Oblivion frontman Nick Vasallo took inspiration from metal bands like Dying Fetus, All Shall Perish, Antagony and others when composing his new piece, Elements of Metal. We are honored to be premiering here on Metal Injection. Here are the notes and credits Nick sent over for each of the pieces:
ELEMENTS OF METAL: I. Collapsing Obsidian Sun (2009)
Composed by Nick Vasallo
Performed by Friction Quartet
Kevin Rogers – violin
Otis Harriel – violin
Clio Tilton – viola
Doug Machiz – cello
Filmed and edited by Taylor Rankin.
Audio recording by Zach Miley.
Recorded at San Francisco Conservatory of Music September 1, 2013.
Coming from a Metal background I tend to gravitate towards aural effects that evoke the same sensations I feel when listening to it. I knew that the three string players that were going to perform this piece are virtuosos and this is what inspired me to write something that "shreds." At the same time, I wanted to pay tribute to the three Metal bands that I am closest to: Antagony, All Shall Perish and Hacksaw to the Throat. I found three distinct musical trademarks from each band and used recombinant techniques to form the piece. The title comes from the opening lines to Hacksaw to the Throat's "Cascading Down." I listened to the song repeatedly when I composed "Collapsing Obsidian Sun," and my friend (fellow UCSC graduate student [in Math] who composed it) even showed me how to play it on guitar. Its a musical setting to lyrics about what would happen to the Earth if the Sun became a supernova.
ELEMENTS OF METAL: II. Omnes Perituri
Composed by Nick Vasallo
Performed by Friction Quartet
Kevin Rogers – violin
Otis Harriel – violin
Clio Tilton – viola
Doug Machiz – cello
Filmed and edited by Taylor Rankin.
Audio recording by Zach Miley.
Recorded at San Francisco Conservatory of Music September 1, 2013.
I have never written a purely string ensemble or string quartet piece. Though after requests from the resident ensembles at SUNY and UCSC I began to hear the same requests: "Make it fun to play and Metal." Knowing that I was in Death Metal band since a teenager and all of my music in some sense has strong Metal aesthetics, they weren't asking me to go out on a limb. My goal with this piece was to satisfy their requests but also create a work that was challenging to listen to (despite it not being technically demanding). "Omnes Perituri" translates to "All Shall Perish" – a prominent band in the extreme metal scene for whom this work was originally written.
