Deathwinds Interview

 

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

Deathwinds is ripping Black Death from Vancouver BC:

Nocturnal Black: nuclear chainsaws, death chants

Bestial Desolator: hellfire battery and graveside invocations

Nuclear Hammer Throne: bass savagery. 

TOWARDS DOOM is out now on LP on Sentient Ruin and CD/cassette on Headsplit Records, our first full length attack of black fucking knifing metal. 

Deathwinds formed in 2013 in Vancouver BC and recorded Endless Wastelands shortly thereafter, for release on Vault of Dried Bones / Iron Bonehead. Live attacks were perpetrated in the Pacific Northwest 2014-2019 and the bleak fire was kept burning through many years of chaos and upheaval. Filth Destroyer savaged bass from the onset until 2021 or so, when he left the band permanently. A close associate of the cult took over on bass in 2022 or so, but it wasn't his strain of madness and he departed shortly thereafter. In 2023 Ripping Annihilation was recorded and mixed in our rehearsal dungeon by Nuclear Hammer Throne, and released on Headsplit Records. Nuclear Hammer Throne subsequently joined the cult full-time on bass destruction.

2.Recently you have released your first full length, musically how does it differ from your previous ep's?

Pretty much not at all. It’s exactly the same ripping attack. Some of the songs go back to the early years of the band. The song Towards Doom goes back like ten years; it was the fourth Deathwinds song written after Endless Wastelands. The whole concept of the LP was cemented well in advance. We tracked at LRS in New Westminster BC with Michael Kraushaar during the dismal Mar 2024, with additional recording by Anju Singh in Burning Hell, Vancouver over Apr-Aug 2024. Bestial Desolator performed the morbid synth intros. NH of Heresiarch mixed and mastered it into jagged stabbing form. Being Heresiarch fans, it was great to have that total maniac desecrating the mix. Nathan made a descent into madness and obsession to deliver the fuckin goods. 

3.Form 2014 to 2023 there was no music being released, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

All of us play in other bands which were active during that time, but honestly the main factor in the lack of releases was chaotic personal lives. But really, for those nine years Deathwinds was always alive and festering in the shadows, and even during the bleak pandemic years, Bestial Desolator and I kept the noxious flame burning. 

4.All of the band members are also involved with other bands, what is it that your bring into the music of 'Deathwinds', that you have not been able to do with your other groups or projects?

When Deathwinds spawned in 2013, the three of us were all in Radioactive Vomit. RV’s drummer the Shatterer of Wooden Crucifixes had a very fucked up schedule and was all tied up during that time, and the three of us were at our rehearsal dungeon getting trashed. We started fucking around with Bestial Desolator on the drums, and the concept took form pretty fucking quick - a ripping black death attack with faster riffing and drumming, as opposed to the primitive hammering obsession of Radioactive Vomit. Deathwinds has always stayed within that poisoned vein. 

5.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

Death, suicide, apocalypse, Armageddon, doomsday, murder, total destruction, psychosis, hell.

6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Deathwinds'?

The blasting pestilent winds of ripping Black Death! 

I came up with the name and did the logo very early on, but don't remember what inspired it. It all just embodied the necro attack we were thrashing out. Sometimes ideas will accrete in my mind and I'll have completely decided on a name, idea or image without realizing it, or consciously understanding it.

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

I did all the art and layout. I’ve always liked when bands did their own art, like rok from sadistik exekution, or Tom g warriors art for hellhammer/CF, or Chany from Inepsy. The cover image and some of the other art had been in my head for a very long time, and I had sketched it out many years ago. An image like that will often emerge unconsciously, like in a dream state, and it's important to try translate it without fucking with it too much, so it will hopefully retain some of its obscure mystery. 

8.Has the band done any live shows or is this strictly a studio project?

We've always done live attacks. From 2014-2019 we played a bunch of shows around Vancouver and Seattle. We played our first show with Nuclear Hammer Throne on bass at a show in Vancouver with Abysmal Lord and Disimperium in 2023, and have played a couple local shows since then with Dipygus, Anthropophagous, Petrification, and Reversed. It’s always good to see a dangerous meeting of degenerates and die hards at shows. 

9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of war, black and death metal?

We've gotten good feedback from maniacs and psychos, and the black blood is spilling on many shores. We always get fired up seeing heads whipping around and the blood flowing during live assaults too. 

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Nuclear Hammer Throne and I both play in Ceremonial Bloodbath; we just toured Europe with Antediluvian and will be getting back to recording soon as well. Bestial Desolator and Nuclear Hammer Throne are both in Temple of Abandonment. Bestial Desolator is also crushing the coffins for Mortuary Cave now.  

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Deeper into the depths of hell!

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Core influences would be: Black witchery, axis of advance, revenge, angelcorpse, Archgoat, Blasphemy, old Destroyer 666, Truppensturm, impious Baptism, Bathory, Slayer, Sepultura, Celtic Frost, Terrorizer, Darkthrone, bolt thrower, incantation, doom, state of fear, and many more. 

Lately I've been blasting Hadopelegyal, Abhorration, Deathsiege, Har. 

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Spill the fucking blood! 

BANDCAMP RELEASE