(Just two days ago we had the good fortune to premiere a song off the ferocious, dark, and demented new album by the Mexican death metal band The Pit, which will be released next month by Personal Records, and now we present a timely interview by Comrade Aleks of the band’s co-founder and guitarist Antonio Nolasco.)
Well, The Pit… There’s a deep meaning in this title, and as this band from Querétaro performs pretty violent death metal you can only imagine what goes on in The Pit‘s horrible depths.
The title of their debut, Disrupted Human Symmetry (2008) could give a hint about their ideology, but the fresh second album Of Madness and Evil Whispers seems to be something different.
A fifteen-year-long break between the albums may really promise radical changes in the band’s sound, but The Pit‘s core is the same since its foundation in 2004: Antonio Nolasco (guitars), Octavio Olachea (bass), and Guillermo Galvan (vocals), who play in a few more extreme metal bands, now also Angel Villegas (guitars) and Maw VillAlt (drums) who both joined the band in 2019.
Of Madness and Evil Whispers will be out on July 15th, and I’d like to introduce you to the band in case you missed track premieres, including the one from our own site.
******
Hail The Pit! How are you? Who’s online today?
Hi there, Antonio Nolasco, guitarist and co-founder on The Pit, thanks for the interview and greetings from México!!
Okay, nice to meet you Antonio! I’ve searched for information about the band in preparing the questions for our interview and, first of all, I found that The Pit was founded in 2004. You had that split with Piraña named Mechanical Jaws Invasion back in 2006 and then the Disrupted Human Symmetry full-length in 2008. A good start! How did you spend those first years as the band?
The band was originally conceived by Octavio (bassist) and he was who called us to start a band. At that time we shared a taste for Swedish melodic death bands from the late ’90s so we started working on some songs. The original drummer Alejandro Franco joined the band and shortly after Guillermo, who is the current vocalist, joined the project.
We always had the idea of playing a fast death metal, and that was what marked the style of those first productions. Those were years of lots of activity for the band, and we had the chance to do many shows throughout our country.
And what happened next? How did your enthusiasm start to cease to the point when you closed The Pit?
Between 2010 and 2015 some of us had different priorities, and at that time it was hard to get our timing together and ideas about what we wanted for the band, so we just left it temporarily. In 2019 I started a Black Metal project with Mauricio and the idea of composing new material arose to record a new album with The Pit. I discussed with Octavio and Guillermo about it and we agreed to reactivate the band with the goal to accomplish a second full-length.
All of The Pit’s members play in other bands as well. What made you want to return the band back to life in 2019?
That’s right, all of us have side bands or participate in other projects, some more active and others more intermittent. Precisely in 2019 I started a project with Mauricio and at some point the idea of resuming The Pit as a band arose, composing new material and recording some songs, so we decided to reactivate rehearsals and start composing new material but with a different approach, to a more dark and heavy death metal than we did before.
You restarted the band right before the Covid pandemic, and I bet that it spoiled your plans. Didn’t you think to abandon The Pit once more because of this situation?
To us as the rest of the world, we were taken by surprise and we had to reschedule some shows, however we kept active trying to rehearse as much as we could, finish composing, and work on the arrangements of the new songs. We really never stopped, maybe only the first few months when everything went crazy due to covid, but our conviction was very strong to return to playing live and making that LP. There were two years that for us passed so fast, and thankfully we could keep going with the band.
How long did you write the stuff for your new album Of Madness and Evil Whispers?
In fact, the composition was very fluid since we got along very well with the new members Mauricio and Angel. Before starting to rehearse I already had a couple of songs and we were polishing them. A lot of material that we had made in past years we decided not to take up again because we wanted to change the style and focus of the band towards a darker death metal and lyrics in another theme.
Although the pandemic delayed us in our plans at that time, it also helped us to take things easy and review each song in detail until we were convinced that it was what we wanted to capture in the new album.
There are seventeen years between Of Madness and Evil Whispers and Disrupted Human Symmetry. Did you try to keep the same style or vibe, if it was necessary at all?
Yes, it’s been a lot of years, and the change in style in our music occurred as a natural and necessary evolution; it was gradual but constant in each new song. We discarded a lot of material that we had already written in previous years because we considered that it didn’t reflect what we wanted to show in this new stage.
