Raise your hand if you are sick of this new wave of thrash metal? Anyway, hope I am not alone in the hate there. Despite the success of many doing it like it's 1987, it is obvious that most are making the minimal effort to sound just like their idols. From the white high top Reeboks all the way to awful production, if this game was about copying then they all deserve the highest praise. But in our eyes, just copying doesn't quite cut it anymore, that's why when we heard Gravestone Skyline by Detroit crossover quartet Hellmouth we got a woody and thought it'd be a good idea to find out what all the racket was about. Though not strictly a thrash metal band, what Hellmouth does reflects all the best traits of the subgenre and along with the latest Cannabis Corpse effort it represents a true step in the right direction for a subgenre that though popular could use four new pairs of cojones. So we contacted bassist Jeff Uberti to learn a little bit more. Read on and spread the word...

DS-As I understand it, the vocalist Jay Navarro used to sing for The Suicides Machines, a band that stylistically speaking is pretty far away from Hellmouth. How does he go from one to the other? Meaning, vocally, these are two different approaches. Has he gotten any backlash because of his participation in the Suicide Machines?

Yep, Jay was one of the original members of the Suicide Machines. He, like all of us, grew up on punk, metal, indie, hardcore, ska, etc. Although that band stated off playing a punk/ska hybrid, there are songs on the last Suicide Machines record that could have easily been Hellmouth songs. So by the end of the Machines, I don't believe the vocal approach was all that different, other than he's screaming a whole lot more now. Jay is a talented vocalist that works really hard to be distinct so it doesn't just sound like typical metal/hardcore vocals. As for Jay being in the Machines, people are more surprised than anything that he's doing a band like ours now.

DS-Please tell us a little bit about the Detroit hardcore and metal scene?

Sometimes it's hard to tell. Detroit is a tough place to be in a band. Most of this has to do with the lack of good venues bands can play so kids can feel like they have a place they belong. The scene definitely exists, it's just difficult to get it together sometimes. It's not for a lack of good bands, labels and zines. Some of our favorite bands right now are Beast In The Field, Clockwork, Child Bite, Nightbringer and Chapstik.

DS-Your first album Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing was released by Ferret Records but the new one Gravestone Skylines is out through Paper & Plastick. What happened to Ferret Records? Was it a one album deal?

Ferret treated us well and the people who worked there were super cool; just a bunch of old hardcore/punk/metal kids like we are. The story with Ferret was that somehow our Myspace page, which had only been up for a couple months and had our demo on it, got passed around their office. Carl, the owner, got a hold of us and said he wanted to put out our record because we reminded him of bands he listened to growing up. We are a band that can't tour, so this was a great opportunity for us and we jumped at it. So, as much as we hate to admit it, Myspace helped us get a deal. A lot of the bands on Ferret were a little formulaic, and people we're always surprised when they heard "D.E.W.N." They just assumed we would sound like the rest of their bands. When it came time to do our second record, Ferret was no longer owned by the same people, so we decided to shop around for a new label. Paper + Plastick offered us a chance to release a record with them, so we did.

DS-Gravestone Skylines is out through Paper and Plastick. How did this deal come about? How did they approach the band? Looking at their roster, it is obvious that Hellmouth are the most metal oriented band in their roster? Do you fear that this may cause some issues?

P+P has been great, too. Vinnie, the owner of P+P and drummer for Less Than Jake, is a friend of Jay's. When he found out we were shopping labels, he was all about putting out the record 'cause he's an old school thrash fan. Vinnie signs what he likes to that label, so every band on there is something he enjoys listening too. As with Ferret, we are kind of the odd band on P+P, but I don't mind being the one heavy band he believes in, rather than be on a label with 50 other bands that sound like us and get lost in the shuffle.

DS-To be honest, I never got around to listen to Destroy Everything, Worship Nothing, but I was surprised by how clean the sound was for Gravestone Skylines? It is powerful, but also pretty neat sounding. Before you went onto the recording sessions, what was it that you had in mind as far as audio quality, and how does that compare to the actual results?

The idea on both our records is to have it sound how we do live, minus most of the mistakes! There are mistakes on both recording that we left in because the type of music we're doing shouldn't be perfect. We definitely wanted quality recordings that would let the brutality shine through, but not sound over nor under produced. The guitars, drums and bass are all recorded live together, and we keep as much of those takes as we can and fix or add what we have to after. It gives it more of an aggressive feel. We changed equipment a bit since thefirst record, so there are some new tones on "Gravestone" that weren't on "D.E.W.N.", but the overall concept stayed the same.

DS-Please talk about the recording process for Gravestone Skylines. Who produced and where was it recorded? How long was the process?

We worked with the same studio and engineer as the first record, Marc Hudson at Audiolux Studio. The instruments were tracked in about 4 days. Vocals take much longer because after a few songs, Jay's throat gets torn up! We got to do some cool stuff this time, like add noise with this crazy old theremin / keyboard thing we've never used before, and have Vika Yermolyeva from the Ukraine do a piano outro for one of the songs. We let Marc handle all the mixing, then we would give our suggestions once he was done because if there is one things we've learned, you don't want a band in the room while mixing is happening...too many opinions.

