Altered Perceptions' Liam Talks of Rising from the Ruins

Altered Perceptions has made remarkable progress since starting out in 2013. Since then the band has been hard at work writing and recording for their latest album "From Rise To Ruins". An album that combines such mystery that the same goes for the band's stage presences. That said, frontman vocalist Liam Borrowdale discusses said release, and how these guys will make their mark upon this music scene.


1. First of all, who are you, and what do you do in the band?

Liam: I’m Liam Borrowdale and I am the vocalist of Altered Perceptions.

2. Let's talk a little about the history of your band. When did you originally form and is this the original line-up?

Liam: I formed the band in March of 2013 alongside our guitarist, Ryne, and quickly recruited our drummer, Jethro. We released our debut album, Void, in September of the same year. After releasing Void, we picked up our bassist Erik, completing our full lineup.

3. Do you remember how the idea of forming the band first came up?

Liam: Ryne and I went to the same high school growing up, and we were both in different bands at the time - nothing too serious. But, me and him shared the same goal of making music our careers, so we both took our interests to the next level and left the bands at the time to make a new one.

4. How long after you formed was it until you played your first live show?

Liam: We took about nine months to write, release, and practice the debut album before we played our first show.

5. What are your memories of the performance?

Liam: Naturally, I was pretty nervous to go on stage for the first time, but I was more so excited to actually perform. Thankfully, the feedback was welcoming and positive, which made me want to play as many shows as possible to mark our place in not just the local scene, but in the metal scene as a whole.

6. How would you categorize the style of the band?

Liam: We’d say we’re a mixture of deathcore and downtempo, with some elements of djent as well.

7. Why the name Altered Perceptions? What does it exactly mean?

Liam: We chose the name Altered Perceptions to represent humanity's path from ignorance to enlightenment. Originally, it was supposed to be the title for our album, Void, but we found out that our band name at the time, Dimensions, was already taken. Out of the sake of convenience, we just took the album title as our actual name to save the time from brainstorming a new one.

8. Who are your influences and how have they shaped your bands sound?

Liam: We’re pretty influenced by iconic metal bands such as Meshugguh because of the zesty grooves, and also Suicide Silence because of the high energy blast beats and riffs. Looking at more recent bands, Thy Art is Murder shaped our sound in terms of the aggressive chugs and breakdowns.

9. What lyrical theme do you guys use in your music? What message do you want to send?

Liam: Similar to our band name, our overall message and theme we wanted to send was the realization that people are unintentionally going towards a path of self-destruction, and our lyrics acted as a reflection of how exactly we are getting there.

10. Let's talk a little about your latest release, what are the listeners in store for with this release?

Liam: Our upcoming album, From Rise to Ruins, which is being released October 28th, is our heaviest release yet. We’ve solidified our sound and warn the listeners for punishing breakdowns and neck-breaking riffs.

11. What is this album all about and how did the idea come to be?

Liam: From Rise to Ruins, depicts civilization being completely decimated as a punishment for abusing Mother Earth of all it’s resources. Basically, it’s the planet’s way of cleansing itself and starting anew.

12. What was the writing and recording process like for the album?

Liam: First, Erik writes a basic, skeleton of a song, which includes only the instrumentals. When that’s done, he send me and the rest of the band the demo(s) and we pitch in what works and what doesn’t, changing parts or adding vocals. Once we finalized all of the songs with Erik, we send them off to Cody Stewart for mixing and mastering.

13. Why do you think people should check out your latest album?

Liam: Our sound drastically changed for the better. We’ve all grown as musicians and songwriters, and we want our listeners to hear the transition we’ve made from our previous releases. Also, this album marks a new milestone for us and our careers, so any type of feedback would be appreciated.

14. Do you have any plans to play any shows or go out on tour?

Liam: At the moment, we’re having an album release tour set up now which will soon be announced.

15. How do you promote your band and shows?

Liam: Our main forms of promotion are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Feel free to follow us in any of those!

16. How do you rate your live performance ability?

Liam: We pride ourselves in bringing as much energy as physically possible to every single show we play, ensuring the audience is fully captivated and entertained. If we’re not in pain by the end of the show, that’s when we know we didn’t go hard enough.

17. What does the rest of this year have in-store for you guys?

Liam: We’re planning to tour as much as possible and begin writing for our next release.

18. Do you have any last comments for our readers?

Liam: Thank you all for reading, and we appreciate all the support we’ve gotten so far on the recent signing. If it’s your first time hearing about us, go check us out and share your thoughts and opinions - any form of support or criticism goes a long way. We couldn’t be more grateful for the situation we are currently in, and give many thanks to Artery Records for giving us a chance to make something of our name, and a special thanks to our manager, Cody Stewart, for guiding us in the right direction. Lastly, thank you so much for giving us the time of day and getting to know us, and most importantly, being part of this milestone in our musical career.