REARED UP IN SPECTRAL PREDATION WITH BRETT TAYLOR
The process of making this album was not too tricky at all! Covid-related restrictions fueled things by forcing me to stay home. Before everything got severe with the pandemic, my wife and I lucked out and found a house to rent that included a (free) garage apartment in the backyard, which I quickly turned into a small studio. As far as conspiracy theories… they used to “fascinate” me due to morbid curiosity. But I generally don’t notice them anymore because they all tend to be right-wing insanity. I find QAnon stuff to be interesting (though dangerous and ridiculous) culturally.
The album name came from a song title, a lyric in that song. To me, it means two things: 1) A ghostly alien entity rearing up to attack, like a snake. 2) Growing up, being raised, hunted by unseen forces. This interpretation is undoubtedly personal, as I was raised in a southern Christian environment. I was brainwashed to fear all kinds of otherworldly things and profound, everlasting punishments just for being born. These two meanings essentially cover the themes and lyrics throughout the album. The lyrics also play with the idea of viruses, aliens, time travel, etc. But to me, those are all caricatures of the “ghosts” in my personal life.
The religious indoctrination I mentioned before inspires a lot of music that I make. My mom died about 3.5 years ago. That destroyed me and affected all music I make to some degree. Terrible things like that make you look at things “big-picture” to see if you can find anything. You maybe can’t, but it stays with you.
I’ve been playing in bands for maybe 20 years. I like to play a lot of different kinds of music, which helps me remain inspired when I zero in on a project. I have lots of influence from other genres, such as dub, electro, techno, industrial, etc., that all find their way into my death metal. Other than that, quarantine helped me focus on this album!
No harsh vices anymore, but I drank a lot of wine in the dark while writing and recording this album. It was a somewhat “romantic” yet lonely process.
https://universallyestranged.bandcamp.com/releases
