Featuring musicians with ties to acts like Tombstoner, Thank You Scientist, Windfaerer, and Cranial Damage among others, New Jersey act Slaughtersun aims to develop a potent brand of progressive death metal through their debut EP release Black Marrow. The uniqueness of their sound matches the quality output present – utilizing influences from domestic and abroad acts to capture a style that’s hard not to engage with quickly, especially for an underground audience clamoring for newcomers to cherish. We spoke to the ‘treble strings’ musician Ben Karas to learn more about his rich family background, how the original Slaughtersun lineup came together, thoughts on releasing singles to set the stage for the debut EP, cover art, favorite album/ concert memories, his approach to production when working with other artists in his studio, plus future plans amongst his many bands.
Dead Rhetoric: What are your earliest memories surrounding music growing up in childhood? At what point did you start gravitating towards heavier forms of music – and the desire to pick up an instrument to perform in your own bands?
Ben Karas: Earliest forms of music in childhood – I started playing the violin at about the age of six or seven years old. My parents, they really pushed me along and wanted to learn an instrument. My mother, she actually danced on Broadway – she was in the musical Cats back in the 80s. My dad, he plays bass guitar, and his father was a violinist who played in the Hartford CT symphony for about 40 years. My grandmother, on my mother’s side, was also a professional musician until she had children and became a mother full-time. My grandmother on my dad’s side, she was a singer as well. Music ran throughout the family, there’s no question there.
I remember going to concerts where my grandfather was playing in the string quartet, that sort of thing. Hearing my dad practice for his band back in the day. Finally, picking up an instrument- although at that time it wasn’t by choice. If it wasn’t for my parents pushing me along for the first several years until I was about a teenager, I may not have played. Once I was 13-14, I got into heavier music. I remember hearing “Crazy Train” on the radio, that was my gateway drug. I asked my dad who is this- he said Ozzy Osbourne. I picked up a copy of Blizzard of Ozz, and I listened to that record constantly. Dove deep into his discography, Down to Earth was the latest record he had that I was into. Filled the gaps in between.
Around that time, my dad got me an electric violin when I was in high school. I remember playing with a friend’s band, they were called Reaper at the time. That was the point where I knew I could do something that I was really going to be interested in this. I played classical music because that is what I was pushed to do. To be able to experiment with the distortion pedal and an amp at a young age, and have some friends who were open-minded enough to let me sit in with the band and play along, that was my first exposure to being a part of a band and writing material, playing some gigs.
Dead Rhetoric: Did you also have early on that ambition to transpose your ability to play the electric violin in a heavy metal context? Because a lot of times, people associate violin parts with more of a folk metal feel than what you achieve with your technique…
Karas: Certainly. Especially when people think of the violin in a rock or a metal context, as you said folk metal, it’s the melody instrument that’s doing a lead. Something of that sort. I always liked riffs. Solos are great, don’t get me wrong – but riffs are a lot of fun. It’s the riff of “Crazy Train” – that’s what got stuck in my head. The solo is great too – but the riffs are what drive me. I remember listening to Black Sabbath records, and I had a transcription book for guitar. I would look through it, start playing parts – “Paranoid”, things like that, similar tunes. I was doing that on a four-string violin, then when I was a little older, I got a five-string violin, so having that lower C string, I was able to get a little more of a chunky tone out of it. That opened a lot of doors as far as what I could do as a rhythm instrument.
Dead Rhetoric: Slaughtersun began in 2023 – can you discuss how the current lineup came to be, and where you wanted to go with this progressive brand of death metal that maybe differs from what you’ve done previously in other acts?
Karas: I’ve always set out to have the band with no guitars – just violin, bass, drums, and vocals. When I was first thinking about it, I was considering to do the vocals myself to just keep things as a three people. It would have been simpler to have three schedules than coordinate four. But I realized the vocals were going to suck if I did that just myself – I will do a couple of backing vocals where I can. I started writing the first demos as early as 2016-2017. I shelved it, and around 2022-23, I started realizing I was getting married soon, I’m in my mid-30’s now, life isn’t going to get any simpler now. If I want to do this, I want to get it started now while I have some freedom before I start a family soon.
