Canadian thrash metal powerhouse Hazzerd returns with their highly anticipated album, The 3rd Dimension, releasing January 17, 2025. We dive into its evolution, inspirations, and the band’s thrilling future plans.
1. Your
upcoming album, The 3rd Dimension, is set to release on
January 17th, 2025. How does this album differ musically and thematically from
your previous release, Delirium?
Well with
Delirium we really tried to venture off into more complex riffing & longer
songs, & the overall atmosphere of Delirium is quite dark in terms of the
lyrics & even the music sounds darker than our debut & EP, & with
that came the lite concept of Delirium, every song had something to do with
human nature & the dark side of that nature. With The 3rd Dimension, we
made it a goal to make the songs much less dark & much more to the point
rather than such long sections/songs. The average song length on 3rd Dimension
is 3 minutes & change so we definitely trimmed the fat off the tunes this
time around, ironically enough this album (our shortest LP) has the longest
song we’ve ever made in A Fell Omen, this albums
instrumental. Thematically, The 3rd Dimension portrays our human
influences through media, wether that be, movies, music or video games, each
song has something to do with a narrative that was inspired or created in The
3rd Dimension. If that makes sense haha
2. It’s
been five years since Delirium. What challenges and
breakthroughs did you experience during the writing and recording process
for The 3rd Dimension?
Well first
off, after the pandemic hit we were barely able to get together & jam so a
lot of riff ideas were shared via Facebook messenger with our voice recorder
app on our phones. It was a struggle to start writing this album with the
uncertainty of the world & everything going on. But as soon as we did get
things rolling, the songs started flowing. Parasitic being one of the first
tunes we finished, & then I vividly remember banging out, Scars,
Deathbringer, & ThArSh TiLl DeTh in about 2 months time. Then other songs
like Unto Ashes & A Fell Omen took several months to arrange & write as
we really wanted these songs to be interesting & FAST! Unfortunately after
we finished writing the record, Brendan decided (after he records his parts) it
was time for him to step down as rhythm guitar player of Hazzerd so that also
slowed things down in terms of getting the album done, & band back into
shape with Nick now being our axe man. Other than that, we recorded this album
almost completely on our own, a first for the band. Toryin was responsible for
tracking I’d say 85-90% of the album at his studio & we recorded drums at
MCC studios (the studio we did all our previous albums at) with Johnny Gasparic
who also mastered the album. Cody Anstey mixed the album this time
around.
3. You’ve
been inspired by thrash legends like Overkill, Metallica, and Anthrax. How have
those influences evolved in your music over the years, and how do they shine
through on this album?
Metallica
of course has always been big influences on all of us, especially their first
couple records. But as we grow older, we do start to understand the want to
venture off into different styles, the black album, & load being examples.
So when crafting our instrumentals (another influence of Metallica) we really
try to add all the flavours in there, so melodic, catchy, slow, fast, nice
sounding, dark sounding, you name it, we try our best to paint with all strokes
of colours. No, we’re not saying we’re going down the Load/Reload path. We just
understand it now haha.
Overkill
will always be one of my (Dylan) biggest influences in terms of vocals. Bobby
Blitz voice is STILL one of the best in thrash. I think on this album the
Anthrax influence shines through on our jumpy/catchy riffs, they
play a bigger role than our previous records. Excited for people to hear
it!
4. Tracks
like "ThArSh TiLl DeTh" and "Deathbringer" are already
gaining attention. What can you tell us about the themes and energy behind
these songs?
Tharsh is really just a fun party song, we’re making fun of metal elitists who seem to think their opinions are factual & everyone else’s is garbage. I’m sure you’ve met a few people like that haha. Deathbringer is a song Brendan wrote, he explains it like this: There are 2 Deathbringers. The song is Brendan’s perception of 2 of the characters from the series Attack on Titan. The lyrics of the song describe the interconnected dynamic between the 2 characters and their actions as well as their motives for the acts they commit. Aimed to demonstrate their connection within the rhythm guitars by harmonizing the main rhythm tracks from start to finish.
5. The
3rd Dimension was mastered by Johnny Gasparic and features cover
artwork by Andrei Bouzikov. How did their contributions enhance the overall
vision of the album?
Andrei is a
talent, man. Seriously, so easy to work with & always hammers home what we
wanted. We told him we wanted a cover so vibrant & colourful that it pops
off the shelf at you in the record store. He did just that, & then some.
The theme of the art follows the lyrics to the opening track Interdimension.
Johnny has been a main artery in this band since its inception. MCC studios is
our second home in a way, they’ve always been good to us & treated us like
family rather than customers. Johnny didn’t mix this one but rather mastered
it, & we are really glad he did as his impressive work shines through in
just the masters. Brought it up to what we wanted it to be & then
some.
6. You’ve
mentioned that this album is for the fans and the underground scene. How
important is the connection with your fanbase to the music you create, and how
do you maintain that bond?
It is
extremely important to us, we wanted an album that SCREAMS thrash, & we
knew the first couple of songs we wrote were going to be crowd pleasers. Fast,
straight to the point 80s thrash metal. We try to maintain this connection by
just staying true to our roots & not trying to be or do something that
we’re not. & I think our fanbase understands, & likes that about
us.
7. Earlier
this year, you collaborated with author Julie Hiner for the Thrash
Track project. How did writing music inspired by her horror stories
influence your creative process?
Good
question! Julie wrote the lyrics to the 2 songs we released (Skin Peeler &
Stella’s Scream) & we knew based off the story & her lyrics that one
song had to be almost jumpy/sinister in Skin Peeler & dark
sounding/atmospheric in Stella’s Scream. Both are 2 minute bangers with cool
riffs & ideas that may have never found their way into our catalog hadnt
Julie reached out to us. Also the Twilight Zone intro on Stella is still one
our most prized ideas haha.
8. The
thrash scene has seen a resurgence in recent years with bands like Power Trip.
What do you think about the current state of thrash metal, and where do you see
Hazzerd fitting into it?
The current
state of Thrash is rad. So many awesome new wave bands coming out today,
Terrifier, & Belushi Speed Ball being 2 examples. I think Hazzerd fits
perfectly in the new wave of thrash, we also bring something from the oldschool
scene & that being the way we write our songs, a lot of fans have told us
they consider us to be near the top of the new wave & that truly means a
lot to us.
9. You’ve
shared the stage with an impressive lineup of bands and played festivals like
Loud As Hell. Do you have any live show plans to promote The 3rd
Dimension, and what can fans expect from your performances?
We’ve got
plans to play some fests this summer & some shows to promote the new album,
having a heck of a time trying to set up a release show for closer to the
release of the album in our home town.
10. With The
3rd Dimension on the horizon, what’s next for Hazzerd? Are there any
specific goals you’re striving to achieve as a band in the coming years?
We’d really
just love to get down to the states to play a few shows & over to Europe to
meet all the fans & see the beautiful faces. As we know metal is massive
over there & we just know we would have a killer time & everyone would
have a killer time at our performances haha. Other than that, we’re actually a
couple tracks into our next offering whether that be a new LP or EP, we haven’t
decided yet.
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