“The salt from your tears burnt straight through my skin.“
When rumblings of HEAVENSGATE emerged in September of last year, it became a process of piecing what was potentially on the horizon. Speculation around who was in the group, along with working production began to flourish and a sense of anticipation began to bubble. The project’s roots first emerged in 2020, with bassist Aki Vickneswaran and studio member Josh Ang forming a friendship during lockdown and began work on demos, with other members Nazareth Tharatt, David Wilder and Caleb Kotsanis being recruited.
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With Buster Odeholm (Vildhjarta/Humanity’s Last Breath) working on the mix, Erik Bickerstaffe (Loathe) on drum production/writing, and Dune Labs creating their videos, with HEAVENSGATE the band sought to achieve the very best they could with their record. Guitarist David Wilder comments “we just wanted to take [what we’ve done], and just do the absolute best job that we could have, and we thought the best way to do that was [to get] the best people who are doing [those things, and] get them involved.”
The process of tying together HEAVENSGATE‘s range of influences began with the expected Australian metalcore punch, with Vickneswaran further importing influence from the UK metal world. “The whole [ambient style] I think [is] something Australia hasn’t captured yet, we wanted to be the first band to sort of usher in that new sound but like do it right.” This blend of old established sounds of nu-metalcore, and emerging sounds yet to be fully defined into a genre saw HEAVENSGATE push themselves into a space of creating something that was fresh and exciting, with each member or outside party involved adding to this. “It’s one of the few bands that I’ve been in, when pretty much everyone is just active and working and trying to, you know, have out about like a perfect sculpture, I guess, and I think that just brings brings a uniqueness to the sound,” comments Wilder on the rare and lucky setup the unit have. With many bands relying on one or two members to lead and write.
The final piece before HEAVENSGATE could begin to prep for entering into the fray of the music world was being signed to Australia label, Greyscale Records. The home to Josh’s Ang‘s other project, Pincer+, alongside many other scene stalwarts including Make Them Suffer, Justice For The Damned and The Comfort, the label harbours some of the most iconic and hard-working acts in their respective scenes.
The initial assist came from Ang before the process began, who put them forward to the label. “We essentially had like an initial meet with the band, and then Josh and, and Ash and others from Greyscale. I was expecting to get grilled, but those guys are just nice and normal people who really care about the guys in the band.” With the mutual agreement of “the harder you guys work, the harder we will work as well” in place, the frequent exchange of messages and emails bundled with questions to help the group become acclimated with their new position became common place, even if the band at times felt guilty for inquiring so much.
Tracks “CHEMICAL“, “SHEMOVESLIKETHUNDER” and “GINSICK” were lined up as singles, with the recording for the videos taking place across three nights in a row on 6pm to 8am shifts. The balance between getting it complete and performing began to tilt. “It got to a point where like half of us were, like, having to sit down and rest because we just didn’t have that much energy, but we still needed to output it for the videos and like give that best performance as possible“. Out the other side came three sublime videos put together by Dune Labs, with final single revealing the first moment of clean singing coming from Josh Ang on “GINSICK“, which sees its full blossom in the gorgeous “LOVERSDANCE” between both Ang and Tharatt‘s blended singing.
Interlaced in all of HEAVENSGATE writing on AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE are stories of breakup, substance abuse and battles with friends and family. “”SHEMOVESLIKETHUNDER” is that fresh part of the breakup, “GINSICK” is that acceptance and regret and then “LOVERSDANCE” is overcoming and understanding of how it is but also retaining that sadness and regret that you would feel in a loss of relationship”. With “COMFORT IN A SLOW DEATH” exploring substance abuse and the spiral of being a bad circle of friends who won’t pull you out, and harshest cut “SYMBIOTIC SUICIDE” delving into trauma delivered upon to others by family members, the EP is a tough and raw listen lyrically. With each story and narrative point adding moments of palpable emotion, a layer of authenticity and definition exudes from the EP, giving it a special edge and feeling.
“We’re not slowing down,” comments Wilder. “It’s just a matter of just gotta line some things up and then, you know, knock them down sort of thing.” Vickneswaran later adds, “Once that EP is out, like I’m gonna soak it up for like three days, and then it’s gonna be next like, we got to keep going“. Wow with AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE‘s debut to the world mere days away and its story to be told, the next chapter will begin preparation, allowing listeners to soak in what will be one of 2023’s best EPs while embracing the excitement that there will be much more to come from one of Australia’s most exciting new prospects.
AND ALL I LOVED, I LOVED ALONE will be available this Friday, February 24th via Greyscale Records, and you can read our review here.