A few days ago, I had a awesome talk with the Christian death metal/deathcore band Eyes of the Defiled. Or at least a few of them. I believe it was 2/6 of them. You'll see. It's an amazing conversation.

TBD: Who am I speaking to? (For the readers)

EOTD: Chris Rowe (Vocals), our drummer Cody Bradshaw will chime in as well!

TBD: Could you give a quick background on the band?

EOTD: We've all been friends since we could walk haha. We all started playing at different times in our lives, and now it's come together like so. Before EOTD, I was in a band called the Enigma Protocol, and Cody Bradshaw, our old Guitarist David Tyler, and current Bassist Daric Evans were all in a Metalcore band called Life As A Martyr. The three of them left and formed what would be our band, but it was under a different name, Underneath the Flesh. We later just named our first EP after that band name to avoid later confusion. Now back then, we went through vocalists like crazy, but now we have the three I mentioned, plus myself, and our other vocalist Brad Kraus. We do live layered screams and trade off fast vocal parts together to really maximize our range as a band.

TBD: That's crazy! How many vocalists total? 5?

EOTD:

As far as the band's history, there's been 4. Right now just two. The one on the first EP was Jordan Hughes, he was more of a hardcore vocalist than Deathcore. Then we had our buddy Martin Padilla. He went to join In League With Lions, another local band at the time. Then it was Brad and I, we both just kinda fell into it and it really gave us a unique style that we didn't have before.

TBD: Interesting. What is your guys full discography?

EOTD: We have Underneath the Flesh, our first EP with a bunch of random song ideas that got thrown together. Then our second EP, Derived from Misery. Then our debut album Enslaved in Exile. And finally Distant Tellings. The last two are full-lengths, the last one being a concept album.

TBD: Cool! Are any of those on a label?

EOTD: Only our last one! Visions of God Records, they're an amazing home grown outfit who are doing some really cool things for us. We are also sponsored by Pure Deathcore, who are a promotion label. They released our first album but they are not technically a label as much as a promotion and service company. I do however think they're working towards that goal, which will be good for us in the future.

TBD: Nice! Visions of God has bands like Brutal Cross on there right?

EOTD: Yes they do! They also did a ton of stuff for This Divided World and they put our most known song, "Buried As Saints", on a compilation with bands like I Built the Cross, The Twelfth Amethyst, The Flesh of Kings, Broken Flesh and lots of really heavy Christian bands. They're a small label but they got access to people we love and they take care of us!

TBD: That was Christian Deathcore compilations right?

EOTD: No that was actually another organization, we were on that multiple times but Visions of God made a specific sampler just for artists on their roster, it's pretty sweet too lol.

TBD: Oh I though Broken Flesh was on Luxor Records. Weird. Are there any other Christian heavy bands in your area?

EOTD: They moved to Luxor, but we were put in touch with them :) and no, the band scene around us is a pretty mixed bag. Deathcore is slowly coming back were we are (southeast Maryland) but for awhile it was nothing but pop punk and lighter stuff.

TBD: Lol. Nice. What gear do you guys use?

EOTD: Cody- I have a 5-piece Pearl Kit in an Orange Stain finish, the kit is bright orange but you can see the wood grain throughout the kit. I also use a Pearl Piccolo as my main snare for live use, it cuts through everything. Chris- we generally use deeper snares for recording though. Cody- yeah. I have a ton of different cymbals that I use... Zildjian, Paiste, Stagg, sometimes even a Wuhan China. Chris- right now I also handle guitar duties until we find a new permanent guitarist. Right now my two main guitars are a Jackson Custom Shop 7 in all black with Seymour Duncans, and a Washburn Nuno Bettencourt signature 6 string in natural matte finish. The 6 string uses Washburn stock pickups, but they run really bright which helps us with our low tunings. The 6 is a baritone and has .12-.72 guage strings on it, the Jackson just has 7 string heavy guage strings on it. We worry less about brands to stick with and more about getting individual tones right. Daric uses a Dean 4-string bass and peavey/genz benz amps.

TBD: Is there any thing else you would like to say?

EOTD: We are working on a reissue of our 2nd EP, "Derived From Misery". It will feature new artwork. And rerecordings featuring our double vocal style.

TBD: Sick! When will that be out?

EOTD: Well, we're planning for the end of summer. We haven't announced or even chosen a date, but if people are interested to find out more, all of our upcoming news will be featured on our band Instagram, and our official Facebook Page! Once details are less murky for us, everyone will know.

TBD: Alright! Thank you guys for your time!

EOTD: Thank you, God bless my man!

TBD: God bless!

Well that was Chris of Eyes of the Defiled! Sick brutal band! Amazing! Go check out the Christian Deathcore comps I mentioned, they're on it. Go check out Visions of God. And go find their music and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Signed

The Bearded Dragon