Pyrexia interview (Chris Basile)

"Gravitas Maximus" returns to the endearing of Pyrexia, highlighting that even if it is the end of the year, the world of the metal always surprises and it will not be what closed people want to believe, that it is only dominated by the super well-known bands. That's why Metallerium did an interview with Chris Basile. 

Para leer la entrevista en español: Entrevista a Pyrexia

Metallerium: Welcome Christ to Metallerium webzine pages. It’s a great pleasure to talk with you about the beast Pyrexia, this new album “Gravitas Maximus” and more things related to the metal world. We will start by talking a little about the history of the band since the amazing “Sermon of Mockery” (1993). Tell me, what are your memories from your early days in the band? And do you think the band crossed the deadly fence and will be remembered by extreme lovers in 10, 20 to 30 years?

Pyrexia: Hello guys. Thank you for the interview. Pyrexia holds nothing but great memories and great times for me. Creating music today is just as exciting today as it was 30 years ago. I’ll do this until the end.  I feel blessed to still be doing something I love so much and given a platform to do so.

Metallerium: Talking about the first two albums “Sermon of Mockery” (199) was a great debut for the band. Coz until today the album still has reeditions. But then with “System of the Animal” (1997) the idea of the band changed with more groove stuff. After 24 years of this album, how do you see the different reactions today on YouTube, Facebook, etc? Because for many people that album is an underrated gem. Do you think an album is better understood when the perception of age changes from 17 to 40 years old?

Pyrexia: It’s very important and more of a challenge for me as a songwriter to be as original and as interesting as possible. There’s a long history behind it that I could do a whole other interview about. But when "Sermon of Mockery" (1993) came out it was called a clone of Suffocation and not original. This was untrue for many reasons but at the time the only way to respond was to again reinvent the NYDM wheel. So, I started experimenting with songs structured around the groove and breakdowns and came up with System of the Animal. I def plan of reissuing the album maybe in 2022.

Metallerium: Many people were confused when you return in 2007 with “Age of the Wicked”. Coz if we compare with “Sermon of Mockery” (1993) or “System of the Animal” (1997). The band changed their sound to do something fast and brutal. Why are you decide to return in this century and with a new sound? And what are your opinions about the sound today that you created in the 90s and bands like Scattered Remnants, Dehumanized, Skinless, Prophecy, and more developed it to their personal sound?  

Pyrexia: Again. It’s a journey. There is no challenge in doing the same thing over and over. I know as a listener it can be frustrating because I admittedly have missed the mark on several Pyrexia albums. Either production or songwriting in general it just didn’t work. But that’s part of the process. Part of what brings me to write an album like “Gravitas Maximus” (2021).

Metallerium: Listening “Age of the Wicked” (2007) and “Feast of Iniquity” (2013). The band maintains this brutal and technical stuff into both albums, with some modern elements. But from “Unholy Requiem” (2018) to this new one you decide to scratch the Pyrexia symptoms of the 90s. Does it have something to do with the change in the lineup? Coz since 2007 you changed for each album to this new one a lot of members. Do you think Pyrexia's sound is affected every time you change alignment? 

Pyrexia: No. It’s never really about the lineup since I compose all the material. It’s the same story. Trying to be creative in different ways. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I think it definitely worked on "Gravitas Maximus" (2021)

Metallerium: One of the things that caught my attention about this "Gravitas Maximus" (2021) is the voice of James Beach. With much more gore and internal intention in many songs if we compare it with the previous proposal in "Unholy Requiem" (2018). So, when you compose a new Pyrexia album, how do you fit the growls and decide which parts should be more bass, scraped, etc? or perhaps with more old influence from Brett Hoffmann.

Pyrexia: Jim Beach in my opinion is the greatest sounding Death Metal vocalist out there and an amazing frontman. The reason he sounds so much sicker on Gravitas is the production.

Metallerium: From “Sermon of Mockery” (1993) to “Feast of Iniquity” (2013) you used orange, yellow, and colors related to these two, but from “Unholy Requiem” (2018) to this “Gravitas Maximus”. You decide to use different colors.  How do you select the colors and the cover art for a new Pyrexia album? And what does it mean these colors for you in each album from Pyrexia?

Pyrexia: That honestly has more to do with the artists who made the covers than myself.

Metallerium: The way of listening to music has changed drastically in recent years, coz the digital platforms have prompted fans, especially younger ones to only choose one, two, or three songs per album, and there is even talk that bands should no longer record albums if they don't need it and just record singles. How do you think this could affect the way we make music in the near future? And what do bands need to do to motivate the listener to hear all the songs on an album?

Pyrexia: It can go either way. Traditionally it’s the record company that makes money off record sales. I find that if you can get enough fans to listen to your music. You can earn the difference if you are willing to tour and sell merchandise.

Metallerium:  We talked about musical platforms, however, there is another trend on the other side in which old formats such as cassette or vinyl are reverted, which together with CD become practically only collector's items. Do you consume any of these formats?  And what is your favorite?

Pyrexia: I always like vinyl because it provides a great package to look at and really see the artwork and read the lyrics. Cassettes are cool too.

Metallerium: Talking about Brutal Death Metal style from the early days to this new generation. We see these years that some bands experiment with different elements, where the style turns into other things and even ends up having clean and unsaturated guitar effects with other guitar methods. If we talk about a band -for example- this happened with Deeds of Flesh, because at the beginning with "Trading Pieces" (1996). The band was a Brutal Death Metal machine, but then in "Of What's To Come" (2008) the band became one of a more technical style within Death Metal. What do you think about this change in Brutal Death Metal bands? Do you think that because of the technical level of a Brutal Death Metal band, the extreme music ends up being clearer and more polished?

Pyrexia: I’ll bet whoever is writing the music in the band felt an inner need to do so.

Metallerium: Talking about the promotion of "Gravitas Maximus" (2021). I saw that Pyrexia will play here in South America for this time in Colombia in Bogota Grind Death Fest for the 20th anniversary. What kind of expectations do you have for this great concert? And perhaps could share with us a little of the setlist of the gig? Cuz I'll be there supporting you guys!

Pyrexia: We're honored and excited to play this great festival. I expect nothing but pure energy and madness from the Colombia fans. We will definitely be playing the songs from our new album “Gravitas Maximus”. But you can also expect us to do some songs from our earlier releases. Especially “Sermon of Mockery” (1993).

Metallerium: Well, Chris the sad time arrived at this interview, I hope you enjoy this one as I did, and thank you very much for your time. The last album is a great one! Any last words for your fans in Latin America and Metallerium readers?

Pyrexia: Hails to all my Latin American brothers and sisters. I hope you will purchase and enjoy our new album “Gravitas Maximus” (2021). We love you and hope to see you in 2022 in a full tour!! Thank you again for the interview!