Talking with . . .   The Ravenous

Interview with bassist Danny Lilker
The Ravenous should be every underground death metal fan's dream. Consisting of an all star line-up; vocalist Killjoy (Necrophagia, Wurdulak), guitarist Danny Coralles (Abscess, Autopsy), guitarist Clint Bower (Abscess), bassist Danny Lilker (ex-Nuclear Assault, Brutal Truth, S.O.D.), and drummer Chris Reifert (Abscess, Autopsy), the Ravenous have released two full lengths (Assembled in Blasphemy and Blood Delirium) and an e.p. (Three on a Meathook) of gore drenched, old school, dirty death metal. Sure, you will hear elements of Necrophagia, Autopsy, and Abscess here, but the Ravenous sound like a bunch of friends getting together and having fun. Here are some questions metal legend Danny Lilker answered.

What goals did you have in mind when you recorded Blood Delirium?
I suppose you could say we wanted to show people we were a real band and not just a one-off, but that's with hindsight. In reality, the only goal was to generate mayhem by envoking the spirit of bloodthirsty 80's death metal.

You all have been around for the better part of two decades now, how is the underground extreme metal scene different than it was fifteen years ago?
I think the Internet has helped tremendously. Being able to have a central and easily accessible source for people to check out your band (a website, obviously) has definitely helped bands get their shit out to people. Even just uploading songs to an mp3 site is great. Face it, people are lazy, and if all you have to do is follow a couple of links to hear new bands, as opposed to writing them and waiting for the mail, then people will get to hear new bands more easily. Otherwise, well, the genres have changed somewhat. A lot of death metal today is super-fast and technical with froggy vocals.

Do you find that many fans have been following your career since the start, or do you pick up new fans regularly?
Both. I can tell by the interviews I've done that some people have been following the band since Assembled came out, while some people have been exposed to the band more recently and then go back and find the first album. This might be because our first release was on the now-defunct Hammerheart, who could've promoted it a little more.

Has there been any consideration for an Autopsy reunion? Do you feel that Autopsy's legend overshadows the underrated work you do with Abscess?
Well, this is Danny L. doing this, so I'm not the most appropriate person to answer this. But I can tell you there will never be an Autopsy reunion. Chris feels that nobody gave a fuck about Autopsy when they were together, but right after they disbanded, all he was ever asked about was Autopsy when he was trying to shelve it and get people to check out Abscess. And I agree that Abscess is very underrated. If those guys (Abscess) did their next record and called it an Autopsy release, without changing anything, it would sell shitloads just because of the "classic underground band" stigma attached to Autopsy. That's what I think anyway, some might disagree.

Necrophagia is a very visually oriented band, do you have any plans to do videos or dvd's for the Ravenous as well? What would you like to do if given the budget to do so?
There is a video for the song "August Underground" from the new one, but don't expect to see it on MTV or Uranium or whatever. It has stuff from the movie of the same name, and it's totally over the top gratutious gore. If we had a huge budget I'm sure Killjoy and Chris would come up with some really sick shit to complement the music, not to mention our occasional live shows would also be grimly enhanced. Then again, we've been known to blow budgets on weed.

How does writing and recording for the Ravenous differ from your other bands?
I'm afraid I can't help you much here, Chris writes the music, but I'm thinking of stepping out and contributing a song for the next one. To that end, if I was trying to write a song for The Ravenous, I would have to shut out certain influences and make it pure. We'll see what happens.

What is the most fun about being in the Ravenous?
Getting to jam with Chris.

What are your future plans?
Nothing I know of at the moment, but eventually I suppose it'll be time to record again.

Final comments?
Just the usual "cheers" for your interest and support for our unhinged racket. Stay fucking underground.

Discography:
2004... Blood Delirium (Red Stream)
2002... Three On A Meathook (Southern Lord)
2000... Assembled In Blasphemy (Hammerheart)

Current line-up:
Killjoy... vocals
Clint Bower... guitars
Danny Coralles... guitars
Danny Lilker... bass
Chris Reifert... drums

Necrophagia