Supreme Conception, a force in tech death, discusses the evolution of their sound, orchestral elements in 'The Post-Humanist Delusion,' and hints at a conceptual full-length debut. A journey awaits.
1. Congratulations
on the release of your latest single, "The Post-Humanist Delusion."
Can you share the inspiration and creative process behind this epic 12-minute
track?
Thank you.
The key driving force behind our latest material was the intention to stretch
our song-writing and technical skills in ways that would elevate the new music
compared to our prior record, “Empires Of The Mind”. We were happy with the
“Empires” EP at the time, but felt we could go further, especially
composition-wise. Our creative process remained similar though – we first
discussed the vision and floated various ideas, and then Marty (guitars) would
come back with the new music, pretty much finished. In parallel, I wrote the
lyrics. Thomas Halama (HEAVING EARTH) helped us with the demo drum tracks, and
from that point we were able to move forward to the recording process.
In terms of
inspirations – both Marty and I like tech death in general, as well as
progressive metal, even though we are from two different generations, so our
musical influences tend to vary. But we do agree on bands like NECROPHAGIST,
SUFFOCATION, ARCHSPIRE, OBSCURA, ANIMALS AS LEADERS or DREAM THEATER, among
others. When it comes to lyrics, I read a lot. I normally have a theme in mind
for a while, and do some background reading as a part of the prep in order to
fine tune the ideas and the actual content.
2. Supreme
Conception has been through various phases since its inception in 2006. How
would you describe the evolution of your sound from the early days of brutal
death metal to the more contemporary version of technical death metal that we
hear in your latest release?
SUPREME
CONCEPTION started as a brutal death metal project in the early 00’s,
reflecting and getting inspiration from the early wave of US brutal death
metal, as represented by DISGORGE, DEEDS OF FLESH or DECREPIT BIRTH, as well as
SUFFOCATION or HATE ETERNAL. At that time, I was the vocalist of DESPISE and
IMPERIAL FOETICIDE, but wanted to venture more into the said space, which was
not quite possible with those two regular bands. During that stage, SUPREME
CONCEPTION consisted of different people – Frank Serak (ex INTERVALLE BIZZARE /
GARBAGE DISPOSAL) on guitars and Jirka Zajic (ex INTERVALLE BIZZARE) taking
care of drums programming – and the music bore their signature song writing.
The shift
in the style was due to two factors mainly. First, the change in the lineup –
Marty, who became the new song-writer, came from a different generation of
musicians and hence had different inspirations and musical ideas. Secondly, my
own thinking and musical preferences evolved between “Liturgy Of Spiritual
Disturbance” and “Empires Of The Mind”. Which I think is understandable, given
that both records are 12 years apart from each other. I still like the first
release a lot though.
3. "The
Post-Humanist Delusion" features orchestral arrangements and an expanded
lineup. How did these elements come into play, and what challenges or
opportunities did they present during the recording and production process?
Let me
start with the expanded line up. While the bass on “Empires Of The Mind” was
recorded by Marty himself, we wanted to give this instrument more of its own
space, and hence the bass lines for “The Post-Humanist Delusion” were composed
and recorded by Tomas Ledvina (HEAVING EARTH). He is an amazing musician and
bass guitar player, so definitely the right person for the job. No real
challenges on this front. The other aspect we focused on was getting a more
organic drums sound. This was achieved by collaborating with Eugene Ryabchenko
(FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE) who did a stellar job, despite the challenging nature of
the song and the drum lines. And so the new track now feels more like a product
of a real band, as each instrument was done with best possible skill.
Since we
knew we wanted to do an epic and complex piece of music, adding orchestral
arrangements was almost a natural step. Not very common in the world of tech
death, but very logical in our opinion. Marty wrote most of the arrangements
and then we worked on fine tuning them with Michal Worek, a specialist in
writing orchestral music. He gave it a proper form and sound and then
everything fell into the right place.
4. After
a hiatus, Supreme Conception returned in 2019 with a revamped lineup, including
vocalist Michal Kusak, guitarist Martin Meyer, and drummer Aaron Stechauner.
How did this reunion come about, and how has the dynamic changed within the
band with the new members?
Back in
2019, I was not involved actively in any band because I was living abroad,
first in the Middle East and then in the US. But had some ideas and desire to
get back to doing music. Marty and I met via HEAVING EARTH, a band that we both
were involved in at different points (and now are both members of this band
again). I was so impressed by his skills and first wanted to bring him into
IMPERIAL FOETICIDE who had had an album ready for years but struggled to bring
it to life. When that attempt failed due to the lack of willingness of a
certain IMPERIAL FOETICIDE member, Marty and I agreed to use SUPREME CONCEPTION
as the platform for his music and my lyrics, which worked out just perfectly.
The prior SUPREME CONCEPTION members were fine with it, as they had treated
SUPREME CONCEPTION as a one-off project anyway.
Aaron
Stechauner was just a session drummer for the studio work, but his involvement
in “Empires Of The Mind” was essential. Not only were we fans of his work with
RINGS OF SATURN for example, but his approach to the work was structured and
disciplined, and it made the whole effort much more serious. And that’s where
the new incarnation of SUPREME CONCEPTION gained the right momentum.
