Last month KILL 2 THIS released their fourth album Mass. [Down.] – Sin. (Drone), which not only has an unusual title but also let the entire squad of writers get in ecstasy. Although they got thrown into the same pot with Machine Head and Fear Factory just to simplify matters, this album emerges as outmost multi-faceted, emotional and intelligent. Since I never have heard anything about KILL 2 THIS before and also don’t know any of their previous albums, it was time again to broaden my horizon and met with Mark Mynett, guitarist, songwriter and mastermind, a downright intelligent and farsighted contemporary ...

Dajana: Almost 3 years had to pass by until you serve us now your fourth and brand new album Mass. [Down.] –Sin. (Drone). Please give us a short synopsis what happened over these years.
Mark: Well, firstly following the release of Trinity, we did a considerable amount of touring. We supported Slipknot, Fear Factory, headlined the U.K. and co-headlined in Europe with Misery Loves Co as well as playing various festivals. By the time we were supporting Fear Factory, KILL 2 THIS had already changed rhythm section, with Steve Rooney joining on drums and our original bassist from the Another Cross To Bare album re-joining the band. Caroline and Ben, the old rhythm section both left the band, as things weren’t working out between us. I had tried to involve them both in the writing process, but they had totally different focus than I did, mainly due to the age difference as they were 17 and 18 years old. Then Matt Pollock, the vocalist on Deviate and Trinity decided that he no longer wanted to be in the music industry, as he no longer enjoyed touring. This was very difficult for me, but on finding Phil Bretnall, it was a real blast of inspiration, as he contributes heavily to the writing process and is an awesome frontman.

Dajana: You have changed the label. Fulfilled the contract or parted ways with Visible Noise for no matter what? How you came to Loudspeaker?
Mark: Very simply, things were not working out with Visible Noise for many reasons, it was a mutually beneficial parting of ways. Loudspeaker have given us the artistic control that we wanted and gave us the budget to shoot our first video.

Dajana: Talking about your new album: you are pretty close to bands like Machine Head and Fear Factory. I also would like to point out some old Clawfinger influences. Metal Hammer wrote: “This album Machine Head should have made after The More Things Change.” A line even your label use to promote your album. Isn’t it a disadvantage to get thrown in the same (limited) box like a faceless bunch who just sound like these bands? How to get rid of this stamp?
Mark: The Machine Head comparison we sometimes and to be honest we do take it as a compliment, as they are quite clearly one of the worlds greatest metal bands. However whenever we get reviewed it is always different influences that get mentioned, from Nine Inch Nails to White Zombie to Faith No More. I don’t really think we sound like Fear Factory though…I guess as a ballpark description for the earlier stuff maybe – I don’t think it describes Mass. [Down.] –Sin. (Drone) at all though!
Pete: The influences that we have are so varied… it really does go right across the board - we all listen to such a vast difference of bands it becomes one big mixing pot! You would be surprised at what some of us listen to…
Mark: Yeah the bands variety of influences goes all the way from Portishead / Massive Attack / Boards Of Canada / Air / Morcheeba / Air all the way through to Radiohead through to Dimmu Borgir / The Haunted / At The Gates / Samael etc.
Pete: I hate this whole pigeon-holing thing…we have been called Power Metal, then Nu Metal… even Goth! I’m not really sure what genre we are…we just write the best music that we can. As for the listeners, maybe we will appeal to a wider audience as we vary our sound quite radically….I mean you could play Circles to your parents, yet Suburbanality could be played in any metal club!
Mark: That’s the great thing….we don’t actually want to fit in with any neat genre or sub-genre, and I like that. Bands who are part of a band-wagon will always go down with it when that particular ship sinks. We’re more interested in having a sound and style of our. I hope in many ways that this is a deeply unfashionable album in that all the bands that are considered ‘fashionable’ (usually U.S. bands) we don’t want ANYTHING to do with, as most of them lack the depth and emotional value that I believe KILL 2 THIS has. The U.K. is very fickle and fashion orientated. Bands seem to be very in vogue and deemed to be ‘the next big thing’ one month, only to be rejected and dismissed 6 months or so later. France has always had the biggest following for KILL 2 THIS and the reaction in Germany has been a particularly good one for our new album. The mainland European scene seems really strong. I think the new Soilwork album Figure Number Five is great, I love Dimmu Borgir, Tiamat, Moonspell, Samael, The Gathering etc.etc. Mainland Europe seems less interested in fashions and trends and more concerned with bands music. They will like what they like regardless of whether it is considered ‘cool’ or not.
Steve: I was listening to a lot of Black Metal all the way through the recording time and even at one point made a conscious decision not to listen to anything from America as I felt the market to be over saturated. Nothing personal, as a drummer I wanted to avoid the mainstream bands and that is where they were all coming from at the time. Now that the recording is all done I have been re-discovering my old favourite American stuff like Slayer and Alice In Chains. For a while there it was Opeth and Dimmu Borgir.

