California goblins, Nekrogoblikon’s new album, The Fundamental Slimes and Humours, was released on April 1st. We caught up with vocalist/keyboardist Nicky Calonne to discuss the best goblin metal record of the year.
What was the process like recording the new album, The Fundamental Slimes and Humours?
I wrote most of it at home in demo form from about early mid 2018 to late 2021. We recorded drums, guitars, and most of the vocals with Jason Suecof in Florida. Key stuff was mainly done at home and then sent to Jason. As opposed to going in with a fully completed album, we started tracking pieces of this one as we went. Alex happened to be in Florida, so he went to Jason’s and tracked a bunch of the guitars – then they’d send that to me and I’d add additional keys/vocals/whatever. After that was all done, we did drums, and finally the mixing.
How would you compare the record to 2018’s Welcome To Bonkers?
I would say that this album is a lot deeper than Bonkers in the sense that I had more time to write it, and it goes a bit more out there in terms of the sounds it incorporates. With Nekro, I think we try to have every album be its own unique entity, and this one was no exception. I went into it with the concept of “Man, I miss how records were in the 90’s…” and sort of tried to use that as a very general guideline for the writing process. More specifically, the variety of songs you’d get on sweet 90’s records, whereas today albums are generally more “template” sounding, in my opinion.
What songs were more challenging to write?
“This is It” and “Yin” were pretty easy to write, and just basically flowed out. The rest were varying degrees of challenging. The ones that took the most fiddling with structure and such… probably “Going to Die,” “No Such Thing as a Key,” and “Carousels.” That’s not to say they didn’t all present their own challenges though. A lot of the time, something is 80-90% there, and it’s that last little bit that takes most of the effort.
Can you talk more about the songs “Golden Future” and “A Lesson In Hate?”
“Golden Future” was originally started as a song for a company (who ended up bailing on the whole project later), so I had a very limited timeframe to write that one in. I basically worked on it for 2-3 weeks straight, and got it all done fortunately. Lyrically, it’s sort of an anthem for how people/corporations (same thing?) keep fucking up the world, and as humans in a society we are generally docile. I thought it would be funny to have an anti-authority, anti-corporate song as the one that someone else was hypothetically footing the bill for.
“Lesson in Hate” is a song that makes an effort to harken back to stuff more like what we were putting out in the “STENCH” era. Granted, our ex-bandmate Tim wrote a lot of that stuff, so parts of this are me approximating his writing style. Also, all the crazy EDM elements and little drum and bass sections were a bitch to get sounding right. The lyrics are basically just like grossout, fuck you kinda shit. I think the chord progressions are really interesting though, like in the “in new dimensions unexplored of wretched pain” part. Also, I got to try out some new vocal styles there, and overall I think it turned out very “heavy.”
How is it like for you guys to be known as the best “goblin metal band?”
It’s good, ya know, we really don’t have that much competition in the goblin metal realm, so that’s a boon. It’s nice to be able to have our own self-forged identity as opposed to being constrained by the typical trappings of a given genre. Sky’s the limit, really.
What surprises do you have for the upcoming tour with GWAR?
Not sure yet, but I think maybe I’ll jump out from behind a door and surprise Alex at one point.
Is there anything else you want to say or add?
Just thank you to the guys and gals over at Waves plugins for hooking us up with the best stuff, and thank you to our FANS for being as crazy as you are and supporting us and John!
