Gozitan metal band Ascendor released their second studio album, Drive My Demons Away, for free online streaming and are now gearing up for a live performance in August for the official launch.
Following a turbulent 2014 for the heavy metal quintet, they chose to draw on their experiences as a source of inspiration for the songs on the new album.
Fast-paced and charged with raw energy, Drive My Demons Away sucks listeners into a sonic vortex that relentlessly ravishes their eardrums till the 50-minute mark.
Formed in 2011 and consisting of guitarists Andy Fava and Joe Costa, drummer Paul Formosa, vocalist Steve Muscat and bassist Blasio Muscat, Ascendor is a lone beacon of the heavy metal genre in Gozo.
The band has gone from play-ing covers to writing original material that was eventually compiled into their debut album, Becoming, which was released in August 2013. The band regularly plays at gigs and festivals in Malta and Gozo.
Ascendor’s second album was recorded by Andy Fava, mixed and mastered by Steve Lombardo. It was released for free online streaming through the band’s Facebook and ReverbNation pages in April. It will be available for purchase during the official launch.
I met with Ascendor’s Formosa for a quick chat about the band’s new record and to find out more about their upcoming live appearance at Remedy, where the band will officially launch the new album during a show with fellow metalheads Angelcrypt.
How would you describe your music to somebody who is about to listen to an Ascendor track for the very first time?
Most people label us as thrash metal and while we cannot neglect the heavy influence that the Big Four and other thrash metal bands have on us, we don’t really classify our music as pure thrash metal.
Andy is the one mostly in-fluenced by thrash, even though he also enjoys other styles. Joe is a fan of Dream Theatre and Blasio is also an enthusiast of Progressive Metal and the more complex subgenres, so when our song writing takes a progressive twist, it is most probably Joe’s input with Blasio’s direction.
I have been heavily influenced by Metallica when starting out, but, lately, I have been looking into the likes of Lamb of God, Gojira and Bullet For My Valentine.
Ascendor is currently the only active metal band in Gozo. Do you perceive this situation as an advantage?
Despite the small size of the island, Gozo has been blessed with quite a good number of musicians and bands. Metal bands have been a rarity and those that did hit the stage at some point had a relatively short life.
We are proud to be the only active Gozitan metal band and feel privileged to be the only Gozitans playing at local metal events.
As time goes by, the less the attention new metal bands get
It is really gratifying to look down from the stage and look at all the metal faithful head banging, moshing and sometimes even singing along to our songs.
You wrote that your latest album was inspired by turbulent events that affected the band members last year. How do you, as a group, approach the task of confronting adverse moments in your lives and condensing them into a 50-minute album?
When we started the band, we barely knew one another. That has changed. Today we consider Ascendor to be our second family.
In fact, we have postponed the recording of our latest album in order to support one of us who was going through a really difficult time. In the mean time we still met up, talked, discussed matters, jammed and shared our frustrations.
Since Steve is the main lyric writer he was the one who could absorb all those experiences and emotions and transform them into lyrics.
The feelings were collective, but no one is better than Steve in turning emotions into words. Having said all that, I think that the album’s title is self-explanatory.
To what extent would you describe producing Driving My Demons Away a form of collaborative catharsis?
When we starting out writing new material for this album we did not yet have any indication of lyrics or titles.
Steve had written a piece on an apocalyptic scenario which he had titled Turn Water to Blood so we started off jamming and eventually the song ended up an epic 11-minute track.
At that point it seemed right to use this song as the title track for the album.
Ascendor made its second record available for free via online streaming. Is it the case that bands nowadays have to offer some sort of trade-off to fans in order to win loyalty and achieve a wider reach?
Unfortunately, that’s the sad reality. You always find those few who genuinely appreciate your music or your efforts and support you blindly at every gig and with every release.
When considering metal, if you’re a really good, yet new band, you’ll still be treated indifferently. It’s the typical case of working your way up from the bottom.
What I’ve observed is that as time goes by, the less the attention new metal bands get. Those bands which formed in the1980s and 1990s are still revered as gods of metal, while younger bands are treated quite passively.
Unless you have an old and respected dynasty you have to make sure to master PR and marketing skills in order to attract the local enthusiasts.
In a previous interview you said that sometimes it’s not worth the hassle, the expenses and the turnout. What are the toughest, most frustrating times in a band’s life?
Poor turnouts and lack of atmosphere in gigs take away most of the magic of playing live. Metal music is all about passion and emotion expressed with aggressive riffing, drumming and vocals. Like any other expression of emotions, it needs the appropriate setting to occur.
Other than that, being from Gozo has its disadvantages. When it comes to playing a show in Malta we have to start preparing hours before the other bands, generally rent a van to carry equipment and obviously pay the ferry fare to cross over.
You also said that Gozitan bands play the few Gozitan venues and perhaps the occasional date in Malta. In what ways does this arrangement affect the music community in Gozo?
I don’t think that Gozitan bands lack playing time or exposure. Every weekend you’ll find bands playing. The problem is, the heavier you get, the less you’re likely to play.
Starting out, we organised and played a number of gigs in Gozo before being invited to play in Malta, but realistically, how many times can you play for the same crowd? We try to spice these shows up by inviting Maltese bands to play in Gozo, but our principal focus is exposing ourselves at shows in Malta and, hopefully, someday overseas.
We are hoping that our latest release can open a couple of new opportunities for us. Having said that, we already have some new material in the works.
Ascendor will be launching Drive My Demons Away on Saturday at Remedy (Coconut Grove), Paceville. Entrance is €5 or free with the purchase of album.
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