Of all the new breed of Melodic Death Metal popping up across the North American continents, Amnio has proven to be one of the most interesting offerings. Their particular brand of brutal yet harmonious Death Metal is an eclectic blend of the Swedish and NY schools of the genre. I chatted with the principal songwriter and founder of the band, Luca, to get greater insight into the band.
To begin with, I wanted to thank you guys for taking the time to answer some questions. I guess to start with I want to understand how Amnio started and the evolution of the lineup up until today. From my understanding, Amnio began as a one-man project during the recording of the EP and split but then transitioned to a 4 piece.
Thank you for having us! It’s always a pleasure. This is Luca, the band originally started as a bedroom project around early 2023 where I was putting together Melodeath – a genre I had always greatly enjoyed. The first EP ‘The Entropy Within our Hearts’ was done completely solo, but right before/after its release there was incentive to make it a full band as I also wanted to play the music live.
The first iteration of the band included me on guitar/vocals, Hunter G. on guitar, Dylan C. on drums, and Andres M. on bass. Hunter and Andres are no longer part of the band, but they performed all live shows following the EP and the split.
Our current lineup consists of me on Guitar/Vocals, Fernando C. on guitar, Dyl C. on drums, and Lucas B. on bass.
How has the move from a one-man band to a full line-up affected the songwriting process? Is Luca still the primary songwriter or is there more input from the other parties?
The songwriting process hasn’t been impacted much – it’s good to have more sets of ears for feedback as well! I think this applies to many bands where only 1-2 people create a bulk of the tracks, but the music is currently written by just myself and Fernando, who I’m very grateful to have as somebody to work with. We have a great dynamic and easily build off of each other’s ideas, which is how our recent LP ‘Psalms of Immortality’ was composed.
When Amnio was a one man project, I was also relatively inexperienced at writing music and hadn’t been playing guitar for too long, so some ideas definitely fell a little short. As we get older and the band progresses, there’s only room for improvement!
Listening to the EP and split tracks and then comparing it to the full length, there is a noticeable shift in the evolution of your sound. I’d compare your early material to a more triumphant sounding version of the Melodic Death Metal that became popular in North America during the late 90s/very early 00s which had hardcore influences mixed in but wasn’t full-fledged Metalcore such as Disinterment or The Year of Our Lord (who you cover on the EP). However, the album feels much like an homage to the type of Melodic Death Metal pioneered by Intestine Baalism. From my understanding, Intestine Baalism is Luca’s favorite band. Was there always a desire from the beginning to eventually pay tribute to the Japanese legends?
Spot on! Yes, Intestine Baalism has been my favorite band since 2020 and we all love them.
The goal since the beginning was definitely to incorporate that Intestine Baalism influence/sound, but as I mentioned in the last question, because of my lack of experience and skill with guitar, I wasn’t able to properly hone in on that until more recently – which I feel the LP accomplishes well.
There was also noticeably more core influence during the time I was writing and recording the debut EP, bands like The Year of Our Lord, Dead Blue Sky, Drawing Last Breath, Sorrow of Tranquility, Straightout, etc. This definitely bled into the sound as you noted.
After the EP and split, which I think were both pretty decent, I decided to fully lock in on the more Death Metally Melodic Death Metal style and go for that Intestine Baalism sound as best as I could. It was a “fresh start” with a new lineup as well – and I think we did quite well. Also part of the new sound was helped by detuning to B-Standard (The debut was in Drop C and at the time of the split we began using D Standard). We will continue to pursue this more 90’s death sound, maybe even leaning more OSDM to the sound of bands such as (early) Edge of Sanity, Gorement, etc.
Speaking of Intestine Baalism, the album features an appearance of Kenji Nonaka in it. How did this collaboration happen?
Haha yeah a big one off the bucket list. I had been following Kenji on Instagram for a number of years, and we have had brief conversations here and there (I had bought Baalism merch off of him in 2021, asked him several things about the band, and also would tag him whenever Amnio would cover Intestine Baalism, as we did an ‘Anatomy of the Beast’ cover our first few shows).
While writing the album, I had some features in mind and I thought “why not ask him?”. The worst you could get is a no, so I brought up the idea to him and he said he was interested if “his voice fit the track” hahaha. He ended up being a fan of the demo I sent and one thing led to another. I’m very happy we can feature Kenji on the record, that’s definitely a big full circle moment and a very special accomplishment to me.
I was also able to meet him when I was in Japan this May, and saw his other fantastic Melodeath band Another Dimension perform live. It’s funny how life comes full circle sometimes, if anything that goes to show that the things we really commit to almost always will circumvent back.
