Anterior

2007 - Luke, Leon and Ross about ’This Age Of Silence’



Hey, guys! How are you? ANTERIOR is a pretty young band run by pretty young dudes – could you please introduce the troops to our readers?

Luke: All is well, thank you very much. No problem, My names Luke and I play guitar and am the vocalist. We have Leon, who is responsible for all the magical lead guitar you hear and then there's Ross keeping it all together on drums. Currently we do not have a bass player so we are searching for one… All of us are 21 at this point, so yeah, we're all pretty young.


Your debut ‘This Age Of Silence’ is about to be released shortly! With your first effort you show that you are into a mixture of totally old, traditional metal and the strength of today’s leading acts…

Luke: Absolutely, its really hard not to be influenced by monsters like METALLICA. Thats where the original inspiration to just pick up an instrument comes from. You hear the big riff bands when you're young and think, fuck that’s awesome.

Leon: Nowadays though, we kinda all listen to the same stuff like CHILDREN OF BODOM, ARCH ENEMY, IN FLAMES etc. I’d say they are our main influences really. But I do listen to a lot of RACER X and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, that’s where I get a lot of the ideas for the solo/harmony stuff cos those guy’s are the best!

Luke: Although we have our influences we're not trying to be any of those bands either, what ever comes out of ANTERIOR is just what sounded good.


Despite the fact that you are very young, your music is very skillful and virtuosic. Were all of you born with their instruments in their hands?

Leon: Ha, not really. I started playing when I was about 15 and it’s pretty much the same for all the other guys. METALLICA were the band that made we want to play guitar, I always fancied playing but those guy’s just made me have to learn. And then people like Gilbert, Malmsteen, Gus G, and Alexi Laiho are really the guy’s who pushed me to go further, they made me want to do all the crazy guitar stuff. I’ve watched the “Gilbert Intense rock 1” video so much it doesn’t work anymore!

Luke: Yeah, Everyone loves a big sick solo shoved up their arse every now and then. Leon is a big solo fan as you can clearly see, and I think he’s outdone himself on this one, cant wait for the next fucker.

Ross: Well personally speaking on behalf of the drumming on the album we always try to push to get the best possible results. When we were in the studio we already had the general drum ideas ready, but during the tracking process the boys, especially Leon, pushed me really hard to get some really complicated shit down and make everything as good as it could possibly be. As for being born with and instrument in my hands..I wish!! No seriously it is just sheer practice.

Leon: Yeah it just takes a lot of regular practice, like anything you want to be good at really! And we’ve all just practiced our asses off! And still are!


Your are from Wales… there are rumors that every man in Wales does “sheep shagging” for a hobby – is that one true??? ;-)

Luke: Sheep Shagging, ah good god! The oldest Welsh stereotype is a man chasing sheep around the fucking field with the sole intention of buggering one of 'em. But the truth ladies and gentlemen isn't far from that, we love a good bit of lamb love, you can find Ross most Friday afternoons smashing the back end out of his wooly love bitch.

Leon: True, There was actually a guy who married a sheep not far from where we live. Straight up!! It was for a bet, he had a reception in a local pub. He comes into my local quite regularly nice guy, but fucking nuts!!!! I’m sure he’s had some woolly loving in his time!


It’s obvious that nearly all of the songs on ‘This Age Of Silence’ are very long…

Leon: Yeah, just the way it worked out really, the older songs are usually longer, the newer songs on there are the shorter ones. Not sure if this is because of more writing experience, the song’s just seemed finished at that time. Probably the old METALLICA influence though! If it worked for them……

Ross: Yeah totally man, old school METALLICA as fuck!!

Luke: It’s just what sounded the best to us really, and we fucking love a good 8 minute epic!


What bands would you name if it comes to your main influences?

Ross: If I have to be totally honest, the main band/drummer that has influenced me has to be Metallica/Ulrich. I grew up around METALLICA and DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATHh and ERIC CLAPTON. As my drumming developed i started to like more bands like ARCH ENEMY, IN FLAMES, CHILDREN OF BODOM, LAMB OF GOD etc. They all really helped and continue to help me grow on my instrument.

Leon: For me it’s CHILDREN OF BODOM, IN FLAMES and ARCH ENEMY. These guy’s are probably all of our favourite bands. I’m always comparing stuff to theirs for quality, and when I get stuck writing I just think what would these guy’s have done. But it is hard to try and get to that sa - Metal Blade Records

A Day of Chaos’ - what was this all about? I arrived in Wrexham looking forward to a triple metal assault from 3 INCHES OF BLOOD, BIOMECHANICAL and ANTERIOR, only to find out that this was in fact an all day affair featuring 16 bands across two stages.

The good news is that I did (just) make it to the venue in time to see ANTERIOR. Hailing from South Wales, ANTERIOR landed a deal with Metal Blade records late last year, and will unleash their debut album this summer. After witnessing their 30 minute set, it was easy to see why they have been signed by such a well respected metal label.

Burly frontman Luke Davies was sporting an ARCH ENEMY shirt today, and it is this band that ANTERIOR’s music sounds most comparable to. Their songs are extremely heavy, but feature great melodies and many IRON MAIDEN style guitar harmony parts. In addition to their own material, ANTERIOR threw in a cover of CHILDREN OF BODOM’s ‘Silent Night, Bodom Night’ - a strange, yet enjoyable selection. They have the look and they have the talent (guitarist Leon Kemp was superb!), and on today’s evidence, ANTEROR’s debut album is certainly one to look forward to.

3 INCHES OF BLOOD : Rating 4.3/5.0

BIOMECHANICAL : Rating 4.5/5.0

ANTERIOR : Rating 4.4/5.0

- James Allman - baconmusic.co.uk

The South Wales metal scene seems to revolve solely around Bullet For My Valentine these days and, while there is nothing wrong with a bit of polished metal, there is something to be said for listening to the real deal. Which is where Anterior come into it. Citing In Flames, Iron Maiden and Yngwie Malmsteen as influences, the band pack technically breathtaking firepower with sheer, ball-rocking brutality and the effect is devastating. By the time you read this the band will have probably inked a deal with one of Europe's leading metal labels and then there will be no holding these Welsh metal monsters back.
- Graham Finney - planetloud.com