A few months back, Wolven Power Metal pack LYCANTRHO released their latest album Remnants of Rapture. It received huge recognition and praise from fans and critics alike. Just after the album release, Rock Out Stand Out’s Lotty Whittingham caught a chat with lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist James Delbridge where they spoke about the album and its themes, as well as mental health and which video game he would like LYCANTRHO’s music featured in.
Hello James, lovely to speak to you again.
Hey, yes it’s great to speak to you too.
Last time we saw each other was at Power Metal Quest Fest. What have you been up to since then?
Oh, nothing, just working hard on the new album and things like that. That’s pretty much it; we’ve done that and a few Canadian shows, but other than that, just been hard at work and now promoting the new album.
Ah yes, Remnants Of Rapture, the reception of the album has been really good from what I have seen so far.
Yeah, absolutely, it’s been a very positive reception. We’ve been getting some really great reviews. We were very lucky and fortunate to get some reviews in the big publications such as Rock Hard, Metal Hammer, and from A&P Reacts. It seems to have been all really positive, and people seem to be really enjoying the new songs. They also appreciate the differences between this album and the previous one, particularly all the different vibes we were going for, so it’s been very nice to hear that people are enjoying it.
It’s a brilliant album. Like you say, you can hear the different sounds from Mark Of The Wolf. Mark Of The Wolf is also a great album, Remnants Of Rapture seems like a level up.
Yes. It’s funny because with Mark Of The Wolf, I wrote most of that album when I was a teenager, and that was back when Lycanthro was more of a trad band. But then I wanted to move in a power metal direction as that seemed more logical for myself. Even though I grew up a trad kid, listening to classic bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, the thing that makes my heart grow three sizes is power metal. I wanted to have that meld between the two sub-genres. Even though we have to classify ourselves as something for promotion purposes, we’re a power metal band with influences from trad metal, thrash, and even a little bit of prog and hair metal too.
That leads me onto one of the songs I wanted to talk about, it’s the song Cry Silver. I wrote in my notes if Ghost and Powerwolf collaborated on a track.
That’s interesting, actually, because musically, Cry Silver was meant to be similar to Finnish bands. That was my inspiration for that; it was meant to be our take on something like Amorphis or very heavy HIM. So, the more somber Finnish bands.
Now you mention it, I know what you mean. Especially the low vocal parts.
Exactly, which is interesting because I am not used to doing that, and Cry Silver was vocally the most challenging song on the album.
I was going to ask what was the most challenging track to produce on the album.
It depends on what the instrument was because for vocals, it was definitely Cry Silver just because it might not sound the most technical in terms of the vocals, but it’s because I am doing certain things I am not used to doing. Like singing really low and for instance in the chorus where I do the key change, the chorus is in that break point for the vocal where you go from your chest voice to your head voice. People think doing the high voice is the most challenging thing; once you get used to doing it, it is. The most difficult thing is when you’re trying to sing in that area of your voice that’s right at the bridge of your chest voice and head voice. That’s why the last chorus of Cry Silver was the most challenging thing to record.
For guitars, probably Night of the Parasite, just because I am not used to playing like that. I wrote this song thinking, “Oh yeah, this is a really heavy power metal song,” and then I decided to add some breakdowns. It was another style that flowed out naturally, but I wasn’t used to playing it.
I made notes about the track Prison Eyes having very Blind Guardian vibes.
Oh yeah, that was definitely the goal for sure. I’ve always wanted to do something along the lines of The Bard Song. A lot of Blind Guardian’s ballads are generally more uplifting, like The Bard Song and Future Secret; a lot of those songs have the vibe of “oh this is a medieval bard singing these songs.” Prison Eyes, however, is the most vulnerable track I have ever written; the lyrics are very dark, honest, and personal, so I wanted a song with a Blind Guardian vibe but still going into the dark side of things.
Talking about prog influences, I made notes about Iris having Orden Ogan and Evergrey in there. What other influences are there?
A lot of it comes from our guitarist Andrew because he’s very into prog, and he even has his own prog band. There’s a lot of the proginess in, for example, the solo he does in Great Masquerade; it’s shreddy but not in the traditional sense—it’s a very proggy Dream Theater kind of solo. But then songs like Night of the Parasite and The Great Masquerade, where I have all these style changes, people have noticed the sprinkles of prog within those songs. Personally, I don’t hear it, but others have noticed this and come to us and said so. It’s very hard to put a label on your own music when you’re writing it.
I can imagine that must be quite hard to label your own music.
Yes, because you’re so inherently biased.
Has there been any weird combinations of genres you have been described as by others?
Not really, it’s more like descriptions; it’s often described as a Power Metal band mixed with Traditional Metal and some proggy influences. I think that’s pretty accurate, but I also think there’s a bit of thrash and hair metal too.
Speaking of The Great Masquerade, you have Laura Guldemond to provide guest vocals on this one. Did you already have her in mind to sing this and how did it come about?
For that track, I wasn’t sure who I was going to get at first, but I knew I wanted it to be a duet. When it comes to my favorite kind of vocals in general, I love when there are female vocals but when they are gritty. Don’t get me wrong, I love Floor Jansen and Simone Simons like most of us do, but my favorite female vocalists are Leather Leone from Chastain and Doro Pesch; their style was very prevalent in the North American Metal scene. I wanted someone with that style of vocals for this song, and I got to know Laura through doing work on Gideon Ricardo’s Woods of Wander album together. I had her on one of my livestream chats I did during the pandemic, and we got along really well. I asked her afterwards if she wanted to do this song, and she said yes. She did a fantastic job.
