Interview by Kris Peters
The term supergroup is far too often thrown around when trying to promote a new band and their music.
So let's cut that straight away and call World Gone Cold for what they are.
An awesome new hard rock band.
Comprising members of P.O.D, Demon Hunter, Disciple, The Letter Black, and Attack Attack!, World Gone Cold are more than just the sum of their musical parts. They are a breath of fresh rock in a scene that is increasingly sounding familiar.
By blending hard rock and metal with catchy hooks and melody - it's not rocket science, but how often do you hear it done right? - World Gone Cold have woven enough strands of musical DNA through their music that even the uncool metal kids might even discover something to their liking.
The band launch their debut single Opposites Attract on February 3, a song which manages to capture the lifeblood of World Gone Cold while only scratching at the surface of their potential.
Opposites Attract is taken from World Gone Cold's self titled debut EP, which will be out on March 17, and is the perfect introduction to the bands musical vision that already promises so much.
Guitarist Mark Anthony joined HEAVY to discuss the evolution of World Gone Cold and their upcoming single.
"Opposites Attract is the first song off our debut EP," he began, "and it's kind of a nice mixture of heavy slash a bit of electronics and a bit of an ode to some of the stuff I grew up listening to. The singer is really good at writing these big, giant choruses so it's gonna be a lot of fun to see how people react to the message in the song."
Musically World Gone Cold are a great mixture of rock and metal with catchy as fuck hooks, so much so that their music might even take our beloved genre to a wider, more commercialised market.
"I've always been a metal guy," he stressed, "so when I grew up the Big 4 were my go to's. Especially Megadeth and Metallica, they're probably the biggest influences on me as a guitar player. Growing up in the 80's that was the pinnacle for me of heavy metal. When someone asks me what our genre is it's really hard for me to say, but I call it heavy pop, and that's just because I write heavy music and Ryland the singer just writes there... I mean, he screams too, so it's not like he doesn't do anything insane, but he writes these big catchy, kinda pop melodies. I guess that's what you call it (laughs). It's hard to say, because I think Steven Tyler is pretty bad ass and I don't think Steven Tyler writes pop melodies, but they're catchy, right? It's something that you like. I feel like sometimes when I say pop I think of Justin Beiber or something (laughs) and that's not what this is! I think it's just that thing of... I think the biggest thing with this whole thing that we're doing here with this band was we just wanted to write heavy music that's good and is relatable. If it's catchy, cool. If not, none of us really give a shit. We just wanted to write good music. That's all there was to it."
In the full interview, Mark talks more about Opposites Attract, choosing music to represent your band, the EP and the different styles that make it up, the band members and how they came to be part of World Gone Cold, finding the balance between each members individual influences, the future of World Gone Cold and more.