Exclusive Interview: Akkadian talk debut EP “The Devil Has Evolved”!

“The Devil Has Evolved” maybe their debut EP but Akkadian have been around the block and then some, waterfall releasing no less than six high grade explosive singles up to this point. Biding their time, they’ve made a name for themselves and having witnessed their set at the 10th anniversary of Tech-Fest, you can rest assured they have what it takes to be stepping on bigger stages. We spoke to vocalist Danny Thurston and guitarist Harry Newberry about their latest endeavour and the conversation went something like this…

The title for “The Devil Has Evolved” couldn’t be more fitting for the hellscape you’ve created. How did you go about choosing it and what does it mean to you?

Danny (Vocals): “It’s based on the thought The Devil and all of the Gods and Demons from the ancient world have evolved beyond the physical form, into a higher dimension within time and space that we as humans cannot necessarily perceive on our default frequency. When people speak of their “inner demons”, this is suggesting a theory that these demons are actually external, operating on a different frequency within the fabric of the universe, tampering with our energy. And the closer you are tuned to their frequency, the more likely they will enter your life and keep you stuck feeling lost in the darkness. This song is a call for help. A call for someone who has been there before – even your past or future self – to show a way out. A call for that helping hand, to pull you off the frequency, out of the dark and to see the light.”

One of the things that is really striking is how brave you’ve been with bringing new elements into play, while keeping your roots firmly in your sound. How much of that evolution was premeditated when going into the writing sessions and how much of that was something that simply happened organically?

Harry (Guitar): “I wouldn’t necessarily call it brave, we are just trying to Implement our multiple influences into a coherent sound that we all like. We certainly aim to create music that is experimental to an extent, progressive even, but we want to have it in small doses. All of our new music for future release is created with the idea that each song should be its own experience and the listener shouldn’t get the feeling that every single song sounds the same.”

On the title track you dabble with electronics which we’ve suggested brings you into “Alien” era Northlane territory. What was the influence that made you want to add that string to your bow?

Harry (Guitar): “We are definitely incorporating lots of sounds as layers into our songs and after playing with various synth sounds, we found this bass line that worked as a build up for the song and decided to stick with it. A lot of the time inspiration will hit from just hearing a random preset on a synth or other plug-in.”

“Teardrop” feels like the boldest move of the three cuts; we’ve referenced the score for a film like Donnie Darko to explain how different it is. If you had the opportunity to create some music for a film, is that something that would interest you?

Danny: “ONE HUNDRED PERCENT, YES! I absolutely love movies and movie scores. It’s definitely something I personally would love to do and I’m sure we as a band could pull it off, if the project was the right fit. A few of us are massive Hans Zimmer, John Williams Danny Elfman and Ludwick Göransson fans. So there’s no doubt we could take influence from those masters and blend it with our own style to create the right atmosphere for a film.”

We touched on how important artwork has been to you over the releases of your singles thus far in a previous interview; who did you choose to create the striking artwork that adorns “The Devil Has Evolved” and why? What do you think of the final piece?

Danny (Vocals): “The artwork was designed by Theodor Gavril from Nativity Creations. We discovered Theo on the website “Fiver”, where we gelled very quickly and were immediately on the same page. Theo’s enthusiasm, talent and speed was above and beyond all our expectations. We really look forward to working with him again in the near future for our other releases! I believe Theo has captured the essence of the track perfectly. As mentioned earlier, the song represents the evolution of The Devil and all of the Gods and Demons from the ancient world, and how they have evolved beyond the physical form, into a higher dimension, within time and space that we as humans cannot perceive on our default frequency. One way of potentially getting to this place, is through the doors of perception. Which is why there is a portal in the centre, placed at its origin site – the desert – surrounded by Ancient Obelisks, leading to this higher dimension.”

How are the plans for shows around the new EP shaping up? Who might we expect to see you sharing a stage with in the not too distant future?

Harry (Guitars): “We have a fair few lined up across England with some old friends of ours in ‘Earthbound’ who we’ve shared the stage with a few times, great dudes. We also play a great venue called ‘The Junction’ in Cambridge, our home city, on November 24th and can’t wait to showcase some new songs and an upgraded live show.”

“The Devil Has Evolved” by Akkadian is out now and everywhere you’d expect it to be…