In Their Own Words: Neuronspoiler

UK metallers Neuronspoiler have just released their excellent new album, Second Sight, on Dissonance Productions. We’ve reviewed it, of course – Neuronspoiler are one of Sentinel Daily‘s favourite bands – but by way of a change we thought we’d throw our pages open to the band themselves to walk us through the album track-by-track and tell us a little more about it. So here, in their own words, are Neuronspoiler..

Reclaim your Path
Pierre Afoumado (guitars): “I remember that was one of the seven songs I wrote in the same very productive week. I wanted to push music and heavy metal possibilities further with this one, trying to not follow a classic structure, I’m bored of generic song writing. Lyric wise, it’s talking about finding your own way through life despite the rules society forces us to follow, producing people who think there is only one way, making them lifeless”.

Slay the Beast
JR (vocals): “This song came about based on an idea I had kicking around for a while. The chorus quite frankly makes no sense structure wise, I think that’s why David liked it – its bonkers. It took a while for me to explain the idea of what the drums would do underneath the other instruments but once I prepared a basic demo we were on our way. The message really is about self-belief and not being afraid of challenging the accepted way of doing things. I guess, ‘in order to be the man you have to beat the man'”.
David Del Cid (guitars): “Probably the song that involved the most tweaking in its arrangement, we tried many different things for months until we had something coherent. Since I had all of the vocal lines at the beginning I stole many of them to create the guitar riffs I was missing to finish the song. A very effective cheating technique I believe!”
Matt Monroe (drums): “I am usually not paying much attention to lyrics, but in this case JR proved himself as a great writer”.

This is Revolution
JR: “Not exactly a political song, but …Revolution is more about taking control of mistakes that we have all made in the past and not repeating them. Easier said than done. It is a testament to the strength of the song writing partnership that David and I have that all of the songs that we demoed for this album ended up exactly the same as on the final recordings. We took things straight from the creative space to physical media without it being watered down or messed around with”.
David: “To me this track bears so much resemblance to our previous track Through Hell We March from Emergence, particularly in the way it was put together as JR had some ideas (chorus vocal lines) and I had the verse riff which happened to fit almost effortlessly, from then on, the rest pretty much wrote itself. It’s very enjoyable when things come together naturally”.

The Brave One
JR: “David had this song for quite some time and it was done in Spanish. We kept the same instrumental structure largely and I ran with the lyrical theme. I wanted to get far away from lyrics and lyricists somehow preaching to their audience as if they somehow know better. This song was written about a very heavy and intense issue with no resolution, no moral lessons to be learned and no sensible explanation. The lyrics present the listener with a difficult subject and does not provide an obvious outcome, it’s just story telling”.
David: “By far, the oldest track of the album, the basic idea was probably first put together around 2002 so I’m very pleased it has managed to hold up and remain relevant to this date!”
Erick Tekilla (bass): “This is indeed one of the most emotional songs in the album. David showed it me to me around 2006 and I said to him, this is a hell of a song and when Neuronspoiler started I suggested to him we should bring it back to life and I’m glad we eventually did. The lyrics JR wrote for it have a much deeper meaning and it has such force that it has made me cry onstage a few times”.
Matt: “I always enjoy a good old classic power ballad, and for me this song has all the right qualities of one. Definitely one of my favourites on the album”.

Queen of the Darkness
JR: “We all know that one ultra-hot vixen who would pour herself a drink while watching you drown, well I happen to know several such vixens. Women have an inherent power over the universe that they are fully aware of and Odin bless ‘em for it”.
David: “Yet another track where JR’s vocal ideas magically matched some riffs I had lying about! There are so many influences going on in this track it’s almost a medley of our favourite artists; from the Dio/Accept sound of the first riff to the Whitesnake– sounding verse and from the King Diamond– inspired craziness of the instrumental section to the Metallica sounding conclusion riff before the last chorus. For good or bad this is something Neuronspoiler seems to enjoy doing a lot since day one”.
Tekilla: “This is another heck of a tune I really enjoy playing. It’s so simple and yet so rich in melodies. Despite its simplicity it turned out to be a tricky song to come up with a bass line that complemented the song and at the same time would give it a lot of that classic Rock sounding groove to it”.
Matt: “Another one of my favourites. Another powerful song with strong lyrics, with a bit of a modern edge”.

Hidden Agenda
David: “Obviously a very personal song to me, closely related to a very traumatic experience I had trying to fit in the system. No political message intended here, just a scream towards the feeling of hopelessness we all have sometimes when things that aren’t our doing get in the way and make us wonder whether this happens by design or not… We do not have any answers, but we like to use our music as a vehicle to ask difficult questions, a very good technique for anger management I guess”.
Matt: “For me this is the most straightforward metal song on the album. And its damn fun to play it”.

Heart of a Lion
David: “The first studio recording of a cover in Neuronspoiler’s history! I think being released initially on an album by a band (Racer X) other than the original artist (Judas Priest) is what mainly drew our attention to it. I suppose it’s a sort of tribute to obscure gems which we always in search for when enjoying music”.
Tekilla: “This is one of my favourite Judas Priest songs and at the same time I also love Racer X’s version. So, I was very happy when we all decided to pay tribute to the metal Gods on this album”.

Murder City
David: “Originally conceived as an instrumental track dedicated to the harshness experienced by the people of the once-rated “Murder Capital” of the world city of my country of birth when I first presented it to the band, but it very quickly evolved into something more. Nevertheless, I believe the core message remains the same; social injustice will always bring regrettable results. Musically there is a German influence spread all over this track, from Scorpions’ Coast to Coast to pretty much any early MSG album”.
JR: “Again, this was inspired by real life events. My first job in London was working with homeless young people and I knew a young kid who was trampled on, chewed up and spat out by the big city. It’s a warning against ignoring the most vulnerable in society, because there is a very thin veil separating all of us, and one day it might be you”.
Tekilla: “This is one of my favourite songs on the album. It was originally written as an instrumental tune, but I suggested that it should have lyrics and be a proper song. I really enjoy playing it, it gives me such pleasure that it even makes me feel as if I were a well accomplished player such as my heroes John Myung or Rob Trujillo. It’s not about it being technically difficult to play but about the feeling and groove to it”.