Interview by Kris Peters
With the quantity and quality of new music being released by the minute in the modern world of metal many bands - often unfortunately - fall by the wayside before even being heard, lost in the current goldfish market of disposable music and assets.
These days, you can either simply put your music out there and hope some algorithm elevates it beyond the masses, or you can think outside the proverbial box and offer something extra to the market.
Emerging Aussie black/death metal outfit Miruthan have followed the path of the latter, creating an entirely new sonic and visual plane from which to launch their musical vehicle. Not content to merely write and record music, Miruthan have plunged themselves - and subsequently their listeners - down the narrowing rabbit hole of perception and returned with a fresh, exciting backstory to go along with an assortment of plots and character-driven narrative that is embedded within their music.
While the band is content for the moment to drip feed such pivotal snippets of information to the general public, they have provided a temporary sonic distraction by way of music with their debut EP Cult Of The Dead which will be unleashed this Friday, April 26.
Four tracks of seething brutality, Cult Of The Dead provides the connection between the eight-pronged beast that it Miruthan and an unsuspecting - but hopefully ready - musical landscape that lovers of heavy music laced with theatrics have been craving.
HEAVY recently caught up with songwriter/guitarist and Sprechgesang vocalist Nzambi Mapungu - also known as The Zombie God - to dive deeper into the unfolding mystery. We start by asking how he is feeling about setting Cult Of The Dead free into the world.
"I feel pretty confident," he answered. "It's funny the way this EP came around, actually, because I wrote a complete full-length album, and then I wanted something out sooner than it would take to record a full album. So I sat down and wrote a full EP after the album so we could release that first. What's funny is these songs are the new songs. The album was written first, but the way we write it is all in story form so everything kind of ties in together. Each song ties into the next song like a story. This is actually the prequel (laughs)."
We point out it is a great idea because as a new band coming onto the scene you don't want to smash people with too much too soon.
"That was exactly the reasoning as well," he affirmed. "It was like let's not show our full cards straight up. Let's do the teaser and see what people think of it and go from there."
In the full interview, HEAVY conducted a thorough track-by-track review of Cult of the Dead, discussing the band's unique approach to blending punk, blues, and metal elements in their music, as well as the significance of storytelling and atmospheric elements in their songwriting. We also discussed the band's folklore and its upcoming release, highlighting the storytelling aspect and the band's desire to engage fans in a deeper, interactive experience plus covered more of the themes and theatrics surrounding the world which the band has created for themselves.