New York City has famously been a hotbed of two genres within metal: experimental underground filth, and sternum-punching, thousand-ton groove. The Supposed are definitely channeling the latter, their music bringing together furious aggression and infectious melody with excellent results. Combining the hypnotic throb of Prong, the bristling reaction of Biohazard, and the powerful melancholy of Life of Agony, the band have created a sound that’ll leave a satisfied smirk on listeners faces and will have live audiences unable to stand still.
The band’s new track, “Imploding Skies,” is a definitive declaration of The Supposed’s mission in music. As hard and merciless as the pavement in winter, the track slams listeners with its powerful low end while taking them for a ride with frontman Eri Kurshan’s enraged bellows. Through it all is a steadiness that one looks for with a track of this sort, a steady bludgeoning that draws the listener in and keeps them on their toes. The video, featuring the band performing in an empty warehouse, acts as an inspiring callback to the days when acts like this ruled the earth.
Before our exclusive premiere of “Imploding Skies,” we caught up with the band about what lies at the rotten core of their Big Apple…
In your words, what is The Supposed’s sound?
Our sound encompasses a dynamic range of heavy, guitar-forward riffs fused with intense vocals, to softer, more sedated elements. We try to express big shifts in feeling/emotion throughout the course of our songs, in order to give our listeners a compelling story from start to finish.
What’s an influence on The Supposed that might surprise some listeners?
We have a few surprising bands that influence us…First one is Fear Factory. Despite the fact that their sound is very industrial/electronic, the way they combine their heavy riffs with their emotive vocals is something that we really enjoy and try to incorporate in our own way. Burton C. Bell has been a huge vocal influence for Eri since he was young. Eri also uses a combination of clean vocals with various types of tonal screams. Some other other surprising influences: Sylosis and Monuments, for their heavy downpicking styles and staccato riffing. Also, Between the Buried and Me, for the bass especially, given how many bass licks there are throughout our upcoming album
Has being a New York band influenced your sonic profile, and if so, how?
New York City has definitely influenced our sound, especially since three of us grew up here (Eri in Manhattan and the Maran brothers in Queens). What makes New York so special is its heterogenous character. From the diverse cultures of people from around the world, to the range of architecture, food, and other arts, being exposed to so many different styles of culture from such a young age certainly would have an affect on our music. It’s what gives us our dynamic sound. Even though our genre is metal, our music is quite colorful, and various influences and styles can be heard in the music.
Tell me about “Imploding Skies.” What’s the song about for you?
“Imploding Skies” is a fairly cerebral song about where the mind goes when it is being attacked by other people. Oftentimes, when people are out to hurt, scam, coerce, bully, or inflict other emotional pain on one another, the mind’s response is to feel like the walls are closing in on itself, and it just wants to shut down. “Imploding Skies” is a somewhat abstract journey of where some of us go in some of these situations, how we deal with them, and how we come out at the end to prevail. It is about one’s internal anxiety spiraling out, but then regaining control of. Mental health is a huge problem among humans, and the goal of this song is to try and give people strength to fight back.
How was shooting the video? Where was it shot?
The music video shoot for “Imploding Skies” was a lot of fun! (Cold as fuck, but fun). We shot it in an abandoned warehouse deep in Brooklyn. We didn’t even have much of a plan except that we wanted it to be a “simple, gritty performance” video. That’s all we told our director, Torris Pelichet, who’s a super talented filmmaker, and in no time he created the video we have now that we all love so much. (He also directed our first music video for “Oculus”).
Check out our exclusive premiere of The Supposed’s “Imploding Skies” below:
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Words by Chris Krovatin
