The first time Brittney Slayes heard Iced Earth’s The Crucible of Man, she immediately realized the lasting impact it would have on her. What it actually did was set a creative niche for her and her band Unleash The Archers and forever changed the way she wrote, gifting her the prowess and insight to create not one, but now three concept records.
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Unleash The Archers’ new record Abyss is out today on Napalm Records and offers a continued journey from the narrative on their previous concept record Apex. But this time the story will take place in space rather than the grounded setting used in Apex. Stretching the story out over two records, Slayes remembers it all beginning with the main characters; the immortal and the matriarch, and she enlarged the story out beyond the basal foundation, and into a plot that she knows intimately and has developed enough to even write an upcoming graphic novel on.
“It just started with the main characters, the immortal and the matriarch,” Slayes told American Songwriter. “I knew I wanted my villain to be female because what’s scarier than a woman hungry for power? And I wanted my protagonist to be a male, tragic hero type. I was inspired by them and how they would interact, both super powerful, but not destroying each other. That’s when I came up with the curse where the immortal must serve whoever awakens him, so then I asked why does she want him? What can he do that a normal man can’t?”
As deep as the plot goes, Slayes made it easy for her bandmates to see her vision through and offered the closest and most detailed portrayal she could, making the music writing fluid with the narrative. She worked out a track-by-track for her bandmates to review, and from there everyone was on the same page as to what kind of beast they were creating and what story they were telling.
Demons of the AstroWaste was Unleash The Archers’ first attempt at a concept record and definitely more of a test run, but two albums later they really have it down and have created a well-oiled machine for the process.
“Demons of The AstroWaste, was our first concept record and it was kind of messy, we weren’t very good at it,” Slayes laughed. “But after that I knew I really loved it and having a direction for every song and a reason for the song to exist. When we started writing Apex and Abyss, I said to the guys ‘I think our next records should be concepts,’ and they were all down and onboard. I just wrote out both records track by track, like a guideline chapter thing and I would say what’s going on in the story, and how I wanted it to sound and feel and the boys took that and wrote all the riffs and it was a great process.”
To some this writing process might seem too guided, but the band took great hints from some of their heroes like Bjorn Strid of the metal band Soilwork, who also benefit from a similar dynamic. Both Soilwork and Unleash The Archers utilize a primary writer to navigate the core of each song and then come together as a band to develop and polish the music.
“We were always moving in the same direction and a lot of it was inspired by Soilwork and how they write, because Bjorn really writes most of the stuff and then works with the rest of the band.”
Another idea that kept the band and album on the same track throughout was Slayes’ ability to almost recycle certain melodies or lines from song to song, giving the record a familial and cohesive sound, especially on the opening track “Waking Dream” and album closer, “Afterlife.”
“To kind of bookend the record, we took a riff from ‘Afterlife’, and used the same chord progression for the riff on ‘Waking Dream’, Slayes explained. “And then I wrote both vocal melodies at the same time. I wrote the chorus for ‘Afterlife’ and made sure it worked for ‘Waking Dream’ and then used the same melody and changed the words so ‘Afterlife’ was reminiscent of ‘Waking Dream.’”
Diving into the middle of the record and storyline, is “Soulbound” which was released as a single. “Soulbound” represents an important and catalyst moment in the storyline when returning characters, four brothers, from Apex, make their way onto Abyss, where they are cursed during a ritual that would bind them in servitude, hence the title, “Soulbound”
“There’s four brothers in Apex who the immortal has to find and bring back to the matriarch so she can kill them in a ritual to achieve immortality, but she also curses them during the ritual to serve as these undead beings that have to do what she says. That’s why they were scattered all over the place because they were doing her work but with their own motivations and agendas, this way she knew they would be hers by binding their souls to her.”
Following the characters all over different planets and through space the sound palette for Abyss called for expanded instrumentation to achieve the feel of a different setting. Being big fans of synth-wave music, Unleash The Archers chose to portray that feeling and space setting using synths.
“Abyss is a celestial record and takes place in space as where Apex is grounded and dark and heavy,” Slayes said. “We wanted this one to be lighter and more ethereal, so adding synths gave it another layer and took the listener to a new setting.”
The group also opted to expand on the basics too, incorporating 7-string guitars throughout, which offered more low-end range and dynamic space for the music to roam in as well as putting Slayes in a more comfortable vocal range.
“The lower progression put me into a lower register,” Slayes said. “I’m a mezzo-soprano but I sang as an alto for years so it’s definitely where I’m comfortable. And you can really tell when you put songs like ‘Abyss’ and ‘Awakening’ side by side. I had a lot of fun with more room to move into my high register, so the range is utilized more.”
“Afterlife” also offered some expansion and experimentation with orchestration provided by Francesco Ferrini of the Italian metal group Fleshgod. Initially the band had the orchestration sounds demoed themselves, but when they brought it to their producer Jacob Hansen in the studio, he suggested Ferrini come in to polish it.
“When we brought it to Jacob in the studio, he said it was great but sounded like a Midi computer, so he suggested a guy,” Slayes recalled. “He had worked with Francesco and the Fleshgod team for their album Veleno in 2019 and he knew how talented Francesco was. He did an amazing job, he made it sound like a real orchestra. We were just blown away by it.”
As their abilities, collaboration efforts and confidence in creating concept records grows, Unleash The Archers has every intention to continue on that path and Slayes said she already has an idea in mind for the next one. But it may be while until then, as they have a lot of touring to eventually do for Abyss and don’t want to take any attention away from the writing process.
“It’s never ending, but we might take a bit of breather, we have a lot of touring to do for Abyss,” she said. “I really like how we didn’t do anything when writing Abyss so we could make sure every song was where it needed to be, so I don’t want to distract ourselves from the writing process on the next one, but we’ve got the idea started.”
Abyss is out today and you can purchase a copy here. Be sure to give Apex a listen too, to get the full Apex/Abyss story and keep an eye out for more information on the Slayes’ upcoming graphic novel that will feature some of the same characters.
