After reviewing Black Talons long awaited 2nd album (HERE) Mat caught up with Rory for a chat about all things Scenes Of Agony

Hot on the heels of listening to (and enjoying) BLACK TALON’s upcoming second full length, SCENES OF AGONY, I felt it only right to find out more about it, the band, and progressive thrash in general. 

Mat: It’s been over 5 years since the Existential EP, and now that this album is done and ready, you must be pretty stoked, right?

Rory: Well… I’m happy we’re finally getting it out. Existential came out in November 2019, so we didn’t have much time to play shows supporting it before Covid hit and that pretty much stopped everything for a couple of years!

Despite the fact all the material for Scenes of Agony was written, it still took a long time to pick up the momentum again and actually get things recorded. Technical issues, personal circumstances… It was quite a torturous process as every stage seemed to take a lot longer than it should!

I think it’s come out really well though and will hopefully be worth the wait. There were no half measures to rush things through and it’s pretty ambitious in terms of the structures in places. It feels like a step up from Existential, which was in turn more ambitious than our debut album.

I’m relieved that it’s finally out and it has made me swear that I absolutely will not allow any more 5 year gaps between releases ever again. I used the time we were delayed to write a third album so there really should be no excuses!

Mat: The album is quite a leap, artistically. Do you think that time during covid helped, or was it a clear direction from the off?

Rory: A fair bit of it was written before Covid. The title track was one that was around during the Existential period, but I wasn’t 100% happy with it so it was left off. Same with Isolation, which was already the title pre-covid and ISN’T about covid! The core of that song dates back quite a long way, but it ended up evolving into something that was far too expansive for an EP. It kept growing as we put the album together. That’s one thing about not being in a rush, we could just add sections in… or we had time to reflect and really be ruthless and chop parts out.

It’s why there are such drastic contrasts in song length!

We were also able to identify what was lacking in terms of overall album content and structure, write and edit accordingly, so I think it’s a lot more balanced and not as frantic as the first album. We just played everything we had at full speed and hoped for the best.

Mat: It seems that there was a goal to be achieved beyond what you were doing?

Rory: I always want things to be quite progressive as I love prog music and concept albums.

It’s not a secret that we are mainly influenced by the more ‘progressive’ thrash like Forbidden, Realm, Toxik, later Dark Angel, etc… So, although it’s not a concept album, there are little motifs that crop up throughout from time to time. When you have so long to work on something, and are recording a lot of it at home, there is always the opportunity to tinker with stuff and add these bits in.

Mat: Speaking of your influences, how do you strike a balance between imitation  and influence?

Rory: When you play a specific genre, there are always going to be elements that could be considered ‘imitation’, as they form the framework of the music. In this case, thrash beats, tempo changes, vocal style, bounce riffs, etc.

We use our influences to ensure the music is not slipping into metal core or groove metal.

We don’t consciously try to imitate riffs or parts. When we’re writing, usually an idea will spark off the whole process and everything grows out from that as we figure out what should follow it, or how it should evolve.

Having an encyclopaedic knowledge of old thrash albums helps us to ensure we don’t accidentally copy a riff.

Mat: Glasgow seems to have a fair share of metal bands and a wider coverage of them. How’s the Edinburgh scene?

Rory: There’s plenty of bands in Edinburgh, but there’s nothing cohesive enough to describe it as a hot scene for a specific genre.

Maybe there is but we’re not a part of it as we’re all grumpy old bastards…

There’s a few young bands playing thrash but most of the time you play lineups with a pretty random mix of genres when you play here. There’s lots of good thrash around Scotland though!

Mat: Black Talon wants to keep things progressive. What newer bands of that ilk are on your speakers right now?

Rory: I’ll listen to some newer thrash like Enforced and High Command, but they’re very much of that newer Power Trip, crossover, style.

Warbringer are always worth a listen, too.  On the whole I still prefer to dig around and discover some hidden gems from the olden days if I’m going to listen to thrash.

Every so often you’ll stumble upon an album like Suiciety by Realm or Artillery’s, By Inheritance. They has been criminally overlooked.

Most of my listening taste is a horrible mix of 70s progressive rock, 80s new wave, and death and black metal. Car journeys are a real treat for my passengers.

Mat: Brilliant.

  So, who and what would you recommend to someone who wanted to go progressive with their thrash? I’ll assume Sabbat and Voivod could factor in there…

Rory: Sabbat and Voivod for sure. Off the top of my head, a good technical/progressive thrash hit list would be:

Toxik – Think This

Believer – Sanity Obscure

Watchtower – Control and Resistance

Realm – Suiciety

Coroner – Mental Vortex

Anacrusis – Screams and Whispers

Helstar – Nosferatu

There’s probably a load I’ve missed, and I’ve left out the more obvious influences like Forbidden, Dark Angel, Heathen… even And Justice For All and Rust in Peace, etc..!

Mat: On the subject of prog, other sub-genres of metal, like death, gets splintered into the technical, progressive, doom, old school, or brutal labels, while thrash is still thrash until you further explain a band. I wonder what your hot take on this is.

Rory: I think excessive labeling becomes quite ridiculous and is rightly mocked. A lot of these subcategories are in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.

Perhaps thrash has a slightly narrower definition as a genre and much of it will touch on some elements of technicality and progressive-ness by its nature. I’m looking forward to hearing some Doom Thrash though

Mat: You should listen to Slower. A doom metal Slayer tribute band whose two albums in 2024 made my AOTY list (shameless plug for my Metal Is Good. & Stuff, Facebook page).

 Getting back to your album, have you any gigs lined up supporting it we should know about?

Rory: We’re planning on doing a launch show at some point. We should probably get on with organising that, really.

 Mat: I’d better let you crack on with that.

 I do, however, have one last question.

 What’s your favourite biscuit?

Rory: Going to have to go for a Fox’s Classic. They’re exactly like us: elusive, decadent yet also extremely satisfying.

I honestly could not have put it better myself…

Black Talon’s second album, Scenes Of Agony is out January 31st.