Guest Playlist: Outer Heaven’s Biggest Influences on Realms of Eternal Decay
Take it from our own Emperor Rhombus: Outer Heaven’s Realms of Eternal Decay is “gnarly as all Hell.” It’s like “a less epic Book of Black Earth, or maybe a clammier Gatecreeper,” he said. You like gnarly. You LOVE clammy. Epic music is for try-hards. Don’t just take some dude on the internet’s word, listen for yourself! We’ll drop the band’s latest single “Bloodspire” below so you can do just that.
While you listen, scroll down and read through a quick list of the band’s biggest influences on Realms of Eternal Decay, which comes out October 12th via Relapse (pre-order here). Which forces conspired to make Outer Heaven the gnarly, clammy, non-epic beast they’ve become? Read on…
1. Morbid Angel – “Bil Ur-Sag” from Formulas Fatal to The Flesh
Anyone who knows Outer Heaven well knows that this is one of our most highly spoken of influences. Tucker-era Morbid has seeped its way into every riff on Realms. The pure ferocity of Formulas in particular is hard to natch. Morbid Angel are a god-like influence on this band, both in aesthetic and songwriting/playing ability. We were lucky enough to share the stage with the current incarnation at the beginning of this year, a truly surreal experience.
2. Gorguts – “Earthly Love” from Obscura
The influence of Gorguts on Realms, specifically the guitar work, can’t be overstated. With no “Slayer beats” and no record label, Luc Lemay and Big Steeve Hurdle came up with some of the most stretched out and bizarre riffage on Obscura, with “Earthly Love” crushing before falling into a dis-harmonic void.
3. Cannibal Corpse – “Absolute Hatred” from Vile
This album doesn’t get nearly enough appreciation, but we get comparisons to this — and other mid-era Cannibal records — quite a lot. The riffing and solo work on this record are some of Cannibal Corpse’s best ever. The chaotic nature of the songs is what really speaks to us as a band. The drumming on this record is also definitely a stand out from a lot of their mid-era stuff.
4. Demilich – “The Echo” from Nespithe
It goes without saying that Demilich are one of the most unique bands of their time and across all of death metal. Straight up inter-dimensional filth! They were never afraid to take things the technical route without sacrificing the heaviness of their music. This approach has definitely played a role in the way we structure a lot of our songs, finding that perfect blend of technicality and heaviness while still keeping things interesting. We also can’t forget THOSE FUCKING VOCALS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WLPvzGgWs0
5. Rottrevore – “Dismal Fate” from Iniquitous
Pennsylvania death metal royalty! Between Rottrevore and Incantation, our home state has some pretty heavy death metal history. The groove on Iniquitous is some of the catchiest death metal ever written, if only we could witness it live. We tune low thanks to bands like Rottrevore and Incantation.
6. Death – “Symbolic” from Symbolic
What can be said that hasn’t already been said about DEATH? The ultimate death metal machine! What really sticks with us is that each record offers a different ride. We all enjoy death metal with groove, and that’s absolutely what you get from Symbolic. Loud and heavy is cool, but loud and heavy and groovy can’t be topped. This album really has a lot of different textures from track to track, and that approach influenced the way we chose to lay out the tracks on Realms. We wanted the listeners to be taken on a hellish ride through the record.
7. Deicide – “Kill The Christian” from Once Upon The Cross
The influence of Deicide on our album really comes across in the vocals and vocal patterns. We have always been huge fans of early Deicide, and we spin this record regularly. It’s angry in its delivery, and we really wanted to convey a similar sense of chaos and urgency when it came time to record vocals for our new record. Glenn Benton liked to play around with dual-layer vocals on some tracks, and that always sounded killer. So we used some similar techniques on Realms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvOHlqjWzbo
8. Autopsy – “Torn From The Womb” from Mental Funeral
The number one sick, disgusting, death metal crusher of all time! The riffs are gross, the vocals are gross, the recordings are gross… and it fucking kills. This band fully embodies the old adage “Less is more.” Simple, yet extremely effective songwriting, with dive-bombs to crush your skull. Our biggest take away from Autopsy is that sometimes the most simplistic way of playing a part is the best way. No need to over-complicate just because you THINK that’s what needs to be done.
Outer Heaven’s Realms of Eternal Decay comes out October 12th via Relapse; pre-order here.
