Following the release of the new album “The Level Above Human” UK’s slam kings Ingested are performing on the Devastation on the Nation tour alongside Aborted, Psycroptic, Disentomb, Venom Prison, Vale of Pnath (5/25 – 6/8), and Signs of the Swarm (6/8 – 6/23). Check out our interview with guitarist Sean Hynes and catch Ingested live across North America!
The Offering: You’re currently touring across North America on the Level Above Human Tour, how is this experience so far?
Sean Hynes: Considering we’ve been hitting new places like Mexico and this is our first time headlining over in this part of the world it’s been overwhelming how good the shows have been. We’ve had excellent turn outs for the majority of this run and it makes us all excited for what we can achieve in the future.
TO: What can people expect from your live shows?
SH: Just a punishing, heavy performance. We take pride in the reputation we have for how heavy we are live.
TO: In April you released the album “The Level Above Human”, how would you describe it in terms of music style?
SH: It’s an all out Death Metal album that takes various influences from different styles of metal. You’re gonna hear blast beats, grooves, slams, breakdowns, melodic motifs, dark sections etc…there’s something for everyone whilst staying cohesive.
TO: Regarding songwriting & recording did you do anything different compared to the previous albums?
SH: We really honed in on the composition side of things on this album. Compared to previous efforts we really concentrated on riff count and structure. Before we had a very chaotic feel to our songs, which suited what we were doing at the time but on this one we really wanted to perfect how we constructed songs. This new album is definitely the most catchy material we have ever written and we really wanted these songs to translate well in a live situation.
TO: Is there a particular concept that inspired the lyrics?
SH: Sam and Jason usually write very metaphorically, occasionally there is a particular theme that can sometimes can be very personal but they write in a way that’s very ambiguous. You can read our lyrics and perceive them one way or find something that relates to you. Take them as you will.
TO: Do you have a favorite song from “The Level Above Human” to perform live?
SH: Currently we are performing three tracks; “Purveyors of Truth”, “Better off Dead” and “Invidious”. I think for all of us prefer to play “Better off Dead” the most out of all the new ones, just for how catchy it is. We will be incorporating some others into the set soon so that could all change.
TO: What do you find most challenging about being a musician in the current metal scene?
SH: Probably trying to stay current. Luckily for us we’ve tethered the line as far as genre goes which has enabled us to play on an array of different shows, with all different styles of bands. We can go out and play a Death Metal show with bands like Obituary or play a more hardcore tinged crowd and play with bands like Despised Icon. The style of music we write has helped keep up with metal trends, not that we’ve pandered to a specific audience but we’ve been lucky in that we can be on fairly eclectic line ups.
TO: What do you enjoy most about creating music?
SH: Hearing the end product. The process to get there is a tough one, but as soon as you have that CD in your hand and the years long process and hard work has come to an end, there’s nothing more satisfying. Of course live shows and playing are what we do it for but creating music you want to hear is the most enjoyable.
TO: Would you consider collaborating with other musicians in the future?
SH: We’ve collaborated with vocalists to have features on our albums from the likes of Alex Erian from Despised Icon, Frank Mullen from Suffocation and Jason Keyser from Origin but we’ve never had someone from outside the band collaborate on writing music for us. It’s not something I find we need to do but I wouldn’t disapprove of the idea in the future.
TO: What are your plans after this tour?
SH: As soon as we wrap up our headline tour we go straight onto The Devastation on the Nation tour supporting Aborted and Psycroptic. After that we have a bunch of shows and tours coming up like the festival run we have in Europe and supporting Crowbar in the UK.