Exclusive Interview: Huminoid talk “Self Titled” EP!
Hailing from Manado in Indonesia, Huminoid are a six piece who caught our ears with their debut EP “All Hell Broke Loose” in October last year, a three track effort that served as the bands first wrecking ball strike at the World of Metallic Hardcore having opening transcended to the genre having started out as a Death Metal outfit. Eight months later and they’ve returned with a sophomore self titled effort, that leaps from raw demo to polished studio sound quality while remaining DIY. So after we reviewed it, we chatted to them about what’s been happening…
There is a distinct change in the production value of your sophomore release compared with “All Hell Broke Loose“, it sounds less raw and more polished without taking away any of the edge. So what did you learn from the first recording that you took into the second one?
“We definitely want our new material to be more polished than the previous one and back then it was still a learning process for us. We did it all by ourselves. With the pandemic happening, we learn so much about recording, mixing, mastering, packaging, to even printing our own merch and stuff. So definitely we need to step up the game with this next release”
What made you decide to go to Madfuka Records for the mastering of the record?
“I’ve worked with them previously on my other band and it turns out great. So I just kinda coined the idea and everyone agrees with that”
What was your vision for the EP when you went into the studio? Did you aim to write tracks to get Mosh and Circle Pits going or is that just the way it happened naturally?
“We want to showcase our new sound with the new formation. Recently we’ve added Fernando (guitar) and Adrian (samples, electronics) to the mix and it all just came out naturally because everyone’s in the same headspace. Basically we just wrote what we want to hear and move to”
The programming on the new EP puts you into the “new wave of hardcore” bands genre tag, but there are elements of Deathcore, Metallic Hardcore, Nu-Metalcore and Gloom Metal in your sound. So what’s in a genre tag? Have you ever scrapped material because it didn’t suit your sound?
“Honestly we don’t know what genre tag to put us in, it all just mix of genres and styles that we liked. But I’m fine with the “new wave hardcore” tag haha. We do love deathcore, hardcore, and nu metal though. We grew up listening to all those stuffs. The only time we scrapped a whole material was when we transitioned from death metal into our recent style. We have tons of unused riffs in our bank ready to be brought back again. Basically if we liked how something is sound, we just go with it. If not, there’s always a place for that to put to”
You mention the likes of Code Orange and Vein as being an influence so if you had the opportunity to head over to Europe or the US and play some shows, which bands would you most like to play with and which cities would you love to check out?
“Both bands would be awesome haha. Dude, to be honest I don’t know which specific cities to play but even just a single US/UK tour would be awesome. It’s harder for a band from third world country like us to play the states or even Europe, so if that ever happen we would be so stoked”
Outside of music, what are your other influences?
“Our daily life, I guess? Haha. Friends and family. Everything that is happening around us for sure influenced us on the writing process”
“Self Titled” by Huminoid will be released on 12th May 2021 via Moshpit Records