Premiere: SOLUS EX INFERIS share blistering new single 'The Myth Creation'

Unveiling one of the strongest offerings from the band's forthcoming sophomore LP.

(Left to Right) Dave Sevenstrings, Ollie Morgan, Sahil Makhija, Marco Pitruzzella, Mauricio Catalán.

Words by Luis (@luis.hoa):

Though the members of SOLUS EX INFERIS find themselves being countries apart, they thrive on camaraderie and craft a refined and well structured take on technical death metal that expands upon prevalent sociopolitical themes. It's a brutal work of art stemming from the genuine exchange between all involved members, which include multi-instrumentalist founder Dave Sevenstrings, Marco Pitruzzella (Six Feet Under), Sahil Makhija (Demonic Resurrection), Ollie Morgan (Necropathy), and Mauricio Catalán. Now entering their second full-length, Daemones Ceramici, SOLUS EX INFERIS up the ante on extremity and become one with the twisted being illustrated on the slam-esque Tata Kumislizer cover, a cover representative of the forces that lie within. With the follow up to 2019's Demonic Supremacy fast approaching, Heaviest of Art is thrilled to present the second single, The Myth Creation, in all of its galvanizing groove.

Stream The Myth Creation below and read through our chat with band mastermind Dave Sevenstrings and Sahil Makhija aka Demonstealer:

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Despite members being continents away, Solus Ex Inferis just clicks and the music of ‘Daemones Ceramici’ is a testament to the band’s united front. Where do you all find common ground on the compositional end, especially as you don’t share the traditional benefits of being in a studio together?

Sevenstrings: For me, it is a testament to the talent that each member possesses. When I envisioned the project, I knew right off the bat that I wanted blast beats, and knew I had to have Lord Marco behind the drums. Once he was on board with it, adding each member was like finding the perfect puzzle pieces to fill the vision of the project.

Unable to do the vocals myself due to some health issues at the time, as luck would have it, I put a call out for a vocalist in a popular Facebook group. Enter Sahil, who was eager to join. Being a fan of his music previously and knowing the talent he has it was an example of the right time and place, and now he is integral to the band, and I could not see the project continue without him. With vocals and drums secured, I knew. I wanted over the top leads that would fit the vision and was already friendly with Matias Quiroz of Bleak Flesh, so I reached out to him to contribute some leads to both the EP.

At the time, Matias was finishing up his band’s album "Over Coming Reality" and he couldn't commit to more than 1 solo, so again I began the search for a lead guitarist. This point I linked up with Ollie Morgan, a super talented shredder/musician from down under. He liked the idea and concept of what we were doing and laid down some blistering leads for the rest of the EP and really helped define the final sound of the band. The original bassist Matt could not continue with the band, and Matias suggested bringing his friend Mauricio Catalan in to handle bass, and we re-recorded our EP with Mauricio also handling production to finally give the songs the proper sound they deserved. We all bring our mutual musical inspirations to the project, and with Sahil, Marco, Ollie, Mauricio and Matias everything lined up better than I could have ever imagined.

Quite the origin story, and amazing how you all came together in such an organic fashion. As you know, it’s been three years since the ‘Demonic Supremacy’ EP and of course, much has happened since then. Seeing as you all have your respective bands and projects, what sparked the interest in taking it to the next level with a debut LP? It certainly expands upon the 4-track effort with technical excellence and has become much more than what it was originally intended to be.

Sevenstrings: I knew shortly after releasing the original demo EP that we would have to do a full length and really stretch our legs, so to speak. While Mauricio was doing the engineering on the remastered EP, I was neck deep in writing new songs, and knew that I wanted to take what I did before to a greater level. I always wanted technicality in the music, but at the same time, I wanted to bring back some groove and riffs that you could head bang to. With the current popularity of technical death metal, I feel a little of that old school "head banging" kind of either got lost in the shuffle or faded out.

We had planned to release the full length much sooner after the remastered EP, but with COVID-19. it slowed things down. Expect a 3rd album much sooner this time around, as it has already been written, and being recorded right now.

You have to admire the work ethic, which is crucial for any band in this day and age. Touching on today’s premiere of ‘The Myth Creation’, it follows the thematic elements of the predecessor ‘Constructing The Great Divide’, which briefly addresses man’s creation of God as a tool of control. It serves its purpose as the opener and sets the tone moving forward. How does it fit within the album’s overall message?

Sevenstrings: This one I am going to have to leave to Sahil, as he is really the mastermind behind all the lyrics. We discuss some loose broad topics, and he really delivers from the depths of his own viewpoints.

Demonstealer: If you listen to the songs on the album in chronological order, there is a flow to the lyrics. Each song is a chapter in a story. The song 'The Myth Creation' is where it all begins, where man creates God, where we tell stories of good and evil and create these myths. 'Constructing The Great Divide' is exactly that, segregating. Whether it is by religion or race or caste or anything else - divide and conquer has been the way to hold power. The lyrics kind of were inspired by the events of the world over the last few years. I have seen a lot of things happen in my country as well which has a very right wing, almost Hindu-extremist government that has enabled and created and spread hatred and used fear and hate to control public opinion on things. It is a similar story world over to be honest, similar to the BLM protests in America and so on. All these events have inspired the lyrics on this album.

There's an element of a shared struggle despite the physical borders between each country that is crucial in the messaging. On the visual end, you went from Mark Erskine to Tata Kumislizer who delivers insanity on a grand scale. What drew you to work with Tata for the debut?

Sevenstrings: With the EP, I knew it was a concept, that it was 4 songs that dealt with different demons we found interesting. Mark Erskine's art perfectly reflected the demon concept. When It was time to think about another album, I happened to randomly stumbled across Tata Kumislizer's work, which helped to inspire me further to really push the song writing to a higher level. The artwork on the debut perfectly fits the band as it is a morphing of different things to form a whole, which is what the band at the core is. Different elements coming together for an end result.

Cover art by Mark Erskine

What were you looking for when approaching Tata for the project? Though you briefly touched on it a question ago, one can surely find some commonalities between the wicked creature and your lyricism.

Sevenstrings: As I mentioned previously, for me, the wicked creature really relates more to the band, as we all morphed together to the monster the band is now. All our different inspirations and musical tastes blending to become something bigger.

For those unaware, ‘Daemones Ceramici’ stems from the Greek myth of the five malevolent spirits that plagued a craftsman potter. Tata’s cover certainly brings that to life through another context. What of that myth drew you to crafting a full-length around it?

Sevenstrings: While researching demonology and the occult and different topics for inspiration for both music and potentially lyrics, I stumbled across "The Daemones Ceramici" and instantly liked how it was 5 entities that plagued 1 thing. That instantly kind of summarized the band again in that our members come together for one purpose, which is "unleashing a plague" upon the music scene, lol.

Demonstealer: I was super excited when Dave shared the album title and artwork with me, and that is when I actually read up a bit on the Greek Myth, but I did not want to just take the story. Instead, I crafted my own using inspiration from what the 5 spirits were. I took one idea from each. I wanted something that spoke my ideas, that delivered things in a modern context and that is how I penned the lyrics and got the kind of flow for the titles of the songs and the lyrical theme to flow through from song to song.

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Daemones Ceramici arrives on July 9th and you can pre-order your digital copy HERE.

Cover art by Tata Kumislizer