That’s how we decided to start working on songs from scratch. We all agreed that it was the best thing to do because a fresh start with new members and new ideas resulted in what we consider to be more interesting work than what we could have done with material still in the vein of our first album.
How were recording sessions organized for the new songs? Was it a smooth process?
Of Madness and Evil Whispers was recorded in our city (Querétaro) at One Pot Studio by one of the most recognized audio engineers within the Mexican metal scene. His name is José Carlos Padilla. We had already worked with him on the first album, and particularly myself with other projects. The only problem we faced was the time, since our jobs do not always give us the chance to respect the scheduled dates. However, and despite this, the process was quite smooth; having worked previously with José Carlos helped us to make him understand the sound we were looking for in this recording and we were quite satisfied with the result.
“War, technology, science-fiction and doomsday” are your songs’ lyrical themes according to Metal-Archives. How much of that is in your new songs?
All the lyrics on the new album are more focused on visions of darkness and with some Lovecraftian influence, but above all we try to create an atmosphere with each song that stands out from what we did in the past; we don’t want to repeat that formula because a lot has happened in time and the vision has changed. We want anyone who listens to this new album to be surprised by the forcefulness and aggressiveness, but also by those passages of darkness and madness that we have embodied in each riff and the lyrics.
Really? How much of Lovecraft do you put in your songs?
The dark entities that dwell beyond the confines of our universe and burning with hatred for humanity, elder gods of death, and ancient horrors that torment men, whispering in their dreams until they drive them to madness, that would be the most obvious reference to the work of Lovecraft. We did not want to mention any ancient primordial god or character in a literal way but rather infer in the lyrics the influence of this incredible writer who has inspired us and countless artists.
You mentioned “the forcefulness and aggressiveness” as the features of new album. What pushed you to transfer these qualities through your music?
The Pit was born as a fast and melodic metal proposal, and over the years this idea turned increasingly towards the death metal side. We wanted this new album to be something special for those who listened to our first album and, above all, for those people we had not been able to reach before. We searched for riffs in the composition that would dispense with the elaborate in their structure and we opted for a more classic style with simpler structures but with a very natural progression — and that sonic punch that will make you bang the head!
Did your experience of playing in other bands, as well as the arrival of two new members Maw VillAlt (drums) and Angel Villegas (guitars), reflect on the Disrupted Human Symmetry sound?
Sure, the joining of Mauricio and Angel reinvigorated the band and its vision with their experience and their contributions. Besides, we feel very comfortable for being able to work with them in a very fluid way, probably because we share tastes in influences. But above all we had the chemistry, not only as musicians but as friends, which is not always easy to find. All the experiences we have with our side projects helped us to contribute in one way or another to what we do for this new album Of Madness and Evil Whispers.
You live in Querétaro, almost in the middle of Mexico. Does it help you to organize gigs and so on? You play in a few bands at the same time, so how often do you play live with all of them?
Indeed, we try to stay as active as possible with our side bands. Sometimes we play in shows once or twice a week, and the area where we are located certainly helps us to be able to move to places where the activity in terms of shows is bigger, like CDMX or Guadalajara. It is also an area to a certain extent privileged by geography and we take advantage of it as much as we can.
What are your highlights regarding live shows?
Throughout the band’s history we have had many shows with very important bands, both foreign and national, and we seek to have more and more great shows each time. We hope this year to be part of some large festivals in Mexico to give more support to the new album.
Do you see an opportunity to play in the US or South America?
I think this is a very real possibility — we want to do some gigs out of the country or at least a few shows. We have not yet decided which countries could be more viable, but it is a goal to achieve for the band in the very near future. We are very excited about this possibility and working to make it happen.
Okay, what are your plans for the rest of 2023? Will you focus on supporting Of Madness and Evil Whispers?
We are focused on giving all the exposure to Of Madness and Evil Whispers since a lot of time has elapsed and we do not want to fall back into a lethargy like the previous time. We want it to be heard everywhere and if possible continue in the process of composition for future productions.
We are very grateful to many of the people who have followed us over the years and this album is also partly dedicated to them because their support has been fundamental in not leaving The Pit forgotten, and it has pushed us to stay active. Finally, thank you very much for this space and a big greeting to all those death metal maniacs out there!!
Thank you for the interview and good luck with spreading the word Of Madness and Evil Whispers!
https://www.facebook.com/ThePitMexicanDeath
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/of-madness-and-evil-whispers