Dajana: What’s the main difference to your previous albums?
Pete: I think there’s a distinct KILL 2 THIS sound throughout all the albums…each has been a natural growing process for the band. There was obviously a major difference in some of the vocals when Matt was replaced…but definitely a change for the better. Mass. [Down.] –Sin. (Drone) is probably the most diverse album we’ve done, but we didn’t do it on purpose – it’s just the way it happened!
Mark: Yeah, the band’s sound has developed hugely and will do so again in the future. The new KILL 2 THIS album will see another complete change in identity and sound. Now that the band has a stable line-up, we have all worked out our strengths on the song-writing front, and this will forge an amazing next album. The main areas of the development in our sound/style centre around the extent to which we have used technology in the form of programming/loops etc. and in the development of the vocal identity. The vocal arrangements on this album totally surpassed our previous albums by miles. There are harmonies, counter-point melodies and on one song, there are over 10 different vocal tracks going on!

Dajana: Mass. [Down.] –Sin. (Drone) is a nice wordplay, especially the way it is written. What to tell about?
Mark: The original title of the album was Religion Politics Money Sin. Interesting words individually….with meanings that affect everyone. Religion became Mass…..Politics became drone….and Money became Down. We chose the title as we hope the separate words reflect the vast array of textures moods and emotions on the album. The lyrics are normally written when I feel particularly strongly about something. In these instances you have the strongest flow of emotions, which usually inspire good lyrics. Many people have accused me of writing depressing lyrics. I very much disagree. I believe the lyrics are reality based and anyone switching on the evening news will see evidence of this. I cannot relate in any way to bands singing about dungeons and dragons or Satan, in my opinion, there are so many more valuable reality based areas of inspiration to draw from. I feel that the key is to channel negativity into positivism and that is something that I feel that I have achieved with KILL 2 THIS. I am VERY suspicious of mankind’s use of technology. In the 20th century the advances in technology defied belief, yet it was the most systematically cruel and murderous in history. The statistics for the sheer level of bloodshed in these last 100 years are terrifying. It’s stunning to see how efficient and effective humans have become at killing each other. Those who run the world’s governments and multi national corporations are like ethical midgets sat behind the controls of giant robots, which kill, or maim anything that gets in their way, while permanently scarring the world in which we live. Today’s barbarian is incredibly well organized and wears a suit.

Dajana: You are using lots of interesting and unusual (for this genre) elements like oriental touched background singing or guitars, string samples, acoustic passages and more. You are changing the pace and singing very often, so an exceptional diversified album. Was that intentional right from the beginning of writing process or more a development over the time and coz of technical possibilities at studio?
Mark: Yeah this was a deliberate move when we were writing the album. On reflection I feel our previous albums were a little one-dimensional, whereas Mass. [Down.] –Sin. (Drone) really does take you on a musical journey with real highs and lows with a vast array of textures.

Dajana: Btw… that makes you very different to above mentioned acts and actually I would not label you like them as American Metalcore, Nu Metal, Modern Metal or whatever, just as Crossover. Your opinion?
Mark: I totally agree, I hope in many ways that this is a deeply unfashionable album in that all the bands that are considered ‘fashionable’ (usually U.S. bands) we don’t want ANYTHING to do with, as most of them lack the depth and emotional value that I believe KILL 2 THIS has. The U.K. is very fickle and fashion orientated. Bands seem to be very in vogue and deemed to be ‘the next big thing’ one month, only to be rejected and dismissed 6 months or so later. France has always had the biggest following for KILL 2 THIS and the reaction in Germany has been a particularly good one for our new album.