DS-How do the songs between your two albums differ? How has the band changed or improved since the beginning? Musically? As a unit?

I think we've streamlined our song writing since we've started and created a sound for ourselves that blends various styles. The songs on the new record definitely went a little more to an extreme in whatever style they were based in. I feel there were more thrash and doom elements, too. This wasn't intentional. It's just what we were writing at the time.

DS-During the songwriting process, do you guys feel some pressure to balance the music, let's say, when a track sounds too hardcore or maybe too metal, and you want to find a middle ground. Does that happen? Or is it more of an organic process?

No, no pressure at all. Everything we write comes from us being lifelong fans of the genres we play. There are no rules or boundaries. We don't put effort towards making songs sound a certain way. We just try to create songs we think are good. Who knows, we could end up writing a pure punk rock sing-a-long or a bleak, cold black metal song. If we like it, we'll play it. We have a very democratic and open-opinioned process for writing. Nobody takes offense if someone else thinks an idea sucks or needs reworking. We're even able to suggest ways to play things to each other. It makes for a good environment to write and strengthens the songs.

DS-I love the artwork for both of your albums. I understand both covers were done by the same artist. Can you please introduce us to him? Who is he?

Andrei Bouzikov is his name and he is fucking sick!!!! He's done covers for Municipal Waste, Skeletonwitch, Autopsy, Violator and many others. Both covers are paintings he did for us and I think they are phenomenal. To really get an appreciation for the detail he puts into them, you need to see the LP's.

DS-What is your interaction with him? Do you give him ideas/instructions for what you want? Please elaborate.

How it works is we come up with an idea and Andrei will do a sketch for us. We go back and forth a bit until it's fine tuned. Once we approve it, he creates a painting. The covers are actually a concept. The first record is the world being destroyed by an unknown force causing chaos, disorder and death. The second record is the day after. We definitely plan on working with him again. I hope everyone will check out Andrei's other work at http://www.tankcrimes.com/aboo/

DS-To me Hellmouth sound like a nice hybrid of metal and hardcore. Yet, I was out reading a few interviews and for the most part it seems like you get more coverage from hardcore media. Where do you see the band fitting the most? Would you say Hellmouth is more of a hardcore or a metal band?

We have been super lucky to have a great reception from all different types of people. What's so cool about it is there is such a diverse mix of people at our shows. It reminds me of when I was a kid going to see bands like D.R.I. I guess because of how we write, we fit in pretty well in a few scenes. We've had a great reception when played with bands like Agnostic Front or Leftover Crack, and went over just as well when we played with Mayhem or Marduk. Whatever people want to label us is fine with us. I suppose if you have to define the music, we really are a heavy, aggressive band that adds different elements into the songs. If you ask us what kind of band we think we are, the answer is probably going to be that we're just a punk band because of our attitude and approach to music. The reason for this is to us, true punk rock has no rules. When I think of true punk, I think of Black Flag, The Clash, Bad Brains, The Damned, etc. Those bands had no limitations. Whereas if you're a hardcore band, you're stuck being a hardcore band. Same with many forms of metal. It doesn't mean we don't play songs in those styles, it's just that we're not going to be limited by a music tag.

DS-Lyrically speaking, the album is pretty dark and kinda pessimistic. What's the lyrical approach of the band?

Evil words for evil music! I'm just kidding. I'm sure Jay wishes it were that simple. He puts a lot of effort into what he wants to say. Our lyrics are narratives about our basic dislike for the human race and people's inhumanity within the context of religion, society, government and personal issues. As a band we hold many of the same beliefs as each other and those views are expressed lyrically. Our views are very upfront; god doesn't exist, most government equals corruption, the afterlife is a lie, big business can sometime ruin lives, self-importance is a disease. Sometimes we go off those subjects like in "The Calling" on the new record. It's about how music shaped our lives, what it did for us and how it made us who we are today.

DS-So the band has been around for about four years, give or take, looking forward, what is it that you hope to accomplish with the band? Has your idea of the band changed at all?

This band has accomplished more than we ever planned. Originally, this band was supposed to be a "get together every couple of weeks, write some songs, have fun, maybe play a basement show or two" project. It's grown leaps and bounds beyond our original vision. We really haven't changed all that much. At the core of it, we're four friends that play music we love to play. Even though we play ugly music with a dark message, we have fun doing it and that's really what it's all about at this point. We like creating songs that kids go crazy to at shows. We like helping out our local music scene. We like when people get something out of what we do. We don't do this for a living, so that type of stuff that really counts. As for the future, we just started writing again, so we'll see where that takes us. In the meantime we'll play shows in and out of Detroit when we can.

DS-What records are listening to right now?

Things that are getting the most listens right now from me are 2010 Demo by POWERWOLVES, Home Sweet Home by IT'S ALL HAPPENING, Path Of Totality by TOMBS, Our Dawn Is The End by ENDLESS DISEASE and Too Dark Park by SKINNY PUPPY.

DS-Finally, last words…

Thanks so much for the interview. We truly appreciate the support! Keep Thrashing!!!!

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Read our review of Gravestone Skylines