One of things we speak about at Rock Out Stand Out is keeping the conversation about wellbeing going. There’s a lot going on the world right now, what sort of suggestions would you give to someone struggling?
I know we have talked about this before; this is a subject I am very passionate about. Just to tie back into the album, there are themes of that in the album. Prison Eyes is literally about that—not mental health in general, but about how we perceive people on the internet and social media. We can become very disenfranchised when we see people living lives that we want or when they have something we want, along with the negative feelings that come with that. However, the whole point of the song is meant to convey that once you get to know someone like that, you find they have their own problems and they might think the same way about you. The whole point of the song is not to give you an answer; it’s meant to be a place where, even if you know the answer, it’s still hard to reconcile it. There are messages about that throughout the album.
In general, it’s a subject I am very passionate about, and in terms of what I always say to people: this might not be the prettiest answer, but the thing I say to people who are struggling is to do a lot of introspection and be honest with yourself. I feel like that’s the only way to true growth; it’s not going to be a nice process, but it’s a necessary one. You have to be honest with yourself and ask what it is about yourself that you don’t like and what you can do to change it. That’s a very scary thing to confront; it’s having to realize that you’re not perfect or that you’re not the person you want to be, and at the end of the day, that’s OK. You can get to that point; because you’re not at that point now, it doesn’t mean you can’t get to that point. The thing is that the very hard truth is that it’s going to take a lot of work.
The best advice I had ever been given is that, for real growth, you always have to break your ego. It’s very much about having the hard conversations with yourself. Another way of putting it is that you’re going to be eating a lot of shit sandwiches in life, and you have to deal with that. I don’t mean that in a nihilistic way; it’s meant to be in a realistic way. It’s meant to say you have to do what you can. It’s not a nice answer, but it’s an honest answer.
Sometimes being honest with yourself is what you need to do. I did a lot of work you mentioned when it’s come to my own recovery from burnout. Only you can make those changes, it hasn’t been easy but it’s been worth it.
Exactly. A lot of the stuff when it comes to mental health is the fear of the potential of what could happen in a certain situation rather than what actually happens. I think there was a study that said 70% of the time, the things you worry about don’t actually exist.
I was told this story when I was a kid, and it didn’t get internalized until recently. It’s called The Neighbour and the Hammer, where a guy has to borrow a hammer for a home improvement job. He goes to his neighbour to ask to borrow a hammer, and the entire little walk there he’s thinking, “What if he says no?” and all these other what-if scenarios. By the time he gets to the door and his neighbour greets him, the guy replies with, “Fuck your hammer,” and walks away. The moral of the story is don’t crank yourself up and assume what’s going to happen.
That’s a great story, I’ve learnt over the last two years that a lot of things can be cleared up with two minutes of communication.
Absolutely, and it’s the same thing with being in a band too, because in general, the world would be a better place if we were honest with ourselves. By that, I mean speaking freely in terms of what you want. People always seem to have that fear of conversation and communication, the thing that’s unfortunately a paradox, as the fear of communication will be your downfall in the end. If you don’t have those difficult conversations with people, it builds resentment, and resentment is worse.
It’s the same in a band setting. A great piece of advice I was told was from Seven Spires; they’re old friends of ours, particularly Jack. I remember asking him, “You guys have had the same lineup since you started, and that’s very rare to happen. How do you do that?” They don’t have the same lineup anymore since their drummer got the job in Testament, and I don’t blame him. They were a tight-knit group for the first few years of their career, and I asked them how they did it. He replied with, “We’re not afraid to have those hard conversations. There have been times where we have been at each other’s throats, and we always talk about it in a healthy way, even if it is uncomfortable. This way, it won’t lead to resentment, and we can find ways to move past it.”
When you break your ego enough times, it can lead to numbness. Numbness is assumed to be a bad thing; however, when it comes to the need to break your ego, numbness can be a good thing because it’s helping you be mentally prepared to deal with these situations and come out on the other side feeling healthy.
Relating to mental health, is there any songs, bands or albums that help you keep grounded or want to listen to something that matches how you feel?
I’m so glad you asked this question as it gives me an excuse to talk about my favourite band [laughs]. For those who don’t know, they were a Canadian band called Triumph; they were an ’80s band and along the same lines as Rainbow and Thin Lizzy. Triumph were very famous here in Canada, and they were huge back in the day with lots of great hits. The reason why they are my go-to is that their songs helped me through very dark times. Their songs, in general, are very optimistic and have very positive messages. It’s amazing to hear stories from back in the day when they received letters from fans saying their music saved them from taking their own lives. They experienced dark emotions and talked about them in a positive way; that’s what’s always drawn me to them since middle school. They’re really great at keeping you grounded through what you’re going through, so go listen to them.
Remants Of Rapture was playing in the background as I was playing Final Fantasy. It got me thinking, what video game or TV series would you like your music to be featured in?
I’m a big Final Fantasy fan, although there isn’t a lot of metal music in Final Fantasy, is there? I do love the games. In terms of what Lycanthro would be good in, if they did a Brutal Legends sequel and one of our songs was in something like that, that would be sick. Even though we all like heavy metal, a lot of my favorite video games don’t feature heavy metal. Actually, one of our songs in the Sonic the Hedgehog games would be sick; their games often feature metal. The music from Sonic the Hedgehog games was top tier.
Do you have a message for Lycanthro fans and our readers?
Go check out the album and listen to it if you’re a big heavy metal fan. Take care of your mental health and do not be afraid to reach out. Let’s all break whatever stigmas exist about reaching out or seeking help; especially in the world we’re living in right now, we all need it in some way, shape, or form.
Remnants of Rapture is out now and you can find LYCANTHRO here.
