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Dissecting Serial Killers With MICK BARR From MONOLIYTH · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So this is Mick Barr from the death metal band Modelis,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and we're just going to have a chat about the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: release of the new album. And yeah we've Chris has
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: been good enough to have us on, so yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I can't wait to have a chat.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Fantastic Matt, thank you joining us today.
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  Speaker 2: Brother, No problem at all.
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  Speaker 4: I want to let the release the album He Who
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: Kills Back on August at twenty second mate, So she's
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: been about a month now's the only reception been.
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  Speaker 2: It's been great, really good.
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  Speaker 1: I'm getting a lot of feedback overseas through Europe and
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  Speaker 1: the States.
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  Speaker 2: And all. The feedback has been really.
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  Speaker 1: Positive, so it's it's sort of taken us by surprise
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  Speaker 1: the amount that we've got back. So yeah, it's it's
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  Speaker 1: been really good. I've got some good reviews and some
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  Speaker 1: good positive feedback from in Australia as well, so it's
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  Speaker 1: all looking pretty positive.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: So that's great.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: Nice What Heavy Reviewers actually did a review on the
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  Speaker 4: album and he says that He Who Kills These Monoliths
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  Speaker 4: delivered the tightest, heaviest, and most punishing works to date.
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  Speaker 3: Would you agree with that statement, yes.
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, yeah, we'd agree with that. I think
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  Speaker 1: we're pretty happy with how it's come out. Yeah, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we've We've put in some you know, some some brutal
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  Speaker 1: old schools that are vibes, there's some some melody.
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  Speaker 2: And the twin solo stuff and harmony.
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  Speaker 1: So we try to incorporate all those elements of death
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  Speaker 1: metal into the one package.
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  Speaker 2: So hopefully we've we've done it justice.
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  Speaker 3: Ye, very cool.
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  Speaker 4: Can you dive a bit deeper into the album for
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  Speaker 4: us from a musical perspective and tell us what you were.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Going for from a musical perspective, Yes, just just sort
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  Speaker 1: of touching on on those elements that I've I've mentioned, like.
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  Speaker 2: Within the realm of like the old school nineties era
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  Speaker 2: big guitar tones and the harmony, the twin guitar solos.
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  Speaker 1: Just trying to incorporate like those kind of elements with
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  Speaker 1: you know, like groove and sort of kind of put
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of slam, I guess you could say
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  Speaker 1: into the mix as well. So we're all sort of
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  Speaker 1: we'll be doing that a little bit more with the
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  Speaker 1: next album as well.
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  Speaker 2: It's a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: More technical, but still staying in the old school realm
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  Speaker 1: of things.
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  Speaker 4: You released a few singles you released the Killing floor
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  Speaker 4: he who kills an excised unborn, So just say that's
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  Speaker 4: all someone's heard of the album? Is that a good
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  Speaker 4: representation of the thing as all?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was one of the main reasons we picked
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  Speaker 1: those songs because it kind of showcases a few different
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  Speaker 1: albums to the band and sort of what we're going for.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, if you only to come across one
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  Speaker 1: or two songs, you know, hopefully we've conveyed, you know,
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  Speaker 1: what the band's about musically.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's that's the main reason for those three songs.
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  Speaker 3: Very nice.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, the album concept is intriguing to mate, Like it's
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  Speaker 4: set around tales of murder through the eyes of the
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  Speaker 4: serial killer, so an interesting concept. Where did the idea
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  Speaker 4: come from.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it wasn't anything like serious.
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  Speaker 1: It was just to do with like, you know, everything
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  Speaker 1: you know on YouTube or you know, the old horror
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  Speaker 1: movies and stuff, it's always based on serial killers and
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  Speaker 1: we thought, well, yeah, maybe we can do something, you know,
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  Speaker 1: looking through the eyes of the actual serial killers themselves
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  Speaker 1: and how they might perceive they're surround or you know,
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  Speaker 1: their ideology on why they do what they do.
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  Speaker 2: So again, it wasn't anything really serious.
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  Speaker 1: It was just a concept and we kind of tried
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  Speaker 1: to write the music around that as well. So hopefully
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  Speaker 1: it's all one, you know, one cohesive packageing serious.
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  Speaker 3: But we might not have been when you start off.
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  Speaker 4: But somethime this is very serious in its content matter
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  Speaker 4: and quite graphic as well. Like did you have how
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  Speaker 4: much research did you have to do on it to
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  Speaker 4: be able to come up with the songs?
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  Speaker 1: Well, again, not a lot of research really, Chris, because
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  Speaker 1: like you just you know, turn on the TV or
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  Speaker 1: put it, you know, jump on YouTube or something made.
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  Speaker 1: It's all there, you know, and especially more so like
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  Speaker 1: you know, from a horror movie perspective, like you know,
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  Speaker 1: obviously the real world and what's going on with serial
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  Speaker 1: killers and and everything's way worse than you know, what
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  Speaker 1: you can sort of put together in.
