Everyday Metal’s Rick caught up with Adelaide’s Hidden Intent to chat about the inspiration behind thier latest album TERRORFORM and everything thrash metal.
Rick – Thrash metal often thrives on nostalgia, yet your lyrics tackle contemporary issues. Do you ever feel a tension between the genre’s retro tendencies and your modern message?
Paul – Thrash can be seen as nostalgic and some bands like to focus on that side of things, including us at times. But thrash is just the name someone else gave our style of expression and it’s just a vehicle for us to get a message or feeling across. I don’t think there was any thought about trying to change what we were doing on this album to try and fit into other people’s ideas of what thrash is.
Rick – Adelaide has a tight but niche metal scene. How has staying there influenced your growth; has it hindered it or forced you to be more self-reliant and creative?
Paul – Adelaide is a great place to be based, not too big but not too small.
We’ve always had the mindset that we wanted to tour as much as possible, both interstate and internationally, which we are constantly doing, so it hasn’t hindered us in that regard.
Obviously being in Europe would be great and we head there as often as we can, having a lot of great fans over there.
With technology these days I think location is less important as long as you are willing and able to travel.
RIck – Your music (and videos) often blend humor with aggression. Is that a deliberate way to subvert metal’s typically ‘serious’ image, or just how you naturally express yourselves?
Paul – It’s just who we are and we definitely don’t take ourselves too seriously. It certainly isn’t something we’ve intentionally done, I think we just authentically enjoy what we are doing and it’s hard not to show that.
RIck – You’ve toured internationally—were there any cultural reactions to your music that surprised you overseas?
Paul – Everywhere we’ve been overseas everyone seems to really enjoy the Australiana way we deliver our music.
I guess some people aren’t used to an Aussie thrash band.
The strangest reactions have generally been to Chris’s banter in between songs, often they can’t understand what he’s saying or don’t understand the slang, but it doesn’t seem to get in the way of us establishing a connection with them.
RIck – Thrash is known for its speed, but some of your most memorable moments are mid-tempo grooves, with this album even including a few ballads. Do you think the genre’s constant push for faster tempos overshadows its emotional range?
Paul -Yeah I do. I think some fans and bands feel there isn’t any room for slower tempos in thrash but we definitely don’t feel that at all.
All of the greatest thrash bands have a wide range of tempos and feels in their songs, it keeps things interesting for us and the fans.
You can also experiment with bigger sounds and fatness at slower tempos.
RIck – Adelaide’s music scene seems to be growing both in number and quality. If you had an opportunity to collaborate with a fellow Adelaide artist who wasn’t from the metal scene who would it be and why?
Paul – There are some amazing artists from Adelaide, we are spoiled for choice really.
We sometimes do shows with some killer punk bands like the Lizards and Cull the Band to cross genres a bit (although Punk is not that much of a stretch haha). We enjoy collaborations and do it on most albums, so we are always keen to do more if it makes sense.
Rick – Many of your recordings have multiple layers of guitar. Being a 3 piece, how do you reconcile the arrangements to translate them live?
Paul –This is a constant conversation within the band and we have looked at options like backing tracks etc but we feel that our sound live is usually big enough not to make a huge difference. We also use a similar template to what Pantera used where Phil can use harmonising effects, and we also just let the bass pick up the slack. This all helps us have our own unique sound live.
We also believe in the seemingly “old school” ideas that a live show should have some push and pull, and that it should be slightly different from the album recordings. This idea also makes each night different for the audience and us. Having everything automated has its place but we would likely get bored and it would be like Groundhog Day.
Rick – Some bands write music to fit live shows, others for the studio. When crafting this album, did you ever think, ‘This riff will crush in a small pub, but will it work on record?’—and did it change your approach?
Paul -I think the more you write, the more that idea of “will this work live“ creeps into your subconscious but we definitely don’t write songs based on the live or studio experience.
With Terrorform I was more focused on creating a complete album that we would be really happy with from start to finish, showing more variety than we have on any other album. So you could say it was more conceived with the studio in mind, but I think we had both in mind simultaneously.
RIck – You wear the thrash label with pride but which non-thrash bands have secretly influenced your sound, especially on the newest record?
Paul – We are all influenced by a lot of different bands and artists (some more than others) and our “non thrash” influences are way more obvious on this one I think. Bands like Opeth, Motörhead, In Flames, Alice in Chains, and Maiden, to name a few, have certainly made their way into Terrorform.
It is also interesting to talk to fans and hear what they think some parts are influenced by.
RIck – One of the tracks on your newest record features Angelus Apatrida’s Guillermo Izquierdo, how did that collaboration come about?
Paul – We toured the USA with Angelus a few years ago and we hit it off with them instantly, subsequently doing a huge Aussie/New Zealand/Asian tour with them last year and have remained close. We had the song Terrorform and we felt that it would be a great opportunity to collaborate with them on a recording and Gillie smashed it out of the park. The band is incredible and really great guys, so it was a privilege to have it on the album.
RIck – Thrash has a history of ‘retro’ production, but your new album has a very modern, punchy mix. Did you ever debate going for a raw, old-school sound, or was clarity always the priority?
Paul – We all agreed we wanted Terrorform to sound HUGE and we gave Dennis a few ideas for reference but he is a gun and well exceeded our expectations.
In saying that, Phil wanted “Cum Punch” to have a really dirty, retro sound as it’s a pure punk style song, which we got close to.
I think we usually want to get a baseline of a mix and then adapt each song as we feel suits the vibe of the track.
Rick – You’ve had a very distinct style in your album art since the start of your career. What made you decide to change the visual direction for Terrorform?
Paul – I guess this one is again on me hahaha. We all agreed we needed to change up the colours of the album, but the art direction was influenced by the songs and the album’s subject matter. I mocked up an idea for the boys and explained the context, we all loved it so we handed it over to an artist to recreate but also put his touch in it and after some back and forth we were all stoked with the outcome.
RIck – Lastly, what’s each member’s favourite song on the new record and why?
Phil: Dyssomnia because of the heavy riffs and the solo section.
McThrashy: My favourite track on the album is Reaper. It opens with a moody bass intro that sets a dark, uneasy tone before stormy, heavy riffs kick in. From there, it erupts into possibly one of the heaviest songs we’ve ever done—a blackened thrash journey reflecting the numbness and decay of modern life. With epic bass and guitar solos and a blistering finale, it’s one of the most intense moments on Terrorform.
Paul: Mine would be a tie between The Ruins and The Loss? Two very different songs, but one shows brutality and speed and the other a lighter side to the album. The Loss? also has a more personal meaning to me as well.
Huge thanks to Hidden Intent for taking the time to chat with us, their new fourth studio album TERRORFOM is out now, get your hands on it here and you can keep up with the band on social media.
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