For personnel, I turned to my buddy Cody McCorry who is the bass player in Thank You Scientist. He’s one of the best bass players I know, period. He’s open-minded and likes all kinds of different music, so this is an opportunity for him to expand his repertoire and styles, as he’s never played in a band quite like this. He’s into jazz, avant-garde classical, and loves Frank Zappa. Jason Quinones, the drummer I’ve known through the band Tombstoner, who I produced. I thought he was a phenomenal player, and I was very pleased when he said he was down to do this. And Justin Hillman, he is a vocalist with Cranial Damage, who I also know through my work at Frightbox previously. His vocal style really stood out to me. He really likes to read poetry, so he has interesting lyrics. He writes like somebody who reads a lot. There are more subtleties, metaphors you could say. He brings something very special to the table as far as the lyrics and what he can envision with the words. I’m very fortunate to have some really, really talented people to work with.
Dead Rhetoric: Black Marrow is the latest EP from the band – consisting of material that you’ve released previously as singles over the past six months to a year. How do you feel about the evolution of the songwriting, performances, and how you’ve been able to establish the band in this format – do you believe it’s been beneficial to gain more attention in this way with a smaller, steadier schedule leading up to this EP?
Karas: Yeah, I think so. This is my first time being the leader of the band, so it’s been a bit of an experiment. I didn’t want to just release all the songs that we had all at once because we are not really anybody just yet. I believe we will be somebody, someday. It didn’t seem like the right move to just throw it all out there and hopefully something happens. The singles, it gave us the time to put one out, do a couple of videos, stretch it out over the course of a few months. Just so I’m not putting out the same old material again, I felt it was appropriate to update the mixes and remaster. Plus, we added a bonus track with the live recording of one of the songs to round out the release, make it a little more complete and make it something fresh. Still keeping in mind that a lot of people don’t even know who we are. To the majority of people out there, it’s going to look like a brand-new band with a brand-new release. I’m assuming that a lot of people haven’t heard the original singles.
Dead Rhetoric: What is your outlook in how you approach your instrument and technique for Slaughtersun – are there specific challenges that take place in how you want to convey your sound convincingly in a metal context?
Karas: As being the primary rhythm player in this band, there is no guitar. In my other bands Windfaerer and Thank You Scientist, I’m playing with the guitars a lot of the times. You end up fighting for those mid-range frequencies, you have to think about where you sit, orchestration, and what you are playing versus what they are playing and how to make it gel. Now, I have all those mid-range frequencies available to me. The challenge is, how can I write parts that fill it out? Using the limitations of the violin there and work within that. It’s nice because Cody can do just about anything I throw at him on the bass, he comes up with crazy stuff himself. He has a lot more sonic space to flex a little bit and to be heard.
It’s a really interesting sonic landscape, in my opinion. That’s the challenge, to write something compelling that is full. To not feel too boxed into one range on the instrument. Not just playing the song on the two lowest strings – no, no. I want the low and mid-parts, but I want to do some melodies and put everything together.
Dead Rhetoric: And when it comes to your influences, do you draw from both the American and European side of things for your approach to progressive death metal?
Karas: My influences are all over the place. Half the time it’s whatever band I’m thinking of, whatever band I’m listening to. Peter Steele said good artists borrow, great artists steal. If somebody busts me for stealing something one day… sorry! (laughs). If something gets in there that I unconsciously threw in, I don’t believe in ripping anybody off. I make things my own by taking inspiration from others.
Dead Rhetoric: How did the cover art process develop for this EP?
Karas: The cover art, I found this guy who goes by Curseofface on Instagram. My buddy Brian from the band Pile of Knives showed his work to me. I like the style, it’s really nicely detailed. I got in touch with him and told him what I was looking for. How I wanted the four panels for the CD layout. I let him do what he wanted – I told him a little bit about the band, told him about the lyrics for the songs, and gave him the mixes to hear. We went back and forth a little bit once he had it 90% done, little tweaks. I didn’t want to be too hands on in terms of what he did.
Dead Rhetoric: You’ve been able to play a few live shows so far with Slaughtersun – how would you assess the band in a live context compared to what people hear on the recordings?
