Over the past three or so decades, the face of progressive metal is, on a surface level, something that seems to undergo not that significant a change. Or at least, it can seem that way when compared to what is expected of such a nebulous and intricate area of music. As soon as one breaks the ice and dives beyond the surface, it’s immediately obvious that it’s an ever-shifting leviathan, whose myriad of transformations as well as their depth can be truly mind-boggling.
Modern prog is a space which is called home by many great bands, especially emergent ones. One of these bands is Benthos. Very late last year I talked about Benthos’s debut, II, as I was quite impressed with the record and the band in general, growing quite fond of their sound over my many listens. Not long after the review went live, it seems that both the band and the people at their label were very happy with the write-up and I was asked if I’d consider an interview, or something of the sort. I gladly agreed and we started talking.
While life can get in the way and things are sometimes delayed, I’m happy that I managed to pull through and I can present a brisk yet insightful look into what’s behind the Benthos name, as well as behind the sonic contents of II. So, without further ado, here it goes –
Scene Point Blank: Where did it all begin? How did the band come to be? How have you, as a group arrived at this particular blend of progressive metal?
Gabriele Papagni: Benthos was born in early 2018 from an idea of both guitarists, my dear friend Enrico Tripodi, and I. We started to jam on our first written song that later became “Back and Forth” on our debut album II. During the year we were searching for some cool guys who wanted to join us and after an amazing holiday in the south of Italy we found our mates in Gabriele Landillo, who joined the band.
At the end of 2018, the other two -- drum and bass mates Alessandro Tagliani and Alberto Fiorani -- arrived in the band and the sound started to take shape. We don’t have any preferences to find a target of music, just trying to merge our styles that come from many different musical backgrounds and the result is something heavy, balanced with ethereal and chilling vibes.
Scene Point Blank: In that same breath — is there a trajectory in regards to where Benthos will be going, musically speaking? Is the blend of styles something you, as a group, are processing and refining strictly in a technical way, or it’s rather based more on jam sessions and how the result feels on an emotional level?
Benthos: We do not yet know what the final sound of Benthos will be, surely the experience that is live or in the studio will lead us to have more and more of our identity defined. Benthos is curious and surely a search of our sound is made by the use of new instruments, new sounds and new styles — we are open to try everything.
Scene Point Blank: Over the course of II, I hear certain elements that are strongly reminiscent of ‘10s djent/prog metal/metalcore, Beyond Creation, Karnivool, and Ne Obliviscaris. Are any of you influenced by these bands/styles, or did they serve as a (focal) point of inspiration for what you’re trying to achieve?
Alberto Fiorani: Certainly, having all of us spent part of our teenage years in the ‘10s, we were definitely influenced by the bands you mentioned. It's hard to say exactly which bands we are all inspired by though. We all come from quite different worlds and prog-rock/metal is our common denominator. In fact, in our songs, you can hear elements from trip-hop, fusion, and baroque music. An example could be the song “II”, where the verse has electronic/ambient sounds but later on you will also find some ska sounds. Other interesting details could be the vocal harmonies that have a strong classical/baroque influence, the drums go from math-rock to electronic and maybe some death elements. Personally, as a bass player, I try to bring elements of jazz and fusion, especially in the harmony, an example of that would be the song “Back and Forth”.
Scene Point Blank: Can you elaborate this point with other examples from the album? Also, how do the disparate (sonic) ends come together in the creative process?
Benthos: The truth is that we don’t set limits for ourselves, we never say, "This has to play like jazz, this has to play like metal". It comes naturally and we like it that way. Each of us has cultivated his own style that is given by the path of study to the music we listen to.
The two guitarists and the singer have a classical upbringing, while the drummer comes from math rock. Alberto, as he already mentioned above, tries to express himself by applying fusion influences within our music. We don’t know exactly why we found ourselves playing this stuff, maybe it’s the easiest way for us to express ourselves.
Scene Point Blank: What (other) influences do you have both individually and as a group: both at a musical level and nonmusical as well?
Gabriele Landillo: Each of us comes from a different musical background: I have classical influences (baroque style) but also progressive ones. The creative ideas that this background offers us are excellent points of reference from which our creative process starts.
As regards non-musical art forms that affect our growth, we can certainly consider cinema and photography of primary importance: the first one offers excellent references on what music and image, linked, can communicate; the second one gives us the opportunity to offer an ever more conscious and mature image of ourselves.
Scene Point Blank: I’d love to hear a little more about this, if you’d care to expand.