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  Speaker 2: A movie or even even for that matter of song.
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  Speaker 1: So it's although, yeah, it is serious in terms of
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  Speaker 1: you know, reality and what's going on, but sort of
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  Speaker 1: what we were.
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  Speaker 2: Looking for was more tongue in cheek. I guess.
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  Speaker 4: There are parts where it's pretty graphic and pretty detailed
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  Speaker 4: what you'd expect for the subject matter, but it was
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  Speaker 4: it hard to write from that perspective, Like it's not
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  Speaker 4: as if you had anything to draw from. I hope
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  Speaker 4: you had nothing to draw from when you're putting yourself
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  Speaker 4: in the eyes of a serial killer.
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  Speaker 2: It's just it's just like.
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  Speaker 1: Trying to you know, trying to trying to just convey
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  Speaker 1: like I guess you know, I mean, you're watching enough
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  Speaker 1: documentaries on these people, and it's you know, it's pretty
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  Speaker 1: evident sort of you know, how you could you know,
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  Speaker 1: you could write something about them, or how you would
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  Speaker 1: think that they would you know, react.
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  Speaker 2: To a certain situation or whatever. Yeah, so yeah, I
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  Speaker 2: mean again, it's just like a more of a tongue
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  Speaker 2: in cheek thing for us.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we're not trying to change anyone's perspective or
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  Speaker 1: change the world on.
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  Speaker 2: What we're writing.
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  Speaker 4: So it's true, but you would have you would have
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  Speaker 4: still had to put yourself in a certain mind space
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  Speaker 4: to write that sort of material, like, and it's not
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  Speaker 4: the sort of thing you live every day, like was
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  Speaker 4: it was it after to disassociate from that afterwards, you know,
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  Speaker 4: like you've got all those thoughts of death and murder
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  Speaker 4: in your head. Like it's not as if you just
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  Speaker 4: go and sit down and your missus and have a
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  Speaker 4: coup of coffee afterwards.
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  Speaker 2: On the contrary, it's probably that's as easy as a boss.
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  Speaker 2: It's sad, like you know, like.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like you know, it's it's like again like
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  Speaker 1: a horror movie or anything like that. It's like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: you can you can sit.
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  Speaker 2: Down and watch horror movie and if that's if that's the.
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  Speaker 1: Style of movies you're into, you could probably go and
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  Speaker 1: have a coffee and something to eat after.
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  Speaker 2: It won't affect you. So it's the same with us.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, like our vocalist Andrew, he you know, we
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  Speaker 1: came up with the idea of that album concept and
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  Speaker 1: you know, he's you know, he had you know, I
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  Speaker 1: put together a whole bunch of different titles and stuff,
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  Speaker 1: gave him some ideas and then he sort.
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  Speaker 2: Of just went from there and I took care of
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  Speaker 2: like the music.
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  Speaker 1: We just put it all together and yeah, then it
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  Speaker 1: sort of all came out like we worked really well together.
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  Speaker 4: So which song on the album is your favorite? Like
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  Speaker 4: is your favorite serial killer on the album?
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  Speaker 1: Well, I mean like they're all they're all sort of
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  Speaker 1: based on like not one, not one serial killer. It's
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  Speaker 1: it's to do just with the whole concept of how
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  Speaker 1: they might operate collectively.
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  Speaker 2: So, you know, am I a fan of serial killers?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely not.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's just you know, like I've seen plenty of
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  Speaker 1: docos on on these people's Yeah, that's pretty you know,
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  Speaker 1: you can't you know, you couldn't make it up, could
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  Speaker 1: you really? Like I can't believe half the stuff they
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  Speaker 1: talk about?
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  Speaker 4: Now? Did it be really cool they like say, from
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  Speaker 4: your perspective writing music about it? Because it's you would
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  Speaker 4: have to put yourself in a certain respect inside their
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  Speaker 4: shoes and to be able to describe what they're doing.
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  Speaker 3: So it's sort of something that, yeah, it wouldn't have
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  Speaker 3: the opportunity to do.
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  Speaker 1: I guess, like you know, like you know, Andrew's probably
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  Speaker 1: done that to some degree and tried to think, you know,
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  Speaker 1: like you know, on different scenario, how would they act
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  Speaker 1: or how would they respond or you know, to get
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  Speaker 1: those lyrics down.
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  Speaker 2: So I guess, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Like you know, I'm not sure, like he sort of
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  Speaker 1: came up with like all the the lyrics content, and
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  Speaker 1: I just sort of gave him, you know, just the
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  Speaker 1: titles and the idea and sort.
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  Speaker 2: Of you know, what we were looking at. And then
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  Speaker 2: you just put it all.
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  Speaker 4: Together after a I'm just starting to look over my shoulder.
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  Speaker 4: Started modelings in Melbourne back in nineteen ninety eight.
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  Speaker 3: Ros.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, climate like at the time they gave birth to
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  Speaker 4: the band, and where did you fit initially?
