PREMIERE: Atriox Extend For The Jugular on Debut Metalcore Neck-Snapper ‘Beast’
Australian Metalcore.
To some, those two words scream louder than any crackhead could – and for good reason too, Australia’s heavy music scene is on fire and the world’s eyes are locked firmly on what we have to offer in our land down under. The best thing about having our foot on the ground and ear to the speaker is that we get to uncover some of the best bands you didn’t know you needed in your life.
Today we bring to you the debut track from Melb/Naarm-based band Atriox, who sport a ferocious sound that combines both melodic cleans and bellowing screams – surrounded by tightknit musicianship that will no doubt turn heads.
The band consisting of Daniel Carlson (unclean vocals), Jacob Churchward (clean vocals/bass), Henry Stockfeld (lead guitar), Scott Andreasen (rhythm guitar) and Damien Hall (drums) have been operating since 2018 and are ready to emerge post-pandemic to kick butts and take names!
Before we get to the music, let’s meet bassist/vocalist Jacob and find out how they came to be, their influences, goals and more importantly, what’s to come…
Welcome to Wall of Sound Jacob! First of all, tell us the story of how Atriox came to be.
This project has been a very long time in the making. Atriox has existed in a few different forms over the years, but this line-up came together way back in 2018, we’ve had one change in that time, but 4 out of the 5 of us have been together the whole time. We spent about 2 years trying to figure out what exactly we were doing. We played some shows here and there and spent a lot of 2020 & 2021 writing and recording. We obviously weren’t helped by the events happening at the time, and it took us quite a while to find our feet afterwards. But after almost 5 years, we’re finally ready to show everyone what we’ve spent so long working on.
We’re premiering your new track ‘Beast’ today – which is a lethal combination of core, djent and breakdowns with bellowing guttural and crisp cleans. Give us a rundown of the track, its inspiration and a fun fact about the recording process.
Beast is a song that’s not about any one event or person but is essentially a compilation of “F*** you’s and seeks to be an outlet for that. It was one of the first songs written for this band. We actually released a very early version of this song back in July of 2019, I pray it never again sees the light of day – Big thanks to Chris Vernon for helping us not suck.
Upon first listen, I’m hearing elements of Thy Art Is Murder, Bury Tomorrow, Atreyu and Aussie core acts like Make Them Suffer and Northlane throughout – who would you say are the biggest musical influences that helped shape your sound?
Between the 5 of us, there’s a very wide range of influences spanning a number of genres, but I’d say some of the biggest influences for this project are bands like Polaris, Parkway Drive, Asking Alexandria, Slipknot, Linkin Park and Thy Art. The list could go on for several pages to be honest.
The chorus is EPIC – I can imagine you guys going hard playing this at a huge festival setting. When conceiving songs, what usually comes first – the music then the lyrics?
For us, there’s no set order of which one has to come first, we all write a lot individually and then come together to assemble it into songs. The music is mostly written by Dan [Carlson – vocals], Damo [Hall – drums], and Henry [Stockfield – lead guitar], and then the lyrics are usually written by Dan or myself. But everything that we bring to the table is workshopped as a whole band. In the case of this song, we had an instrumental demo first and then Dan and I wrote the lyrics to fit the song.
We can’t get enough of this song, but, do you have some more material in the works for us? What’s something incoming that we should keep an eye out for?
Beast is definitely not a stand-alone single and there will be a lot more Atriox to look forward to throughout 2023.
What are 3 goals you have as a band right now that you’d love to achieve in 2023?
- Open for some larger artists
- Sell out a show
- Get put one of the big Spotify playlists, such as the ‘Homegrown and Heavy’ playlist
Well you’ve earned your spot on our Heavyweights & Hitmaker’s Playlist – so that’s a start! Given the opportunity to support some of the big names in the industry, who would be your dream band to share a stage with?
Hands down would have to be Parkway. They put on the best live show of any band I’ve ever seen, so to have the chance to play with them would be absolutely unreal.
There are plenty of Beasts in the music industry right now, but who do you think has the most ferocious vocals in metalcore/deathcore and what is it about their performance that gives you chills?
I think the default answer these days has to be Will Ramos, but, a personal favourite would have to be Sean Harmanis from Make Them Suffer. I love the way that you can feel the emotions behind every line, and that he really believes what he’s saying. He also just has some of the best screams of any metal vocalist out there at the moment.
For those checking you out for the first time, what do you want listeners to take away from this song?
Going back to what I said earlier about the song not being about any one event or person. For each of us, this song has been an outlet for different events in our lives. And so, the actual takeaway isn’t super important but, just that whatever you do take away, that can be something meaningful like it has been for us. And even if you don’t find any particular meaning, I hope that you can enjoy the time you spend listening to it.
Final thoughts?
If you’ve made it this far into the article, thank you for taking the time to check us out. As cliché as it may sound, we sincerely appreciate anyone who takes the time to join us on this journey. And there’ll be more to hear from us very soon.
Interview by Paul ‘Browny’ Brown @brownypaul
Follow Atriox on Facebook | Instragram | LinkTree
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ahead of its release tomorrow – right here
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