Is there a central theme or concept that you would say ‘Psalms of Immortality’ tries to convey? Your lyrical content makes a lot of allusions to different mystical deities and demons.
Yes, it’s somewhat of a concept album.
I’ve been interested in various topics surrounding occult/esoteric/theological works since I was pretty young (13-14). The biggest influence on the lyrical themes of this record would be Marie-Louise von Franz’s book ‘Alchemy’, which analyzes religious and alchemical imagery in contexts of different cultures (Greek/Egyptian/etc.) through the lens of Jungian psychology.
I was reading this during the process of writing most of the album, and it helped crystallize a lot of themes I already had in mind, particularly the main image of the album which is the Green Lion devouring the Sun (Aqua Regia dissolving Gold). This is a motif that has heavily resonated with me since I first read about it, and is repeatedly referenced in the album.
Aside from that mumbo jumbo (hahaha), it’s also a small story of my own life and personal feelings – just broken down into more abstract concepts through the lens of the previously mentioned symbols/esoteric ideas. There are also some other small references sprinkled in such as a few names from the ‘Lesser Key of Solomon’ and the title of track 3 is taken from Carl Sagan’s ‘Dragons of Eden’.
How has the reaction been to the album so far?
I’d say pretty damn good! It seems many people are enjoying it and I think we created something that stands out in both our local scene and in the metal underground scene in general.
I was curious how our previous fanbase was going to take the shift in sound to more murky/brutal, as we had many metalcore and hardcore listeners due to the more accessible and cleaner nature of the first 2 releases, but so far (other than that 1 nerd on rateyourmusic), everyone seems to feel generally positive about it.
I’m also very happy we appeal more to the Metal fanbase/scene now, that was something I sought to accomplish after realizing the first EP and split didn’t really represent the new sound and character of the band anymore.
Beyond the Intestine Baalism collaboration, we also see the appearance of two other promising Melodic Death Metal acts on the album – Astral Decay and Upon Stone. While I hesitate to lump Amnio in with these bands as part of a scene (all three sound quite different), there definitely seems to be some kind of small revival, with a whole new generation eager to explore the many sounds that encompassed Melodic Death Metal in the 90s. Other names that come to mind would be Draghkar, Dungeon Serpent, Desparity and the projects of Lord Metal in Japan (In Nothingness, A Nameless Grave) among others. Would you agree with this?
Yes we are all different but at the same time part of the quite rare melodic death metal strain – there are very few bands doing this and let alone doing it well or not in an overproduced or cheesy/overdone way. There’s melodeath, then meloDEATH that has balls and infinitely more replay value and character.
Desparity and Dungeon Serpent are definitely highlights! Bruno from Desparity and Arawn from Dungeon Serpent are the homies and very talented musicians- I look forward to whatever output they will continue to release. Bruno has actually recently released an EP from his other solo project llivid, which is a goth rock/pop style and very well done. Upon Stone is a no brainer, that band is simply incredible and Xavier is someone I am grateful to call a friend. Amnio recently got to play with Upon Stone and they were all very nice dudes and had a killer performance. I’d say they’re the best newer melodic death metal band.
I hope to see other likeminded young people continuing this and straying from the trends in heavy music in favor of making their own unique sound.
What does the immediate future hold for Amnio? I imagine for now you will largely be promoting the album through shows, but are there other kinds of influences you would be looking to explore in future releases?
Yes, for now just playing and promoting our new release while taking a small break from writing.
As mentioned before, I think we’ll lean more into that OSDM sound with more “evil” and standard death metal influence while keeping the melodic flourishes. So, early Edge of Sanity/Gorement/Intestine Baalism and other more underground bands like Compos Mentis and Deadly Spawn.
Lastly, if you have any closing thoughts you’d like to let people know about the band, record or even Melodic Death Metal.
Well, I think I covered most bases with my previous answers.
At the end of day, it’s important to be yourself and create your own quality music with meaning. It’s this that will remain and light a flame that burns for many years to come, as opposed to all the demo-core bands that emerge when each trend happens only to fizzle away a few months later.
No gimmicks, no trends, and no ego – keep it how metal is supposed to be. If what you make is good enough it’ll speak for itself. Look at the classics!
Thank you so much for the interview! And thank you to anyone who has listened to our music – hopefully soon we can play out of town more, I’m itching to bring our music out the state again.
For any questions/inquiries always feel free to contact at amnioband@gmail.com
