Cosmiclava where the lava flows

More than two years have passed since I did my first interview with Pennsylvania's ARGUS. At this time, the band was in the final stages of recording and mixing their debut album which has been released by Shadow Kingdom Records shortly after. Since then, a lot has happened and ARGUS have proven that they are still a force to be reckoned with in the world of doom-influenced heavy metal. After the move from Shadow Kingdom to Cruz Del Sur Music, the band released their second full-length 'Boldy Stride The Doomed'. To be honest, I wasn't surprised about the excellent quality of that record. It's erected upon the band's signature, crunchy twin-guitar tone, pummeling riffage, a thunderstorm of drums and Brian 'Butch' Balich's distinctive, powerful voice. Additionally, one shouldn't forget that these guys are able to write intensive and well-crafted songs that vibrate with energy and burst with passion. Just a pity that ARGUS has not yet managed to play more shows in Europe with the exception of an apprearance at Hammer Of Doom in 2011. If you've missed that, I recommend to buy the 'Live At Hammer Of Doom V' DVD that has been released by Cruz Del Sur Music a few months ago. But it seems that ARGUS have plans for an upcoming tour in Europe and, furthermore, the band is working on their third album. Reason enough for me to to do another interview with former Penance singer Brian 'Butch' Balich, who gives us an update on the latest activities in the ARGUS camp.

First a big praise for your latest album 'Boldly Stride The Doomed', but it seems as if I'm not the only who is enthusiastic about your latest release. What were the reactions so far?

Reaction has been really really great. I was quite surprised at first. I knew we had a good album on our hands that exceeded the debut in every way but I guess I didn’t realize how many folks would agree and how strongly. One of the things I’ve loved about the various opinions and reviews has been that different songs get mentioned as the highlight of the album. I think every song, barring the instrumental intro and outro, has been pointed out as the best song on the record by one or multiple sources. It is confirmation that the writing was uniformly excellent for the album. Also have to say that I LOVE that 'Pieces of Your Smile' seems to be dividing folks into "love it" or "hate it" camps! Strong opinion is welcome – don't give me any of that "it’s ok" shit. Give me "this song is brilliant" or "this song is endless and boring".

I still think that your debut was a great start, but the new album shows that ARGUS has fully developed its crisp and heavy sound. How would you compare 'Boldly Stride The Doomed' to your self-titled debut?

It was a more collaborative writing and recording process than the debut was and I think it shows in the album. It sounds much more cohesive to me and though I love the debut I do feel we surpassed it in songwriting, performance and production. The fact that we wrote so much as a band and were unafraid to discuss things we didn’t like resulted in us always coming up with improvements to each song. Stylistically I feel it has a not dissimilar feel to the debut but these songs work much better together, as an album, than the debut which has a looser feel as far as how it all fits together.

How long did you work on the new record? It sounds to me as if you have put a lot of love and effort into the new songs. That doesn't mean that your debut is bad, but the opposite.

We began writing really once the debut was out. I think we spent a year give or take getting the right songs and vibe. Some was, almost literally, written as we were headed into the studio. 'Boldly Stride the Doomed' was written a few weeks before we went in. The recording itself took maybe 10 days all told but was spread out over a couple of months.

Whenever I listen to 'Boldly Stride The Doomed', it feels like watching an epic movie. It forms a self-contained unit, where each track is like a new chapter. However, I wouldn't say that it's a concept album but is there some sort of conceptual approach?

There really wasn’t. I think the albums sounds so cohesive and together and by tying it with the intro and outro it can appear to be a concept, an illusion of a concept but truthfully I approached the lyrics individually with no ties in mind. Where they do tie together is coincidence. I wish I were smart enough to do a concept album - LOL - I think it would be great fun and a great challenge.

Butch, you are the one who writes all lyrics. From where do you draw your inspirations?

Life experience. Reading. Conversation. What’s going on around me. Really whatever strikes a chord with me in some way that I can sing about it convincingly. I try to approach lyrics from different angles to keep from repeating myself but also to try new things. I did something on this album where I pulled words randomly from a dictionary and then cobbled them together into what is 'Fading Silver Light'.

Once again, you have chosen an extraordinary cover artwork which seems to be connected with the cover of the debut album. Can you agree with me and what is the story behind that strange creature?

We wanted Brad to do the art again for the album and I forget who came up with the rough concept. But we decided based on the concept that rather than have the devil or something like that that we’d have the Lovecraftian beastie back again. We laughingly call him 'Vagina Man' because his face kind of looks like…well, a vagina hahaha (not a nice one mind you, but a vagina nonetheless). He came about because for the debut we had Brad make some changes to his initial draft that included incorporating a Lovecraftian beast and we love him. In fact, he WILL return for album #3. He has no name yet. Guess we should consider that at some point…. The boldly jacket is basically our view of those who are moving toward their doom without care or without knowing that choices they are making are damning them. The beastie is ushering them into their damnation.