Dajana: Second track Frame By Frame starts out pretty quiet, more and longer than it is usual meant as a stylistic mean. Recording failure?
Mark: No, it’s exactly the way we planned it, I LOVE that track!!!

Dajana: The Universe In The Nutshell is an often quoted line and kind of quintessence of Steven Hawking’s researches and the title of his second popular scientific book. But your lyrics behind this track doesn’t have to do much with these theories … maybe in the broadest sense. What’s the meaning of this track?
Mark: The lyrics to this song relate to the way we are educated and brought up in society. We are almost groomed to serve the system in so many ways, while those who are the creative, artistic ones seem to be shunned in many ways.

Dajana: In general your lyrics are pretty desperate, hopeless and kind of misanthropic. Reflections of your daily life? Preview to the future?
Mark: The lyrics are about the real world and real issues that I believe effect everyone. At the end of the day depression is something that links the whole human race… anyone saying they never get depressed is a liar and should be avoided at all costs. The lyrics are normally written when I feel particularly strongly about something. In these instances you have the strongest flow of emotions, which usually inspire good lyrics. Many people have accused me of writing depressing lyrics. I very much disagree. I believe the lyrics are reality based and anyone switching on the evening news will see evidence of this. I cannot relate in any way to bands singing about dungeons and dragons or Satan, in my opinion, there are so many more valuable reality based areas of inspiration to draw from. I feel that the key is to channel negativity into positivism and that is something that I feel that I have achieved with KILL 2 THIS. I am VERY suspicious of mankind’s use of technology. In a world where a third of its population is starving, while we’re still sending spacecraft into other galaxies, it’s hard not to. The bloodshed during the 20th century defies belief. We have everything imaginable to make our lives more comfortable, yet are we actually any happier as a race? The current figures for depression, suicide, homicide, divorce etc. seem to suggest otherwise.

Dajana: If you could construct a new world by your own. How it would look like and what would be the greatest experience there?
Mark: No hunger, no prejudice, no pollution, no religious hatred, no war, no plague, no disaster, No George Bush!!!

Dajana: There is a discrepancy between the tracklist on CD and the tracklist on your homepage. It’s confusing. And it took me a while to sort out the tracks by lyrics (got a promo without lyrics). A way to demand the willing listener?
Mark: The albums lyrics are all on our web-site, as well as the released version of the album.

Dajana: Although it seems you are very popular, at least in UK, I never have heard anything about KILL 2 THIS before, I don’t know your previous releases and there was also not that much to find on internet like old reviews, interviews and stuff. What went wrong?
Mark: We had numerous problems with our former label.

Dajana: You have now delivered an amazing album, powerful, emotional, mature, sophisticated with catchy songs. So perfect material to run the charts, to get much airplay and to inspire loads of people with a great vid on MTViva. But nothing noticed so far. Any plans for the future? What would be the first single then?
Mark: The Universe In A Nutshell, which we have just completed a video for.

Dajana: To end with an adapted line of the book The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick (one of my fave authors): Imagine: … you wake up in the morning to find a memo written by yourself pasted on the bathroom’s mirror “This is just an illusion! You are Mr. Xy, a colonist from Mars. Use the time of your metamorphosis …”. Describe your first day in the “new” world.
Mark: If its all an illusion I would simply start on a quest for reality.

Shortcuts:
• Top 5 albums:
Massive Attack - Protection
Radiohead - O.K. Computer and The Bends
Dimmu Borgir - Misanthropical Euphoric
Portishead - Portishead

• The best thing you ever have built together :
Mass. [Down.] –Sin. (Drone)

• Best dish you can make:
Rogan Josh curry.

• How to drink 10 beers at the same time:
Just do it.

• Funniest film you ever have seen:
Dumb and Dumber

Thank you very much spending time to answer these bunch of questions :-)