Dissonant, Chaotic, Bulldozing, Apocalyptic Death Metal. Hailing from New Mexico, Dysphotic is making a serious statement with their debut offering, “The Eternal Throne”. Formed in 2015 by Zac The Ripper, a super shredder that spent half of a decade playing in a punishing Doom band called Drought. Around the time that Drought fragmented members started playing in Predatory Light and from there Dysphotic and Superstition came to be. The first time I met Zac he was on tour with Drought and they were doing a run with Hell, all 27 million of the folks in the bands came back and crashed at my place. Ever since then I have kept my eyes and ears focused on what this group of individuals has been orchestrating.
I interviewed Zac the founding member of Dysphotic to share with you readers.
What are your top 6 influences for the song writing on “The Eternal Throne”?
His response was, “Bloodbath, Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Mayhem, Emperor, & Nightbringer”
What style of music would you classify your sound as?
Death/Black. I’ve also just been calling us a Death Metal band but we do have BM parts.
Does Dysphotic have any plans to tour now that your debut offering has been released?
Yes. We are planning on doing a southwest tour starting on March 16th in Denver, then going to SLC, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tuscon, and Albuquerque… But some of those cities may change…Then doing another tour in early summer through the west coast.
How did you go about courting Paolo Girardi to paint your album cover? Did you give him ideas to work with?
We contacted Nick Keller initially because I’m a fan of his work but he was unable to do it for some reason which essentially lead us to Paolo. I believe we simply reached out through our band email and we were surprised he got back to us and was willing to do it. We then sent him a song and the lyrics that we all agreed to be the influence for the painting: Deamon Sultan. He was pumped on the music and cranked that painting out in a couple weeks and we were like “…Holy fuck this looks outstanding…”. Personally I feel very lucky to have this one from Paolo. He does fantastic work but from the feedback I am seeing and hearing, it is one of his best pieces.
What is “The Eternal Throne” referencing?
‘The Eternal Throne’ is tied to the lyrical content of the song Deamon Sultan and Paolo’s painting. “Mindless god of infinite horror//Rest eternal//Upon thy blackened throne” The song and lyrics were the driving force for Paolo and we named the album after we got the painting. The name of the album came to me from those lyrics and looking at that painting. We all agreed it was a strong name.
I could see you folks playing with bands from all over the extreme music spectrum from Grindcore to Black Metal, if you could curate a lineup of 4 bands to play with that are active these days, who would you choose to play alongside?
Spectral Voice, Nightbringer, Krypts, Altarage
My memory is pretty hazy but I believe when we first met was years ago during that Drought/Hell tour. Do you remember what year that was? I ask because you mentioned Spectral Voice as a band you would like to play with, during the aforementioned tour do you remember if that was before or after Paul Riedl was playing in Hell?
2013, fucking christ. It has taken me this long to get another band together? It was after Paul was playing with Hell. If my memory serves me right, he had already been in Denver for a year or two.
You were also in Predatory Light right? Along with Todd Ryan White who created the Dysphotic logo and put together the layout for your new LP?
I was in that band with Todd when it was named Weeper (2013), then one of the main members moved to Seattle and changed the name, lineup and overall sound.
Dysphotic is a band that people all over the world that dig Extreme Metal should know about, but I am curious can you tell me about some of your favorite Extreme Metal bands from New Mexico? Who is on the come up that folks should know about?
Superstition (Death), Street Tombs (Death/Thrash), and Heretical Sect (Todd’s new band, Black/Death). All evil and ripping Santa Fe bands that everyone should keep an eye out for. I also have a new band that put out an EP recently and we’re called St. Victims (Thrash/Grind). We are a goofy joke band but still keep it grim and deranged.
“The Eternal Throne” is suffocating and groovy at the same time. If I had to classify their sound I would call it Technical Brutal Death Metal with hints of Black Metal laced within their dissonance. The intensely calculated riffs sound monumental, the drums are crushing and the gravel throat vocals are diabolical incantations that resonate over it all. In Punk there is hordes of bands that emulate the style of “Dis”charge, when it comes to Death Metal the good bands tend to worship at the altar of “tion” bands like Incantation, Immolation & Dead Congregation. I would definitely recommend fans of the classick “tion” sound of Death Metal and the more black realms of Grindcore bands like Knelt Rote, Wake & Vermin Womb to check out Dysphotic ASAP. “The Eternal Throne” will be released on November 12th and is available directly from the band digitally and on Vinyl, Cassette & Compact Disc. Support the band!!