Benthos: Everything can be an inspiration to us. A photograph or a film can be very suggestive especially as regards the "image" of the band, starting from the photos to the music videos.
But not only that, even the soundtracks of a film can project us within a dimension that can be a great source of inspiration.
As for the music, we have a playlist called "Benthos Brain Feed" on Spotify that best represents all the nuances of Benthos.
Scene Point Blank: It’s clear (at least to me) that, in spite of whatever influences, you have a fairly well contoured vision of how your musical output should sound. That would beg the question of -- what does the creative process look like when making songs?
Alessandro Tagliani: We appreciate the fact you can notice clearly both our influences and our personal touch. It's something we wished to happen.
Regarding our creative process, we aspire to find a balance between beauty, catchiness, technique and profoundness. We strive to always put innovation and character [first].
The song takes form via a constant back and forth of ideas between all of us: we start from an initial version in which everyone adds his layer. Usually, the final version is very different from the initial one.
Even if today, we are conscious about the process, it's something that developed naturally over time, something that we found, in a sense, convenient. Maybe it emerged out of necessity: we always have been accustomed to composing remotely, both due to distance and in relation to the outbreak. When possible, however, we are thrilled to jam our ideas together!
Scene Point Blank: Is there one of you who gives the tone during brainstorming ideas? Or would you say it’s a kind of chemistry where one of you has a small phrase to throw in and you all just bounce off from there? Also, you all end up contributing equally as a number of ideas, or some of you have more to say than the rest? Of course, it could be a variation I haven’t considered so feel free to elaborate if so.
Benthos: Gabriele P. is the main mind of the band. He starts from an idea that runs through his head and writes it as he thought it, pure and raw. At the same time Gabriele thinks of a concept and a direction that the song and album must reach, so the lyrics run through his head, as well as all the vocal lines.
As a second step Ale rewrites all the drums and, immediately after, Alberto writes the bass line. Enrico, on the other hand, takes more care of the production aspect and the sound design and therefore mainly of the mix, but also of the rearrangement of all the parts.
Scene Point Blank: What is your aim as a group, in terms of expressing yourselves at a musical level? Is there any particular message that’s being transmitted? Is it a kind of catharsis? Is it maybe just for the love of the craft and the art? Or perhaps, it’s something else entirely?
Enrico Tripodi: That’s a very interesting and difficult question. I don’t think we, as a group of five people, have a common aim; we have our own way and need of expressing ourselves and we try to make everything work together. We don’t really ask ourselves, why do we need to express ourselves with music, it’s just our art form of choice. Everybody has their own reason, but I’m sure if there should be something that unites us, it should be something that’s very cathartic. We, as musicians, love music with all its facets, from writing to recording, from discovering new paths to playing live, but most of all we love when music inspires or surprises us; we write music trying to preserve that sense of surprise and hoping it might inspire someone else.
Scene Point Blank: That’s very nice. It makes perfect sense not to bother questioning why you’d express via music (I know I wouldn’t), however, I am curious though if in a band/group setting, each of you feel like you managed to express whatever it is you wanted, or if there’s a certain amount of compromise through the album/song as a whole which maybe would not permit certain things to be ultimately expressed.
Benthos: Let’s say that, for the singles, we make more compromises to make it catchier (especially for the next album). For the rest of the tracks surely, we do get more dragged by the emotion and the flow in which the song projects us.
Scene Point Blank: Is a sophomore album in the works, and if so, what can we all hear about that and the potential progress around it? Can we also maybe expect it soon?
Benthos: First of all, we are really pleased to know that you are very curious and we are very grateful! Also, yes, we started to write the new album during the recording session of our first album and we hope to drop the new stuff really soon!
What we can tell you, is that it is definitely a much more personal sound. Surely the bands we were inspired by felt more in the first album, especially the vein of The Contortionist. It’s not something we’ve abandoned, especially in the voice, but it’s definitely different and I’d even say risky. Enrico said that for this album we had to exaggerate on all aspects and I think we are succeeding!
If you want a spoiler, the next album will be less "djent", not so much for the rhythm but for the sound. Often this scene is marked by the use of very clean and super defined guitars (which we are not judging in a negative way, it is just a stylistic choice). In the meanwhile, we want to find a dirtier and more raw sound and this will be the main aspect of the next album.
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Benthos is:
- Gabriele Landillo – vocals
- Gabriele Papagni and Enrico Tripodi – guitars
- Alberto Fiorani – bass
- Alessandro Tagliani – drums
If you enjoyed any of this, make sure you follow Benthos on Facebook, their website, and/or Spotify!
