Reveal the Revenants is a progressive influenced metal band based out of Cumming, Georgia. With a haunting name and sound influence to match it Reveal the Revenants looks to truly capture and portray emotion through music. Taking influence from bands such as Cynic, Veil of Maya, Tool, Born of Osiris, and Periphery. They have formed a sound unlike much of what you’ve heard, mixing groove’s, melody, and aggressive pounding riffage with a high energy performance and a pure love for music. We chatted with new vocalist joining the band, working on new music and more!
For the record, what’s your name and what do you do in the band?
Justin Allen, vocals.
What was the very first concert you attended and how much of an impact did that have on you musically?
The first concert I attended was a tour w/ Into Eternity, Epica, and Symphony X was headlining. I think that show was the show that made me realize I wanted to tour and play music for a living. I had just started getting into doing vocals but that show inspired me to follow through and practice as much as possible.
When did you first meet the guys in RTR?
Brandon Tolbert, who has been one of my close friends for the year or so joined Reveal the Revenants and played with them for a few months. I went to a few of their shows and supported them, and my old band Through Redemption played a show with them at Swayze’s.
So how did you come to be in RTR?
Well, things were not going well in my old band, our guitarist was leaving and I just wasn’t feeling it anymore. Alex and I had joked around about me replacing their vocalist Stephen Bryne because he is moving to Savannah for college but because of the distance I never really considered it. I had been trying to start a heavily progressive influenced band since Neil Davis showed me Opeth a few years ago, I slowly started to realize that RtR was my dream band and I couldn’t pass it up. Zak who was one of the guitarist in Through Redemption came to the band along with me. Things have been golden since then.
What’s going to happen with the other members of Through Redemption?
I don’t really keep up with the members, well other than Brendan our drummer. He and Blake are working on a traditional death metal project, and from the way Brendan speaks it sounds pretty promising. As far I Matt goes, he decided that playing shows wasn’t for him. He doesn’t like how venues treat the bands. I think he enrolled back into college. Zak is in Reveal the Revenants with me. Brett and I don’t talk. He accused me of stealing equipment from him then found his equipment a few hours later.
At what point in the album-writing process were you brought in?
When I joined RtR, I came in while they were in studio recording the demo we just released. There wasn’t much vocal work already wrote, so I took what Stephen had and added to/changed a lot of it. I was in the band for about a month or two before we went back and tracked everything.
What news can you give us about your upcoming album?
We are in the process of writing a 4-5 song EP. We will be returning to In Motions Recordings to work with Bradd Schlosser.
What is the vibe like within the band now?
As of right now the vibe is great. We all get along really well. The last two shows we play have been two of the funnest shows I have ever played. We are playing November 30th with ISSUES (ex-Woe, Is Me members)
How does the new material sound?
The new material is hard to describe. I personally feel like with each song we write together we one up ourselves each time. Our last two songs we wrote have been my two favorites. Both are very melodic and extremely bouncy. I believe we are writing stuff that not only musicians can really appreciate but people who have no knowledge of music can dig as well.
What was your experience like working with Bradd Schlosser?
Bradd Schlosser is by far the best recording engineer I have worked with. He is extremely professional and he makes great suggestions as far as what sounds good on the recording. Bradd is very honest, which is a good trait in a recording engineer. Because if it sounds terrible Bradd lets you know and then helps you fix it. I feel like if we would have went to any other studio around here our demo would not have turned out as well as it has. I honestly think if we were to get signed tomorrow and we were able to pick any studio to record our debut album, it would be at In Motions.
It’s about mid-way through the year. What albums have you really been enjoying lately from 2012?
Oh goodness, there have been so many good albums this year. To list a few I would have to say; The Contortionist’s album Intrinsic, Veil of Maya’s album Eclipse, Between the Buried and Me’s Parallax II, and I’m really looking forward to the new The Haarp Machine.
Dream tour; what four other bands would you play with and what would you call the tour?
My dream tour would be The Contortionist, Born of Osiris, Opeth, and Between the Buried and Me. It would have to be a tour through Europe. I have no idea what I would name it. The name would have to be extremely cheesy though.
Justin Allen, vocals.
What was the very first concert you attended and how much of an impact did that have on you musically?
The first concert I attended was a tour w/ Into Eternity, Epica, and Symphony X was headlining. I think that show was the show that made me realize I wanted to tour and play music for a living. I had just started getting into doing vocals but that show inspired me to follow through and practice as much as possible.
When did you first meet the guys in RTR?
Brandon Tolbert, who has been one of my close friends for the year or so joined Reveal the Revenants and played with them for a few months. I went to a few of their shows and supported them, and my old band Through Redemption played a show with them at Swayze’s.
So how did you come to be in RTR?
Well, things were not going well in my old band, our guitarist was leaving and I just wasn’t feeling it anymore. Alex and I had joked around about me replacing their vocalist Stephen Bryne because he is moving to Savannah for college but because of the distance I never really considered it. I had been trying to start a heavily progressive influenced band since Neil Davis showed me Opeth a few years ago, I slowly started to realize that RtR was my dream band and I couldn’t pass it up. Zak who was one of the guitarist in Through Redemption came to the band along with me. Things have been golden since then.
What’s going to happen with the other members of Through Redemption?
I don’t really keep up with the members, well other than Brendan our drummer. He and Blake are working on a traditional death metal project, and from the way Brendan speaks it sounds pretty promising. As far I Matt goes, he decided that playing shows wasn’t for him. He doesn’t like how venues treat the bands. I think he enrolled back into college. Zak is in Reveal the Revenants with me. Brett and I don’t talk. He accused me of stealing equipment from him then found his equipment a few hours later.
At what point in the album-writing process were you brought in?
When I joined RtR, I came in while they were in studio recording the demo we just released. There wasn’t much vocal work already wrote, so I took what Stephen had and added to/changed a lot of it. I was in the band for about a month or two before we went back and tracked everything.
What news can you give us about your upcoming album?
We are in the process of writing a 4-5 song EP. We will be returning to In Motions Recordings to work with Bradd Schlosser.
What is the vibe like within the band now?
As of right now the vibe is great. We all get along really well. The last two shows we play have been two of the funnest shows I have ever played. We are playing November 30th with ISSUES (ex-Woe, Is Me members)
How does the new material sound?
The new material is hard to describe. I personally feel like with each song we write together we one up ourselves each time. Our last two songs we wrote have been my two favorites. Both are very melodic and extremely bouncy. I believe we are writing stuff that not only musicians can really appreciate but people who have no knowledge of music can dig as well.
What was your experience like working with Bradd Schlosser?
Bradd Schlosser is by far the best recording engineer I have worked with. He is extremely professional and he makes great suggestions as far as what sounds good on the recording. Bradd is very honest, which is a good trait in a recording engineer. Because if it sounds terrible Bradd lets you know and then helps you fix it. I feel like if we would have went to any other studio around here our demo would not have turned out as well as it has. I honestly think if we were to get signed tomorrow and we were able to pick any studio to record our debut album, it would be at In Motions.
It’s about mid-way through the year. What albums have you really been enjoying lately from 2012?
Oh goodness, there have been so many good albums this year. To list a few I would have to say; The Contortionist’s album Intrinsic, Veil of Maya’s album Eclipse, Between the Buried and Me’s Parallax II, and I’m really looking forward to the new The Haarp Machine.
Dream tour; what four other bands would you play with and what would you call the tour?
My dream tour would be The Contortionist, Born of Osiris, Opeth, and Between the Buried and Me. It would have to be a tour through Europe. I have no idea what I would name it. The name would have to be extremely cheesy though.
