to playing anything fast is practice like mad and get as tight as possible. Use a metrognome ;), record yourself playing, analyse it, repeat. Look to your fave players for inspiration and try and emulate them in terms of their work ethic, not by just ripping them off ;) You could apply this to drums too :D
Work on one pick per note scale exercises as that'll allow you to play cleanly - it's easy to make something sound chaotic should when you want but it takes skill and practice to play cleanly. Tapping wise, don't neglect ANY fingers, I can use all 8 fingers when tapping if I have to. Also work with moving each hand individually when tapping. I'll do a guitar video of the first solo in "The Caller And The Listener" at some point as there's a section with the hands moving independently from each other, both hands tapping in different places on the neck and moving about, it's pretty cool and not too ott.
"I'm just finishing up a release called "Sands Of Time" which basically chronicles the 10 years that Mithras has existed."
Well thanks for the complement :D. I write music almost religiously sometimes, in a state that you could maybe describe as a "fervour". I try to get into this state when playing and if I do, consider the rehearsal or show a success! It's really hard to explain but I guess I'm trying to represent an elusive feeling of "oneness" through music, and most of my music is trying to achieve this transcendent state.
From where do they draw inspiration for the songwriting? (Guitarmike123)
Dreams, history, random ideas, books I've read, films. On previous records Rayner and I created entire stories together, just to focus the album concept down and give us something to work with really. You can also refer to my previous answer for what I use as inspiration.
How much theory is involved in the music of Mithras? I hear a lot of weird scales going on, particularly in your lead work (as far as my untrained ear can tell anyway); is this intentional, or is it all on a sounds-good basis?
Not much theory really, although I taught guitar for a while I've forgotten most theory I learned back in the day and just go by ear and with what sounds right to me. I do a lot of modal work and use dominant scales but most of the melodisicm / amelodicism is down to the way the leads rub against the rhythm parts, which is probably what I pay most attention to, that jarring feeling with the brutal background and weird sounding leads over the top.
Who is the most underrated guitarist in your opinion?
I think Alex Lifeson of Rush is probably one of the least rated guitarists especially considering how big Rush are, but he's absolutely brilliant, his leads are incredible.
What do you think Mithras' best work would have been? (Severed-metal)
Hard to say really. I hope my best musical work is yet to come, but some stand out moments on guitar are the solos in 'Psyrens' (from 'Worlds...'), the ending solo in 'As The Wind Blows' (from 'Legions...') and the outro solo in 'Behind The Shadows' (from 'Shadows...). Each one sums up the vibe of the record they're on and are quite unusual in atmosphere as they were played "off the cuff". I'm actually really happy with all the records we've put out as we did the best we could at the time and didn't compromise. They're also quite different from each other. If I had to pick just one record, probably 'Worlds Beyond The Veil' at a push due to the mental time I had when making that record.
Do you have any plans for a North American tour in the near future? (TheMantipede)
Not as yet but we'd love to do such a tour, or at least some decent festival shows in the States.
What music have you been impressed by lately? (VampireGoldfish)
Suffocation - Blood Oath, really solid and interesting dm record with great playing and tunes.
What do you think about the current metal scene in the UK? Does anyone in particular stand out?
To be honest, I hear so many bands it's almost impossible to pick individual ones out, though there are loads and loads of upcoming bands and the scene is really "healthy" for want of a better word. I really like Bal-Sagoth and Forefather, I guess they're my favourite UK bands off the top of my head.
"I write music almost religiously sometimes, in a state that you could maybe describe as a "fervour"."
We started ZT back in 2004, and some people said we wouldn't last five minutes, and here we are, 30 issues and five years later, one of only two UK metal titles that grows year on year. As well as the UK, we're distributed on the newsstands in the USA and Canada, as well as most of Europe and Australia. The readers really seem to love the magazine which is brilliant - we seem to have found our niche with the smart pro design/small format and our attitude and stance on extreme music. We support the underground scene a lot more than comparable magazines and have some really passionate writers.
It's great to be able to run your own business and work for yourself - I'm the managing director of the company which owns the magazine. I don't write for the magazine (though I did a bit in the early issues) or have that much to do with the content as we have a dedicated enthusiastic editorial team for that, but I oversee the company and everyone who works for us. My wife Lisa publishes the magazine and is a bit more involved with the hands on stuff than I am, she's worked on magazines for over 10 years now so it's her passion.
One thing I really enjoy is seeing good bands get publicity and year by year grow, partly through the work we do with the magazine, doing bands myself I know how difficult it can be. Mithras have only been covered a few times in ZT; a review and feature a few years ago for the last record, and two live reviews - normally the editorial staff have to chase me for stuff rather than me forcing it on them, hehe.
OMG Why did you cut your hair!!! (Dyers’ Eve)
I was pretty sick of having long hair, I'd had it long for 12 years or so. For the last four years I never ever wore it down bar in promo pictures and it was so long it was a constant annoyance really. Doing sound engineering work sometimes, I can't bear having anything covering my ears either so it was a relief when I finally cut it off. I don't think it suited me much looking back and wish I'd cut it off a very long time ago. It's weird how people act according to a convention, even if they don't realise it.
To finish, what can we expect from Mithras from now on?
Shows, more shows, brutal shows with crazy music that sounds like it's being played backwards at 270bpm! I'll start knocking ideas for the new record into shape one 'Sands Of Time' is done and dusted. Cheers!
Thanks a lot for your time Leon, hope Sands of Time won’t be too long in the making!
Interview by Tom Webb
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