Exocrine Interview (Sylvain Octor-Perez)

Exocrine is a band that I followed since its beginnings with “Unreal Existence” (2015), and although they were born in the years when Technical Death Metal was no longer the cup of tea of many media, the albums had a tremendous intensity, and I remember that that time they were with Great Dane Records, and from there they made the jump to Unique Leader Records with “Molten Giant” (2018). It an album that is one of the most technical and brutal beasts that the band made up to that moment, and with that album, many lovers of the technical began to stop their ears every time they released an album I saw magazines dedicated to the technical, progressive and dissonant that they pay a lot of attention to. So, after that album came more mutant ideas in their music, now we have their new studio production called “Legend”, and this time under the tutelage of Season of Mist. For this reason, Metallerium interviewed Sylvain Octor-Perez, guitarist of this French band.

Para leer la entrevista en español: Entrevista a Exocrine

Metallerium: Welcome to Metallerium website! Thanks a lot for your time, we appreciate it! So Let’s talk about Exocrine, its new album “Legend” and other things related to music. First of all, How are you? How is the band?  

Exocrine: It’s all going well.   During the production of this album, 2 children were born in the band, so half of the team sleeps little.   Otherwise, the album seems to be like and that’s cool We can't wait for the release!  

Metallerium: This is our first interview and we know you have been in the Metal scene for about 10 years. Do you mind telling us about the band’s history to our readers and Latin American fans?  

Exocrine: Just over 10 years ago I had a band with Jordy (the singer) the band members were not motivating. I was painting Warhammers all the time and I had started demos of a Technical death metal project. I had played this to my friend and naturally, it was put to sing on.  

I composed and recorded what was going to be our first album and we recruited other members. After 2 albums we went to Japan with Obscura and Archspire and we were contacted by Unique Leader Records for a contract on 3 albums.   A ton of shows later we arrive on our 6th. and the very first on Season of Mist.  

Metallerium: You have 6 albums in 10 years as a band which is a great number and tell us that you are a band that is always working on making new songs, even the pandemic couldn’t stop you because you have 3 albums released in the last 4 years if we count “Legend” of course. How do you manage to keep this rhythm when it comes to releasing new music? How does it work for you when you have to find inspiration for new songs?  

Exocrine: There is even more to do, because with Jordy we had a side project Deathcore (Empyreal Vault), and a new project Black Metal that will come out this year. Even if by becoming Father I have a little less time. I write and record all the time. We finish the re-recording of our 2nd album " Ascension" I change a lot of little things and the production will FINALLY be up.  

For Exocrine, by Album I have to "throw" 3/4 tracks. I write all the time, and there are a lot of rotten things  

Metallerium: “Legend” is your sixth record and the first one with Season of Mist. What does this album mean for your career? Also, Why did you decide to work with Season of Mist and what does this label bring to the band?  

Exocrine: We had been talking to Mickael for a few years. We had a contract with Unique Leader and wanted to respect it. We do not regret, that ULR did a great job. And I greatly appreciate Jamie and the ULR team.   But we needed a change, Season of Mist, it’s a huge team, and they support us every step of the way. They brought us a lot of advice and answers.  

This album marks a turning point in our discography. It is also the first album where I spend a lot of time on it. I locked myself for 9 months, relatively isolated from everything to write and produce this album. He is the very first one I love wholeheartedly.  

I had a very bad experience with The Hybrid Suns, I have no explanation of it. I was sick at the time and went through a divorce. I feel like I did it a little too quickly.  

Legend is also a deeper, melodic album.  

Metallerium: What does “Legend” deliver in terms of sound and lyrics? Is this a continuation of the previous records or can we expect the addition of new elements into your sound?  

Exocrine: It’s a concept album that connects a little bit with our old album. 3 antagonists clash in a merciless war that will not end well. It is a pessimistic poem about the infirmity of humanity on the scale of the Galaxy.   For the sound, I produced something more natural and warm than the previous ones. Real amp (no simulator) with real recording condition and full analog mastering   It’s not perfect, but at 350 bpm it’s complicated.  

Metallerium: There are a lot of details and elements in your wall of sound, so it seems quite difficult to get the right mix and production in an album so we can fully appreciate the songs. What do you do to achieve a good production and mix for this album?  

Exocrine: I don’t know if the mix is perfect or just good. But it is true. No simulator, and no cheating. We just tried to get it close to our live sound    

Metallerium: You released singles like “Eidolon”, “Life” and “Legend”. How do you choose the singles to promote a new album? Do those songs fully represent what we will find in “Legend”?  

Exocrine: It’s a facet, we chose these pieces because they are representative. But there’s a lot of relief on Legend. Dust in the naught goes from jazz fusion to electro-fashion.  Other tracks will have more brutal death sensations.

Metallerium: The covert art from “Legend” is cool! How did you choose the covert art and what do you try to express through it?  

Exocrine: I love the work of Armadaa art, it loves our music. We talked a lot and he was very respectful and very professional.   My cover art from our discography  

Metallerium: Your line-up hasn’t changed much since the beginning except for the drums, but the last change was in 2018. How important was this for Exocrine to achieve the quality of the albums you have been releasing? Do you all work together on the compositions?  

Exocrine: I compose 90% of the album, before recording the drums, Theo arranges his parts and he also takes care of the FX part   Nico brings some ideas. Exocrine is a family, our first drummer was a nice guy but who did not have the time for this and devoted 100% to the band. When the second drummer was hell. We had an enemy in the group and until the end it was possible.   With Theo, we have a brother relationship, and it costs us dearly in Cheeseburger but we are a family  

Metallerium: What are your plans after releasing the album? Are there chances to see you touring across Latin America someday? Talking about other topics. How would you describe the Metal scene in France? Is it still growing? Probably most people would think about Gojira but we know there are many great bands there, we even made a list of Technical Death Metal albums that we suggested last year and there are names like Benighted, Carcariass, Catalyst, Chaos Motion, Dysmorphic, Fate, Fractal Universe, Gorod, Hacride, Kronos, Nakhara, Outcast, Pitbulls In The Nursery, Scarve, Supuration,  and Zubrowska. Is there any French band that inspired you to create Exocrine and its music maybe?  

Exocrine:  We would love to come to South America, but no booker offers us real things.   For the French scene, it’s complicated for us.   There are some great bands (Benighted, Beneath an Obsidian sky) But we are closer to the USA/CANADA scene.  

Metallerium: Metal has been always evolving but at the same time we have bands that preserved the traditional genres sometimes there is a discussion about some genres achieving their peak and then the same ideas are repeated over and over again but with not the same inspiration. How do you see the Technical Death Metal scene? Do you think there are still ways to reinvent the style? What do you do in order to sound fresh and not repeat yourself too much?  

Exocrine: It is so sad to say that we cannot evolve.   Some groups have very personal evolutions even if they do not please their fan base. Others issue a "recipe"   We have a mix of all this, I just want to write and produce things that make sense    

Metallerium: Before we finish, Is there anything you want to say to Metallerium readers and your Latin America fans?  

Exocrine: Do a few things so we can come to play at your place, ask the promoter to bring us!  

Metallerium: Thanks a lot for your time! Congratulations on this new album “Legend”! We will post a review about it! We wish you all the best for the band!