Interview by Kris Peters
Aussie rock and metal is currently in good hands.
With a healthy swathe of older, established bands still doing the circuit and pumping out albums and an ever growing assortment of new and up and coming bands feeding off their wisdom it is fair to say the future of Australian music has never looked or sounded as good.
So much so that few bands stand out and demand attention, many falling victim to the wealth of music saturating the market in ever increasing volumes.
But there are a couple of bands that manage to stay elevated in the public spotlight, be it through hard work, touring or quality of material - or, more often, all three.
One such band is Melbourne's Triple Kill whose high energy music and live shows have seen them maintain a steady upward trajectory that should peak even further with the impending release of their latest album Blackened Dawn.
Another banger full of meaty guitars and driving force, Blackened Dawn gives you a ringside seat at the next phase of Triple Kill's musical journey and peels back yet more layers of their sonic landscape.
Drummer Connor O'Keane and bass player Ethan White joined HEAVY to take us inside the album.
"Excited is an understatement, for sure," O'Keane quipped when asked how they were feeling on the eve of the August 25 release. "Also exhausted and we're not even touring yet (laughs). The amount of work we've put in behind the scenes to get this out is a lot, especially in the last month. I think we've put out three music videos in the last month while also practicing and getting ready for tour."
We ask the boys to explain Blackened Dawn from a musical point of view.
"We wanted to advance our own skills," White measured, "so having that thing that kept us all locked inside for a couple of years really allowed us to take a moment to practice what we've got and develop some new skills. Or try some more challenging things that we hadn't touched on before in the way of writing something. This album is definitely from a musical standpoint something that we have advanced on. It's something new for us and something a bit more challenging in the way of our writing. Then the themes are just things that we love."
"I think we've certainly tried to have this album be a step up for us musically in each of our own departments," O'Keane added, "while also looking back at the stuff that we really like about the first album and the stuff that we think has stood the test of time and expand upon those and hone in on the stuff that we feel worked the most in the first album."
In the full interview, the boys talk more about what to expect from Blackened Dawn, how the world situation at the time of writing influenced the end result, the surprise opening track and the idea behind it, their upcoming shows with Orpheus Omega and what to expect, what's next for Triple Kill and more.