If there’s one thing guitarist Carl Bouchard wants to get across, it’s that his band A Perfect Murder – Carl along with guitarist Kevin, bassist Luc, vocalist Frank, and drummer Yan – are bringing back thrash metal to a scene deprived of this vanishing music form. Sure there are some old bands still going at it today (i.e. Slayer), but not really too many newer bands tackling this genre, he notes, beaming, “If [we] can influence other bands to play this style of music, that would be awesome.” He concludes, “There’s a lack of good metal music in the scene right now,” quickly emending his statement, “I mean, there’s a bunch of really amazing bands, but I think there’s a lack of good metal music.”
Well, these guys from Quebec have gone back to their thrash metal roots – NO tech metal! – in turn coming up with an absolutely brutal and pummeling sophomore release, the incessantly harrowing ‘Unbroken’. From the devastating opener “Jaded” and the excellent “Bouc Emissaire” to “Another Day, Another Plague,” (not to mention the surprisingly sludgy, un-thrashy Crowbar-influenced magnum opus “No Pulse in My Veins” – an instrumental that sounds depressing, defeated, and…just plain great), this is one album that hopefully, as Carl stated above, will bring back bands’/fans’ interest in the genre. Carl attributes the sound to wanting to create something in the vein of “those great thrash-era bands,” name-dropping a slew including Testament, Exodus, and Metallica, the latter of which he seems to have a high affinity for, calling their early work “golden”… “That’s our goal,” he attests, “to bring back those metal roots,” joking, “We’re not gonna sound like ‘80s production and all those things, [though].”
The album comes straight off the heels of 2003’s ‘Cease to Suffer’, a record Carl believes was more hardcore than it’s follow-up. Still, the guys do infuse some hardcore elements into their hellish sound. There are some breakdowns, as exemplified on the standout “Possessed” and “Speak Without Faith” to break things up a bit. APM include mosh parts here and there “‘cause everyone in the band loves [them] obviously. But,” he makes clear, “we try to stay away from mosh parts like ‘d-dun-d-d-dun” always the same fuckin’ thing, so we try to modify our mosh parts.” But still, it’s funny to hear the guitarist’s assessment of the differences between the albums and his songwriting. “We always wanted to sound like thrash metal, but I don’t think I was able to write like thrash metal parts before. And then I don’t know what happened, but we all started listening maybe to other things…and it just came out so great.” And he’s right, everyone SHOULD like this record, well, anyone who digs extreme music, reasoning, “It’s got everything” – even Earth Crisis/Freya frontman Karl Buechner helping out on “No Truce” (Carl was elated to work with him, as Earth Crisis is the reason why he’s straight-edge and into hardcore). “You got hardcore hints here and there, you got a lot more metal influences.”
On the lyrical front, Carl didn’t elaborate that much, as he and drummer Yan are the primary songwriters whereas vocalist Frank is the lyricist, I, however, mention that the title of the record fits perfectly. Basically while listening to the entire album, the main pervasive sentiments seem to be determination and fight. From warnings of “I will take back everything you took from me” on “Eye for an Eye” to defending the scene that they helped build “with nothing but heart” on “Speak without Faith” to [obviously] the title track on which Frank sneers, “We will remain unbroken” during the chorus and lines like, “We learned to roll with the punches and never forget/The life we now live and the life we might have left” (on a side note, this composition features a sick, rather lengthy instrumental ending – machine-gun drumming, oppressive yet driving, fast riffs, and great metal guitar solos all abound…), the lyrics are powerful and full of conviction. He affirmed with a laugh that my evaluation was right, explaining that they’ve had to fight to get where they are, mentioning that like many other metal and hardcore bands, they’ve had some tough touring and been through hard times, but they “keep persevering.”
And even though ‘Unbroken’ is being released about a year after ‘Cease to Suffer’, Carl refutes that there was any pressure to get it out this year (it comes out July 13th). “We’re not a kind of band that can release an album and then tour for like two years without releasing [anything] and then from nowhere release another album.” Plus, the way he talks, he’s probably writing new material as I’m typing this up! “We need to keep up because the thing is, I’m writing basically everything in the band – the guitars, bass…me and Yan write everything. ‘Unbroken’ isn’t even out yet and I have like 11 new songs.” He and the rest of the band hope to release an album a year, and if they keep up with the present pace, it’s looking like quite a conceivable endeavor.
This is their first release with Victory Records. Carl got all gushy (can purveyors of metal get “all gushy”?!) when talking about the band’s label. “I still can’t believe we’re on Victory. We’re just like a band hailing from Quebec, like from fuckin’ nowhere and then we’re on Victory.” Surely with the backing from their label, more tours will be in the works. In fact, they have some dates in the Northeast for June/early-July – check their site for exact dates/locations, and more to come throughout the year. They’re a band that hope to remain “as busy as possible” until September/October, but according to Carl, they “wanna be on the road forever.” So, is Europe on the horizon? Not just yet, says the guitarist. First, the guys still have to secure a foothold in Canada and U.S. before they conquer overseas. But they’re not stupid; they certainly can’t wait to get over there, and if all goes as planned, will make the journey next year.