It’s a good time for vintage sounding heavy metal at the moment, but for every new band that draws influence from the ’80s in their own distinct style, there are about 10 more who are content to merely bash away at the same old recycled Priest riffs in the hope they’ll strike gold. Thank the Dark Lord himself then for bands like Amulet, who tap into a strain of metal so timeless that words like “throwback” or “retro” seem like something of a moot point.
The quintet’s sound is drenched in that glorious NWOBHM vibe, bursting straight out of the gates like an even rowdier Angel Witch or a less stoned Witchfinder General. Their 2011 debut EP, ‘Cut The Crap’, contained four deliciously anthemic bangers that will have any metal fan worth their salt grinning from ear to ear as they raise their horns in approval. If you can listen to ‘The Hangman’ and then somehow resist the urge to sing it in the shower every day for the next month, you’re either tone deaf, totally mute, or erm, a bit of a soap dodger. This is no-nonsense, balls-to-the-walls heavy metal songcraft at it’s finest!
The band pressed ‘Cut The Crap’ again earlier this year as a super limited CD / DVD package, featuring videos for each song, so if you missed out the first time round, now you’ve got no excuse! As Amulet prepare themselves for a festive end of year gig in London this December, we got in touch with guitarist Heathen Steven to find out more…
WORDS: Kez Whelan
WHO ARE THEY: Amulet
WHERE ARE THEY FROM: London, UK
FOR FANS OF: Angel Witch, Witchfinder General, Diamond Head
LATEST RELEASE: ‘Cut The Crap’ (Mordgrimm)
WEBSITE: FACEBOOK & BANDCAMP
How did Amulet get started, where did you form, how did you meet and when did you begin?
Heathen Steven (guitar): “We met at various heavy shows over the years, either through playing or just hanging out and realised we had the same desire to start a no-bullshit heavy rockin’ band. It all came together easily when the pact was first made in Summer 2010. We’re particularly excited right now as this year we met Nippy Blackford who is the lead guitar wizard we’d been looking for.”
Did you have a specific sound in mind when you formed the band, or did that grow and evolve as you played together?
Heathen Steven: “The specific idea was to be the best band in the world, haha. We all have the same classic core influences but nothing was ever really discussed as to the sound we wanted. it just came out naturally and we always agree on what sounds right so it’s very easy. The interesting part is once you find your sound early like we did… you then have to strike the balance between being true to your own sound – and even being influenced by it – without limiting yourself or overthinking things. I guess the trick is slowly improving the songs without evolving too much and losing what works.”
What kind of stuff are you and the rest of the band into? Who would you cite as influences?
Heathen Steven: “Our combined passion is anything tasty from the classic era through the ‘60s to the ‘80s mainly. We are fans of music first and foremost. The core obvious bands might be Deep Purple, Lizzy, Sabbath and early Metallica plus Trouble, Venom, Witchfinder General, Quartz, Holocaust and the general late ‘70s and early ‘80s period of heavy metal across the world. We enjoy finding obscure new bands but still love the classics. It varies a bit between us, with some leaning a bit more towards melodic stuff like Maiden and others the grimmer Hellhammer side.”
There seem to be a lot of bands at the moment drawing influence from the ’80s glory days of heavy metal, and many of the British bands of that era in particular. What are your thoughts on this supposed NWOBHM ‘revival’, and would you consider yourself a part of it?
Heathen Steven: “As we’ve said before, you can’t really revive the NWOBHM as it was very much of its time. But that era generally around the world is a good one to draw from for honest, punky heavy metal. Just check out how many amazing albums came out in 1982! Personally I’ve been playing the same kind of thrashy Sabbathy metal riffs since I was 16 so I’m happy to see that the tide is turning away from the technical overproduced US sounding stuff finally. We really don’t see ourselves part of anything to be honest, but there are now more and more bands cropping up playing old school sounds for sure. Great! See what happens. We’ll let journalists and historians worry about genres and stuff.”
‘Cut The Crap’ sounds utterly righteous, especially considering it’s only a demo! Can you tell us a little bit about recording it?
Heathen Steven: “Thanks a lot! We just wrote four songs fairly quickly and recorded the whole thing in a day with decent amps and minimal fuss. We produced it ourselves with our multi-talented singer Jamie Elton doing the mix. We could tell that we’d nailed it and it’s been gratifying that people have enjoyed it. We can’t wait to get new stuff out there now…”
Why did you decide to record a video for each song on your debut EP, ‘Cut The Crap’?
Heathen Steven: “It just seemed sensible to film the whole thing since we had the performance video room set up, might as well do all of them in one go. Again it took a day to record and was a lot of fun. I make music videos sometimes myself so we just got hold of some good old lights and basic cameras, and employed some help with the filming. I recommend getting hold of the £5 DVD version (which includes the only version on CD) if any are left, it’s a tasty little package!”
Can we expect an Amulet full-length anytime soon?
Heathen Steven: “Yeah, we are cranking away on the LP and it will all be new material. It’s close to being all written and it’s sounding killer, a bit more varied but very much the same Amulet. The new songs have been going down well live which is cool. We’re focusing on getting it nailed now. It’ll be out early next year… WATCH OUT!”
What’s been your best moment as a band? And on the flipside, what’s been the worst thing to happen to you in music?
Heathen Steven: “Playing live is great fun, especially at a festival you can run around. So Muskelrock and Bloodstock would probably be up there as best moments. Especially ones like Muskelrock that we would be going to anyway. And we just signed to Century Media which is exciting. They seem like the perfect label for us to bring our heavy metal to as many bangers as possible. So that’s probably a highlight. The worst? Well, the 2nd guitarist issues were a bit of a weird time for everyone involved but it’s all worked out so onwards and upwards.”
What’s next for you guys?
Heathen Steven: “We’re gonna play it hard n heavy.”
AMULET play in Bethnal Green on Friday 13th December and the details are here.
You can find Amulet on Facebook.
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