Karas: The shows have been fun. I am definitely looking forward to doing more. On the EP, there are production elements that we add there because it’s the polished, under the microscope recording – we have all this technology available, and we see what creative sprinkles we can add on there. I think it’s fun to utilize them in a way that it doesn’t take away from the core composition. I’m always keeping in mind the bare bones, what’s the live show version of a song going to be. Is this element we are going to add, is it something that a) we can reproduce or if we can’t, will it’s absence really take away from the whole song? We find that balance, and make sure the live show can keep up with the recording to some extent.
Without using any backing tracks too. I don’t believe in playing to a click. Having a sample pad that Jason can hit to do some sort of soundscape between songs, that’s fair game in my opinion. Making the live show engaging, making things fun.
Dead Rhetoric: How would you assess your outlook or philosophy when it comes to establishing Slaughtersun in your DIY, self-released world where you are trying to garner underground attention / acceptance not only on a local scale, but nationally / internationally? Do you believe you spend just as much time and energy on the business / promotional side of things as you do on the musical end?
Karas: Yeah, I spend a fair amount of time on (the business end). I don’t know if it’s necessarily 50/50, but I thought about the business side a lot, starting this out. In my other band, Thank You Scientist, we have an LLC and everything, and we’ve had for over a decade now. Tom, Cody, and I handle all the business in that band ourselves, we don’t even have a manager, we just have a booking agent. So, when it comes to banking, the bills, getting all the taxes done, organizing it all, I see what needs to get done and the work that’s put in. And also, it’s tough to trust people when you have so much already going on. I want to make sure we put out top quality music. The videos and recordings we put out, I want it to be outstanding, honest. And I want it to be true to us, a good representation of what we are capable of. I don’t want to cut corners. I want to not really limit myself. I keep the general genre of death metal in mind.
On the business side, you have to start locally, you have to make your contacts, you have to make friends. Fortunately, we’ve all been playing in bands independently for quite some time. We have a lot of friends in the area, it’s about community. One of the things I love about metal shows in northern New Jersey is, I feel that there is a sense of community. I will go to shows without telling people and I’ll run into other people that I know. When we are playing a gig, I believe that at least one person in the band should stay there until the end. Even if it’s two or three in the morning, because you have to support each other. Business is great and all, but you have to think about people.
Dead Rhetoric: What do you consider three of the most important albums that continually inspire you as a musician – they can be heavy metal or otherwise? And what’s the best concert memory you have purely attending a show as a member of the audience – plus what made that show so special and memorable to you?
Karas: Wow. Three albums, these are going to be the three albums that I’m currently thinking of. Anytime I get asked these questions I would probably switch my answers a little bit. Diary of a Madman – Ozzy Osbourne is one of my flagship albums of all-time. The title track itself; I was always amazed by that composition. It has a lot of classical musical elements, the strings on there, and sick riffs plus a nice long-form progressive tune. That whole album, there are so many good bangers on it. Another album that I really listen to a lot was Battle Metal by Turisas. That came out in 2004. I love power metal, I love heavy metal, epic sounding stuff – they had those harsh vocals too. The orchestrations on that album are so thorough, so compelling, it’s a cool band. They have a violin player, Olli Vänskä, who is definitely one of my biggest influences early on when I was starting to play heavy metal. He plays electric violin too, I saw the solos he would do on YouTube, playing with the distortion. I thought that was sick. And another one growing up – Obscura by Gorguts. I got into them a bit later – as far as death metal, Cannibal Corpse was the first influence of death metal on me. But that’s a flagship album, weird beyond belief. Avantgarde compositions, it’s gross in the greatest way possible. Luc LeMay even shreds a viola solo on there too. Have to respect the strings there.
Favorite concert memory. One of my best memories was in 2005 at Ozzfest, the PNC Bank Arts Center. I’m hanging out in the seats, towards the back of the seated area, and I started talking to this guy about music. He was telling me how he snuck in, he knows the venue very well, so he knows how to get to the front. We ended up in 4th row for Black Sabbath – Ozzy grabbed a bucket of ice water, threw it in our faces as we sang along to every tune. That was a sick memory to experience that, right there.
Dead Rhetoric: You also own your own studio Frost Gauntlet Recording, and have done a lot of sessions for a variety of musicians/bands. How do you approach each session with these artists – are there specific things you take into consideration depending on the input desired and experience of each artist, where you may be more hands on versus hands off?
