By Kelley Simms
GOOD LOCAL NIGHTMARE
Her Worst Nightmare
S
outhside death metal merchants Her
Worst Nightmare have just released a self-
titled full-length debut album (HWN pub-
lishing), and it’s been long overdue according to
drummer Jason Caruana. On ten blistering
tracks, the foursome has created a twisted, lyri-
cally-inspired concoction of blood, guts and
grindcore/death metal with a maniacal
vengeance. The band formed in 2009 but didn’t
release its first demo until 2014. Although HWN
might be a little late to the dance, their brand of
extreme metal fits right in with the local metal
scene. Joining Caruana is guitarist Moises
Sepulveda, vocalist Carlos Bahena, and bassist
Nick Ruiz. On Saturday, April 6, HWN will be
opening for Embalmer at Live Wire in Chicago
as part of the Spring Sikness show, presented by
34 illinoisentertainer.com april 2019
Illinois Death Metal (ILDM). Mosh spoke with
Caruana about everything that’s currently hap-
pening with Her Worst Nightmare.
Mosh: Chicago’s always been a great metal
city. What’s it like to be a part of the music
scene here?
Jason Caruana: Chicago, right now, is on fire
with bands. There are so many good bands
around. There aren't many places (to play on the
Southside), and if there are, they don’t want
metal and mainly want cover bands. It’s hard to
find places just to jam where we’re from. But
when you go north, [there are] all the main
places like Reggie's, Cobra Lounge,
Underground, and Live Wire are around.
Mosh: Talk about your Live Wire Lounge
show. You’re one of five bands on the bill, and
you're opening for death metal stalwarts
Embalmer.
JC: That’s going to be fun because that’s
through my buddies Zev Charles and Wendy
Fosco, they do the ILDM, but the Chicago side
of it. They just found us online and came to us
with it. Embalmer’s the shit, so that’s going to
be crazy playing with them and we are opening.
And that’s new for us because I think it’s going
to be new territory playing a strictly death metal
show. We (usually) play with a lot of hardcore
bands.
Mosh: What took so long between your 2014
demo and this new release?
JC: In 2014, we just did those [demos] with a
buddy. Those tunes, we just ripped right
through them. They were one-take, no-click
(track) or anything like that. We just went on
and off with members, and with me, no matter
what band I’m in, I’m always the last man
standing. With Nightmare, me and Mo write
everything. We’re probably 50-50 with riffs.
With the whole CD thing, we just finally got our
act together (stability wise) with the rest of our
lives. It’s so long overdue. We’re already going
back into the studio; I have April 20 booked to
do an EP that we’re just going to put out later.
Mosh: The revamped tunes “Found in a Pool of
Blood,” “Part of the Collective” and
“Nunf*cker” are much more cohesive than the
demo. The band has become tighter over the
years.
JC Definitely. We jam all the time. I’m Mo’s
drummer, and he’s my guitarist. We’ve jammed
before where we sit down, and we go to warm
up, and we've played an hour and 20 minutes
without even realizing it. We’re each other’s
songwriters, and I think it comes across on this
record. The songs are tighter because we can do
them in our sleep by now. All I’ve been doing is
living and breathing this Nightmare record. I
just can’t wait for it to come out. I tracked
drums a year ago. It took forever.
Mosh: The record’s ten tracks, at a 34-minute
runtime, is the perfect duration. There’s nothing
wasted, and the songs don’t overstay their wel-
come.
JC: That was all kind of on purpose. We made it
a point to never have riffs repeat, and there’s
very few. When we play out, people say they
like the death metal stuff, but when our break-
downs hit, they’re so short, but they’re just the
way they should be. I don’t think there’s a riff
that overstays its welcome on this CD. I think
“Found In a Pool…” and “Nunf*cker” sum us
up pretty good, that’s why I made the lyric
videos that I put on YouTube. We always open
with “Found…” anyway, so we had to open the
CD with it. And “Gruesome Farewell” is the
perfect way to end the CD. And the rest of the
order is good. We didn’t want to go too nuts
with samples or anything, but in “Destination
Death,” that little intro with the pilot, that’s
Carlos our singer doing that. The lyrics are
insane, and I wasn’t too aware of them when I
was making the album. It’s just about a plane
crash, but there’s more to it, like what’s going
through your head when it’s going down. I
have yet to fly, and after reading this song, I’m
especially not flying.
Mosh: Are you aware of the Lifetime Channel
movie with the same name as your band that
came out last year?
JC: That was heartbreaking to see that! I hope I
don’t hear any shit for it, which I don’t think I
will. I mean, we’ve been together since ’09, and
I’ve got recordings dated back then. But that
was crazy, and I do want to see the movie, but I
haven’t yet. But that keeps coming up, so we’re
trying to overpower it on Google once the
record comes out. Even if people don’t like us,
they always say they like the name. I like the
name a lot. It’s just a bad-ass name.
Mosh: The production on the album sounds fan-
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