U.K. metalcore band the Dead Lay Waiting released their sophomore album “Almost Heaven” in the U.S. late last year. You can now listen to the title track from the record and read a Q&A with the band that its members answered collectively. Let us know what you think in the comments.
REVOLVER What’s this song about?
THE DEAD LAY WAITING It’s about somebody that has recently passed away and their spirit realizing what has happened and coming to terms with it.
Which part of it did you come up with first?
It simply started with a guitar, with some bare bones of an idea for some orchestral parts. Ben [futureusgalleryConnett, guitar] & Tom [futureusgalleryShrimpton, drums] thrashed out the rest of the song relatively quickly, which was quite surprising considering it’s length. But even then at that early stage you felt it was going to develop into something special.
Was this an easy song to write?
It was quite an easy song to write. The structure is fairly simple and playing is a little tricky but nothing too taxing. However, the actual recording of the song was a total different story. The songs were tracked with drums, guitars, bass and vocals fairly quickly. But getting the strings, choirs and Barry Clayton–from the intro of Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast”–was another matter. We must have spent literally hours with Barry, getting the timing, emotion, and the wording right. But it was all worth it. Overall it’s a very emotional song, which was proved when Luke [futureusgalleryLucas, singer] came back into the control room physically shaking on one occasion–one of the defining moments of recording this album!
What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
Pretty good and nothing negative either. We wrote “Almost Heaven” when the band members were between 18-20 years of age, so whether or not we got some recognition for trying to pull off something ambitious as “Almost Heaven” at such a young age, we’re not sure. But we believed something in the vein of “Almost Heaven” is really lacking in modern metal today, so hopefully it will stand the test of time.
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