By Kelley Simms
THE RETURN OF CIANIDE
Cianide
down and writing more. It takes us forever
to write. I don't know why it just does.
Everything has to be perfect for us. Even
though our music is so simple, we’ve
[debated] about every riff. It has to make
sense to us, and it takes a while. But when
it's done, it's done. Now the songs are like
our babies.
Mosh: What have you been doing
between albums? Have you played a lot of
shows?
SC: Yeah, we did some gigs, we played
some shows overseas. We did some
Maryland Deathfests; we played down in
Texas. We played in Colorado for some dif-
ferent fests, but locally we've only played a
couple of times. We haven't played Chicago
now for maybe three years. We’re basement
dwellers. We just like to sit in the basement
and don't really do much. But we've been
doing it for 30 years!
C
hicago’s Cianide is as "kvlt" (cult) as
it gets when it comes to underground
death metal. For 32 years the power
trio – guitarist Scott Carroll, bassist/vocalist
Mike Perun and drummer Andy Kuizin –
have been plying their trade. The band has
finally returned with a filthy, five-track
mini-album, Unhumanized. It's the band's
first release in eight years, and the first vinyl
run of 500 quickly sold out within a month,
which is pretty impressive for an under-
ground metal band. A second run due is due
out soon.
On the five new tracks, the band’s signa-
ture old school death metal formula remains
intact, consisting of simplistic, fuzzy,
Sabbathian riffs with gritty mid-paced gal-
lops and filthy, hoarsely-growled vocals.
34 illinoisentertainer.com march 2020
Cianide doesn’t play out often or do
lengthy tours, indeed, their upcoming show
on March 7 at Reggie’s with veteran death
metal band Autopsy is the band’s only 2020
date so far. IE spoke with Scott Carroll about
the new album, his thoughts on the band’s
cult-like status, playing hometown shows,
and more.
Mosh: What inspired these five new tracks
for Unhumanized, and what was your writ-
ing process?
Scott Carroll: We’re really painfully slow
writers. So, it took us…the last album was
probably 2011, I forget. There’s just so much
life stuff happening that we just can never
get our [music] stuff together. But then in the
last couple of years, we started hunkering
Mosh: So, the last time you played
Chicago would have been for the record-
ing of your 2017 live album Reggie’s
Chicago?
SC: Yeah, right. That was the last time we
played. We just kind of did that [album] on
a whim. This guy asked us to do it, and we
had the files from the show, so we just mixed
it and threw it out there on cassette. I'd be
open to it if somebody wanted to put it out
on a CD, or if we can get off our asses and
put it up on Bandcamp. But it was just cas-
sette-only, and I hate cassettes. It's kind of
useless to me. The younger generation is
definitely bringing that back. It’s huge. It's
pretty wild to see that kind of format come
back. I still have all my old tapes from the
old days, all my old demos. I don't really
keep up with buying new tapes or anything.
I'm a vinyl guy. I gave most of my store-
bought tapes to a younger band - the band
that's playing at Reggie's with us in March,
Molder - they're like 22 (years old). I gave
them bags of tapes. They love tapes!
Mosh: Reggies is such an excellent venue
for metal shows.
SC: Reggies is the best place for metal in
Chicago, without a doubt. The staff, every-
body who works there [is] totally pro. Their
PA is ridiculously awesome. Their sound
engineers are incredible, and the stage vol-
ume is great. Their team is so honed, [they
have it] down to like a science almost. It's
pretty much the only place we play. There
and the Empty Bottle back in the day. We
like it there because it's smaller, more inti-
mate. But other than that, Reggie's is like the
only place we’ll play. It's THE metal place.
Mosh: Since Unhumanized is an EP, is
there potentially be a full-length record on
the horizon?
SC: Who knows!? It took us this long to do
this one. If the inspiration comes, then we'll
go for it. We're lucky we got this out, honest-
ly. It was a long process. We went to a real
pro studio this time, which was a big change
for us. We worked with Decade Studios here
in Chicago with Sanford Parker. For the last
20 years, we recorded everything ourselves
from the basement. Even though we did a
good job in the past, it was just nice to go
and put it in somebody else's hands and say,
“Here, have at it.” But as far as new stuff,
this will be "new" stuff for us for a long time.
There's no new record on the horizon or
anything, that's for sure.
Mosh: Why do you think Cianide is so
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