Emerging from the shadows of a music world left in turmoil, Brisbane blackened death metal outfit Black Lava have wasted little time in establishing themselves on the national radar.
Comprising members and former members of known acts such as Hadal Maw and Ne Obliviscaris, Black Lava have remained relatively quiet in the lead up to their debut album Soul Furnace which strikes today, preferring to let their music rather than their profile dictate terms.
With a sound deeply rooted in old school sensibilities that embrace groove-laden melodies and progressive elements, Black Lava have created a uniquely crushing and brutally heavy foundation that transcends labels and instead concentrates on the one thing that seemingly gets forgotten about too often in the modern industry.
The music.
Founding member and drummer Dan Presland sat down with HEAVY on the eve of unleashing Soul Furnace to bring us up to speed.
*NOTE: INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED PRIOR TO THE ALBUM RELEASE SO WHEN DAN AND HEAVY TALK OF IT BEING OUT TOMORROW IT IS ACTUALLY NOW!!!*
"I guess I am more known for extreme metal, progressive metal releases over the last 15 years so this is something different for me," he began. "It's more of a rock n roll, old school vibe and it's been quite a different process to get it all put together. It was very much a capture the moment rush, rush, rush to get it done to meet the deadline sort of thing, but I'm actually very happy with the end result. Typically speaking I'm normally calculated and planned out with the releases I do so this one is a bit more rock n roll but I really enjoyed the process."
Prior to dropping the album Black Lava released the singles Northern Dawn, Eye Of The Moon and the title track, with Presland agreeing those three songs are a good sonic representation of Soul Furnace as a whole.
"I definitely think so," he nodded. "All three have different soundscapes going on. There's some more upbeat stuff on Northern Dawn and some blasty stuff in there, and the other two are a bit more rock n roll with a bit of mood, so I definitely think those three are a good representation of the whole record."
In the full interview, Dan talks more about Soul Furnace, what types of things Black Lava considered going into their debut album, finding the balance between old school influence and modern music trends, the compact running time of Soul Furnace which comes in at a tick over half an hour, the nature of the fantasy themed lyrics, forming during COVID and how that impacted the bands formation and development, their double launch show at the Bendigo Hotel in December and more.