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Power, there’s a lot of main riffs and that’s
always what we strive for is having great
memorable riffs. They might not be memorable to anyone else, but as long as we like
it, that’s a good start and we’re fortunate
that others do. Having a song that you
remember and that stands out, that’s the
goal.
IE: Rise to Power was produced by Jason
Suecof (Trivium, The Black Dahlia Murder,
Whitechapel and many others). What did
he bring out of the band in the studio?
Tony Asta: He really brought out the best of
us, and he had some really great ideas that
maybe took a part in a song in a different
direction that we wouldn’t have thought of.
He has a great ear and he can tell if something’s not quite right as far as not being in
tune or whatever else. So we did have some
issues working on stuff trying to get it to
sound perfect, and that’s what we wanted.
We wanted the album to sound full and
clear, but yet have the raw energy of how
we play. So he really helped maintained a
fine balance of that. Also, Mark Lewis
(Trivium, DevilDriver, Kataklysm and others) helped out and oversaw everything; he
mixed and mastered the album. So you’ll
hear a huge jump as far as the sound and
production from previous albums. I think
this album sounds incredible.
IE: The band has been on an upward climb
since you started and you seem to be heading in the right direction.
Tony Asta: Any direction is better than
down! Everything has been on the up and
48 illinoisentertainer.com november 2015
steady for awhile. I’d say the craziest time
of growth (for the band) that I remember
was the summer of 2013 where we played
Orion (Music + More Festival with
Metallica) in Detroit and then we did
(Rockstar Energy Drink) Mayhem Festival,
which was insane. But everything is looking
up and the band is growing, the fan base is
growing and we’re playing places we
haven’t played before so our network is
growing. Obviously, we always try to shoot
for the next goal a