Karas: Depending on who you are working with, you really have to get to know people. You have to know what they are listening to, and what they are going for. And also, gauge the skill level of the people you are working with. If you have a singer that is really good and can do any idea you throw at them, then yes, it will be different production ideas that I throw out there versus somebody who is set in their ways. It may be more of this is what they are doing, but how can I take them to the next level to do exactly what they are doing, but that 5% better. It goes with every instrument, unless I’m told not to put my producer hat on. Sometimes it can be simple things like throw a harmony here, double track that there. How to edit the drums, how tight or loose something may be from the grid. Always talking with the artist to see what they are going for. If it’s a band doing tech death, they want something more stacked to the grid, they are probably not going to want something loose. Or if it’s a singer/songwriter thing, you want to leave things a little more loose, not as robotic but organic.
I firmly believe in having a conversation with the artist. Seeing and getting things the best that I can.
Dead Rhetoric: What are some of the choices you’ve made in life that make you the person that you are?
Karas: All of them. All the choices whether I am aware of them or not. The choice to listen to my parents and play the violin for those early, formative years. I owe a lot to them, and luckily, I wasn’t too rebellious. I wouldn’t be here without that. The choice to stick around in college. I never liked school – I hated being in classrooms. When I went to Montclair State University, I spent the first three semesters undeclared. I took an oceanography class that third semester, and I hated it. I realized I was in a 2 ½ hour lecture talking about dirt underwater, and I went home to say I’m dropping out, I can’t do this. My folks reasoned with me, stick to school, get a degree in anything. Doesn’t matter. I thought to myself, yes, I want to be in a band and tour one day. I’ll get a music degree.
I had been playing long enough so I was able to get into the program, I had a very good teacher, graduated and throughout my time at the college I met the people in Thank You Scientist. The opportunity to get in that band came up. The rest is history there. That band has been the biggest catalyst in my career. Realizing that opportunity after seeing the guys play, they were killer. I learned every song they threw at me. I memorized every damn note. I went in super prepared, it was around Christmas time in 2012. I was working two jobs, the UPS deal with the Christmas rush, and teaching violin, teaching at an after-school program. I would shed the songs, right before the last audition days I was sick, exhausted – at that point I wanted to sleep. Sure enough, I was in the band. Sticking with it – touring is tough, back when we started touring, we were making practically nothing. Make a couple hundred bucks for being out there for six weeks. I’m glad I stuck with it, lived at home and saved money so I could afford to do that. I lived with my parents until I was 28 or so.
It can be lonely, even if you are with your friends on the road, everyone else is living their lives at home. If you are in a relationship with the wrong person who doesn’t support you, which I have been, that will make you want to quit if you have somebody that is guilting you too much. It can be sad, depressing – I’m glad I didn’t give into this. I’m married now to a really amazing woman who supports me in everything. I’m glad I picked a good one.
Dead Rhetoric: What is the worst advice that you see or hear being dispensed in the metal music industry?
Karas: The worst advice? I’m not sure… there is tons of bad advice. Worst advice is don’t practice to a metronome. You have to shed, use that when you are practicing your chops. It helps you for rhythm.
Dead Rhetoric: What’s on the agenda for Slaughtersun over the next year, and your other acts that we may be looking forward to?
Karas: First and foremost, for Slaughtersun it’s getting the first LP done. My goal for 2024 was to have enough material demoed out for an album, I’m nearly there. I might be a week or two late, but I have the majority of the first demos done. Jason and I will dissect them, freshening things up. We have an EP release show on January 21st at Mother Pug’s Saloon in Staten Island, NY. Tombstoner is headlining, Festergore and Torturous Inception will also be on the bill. Try to play as many gigs as we can, extend out of the NY/NJ area. Nothing is planned as of yet.
Thank You Scientist has a new singer, Daimon. Our first gig with him will be in April on the Cruise to the Edge, with Yes and a bunch of other bands. We are knee deep in writing new music as well. Windfaerer, although we’ve been dormant for a few years now, we are still around. We are going to be writing new music, and hopefully playing a gig sooner rather than later. It’s been very quiet, but we are still active.