Hailing from the Canadian wasteland known as Edmonton, Mortillery play thrash metal influenced by artists such as Judas Priest, English Dogs, early Metallica, Warfare, and Iron Maiden. Founded in 2008, the band draws its power from the glory days of Bay Area Thrash Metal, as well as the primal aggression of intense hardcore/punk. The band’s debut full-length studio CD is titled Murder Death Kill, which has now been followed up with the killer Origin of Extinction. Take Five caught up with Mortillery, which had no problem handling this short barrage of questions.
Interesting name for a band. Tell me about how you came up with the moniker “Mortillery” and how it reflects your thrash-driven musical approach.
Alex: “We spent days trying to find a name that wasn’t taken. (At the very start, we were ‘Assault,’ and that lasted for about a week. . . .) There’re a billion bands out there, and in no way could we settle with a name that was already used. We liked ‘Mortal Artillery,’ but we wanted a one-word name, so we united those two words into one, and that’s how you get ‘MORTILLERY.’”
Your new album, Origin of Extinction, absolutely shreds. Explain the principal differences between Origin of Extinction and your debut, Murder Death Kill. In what ways do you feel the band has progressed musically and lyrically?
Alex: “Thanks!! It’s hard to say—it’s one of those questions that the people who listen to us may be able to answer better, since to us, it’s all just our music. We have favorite songs in both albums for different reasons, both albums express different emotions. That being said, the general feeling in the band is that as time goes on we’re getting closer to the type of song-writing that we like, not to imply that there’s only one way we want to write songs, its more about how we feel after we write a song.”
Discuss your musical approach when it comes to guitar composition, as it is the first thing that will hit listeners when spinning one of your discs. Be as technical as you like in discussing your approach to composition and songwriting.
Alex: “Well, I feel that our answer may leave your readers wanting more, since in all honesty there’s no specific approach to how we do things. Everything is very natural, we just write riffs that sound good to us, any kind of riff. Between our two guitarists there’s a library of riffs, some are influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, some are influenced by punk, and some are just riffs. We show each other what’s in our data banks, and if something sticks out, we work on it until it’s a pretty good skeleton of a song. At that point, (vocalist) Cara records a demo of it and works on the lyrics. A few days later, we jam it out and work out the kinks. Sometimes either guitarist will have a full idea for a song, including lyrics, and if everyone in the band likes it, we keep it the way it is. We’re really random when it comes to song-writing, I guess. . . .”
Describe what fans can expect to experience at a Mortillery live performance? On a more personal note, what would you say goes through your mind minutes before you go on stage?
Alex: “We go out and give it our best, regardless of who’s playing, what time we’re playing at, or where we are. It’s full-speed-ahead, punk-infused metal-thrashing madness! Right before our set, we’re usually going over the set list, warming up, and pacing back and forth waiting for the curtains to drop.”
Any plans to tour the United States in support of this new CD? Any chance of performing in New Mexico? Provide any tour details.
Alex: “The plan is to tour the world! But everything in time, we don’t want to rush and jump into anything. We like to have things planned out to make sure we have a successful tour. You guys can help us by spreading our sound and staying in touch with us on our sites! Thanks for this opportunity! Thrash till death!”
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