Melodic Death Metallers EARTHBOUND Reveal Five Tracks that Influenced their Crushing New EP ‘Desolate’

Ascending UK melodic death metallers Earthbound set loose their much-anticipated new EP, Desolate, on Friday 11th October. The explosive riff merchants have also just revealed a new track, “Of Suffering”. We asked the band for five tracks that have helped to define their crushing sound.

Firstly, check out their melodic metal with a new track “Of Suffering”:

01. Trivium – “Shogun”
Louie (Guitars): I love the pure epic nature of this song. There’s an incredible quiet/soft section sandwiched by solos, heavy riffs and heavy vocals. It’s got everything I want from a song that’s 12 minutes long.

02. Symphony X – “Inferno (Unleash the Fire)”
John (Guitars): I’m a huge prog-nut. Because of this I find it’s important when writing to stay grounded, or I easily slip into writing 15+ minute tracks. That’s one of the reasons I love Symphony X, as they show that you ca366eep a composition interesting without going too far into madness.

03. Mastodon – “Halloween”
Rickie (Drums): While on paper we don’t sound too similar to Mastodon, what they achieve in this song is something we aspire to match. This song is just riff after riff, with both the drums and bass powering through underneath and a variety of interesting vocal melodies on top . Mastodon’s more recent material proves that you can have a catchy element without sacrificing rhythm, technicality and heaviness, which as a band is something we look for in our sound.

04. Dio – “Don’t talk to Strangers”
Tom (Vocals): I’m a real sucker for a slow soft melodic intro that builds to the riffs and drums kicking in. It’s something that we have incorporated on our upcoming EP, and it’s something that Dio does masterfully here. Ronnie James Dio’s vocals have always been a huge inspiration, he can convey such a theatrical range of emotions into each line, he really takes you along the story. It’s got a fantastic guitar solo in too, which I always love to hear in an Earthbound song.

05. Between The Buried and Me – “Viridian/White Walls”
Chris (Bass/Keys/Extra programming): I’ll cheat a little bit for this and pick two songs (“Viridian” is more an interlude though). The build in tension and energy from and through the two songs is something I strive to replicate. BTBAM are one of my all time favourite bands and their bass player Dan is one of my biggest inspirations. The way he approaches playing metal bass in a more contrapuntal way rather than just doubling guitar lines all the time is refreshing to hear. I’m also a big fan of dense harmony and the addition of little “bells and whistles” to an arrangement via keyboards/synths/extra percussion so I try to work those into Earthbound’s writing whenever I can.

Earthbound release Desolate on October 4, 2019 and you can check them out on here.