Rigor Mortis is back from beyond the grave! What’s it like to be back?
Well, it would feel a lot better if Mike Scaccia was here to enjoy it with us and get the kudos he deserves. It’s great to have the record finally coming out, and getting such great reviews, but it’s also sort of a hollow victory. This should have been a new beginning, instead it’s a bittersweet ending.
What should fans expect with ‘Slaves To The Grave’?
They should expect what they have always expected from Rigor Mortis, nightmare fueled Speed Metal and melodic insanity. But there are also other elements that those who only know us from Rigor might not expect. Mike delivers some of the most soulful and beautiful guitar solos you’ve ever heard from any guitar player, which if you knew Mike, wouldn’t surprise you at all.
The horror element of your band is undeniable. What’s the appeal of combining horror and metal?
Our shared love for horror movies was something that we really bonded over right off the bat. It was never a conscious decision to write songs in that vein, it was just the obvious and natural thing for us to do. What topics would we want to hear about? Horrors and nightmares and fear and battle lust! I think Metal is the sort of the musical equivalent of horror and sci-fi literature, comic books and fantasy. It’s musical pulp fiction about Vikings and Pirates and the freedom to be a throwback.
This is being hailed as the final Rigor Mortis album. However, when it comes to horror movies, you’re never sure that the end is really the end. Is there any chance that new material might surface in the coming years?
Honestly, there’s really not too much unreleased stuff. There’s demo stuff that we’re going to go through and see what we got, and that could possibly be released at some point in the future. But as far new Rigor Mortis, Slaves is it. The rest of us, along with our long time friend Mike Taylor on guitar, have been playing as Wizards Of Gore at a couple of fundraisers and at our release party, and are scheduled for Housecore Horror Film Fest and Halloween night here in Dallas. We’re not sure what will become of WOG, but I would hate to see our music and Mike’s legacy not be represented, so we’ll see. If WOG does carry on we will write new material.
What’s the band’s “go to” horror movie while you’re on tour?
I’d say, top 5 the 4 of us shared a great love for, in no particular order would be:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Dawn Of The Dead (Argento’s cut)
Fulci’s Zombie
… and of course, Re-Animator!
