ABDOMEN CANVAS was formed in 2008 and has since become one of central Florida’s premiere purveyors of brutality. A non-stop barrage of technical death metal, menacing melodies and punishing breakdowns, AC has something for every kind of metal head. Now that they have released a few pieces of material here and there they are hard at work writing all new material for their upcoming full-length release. Guitarist Cory Lane discusses the band's work in progress.
1. Can I get a backstory on the band/ band biography and it's new members?
Cory: Abdomen Canvas was formed in 2008 in Orlando, FL. Our lineup originally included Nathan Shortt, David Lamb, Tanner Lane, Cory Lane, and Adrian Latscu. We played throughout Florida under this lineup for 5 years and recorded 3 EP’s together, building our rep and fan base as we went. After 5 years David and Adrian quit the band to pursue different interests, David currently playing in American Party Machine (a band you should all check out) and Adrian attending school and working in Gainesville, FL.
When David and Adrian quit the band the hunt for a new guitar/bass player started. We ended up picking up Jeff Frank on guitar and Rich Poccia on bass. We were back on our feet for about a year before our guitar player Jeff moved to Denver, CO. Once again we needed to fill the guitar position. Rich is originally a guitar player so he was moved to the guitar position and a friend of his, Paul Bila, a drummer moved in with him from, relocating to Orlando from Ft. Myers during this time. Having always had bad luck with finding reliable bass players in the Orlando area our drummer Tanner decided to step up and take the position, allowing Paul to come in on drums. Now having a solid and reliable lineup, we have been writing and are finally going to be recording a full length album.
2. How did you guys come up with your band name?
Cory: Funny story actually, we had been trying to come up with a band name for a good month or two without any luck. We knew we wanted the name to have a subtle goriness to it to match the attitude and subject matter of our music. One night we all went out to a party to go drinking and while sitting on the patio of a friend’s house together our singer, Nathan, just blurted out “what about Abdomen Canvas.” After a minute or two we all decided that that sounded like a good name and was a name that stuck out among other metal band’s names.
Cory: We are a melodic death metal band.
4. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?
Cory: Our singer’s lyrics typically involve subject matter relating to things we find interesting/intriguing such as demon possession, serial killers, monsters, exorcism, occult subject matter etc. There is no message per se behind our music, our singer just writes what he feels and our lyrics can most likely be summed up to classic death metal lyrical styling.
5. What bands have influenced your band and its sound?
Cory: We have always tried to maintain a certain original sound to our music. While loving to show influences from various bands, we try to have our own sound which people can recognize out of the crowd. Some bands that have influenced us are: The Black Dahlia Murder, Wretched, Within The Ruins, Beneath The Massacre, Messhugah, Pathology, Job for a Cowboy, Unearth, The Acacia Strain, Killswitch Engage, August Burns Red, Born Of Osiris, Veil Of Maya, Whitechapel, and many many others.
6. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Cory: Yes, 100%. Our writing process usually involves a program called tabit. Having such busy schedules this program is essential to our writing. Usually each member of the band will write a song and or some riffs, and input it into the program and email it to other members to work on, add too, change and edit. When the song is done each member will learn their part and we will work on the song at practice until we get the song down tight and it is show ready. Essentially everyone in the band has “homework” to learn the songs we write. We still jam on song ideas at practice but they are put on the program after.
7. What made you guys decide to form a band?
Cory: We all had the talent and it is a passion for all of us to play music. Its pretty much all we do with our lives. Also it’s a good hobby to have in general and we all love to write and play music for ourselves and our fans.
8. Where are you in the process of the new album?
Cory: We have about 5 songs done and we want to have 10 songs total, so we have a ways to go but it’s a good chunk for only having a new lineup for around 4 months.
9. How does this album differ and compare to your EP release?
Cory: The album differs from the EP release in the fact that it is faster, more technical, has heavier breakdowns, more intricate solos, and more epic jam parts integrated as well. This can be attributed to the addition of Paul and Rich’s writing combined with Tanner and I’s style. Despite the changes we still try to maintain the identifying factor in our sound people recognize when they listen to an abdomen canvas song.10. Have you picked a title for the album and is it going to be a concept release?
Cory: The album isn't titled yet. We typically do have concepts behind our EP’s but this time we decided not to go with a concept for the album.
11. Can you go into one or two tracks on the new album? If so, can you give us the track title and brief description of how the track sounds and how it came about?
Cory: Yes, the first song we wrote for the album is called “A Morbid Set of Morals.” The song is the fastest song we have written. It starts with a series of fast riffs and breaks down into a breakdown followed by a catchy/groove oriented chorus and finishes with the same chorus after a dual guitar solo section. The lyrical content involves Nathan’s outlook on the faults of mankind and how people’s moral compasses have gone down the tubes.
Cory: Another song called “Another Jim Jones Sermon” starts with a guitar riff played by itself and kicks in with a bouncy/groove breakdown before building up to a fast riff section and ending with a punishing “beat down” part. The lyrical subject matter is related to the religious based mass suicides under Jim Jones and his “church.”
12. When can we expect the new album to be released?
Cory: I would say hopefully no longer than another year. We still have tons of work to do on it but I believe we can get it done in less than a year depending on how busy the recording engineers are with other projects while working ours in.
13. What can the fans expect to see from you in the future?
Cory: A new full length album with brand new songs, tons of shows in Florida, a brand new live show with new members and hopefully a regional tour.
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