The Year of the Rooster is the year of New Death Metal. Phrenelith, Spectral Voice, and Replacire are blowing brains and lists, while elder statesmen like Suffocation, Immolation, and Dying Fetus are proving the old guard are in no mood to tread water or call it quits. Death metal fans, however, will be keenly interested in Germany-based Implore. At once, the Germans recall the violence of Converge, the pace of Napalm Death, and the buzzsaw groove of Wolverine Blues-era Entombed.
The newly minted quartet have a new album out on Century Media. Titled Subjugate, Implore’s sophomore effort is a non-stop rager. From the 50 seconds of absolute disgust as heard on ‘Loathe’ and ‘Boundary’ to the righteous grooves as heard on ‘Cursed Existence’ and ‘Untouchable Pyramid’, Subjugate pivots on the tenets of death metal, while imbuing the aesthetics of black metal and hardcore. Make no mistake, Implore is death metal, the absolute frustration with society and human nature palatable on songs like ‘Disconnected from Ourselves’ and ‘
Birth of an Era’.
Decibel sits down with Implore bassist/vocalist Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko to find out more from one of the best new bands on the planet. Subjugate is a must-hear!
The YouTube ID of JykOrmuvzBs?feature=oembed is invalid.Implore is a band of extremes. What is extreme to Implore?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: It’s our language and our way to express our deepest thoughts of discontent and anger against a world of injustice and human-centered-selfishness. Sonic violence represents our thoughts, and our thoughts reflect our musical expression.
What does it mean to be a trio? Power trios historically have proved to be just as good at making noise as a quartet or quintet.
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: We chose to be a trio in the early days ’cause it’s easier to manage and work it out when less people are involved. As for now we are a 4-piece, part of the evolution and seek for perfection led us to add a second guitar player. We wrote the new album still as a 3 piece with big external help from Markus who later became a full time member of the band.
How would you describe Implore’s music?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: Honest, energetic and violent.
What have Implore been doing since “Depopulation”?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: Touring restlessly. During the first tours of “Depopulation” the whole lineup changed ’cause the past members couldn’t keep up with our extensive touring plan and new members with more time and will joined the band to move us forward. We got to tour Europe several times, Russia and South America.
How would you compare new album “Subjugate” to “Depopulation”, musically?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: “Subjugate” is an album that was written carefully. We put special attention to diversity and structure so we wouldn’t repeat ourselves and we tried to give a special character to each song so they would stand out from each other and they would be more recognizable. We spent more time looking for the right sound of each instrument, working on vocal lines and special care for the lyrical content. “Subjugate” has different landscapes and perhaps is less death metal but more grind and direct. “Depopulation” was a compilation of songs that were written randomly without any special connection and with a wider time period. “Subjugate” was written entirely in a month, day by day in the practice room.
What’s your favorite song off “Subjugate”? Mine is ‘Disconnected from Ourselves’. Sort of a grind version of black metal trem, with some beefy death metal moments.
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: Would be hard for me to pick one in particular ’cause I believe the album is easy to listen to, and enjoyable as a one whole piece. I will pick up one randomly and maybe ’cause when we were working on the demos I didn’t have much faith on that song and it turned out to be a great crust-punk track that could work out very well live. The song I’m talking about is called ‘Paradox’.
Most of your songs don’t go over the 3-minute mark. Is this intentional? Or, do songs end when they end?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: That wasn’t intentional, most Implore songs never went over 3-4 minutes… there are few exceptions but the songs were effective with that timing and there is no need to make them longer. [To] lose the essence. There are 50 second songs and 3:40 minute songs on the album. Many different landscapes throughout.
OK, thematically what’s “Subjugate” about?
Subjugate is a trip from the ancient foundations of humanity to the modern technological system we live in. The order of the songs and the lyrics are interconnected as the album flows. Subjugate goes over different topics that linked to each other are the result or depiction of our own history and legacy as human beings and our surroundings.
Are there topics you feel passionate about? More than others, for example. Messages you’d like to get across.
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: I don’t sympathize with society as a whole, the greed and selfishness of people who have no social awareness. We renounced to our basic feelings of freedom and being part of the earth as one more earthling and instead we dominated everything and everyone. We live in a world where humanity is the devil.
Does the world we live in today affect Implore musically and/or lyrically?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: The actions and consequences we perpetuate are the problems future generations will have to face. As I said before, our music is a reflection of the cancer we represent to the world. The whole concept behind each title we put out is related to it. I think with “Subjugate” we got to put everything in the proper order to explain these thoughts in a more graphic way.
What are your next steps?
Gabriel ‘Gabbo’ Dubko: We are going to be taking “Subjugate” on the road with very good and prestigious acts in the genre. In November and December we will be hitting Japan, South Korea and many other countries in Asia for a month-long run. The plans for 2018 still seem a bit blurry since there are no offers yet for festivals and tours, but we hope the album will get good reviews and critics and offers will start to come along. Our plan is to be on tour non-stop and we are working on getting U.S. visas. We have a small but loyal fanbase in America, and it’s time to make this for real.
The post A Q&A With Implore’s Gabriel Dubko appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
