The newly formed death metal group, Kill Division, composed of Richard Ebisch (guitars, bass, vocals), Susan Gerl (guitars, vocals) and Roel Sanders (drums), have finally unveiled new music from their upcoming album, Destructive Force. The first single, “Locked Up Forever,” (streaming below) was written by Gerl, who penned the lyrics for the entire record. The song was written about Natascha Kampusch, an Austrian woman who was held prisoner and tormented in a cellar for over eight years. The story made headlines in 2006 worldwide.
Destructive Force was recorded at Toneshed studio, the place they called home for many late nights, and mixed and mastered in Andy Classen’s Stage One studio with hammer, care, and kerosene.
Musically, Destructive Force represents the group’s collective efforts. When the band first began rehearsing, they used some of Richard Ebisch’s old recordings as a starting point. Ebisch clarifies that they “had some very old recordings we used as a starting point for the first two or three songs, but changed and omitted riffs together. After the first three songs had been written that way, Susan and I started writing different, new riffs and combined them into songs.” Drummer Roel Sanders also added to the album, either by simply humming riffs, or rearranging song structures. In any case, Ebisch states clearly that “this entire album was written in the rehearsal room as a band process to which each band member contributed equally.”
Both Richard Ebisch and Susan Gerl tracked the vocals for Destructive Force. This is something neither guitarist had done in the past. Gerl comments, “recording the vocals was initially a challenge for us since we are first and foremost guitarists. Neither of us had any experience with singing that long and that much and recording our vocals this way. I used to do some additional vocals with my previous bands but had never recorded any vocals for a full length CD. But we were really well-prepared and had practiced our singing extensively beforehand. The recordings went smoothly and we are really happy with the way our voices sound on the album.”