5. Your
previous EP, "Empires Of The Mind," marked your return to the scene
in 2021. How has the reception been, and did the feedback influence the
direction you took with "The Post-Humanist Delusion"?
The
reception was very positive. We had not expected that people would remember
SUPREME CONCEPTION from the times of “Liturgy Of Spiritual Disturbance” but
some did, which was encouraging. Maybe some of them didn’t like the shift in
the music, but we never heard from those really. So I like to believe that some
of the fans of our early music were on board with our progression, and we
gained new fans too.
I would not
say that the feedback on “Empires Of The Mind” influenced the direction of “The
Post-Humanist Delusion”. We did what we felt was the right way forward and
followed our own instincts and artistic visions. I can’t imagine we’d create
music that would reflect a certain “demand” or be adjusted based on audience
expectations. What the positive reception of “Empires Of The Mind” did was to
encourage us to keep working on new music, that’s for sure.
6. The
upcoming full-length debut is highly anticipated by your fans. Can you give us
a glimpse into what we can expect from the album in terms of themes, musical
style, and any special collaborations or surprises?
We continue
to evolve our style and songwriting but we are going to stay in the technical
death metal territories, even though we don’t really set many boundaries to
ourselves. We probably won’t do something that goes over the board in so many
ways like “The Post-Humanist Delusion” did, but the new songs themselves will
still be complex and challenging, but perhaps in different ways.
We have a
title for the album ready as well as the theme. It’s a bit early to reveal the
details, but the full length album is going to be a theme-based conceptual
piece, with three interconnected story lines binding the whole thing together.
There will surely be a few special collaborations to ensure the material meets
the vision and represents yet another step forward, but again it’s a bit early
to reveal any names. But stay tuned.
7. Supreme
Conception draws influences from early pioneers such as Decrepit Birth,
Suffocation, and Hate Eternal. How do you balance paying homage to your
influences while pushing the boundaries of the genre to create something fresh
and innovative?
I’d say the
influences from the mentioned bands are no longer that relevant in our recent
works. These are the bands that I used to listen quite a bit in the past – and
still like them – and I guess it’s inevitable if certain style and sound
resonate with you, that it somewhat transpires through the music that you
create. But one of the things that we really believe in is the need to have our
own thing going. And that’s where the mentioned bands stood up – they all had
their own sound and style. We didn’t try to copy them, nor do we try to emulate
anyone else. The point is, we have enough of own ideas and we follow our own
writing process, that leads to the result. The other principle we believe in is
progression – we want to keep moving and evolving with every record and see
where the journey takes us, not just repeat a certain formula.
8. With
members having experiences in other notable bands like Heaving Earth,
Interloper, and Fleshgod Apocalypse, how does each member's individual
background contribute to the collective sound of Supreme Conception?
People
involved in SUPREME CONCEPTION are versatile musicians so I don’t think their
backgrounds from other bands necessarily influence the direction of the music.
HEAVING EARTH, for example, is a very different beast musically. But the core
members of SUPREME CONCEPTION (Marty, Tomas and myself) need to be able to cope
with the complexity of HEAVING EARTH, and that means that we all bring skills
to the table. Both bands have different song-writers and they have very
different ways of crafting music, which keeps both bands unique. The drummers,
however, do influence the sound. We always try to find a drummer whose style
fits the material best, and so their backgrounds are essential.
9. "The
Post-Humanist Delusion" represents a significant step forward for the
band. How do you see this single fitting into the broader narrative of Supreme
Conception's musical journey, and what do you hope listeners take away from it?
There are
two important aspects related to SUPREME CONCEPTION. The first being the
aspiration to keep evolving and progressing, even if it takes surprising steps.
We could have written a few more songs in the vein of “Empires Of The Mind”,
but chose to do one long piece instead, even though we know that this was going
to be beyond the span of attention for most people. But that’s what we wanted
to do. “The Post-Humanist Delusion” is also mostly faster than our older
material, packed with many notes and high-density vocals in certain parts.
Adding acoustic guitars and orchestral arrangements was another experiment. But
will we continue with all this on the upcoming album? Not necessarily. We’ll
explore different approaches. So it will continue to be a journey and we’d like
to take our fans with us.
The other aspect is that our records are fitting a broader concept lyrics-wise. Each record is a chapter of a bigger story, albeit taken from a different perspective compared to the others. “The Post-Humanist Delusion” is a form of an intermezzo in this bigger story.
10. In
the realm of technical death metal, Supreme Conception is making a mark
alongside bands like Inferi, Archspire, and First Fragment. How do you see your
unique contribution to the genre, and what sets Supreme Conception apart from
the rest?
Tech death
by definition is a competitive genre and that’s what we like about it. What I
think makes SUPREME CONCEPTION different from others is how we blend the
ingredients together, combining the more “traditional” and more “death metal”
elements with the newer approaches, or the shredding with melodies and
harmonies thrown in between. Also, Marty’s guitar work is very specific and
distinct – you can’t really say he sounds like someone else. And that’s
another defining aspect.
(101) SUPREME CONCEPTION - YouTube.
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