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  Speaker 1: Well, we we started off as a as a thrash
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  Speaker 1: band and we're just doing like local circuit stuff back then.
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  Speaker 1: So we were doing you know, I've written a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of material back then that was more thrash based. So
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  Speaker 1: then we were incorporating some some covers from Creator and Megadeth,
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  Speaker 1: a couple of other I think we did some Pantera
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  Speaker 1: stuff back then.
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  Speaker 2: So it was mid nineties.
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  Speaker 1: I was in another band called Siino that's sort of
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  Speaker 1: where Monolith came from.
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  Speaker 3: OK.
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  Speaker 1: So, yeah, we were doing you know, I'm not sure
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: that there was a band back in the day called
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: back Toium. We used to do a few shows with
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: those guys, and yeah, I wanted to sort of branch
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  Speaker 1: out and just do a little bit more in the.
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  Speaker 2: Death metal realm. And yeah, I started to focus more on.
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  Speaker 1: That because I was right into the nineties, late eighties,
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  Speaker 1: early nineties death metal scene.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, it was it easy to get a foothold in
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  Speaker 4: the Australian music or the metal industry those days, because
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  Speaker 4: there was a lot of good bands around then.
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  Speaker 3: So was that a hindrance to get in help or
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: was it? Howld you back up? There so many good
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  Speaker 3: ones around.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like it's it's always a battle.
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  Speaker 1: It's like there's there's so many good so many good
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  Speaker 1: bands in Australia. Melbourne's Melbourne's flooded with like you know,
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  Speaker 1: you know bands just like they're just full of talent,
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  Speaker 1: Like it's amazing. So it's always it's always a battle,
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  Speaker 1: especially you know you're trying to every there's so many
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  Speaker 1: bands everyone's doing, you know, doing their thing, trying to
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  Speaker 1: trying to get you into the scene.
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  Speaker 2: So that's like and so for that, like you know,
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  Speaker 2: we've we've branched out a lot.
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  Speaker 1: And tried to sort of get into the overseas market
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  Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, like where you know, over in Europe,
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  Speaker 1: Like when we played over in Europe a couple of
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  Speaker 1: years ago, Like the the reactions and responses from people
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  Speaker 1: over there was just amazing.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it was really good, Like it was like okay,
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  Speaker 2: so you know we actually are doing something right, So yeah,
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: yeah it was it was really good. Because there was
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  Speaker 2: a big thing going over there, like.
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  Speaker 1: We weren't sure and you know, as you know, like
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: touring's just it's a lot of money.
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  Speaker 2: So but yeah, it went really well. So it couldn't be.
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  Speaker 4: Happy a little in the right if you get a
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: fan base and people that appreciate you doing it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, it was being really good.
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  Speaker 1: I mean like i've you know, still, I've got guys
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  Speaker 1: you know, messaging me now. They want like even like
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  Speaker 1: the first album, they want copies of that signed and
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: merch stuff, you know, like and that album was done
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: years ago, back in two thousand and eight. So to
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: think that people over in Europe and stuff still like
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: that and are interested in the band, it's great.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: And now, speaking of live shows, bro like monolithic and a.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: Reputation for being a fierce live outfit. So what is
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: it about your shows that makes them so memorable?
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I think that we just we just get up there
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: and just try and just play the songs to the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: best of our ability.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: Like with.
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  Speaker 1: There's we you know, we're not running any gimmicks or
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: anything like that. There's a sort of side show stuff happening.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: It's just get up there and try and deliver the
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: songs as best we can.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: And just let the music hopefully speak for itself.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: So there's no real secret recipe and it made.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: It's just we get up there and try and do
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  Speaker 2: our thing. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and now the subject of live shows, right, have
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: you got any coming up?
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, We've got our album launch that's coming up next
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  Speaker 2: month from the eighteenth, so yeah, we're supporting the new
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: album with that, and then.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: I've got a couple of other things on the back
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: burner in between. We've got another show Prooffest that's coming
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: up in April twenty six, and then there's some stuff
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: that I've got to do in terms of new material
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and everything. So possibly hit the studio again mid twenty six.
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: That's the best place for to go to find out
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: more about the band or where you playing, or get
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: a copy of the album.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: So the best place to be just yeah, we're you know,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: we're streaming on on on all the platforms. We've just
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: got some vinyl that's landed in Melbourne, so we're just
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: looking at a couple of places that we can stock
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: that that will be available online on our band camp
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: as well directly through the band on Facebook. And yeah,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: we're just waiting for our label overseas to get us
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: some CDs, some hard copies, and yeah, it's but yeah,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: it's all.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: It's all on streaming.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: And yeah the vinyl will be available within the next
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: few weeks.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: It was good to me, Thanks for your time. The
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: album Here Who Kills is out now.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: It's a very cool little trip down the mind of
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Seriah Killer has been well done.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Brother and hopefully Brisbane