Over the past couple of years I have become friends with Liam Houseago, through his awesome VCLT YouTube channel, The Death Doom Metalhead. He has even featured some of my band’s music (Aeons Abyss) amongst other killer albums from his impressive collection. Liam is also one of the guitarists for the very heavy and epic Death Doom band Consecration. I am excited that their 3rd full length album “Cinis” will be released very soon. Liam took some time for Noob Heavy to tell us all about Cinis, and this is what he had to say …
Introduce yourself, and who is in your band?
Hello! My name is Liam, I play guitar in the UK band Consecration. We’re a x2 guitar band with Andy as the other. Rhythm section is handled by Shane on bass and Jorge on drums. Rounding off with our vocalist Dan.
“Consecration” is a pretty serious name for a band. How did you come up with this name and how does it influence the band?
I believe at the time it fitted with the lyrical content Dan was writing for the band. To ‘Consecrate’ something is to make it ‘sacred’ but we thought it was more interesting to look at it in a more unholy sense. Maybe we took it from a Warhammer spell used by a Paladin but that wouldn’t be cool to admit that haha!
Death Doom Metal is your genre. Talk about your influences and why this form of metal is so successful in the UK?
For me personally it was all about Black Sabbath to start with then I discovered Candlemass / Solitude Aeturnus and then bands like My Dying Bride. Prior to me joining the band later in the year it was formed, Dan and Shane were big fans of My Dying Bride but also Esoteric and the soundscapes you can create with funeral doom. When it came to writing our debut all those styles naturally all came pouring out and formed the base of what we do today. In regard to why it’s successful, I think if you look at the classic bands who started it you’ll see that many bands today hark back to early Paradise Lost, Anathema, My Dying Bride as focal points to the style. Today it’s more about the American sound and more emphasis on death metal played slowly, you don’t get many bands who come out of the UK today who play Death/Doom with melodies. It’s more on the big death metal riffs and the pace of them.
Your upcoming album “Cinis” will be released 17th June 2022 via Redefining Darkness Records. What are 3 things we need to know about this release?
Well, it’s our first album featuring Andy’s guitar work. He’s been in the band a little while now but we can finally show the world the riffs he’s contributed to the band. It’s our first on x2 American labels across all 3 formats ‘Vinyl/CD/Tape’ & it has a guest appearance which is something we’ve never done before as well.
What can you tell us about Redefining Darkness Records?
We were lucky enough to hear back from Thomas who was game from the get-go. His label is very established across the underground metal world, and you look at the calibre of bands he’s put out, it really surprised us how enthusiastic he was about the release. Being a fan of Sentient Horror, Bear Mace, Mutilatred made it a cool experience.
What is the band’s approach to songwriting?
Usually, it involves me and Andy coming up with riffs to then build on in rehearsals with the rest of the band. It’s very rare a whole song can be completed at home but on ‘Cinis’ the track ‘Dweller’ was mostly ironed out by Andy before we even got to the studio to jam it. Another I mostly wrote ‘charnel house’ was almost complete with Andy helping me finish the end of it when we got it to the studio. Vocals are all handled by Dan so once the music is there, he adds his bit to it and then we fine tune over time until we’re 100% happy with it.
Tell us about the recording, mixing and mastering for the new album
Recording ‘Cinis’ we used a few new approaches which we haven’t done before. Me and Andy both used Kempers for the first time, it enabled us to explore way more tones than we normally would and gave us freedom in the effects department. Everything was recorded at Blaze Studios along with getting it mixed. We used to try and gram it all in within a week, but this album was recorded over weekends and odd days in the week to give our ears a rest and take away the stress part. Mastering was done by Greg Chandler who owns Priory studios and is the front man/main man behind the band Esoteric. He’s worked with some massive bands and knows how to get the style we want so was a no brainer from our part.
…
What is your favourite track and why?
There’s quite a few I like on ‘Cinis’ but for me personally it would have to be ‘Dweller’ that song was the start of our writing process for this album and opened the door to inspire the band to write in a whole different perspective to our previous work. It has a groovy slow death metal riff, open doomy chords and finishes with an almost thrash like riff.
The album artwork is brutal; tell us about it and the story behind the work.
Our vocalist Dan takes all the credit for our art. We’re lucky we have someone like him in the band as he has outdone himself with this latest piece. The album focuses on meaning of ‘Cinis’ which in Latin means ‘cold ashes’. You have lyrical themes that go from death, destruction to mouldering corpses etc, so the cover fits it well.
You host a really great VCLT YouTube Channel, “The Death Doom Metalhead“. How did this come about and what can you tell us about the channel?
First off, thank you! The whole YouTube thing started due to boredom during lockdown. After a while doing it, I changed it up slightly and made sure to make the focus on promoting the bands and making sure people checked out what I was talking about. If you ever see a video from me, you will always be bombarded with info on the band and hopefully an honest take on why you should be listening to them. Plus, I’m a complete tit in real life so it may make you feel better about yourself watching it haha.
(Check the article below to read about Liam’s music collection and hear more about his YouTube Channel
Tell us an unusual fact, or one funny story about your band
I would say the most recent funny story would be when we played a festival in Portugal back in 2019. Most of the band had booked into a hotel with their partners but me and Andy decided to be wild men and go it alone and stay in a shared apartment sharing a room. The place had a shared bathroom and kitchen and what we didn’t notice was there were other guests at the time staying with us. Being on holiday as it were and free reign from wives, we had quite a bit to drink. There was a moment when Andy was doing his usual Arnold Schwarzenegger accent and just walking around the room blind drunk in the dark in his underwear. People in the opposite room were banging on the walls telling him to shut up in all sorts of different languages but it wasn’t until he left to use the toilet in the shared area that I heard one of them come out. What happened next was a zombie like Andy walking around in just his underwear with the poor person all hyped up to come have a go at him, they just simply took one look at him and slowly went back into their room and locked their door haha. We never saw anyone the next day, the smell of the bathroom alone we left would been enough to clear anyone out.
What have you got coming up in the next 6 -12 months?
So, we’re lucky enough to play ‘Cinis’ live for an album launch alongside Esoteric on the 18th June. Having Greg mastering the album it was cool to be able to share their 30th anniversary by playing our new album live. After that, in September we’re back in London to play on Uk Deathfest. The line-up features Gorgoroth, Autopsy, Hellhammer, Immolation, Benediction, Morta Skuld to name a few. It’s amazing we’re playing it but as a fan it’s even better to see these bands and possibly hang out with them backstage.
You and your bandmates are some fierce looking lads (in a warrior sense). Who lifts the most, and who would I want by my side if I got in a scuffle?
Well being the only one that goes to a gym to lifts weights I would say it’s me haha. In a fighting sense, we’re all too mellow due to being parents. The pics you see are taken by renowned photographer Tina Korhonen who’s done work for Kiss, Megadeth, Slipknot, Metallica so she can even make Jorge look hard and he’s only just 5ft!
Anything else you want to tell the readers of Noob Heavy?
I would like to say a big thank you to you Steve for wanting to interview the band and to everyone who took the time to read this. Our album is released to the world on the 17th June via Redefining Darkness on Vinyl/CD with the cassette being handled by Life After Death records. Cheers
LINKS
Consecration on Bandcamp
Consecration on IG
Consecration on FB
Liam on IG
