GORELUST from Rimouski, Quebec (Canada) was one of the most brutal bands around at that time (1995) and were regarded as one of the very best live act in the province, kicking everbody’s ass everywhere they played. Then, quickly, to everyone’s irony they disbanded right after their first album ‘Reign of Lunacy’ but after almost 18 years the same album will be re-issued via PRC MUSIC.
During a time when so called ‘Bigger’ Old School Death Metal bands have failed to deliver the traditional tunes, this re-issue will please many OSDM fans for sure. Listening to ‘Reign of Lunacy’ is like injecting molten lava into your veins. It’ll burn you down to ashes. Mark my fucking words!!! The record isn’t trying to sound old school because it is old school.
I caught up with Jean (Vocals) to talk about the past and the near future plans of GORELUST, the re-issue of Reign of Lunacy’ and much more. Check:
Hello Jean, thank you for your time. How is GORELUST doing after all these years of silence?
Hi! Actually about a few weeks ago Gorelust was still in coma since 1996..:-) The band has been awake for a few weeks now… And its doing very good! Everything is at an early stage right now but we have a strong desire to be heard again.
The band split up after its first Kick Ass FL ‘Reign of Lunacy’, what went wrong?
At the time we were very young and everyone was trying to make plans for the future. We had a few really killers songs ready to be recorded but were missing another 5-6 tracks to complete a second album. I remember the writing process was so long and everyone in the band was planning their own life. We began to lose hope for a possible future for the band… Actually not every members was ready for the next step; more gigs or touring. You got to understand that we were so young a the times… We were still living with our parents… Hahahaha..:-)
We played a lot of gigs but not real touring on a long duration. Ressources were also very limited at the times… No internet to comunicate and organized things for the band. We were located in a small city about 5-6 hours drive from the main city. So we were kind of sucessfull locally but to expand our boundaries was kind of hard.I really would have like to go out with the band, to reach the next step. But it never happened. I decided to make different plans for my future and i left the band in 1996. I moved to Montreal city to study sound enginneering. The band tried to replaced me at first but it was just not the same and a few months after that the band call it quit.
…and thankfully the band has reformed now. What took it 18 odd years to come out with such a noble thought and idea? It’s great news for old fans who have known the band since its earlier days and for the new
listeners alike.
With internet now everything is so different. I’ve always kept a close look on the Reign of Lunacy album. Always found different reviews and peoples talking about it over the world. I was reading about it and i was saying to myself that i would be amazing to do another album. In all honestly, i think that the newer material was even better than Reign of Lunacy. I really like the 1st album but with the new material the band had find their own style. It was just more brutal and more mature.The band was young and everyone were evolving musically.
About a year ago i met with the drummer Francis Marmen. He was playing with another band in Montreal. I went there to see him and we had a few beers together talking about the past but also about a possible future for a second album. So we kept that in mind and a month ago we decided to actually doing it. To clarify thing, we are not reforming as a touring band. The goal is to make a second album. A kick-ass second album. Like we supposed to do back in 1996. Everyone has their own lives now and just the fact to do a follow-up album is actually an amazing thing for us. We’ll see about others possible things after that. I really can’t wait to do it!
Who else from the original line-up can we find in this reformation?
For the moment we have myself Jean Beaulieu on vocals, Francis Marmen on drums and Pascal Chevrier on bass. Only the guitarist needs to be confirmed. There is the possibility to also have the original guitarist onboard with us. We’ll see. The goal was to have the most original members as possible and its looking very good! It will sound like Gorelust. This is the point of doing it.
Can you recall the ‘Reign of Lunacy’ days? The same scene has grown bigger now. How was it back then?
It was amazing. Death metal was still evolving and we were buying a lot of new albums and discovering new brutal music every week. The band was pretty successful in the Rimouski (our hometown) area and the shows were very special moments. We had the chance to play with a lot of big names bands and we have so great memories of that. We played also in a lot of different cities in the province of Quebec and a lot of peoples were coming to the shows. I will always remember the gigs we played with Deicide, Suffocation, Gorguts, Cannibal Corpse and a lof of others. The big mosh pits, everything was crazy. Brutal music was more of an underground thing and death metal fans were really into their music. They were proud of it actually. The scene today is not that different. What really changed the scene was the coming of internet in our everyday lifes. It opened so many possibilities. Back in the days, i was answering every interviews by the mail, everything was slower. With internet, communication between bands, labels, distributors is so different now…
T he Reissue of your debut FL (a must have for all OSDM fans) is a great news indeed. How excited is the band and how do you think the new listeners will take it?
To see the album reissued is a really cool thing for us. Copies of the original edition were selling for 60-80 US $ so it was really limited to death metal collector’s. Now new peoples can discover it and hear what mid 90’s death metal was about…Everything was played by the band and not digitally enhanced. This is a raw and straight to the face underground death metal album. Back in the days that was the point of playing death metal. Brutal and technical music played by extreme music musicians. I hope that the reissue will bring new fans for the band. Yes, it is oldschool but the album did aged pretty well i think. Songs are made of lot of riffs and
different parts so peoples have to listen to it a few times before getting it. The production has a interesting direct approach. Everything was recorded and mixed in 7 days. Old school way. Everything on analog tape. No protools or enhanced performances. We really have to thank Rémi Côté who is the owner of PRC music who decided to re-release it. He was also the man responsible for the original release of the album in 1995. On New World Symphony records. So he always believed in this brutal underground album and we can’t thank him enough for that. All our respect to him.
Talking about your upcoming new release, when can we expect it to come out?
For now everything is at an early stage. It was decided just a few weeks ago. We are finalizing the line-up and after that will begin the writting process. I would say near the end of 2013. Maybe faster but we’ll wait to see how things are going before announcing release date.
What can we expect in terms of sound and influence of the band in the new releases? Have you planned to stick to the roots and old sound or there are surprises in coming?
This will be the 2nd Gorelust album and it will sound like Gorelust. This is the point of doing this. Peoples who loves the first album wants to hear a second album and we’ll give them what they want! Brutal death metal music. The goal is to push the brutality and technicality.Everything needs to be better, and we’ll see to that. So we will stick to the roots but we also want to upgrade the product. We don’t want to only use the name of the band, the music has to be the logical sequel of the Reign of Lunacy album.
What are your personal thoughts on Metal sub-genres especially on Metal core and Djent?
I’ll be very honest with you on your next questions.:-)
I actually don’t know what Djen is… and i don’t listen to metal core at all. So i can’t really give you any personal thoughts on them. I’m almost 36 years old right now and i’ve listened to metal since i was 6-7 but i’m pretty picky about what i like or not. I also don’t really care for the different terms of the differents category of metal. For me great music is great music. It’s all a matter of tastes.
What about the more extreme form of Metal like Goregrind,pornogrind etc?
Just like i said terms are not important for me. Too much category and its all get confusing. I don’t know why peoples want to categorize everything… 🙂 I prefer to say brutal music. Death metal or black metal. But pornogrind….i can’t say…. 🙂
Do you think Death Metal as a genre is still ‘Underground’?
Yes, completely. It will always be. Mainstream is what the the majority of the peoples are listening and death metal is definitely not that.
Well again I would like to thank you for your time. We at DSU and BRUTAL POKHARA wish the band all the best for ‘Reign in Lunacy’ and the upcoming releases. Any last shout outs?
Thanks a lot for this nice interview.I also want to say a big thank you to everyone who is reading this. Thanks for your support. Don’t forget to “likes” the Gorelust offical facebook page or the group page and you’ll hear from us. Any news on the new release will be post there. We can’t wait to give you the next Gorelust chapter. Stay brutal! Cheers from Canada.
