Existentialist Talk New EP, Recording And More

Existentialist, a symphonic black/death metal band have released their new ‘Terminal’ EP via Seek & Strike. We sat down with the band:

Who is in Existentialist, how did you meet and what do you play?

Existentialist consists of Jonny Flack (Guitars) J Becerra (Guitars) Phill Morley (Bass) and Olly Winn (Drums/Orchestration). Jonny and I (Olly) met in the late 00’s, we were both in different projects at the time but come 2015 we started playing together. Phill (and or previous guitarist Sam) joined us in 2018, Sam and Phill had both been in a band together previously and I knew them from high-school. I then met J in 2024 when I wanted to get tattooed by him. We met up for coffee and instantly hit it off, when Sam announced he was sadly standing down at the end of 2024, J seemed like the natural choice to step in.

What is your earliest musical memory?

My earliest musical memory is hard to answer. My dad is a musician too and has been playing shows all my life, I used to get taken to them sometimes as a toddler, and growing up there was always someone playing something or singing to something in the house.

When did you begin songwriting?

As an individual, probably in primary school. I remember making noise/music with friends (even by extreme metal standards it would be hard to class as music). As I got older I was nearly always in bands and projects. Usually metal in my personal life, but also for high-school productions as I tried not to limit myself to just one style of playing. As Existentialist, Jonny and I started writing in 2015. We didn’t have a name or a lineup sorted until 2019 though. Just me, Jonny and a revolving door of guitarists and vocalists gradually putting together the basis for our first album “Prophet of Ignorance”.

You have your new EP “Terminal” out now. How did you want to approach the making of the EP?

We’d always wanted to write something that was a continuous piece of music telling a story. We’d played with this a little in the past in places on “The Heretic”, but this time we set out with that at the forefront of our minds. We were set quite early on, on it being 3 tracks. From a narrative point of view that works nicely as you have a beginning, middle and an end.

We also find that Existentialist tracks fall into one of 3 categories; blackened, brutal, or epic, so we felt we should do one of each as it also plays nicely into 3 parts and we wanted them all to have a unique feel, After that we got a bunch of riffs together and started forming the tracks from there. The process was quite slow because we had a really busy gigging schedule through late 2023 and 2024 when we were writing. So we had to spend a fair chunk of our would-be writing time making sure our live show was tight and rehearsing existing tracks. But by summer 2024 the EP was written and we were starting to track bits.

Where did you record the EP and who produced it?

Unlike our previous releases the guitars were actually all recorded at home. This meant we weren’t restricted by budget so much and could keep re-taking until it was perfect or try again on a different day if we were struggling. The drums and vocals were all recorded at Crossed Bell Studios by our good friend and producer Alex Coombes. He’s worked on all our stuff with us so far so it made tracking those parts really easy and chilled out.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

It sounds kinda sad but I don’t. Once we’ve got the demos done and we’re happy with them, worked out all the little fills and joins, we tend to record most of our parts separately. Talking to other bands apparently this is weird, but I think we all find there’s less pressure, and less chance of someone making you laugh and fuck up if the extra people in the room are minimal. I tended to be present for everything because I’m a bit of a control freak, but I seem to be the one who finds when things aren’t 100% on the beat or quite as snappy as they should be too.

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

That would be Alex’s trade secrets, you’d have to ask him because I can’t remember any of the names of stuff.

Which of your new EP tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

I don’t think any of it is happy. The scale runs from misery, to despair, to suicide. I guess the final track “Wraithchild” has the most “optimistic” parts, but it’s only thanks to the sweet release of death. “Wretchedness ov Existence” is definitely the most angry track, possibly that we’ve ever written, whereas “Wraithchild” has it’s reflective moments. I think the lyrics to “Death Before Death” are some of the most personal ones that have been written. But the whole EP is about psycological illness, human decline and despair…I hope you weren’t expecting any love songs or a future wedding banger.

Was it a difficult EP to write?

In places, yes. The stop/start nature of how we were writing around tours/shows made it really hard to get into the flow of it. Once we had most of the tracks there, we then completely scrapped Death Before Death (in its original format) and re-wrote it from the ground up.

Who designed the EP artwork?

Our lead guitarist J has been responsible for all our artwork and videos for this release. He’s had a great fresh approach to the visuals which we hope is helping us to stand out from the crowd a little, rather than relying on the classic style of deathcore/metal artworks.

One of the tracks is “Wraithchild”. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

Wraithchild is about the uncomfortable serenity of deciding to end your own life, looking at the world as if you’re already gone, and how you justify that choice to yourself through the expectation that death is a peaceful freedom where all your troubles are solved and that you will be reunited with loved ones.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

Colchester – Colchester is in Essex…S***.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2025/2026?

The rest of this year is actually a little quiet for us. Two of the guys are having kids in September, so rather than try to cram tours in before/after and risk being a 3-piece, we thought we’d instead continue writing off the back of Terminal. Next year we’ll have an arsenal of new material in post-production, and while that’s bubbling away we can hit up as many venues as possible. We will definitely be doing a few UK runs, and we hope to be in Europe for a few weeks too.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

We always hope to have surpassed expectations of the audience and made some new fans. One of the most humbling parts of playing live is people wanting to talk to you afterwards and hearing about how the show made them feel. Yes we play miserable music, but the motivation for our live shows is to bring enjoyment and escapism into peoples lives. It’s a cliché, but music does really unite people, and that’s what we always hope to achieve on some level.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

I can’t speak for all the others, but Trick Pro 1V double kick pedals are the best thing I’ve ever bought for music. I also know Jonny is in love with his Strandburg guitar.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

When I started writing symphonic stuff for the band, I was reading a series of books called The Horus Heresy. There’s like…65 of them in the whole series (it’s enormous). But as I was listening back to the demos on my way home from work I was reading these books at the same time and now I just associate certain tracks with certain events in the books. So yeah…if Henry Cavill or Warhammer TV are reading this, we’d like to do music for The Horus Heresy TV series if it ever happens.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

This is a massive question to answer as we all listen to a pretty wide range. Here’s a list of some names that we’re all listening to at the moment, if anyone knows us personally you can probably work out who’s listening to what.

A Wake In Providence, Abigail Williams, All Shall Perish, Anaal Nathrakh, Animals As Leaders, Bonecarver, Carnifex, Cytotoxin, Every Time I Die, Funeral For A Friend, Gojira, Imminence, Karnivool, Lamb of God, Lingua Ignota, Lorna Shore, Mental Cruelty, Ne Obliviscaris, Nevermore, Senses Fall, Shining, Symphony X, Taking Back Sunday, The Faceless, Tool, Vitalism, Whitechapel….we could go on.

What makes Existentialist happy and what makes you unhappy?

Playing live always makes us happy. The more the crowd interact, the better. We also love it when people share stuff and tag us in things. It’s like affirmation that we’re actually doing stuff other people like and it’s not just for ourselves, which is a great feeling.

There isn’t a lot that makes us actively unhappy when we’re doing band-stuff. We all love it. Sure there are occasional stresses, but we all love writing, playing and recording music. The admin that goes along with that is occasionally dull, but we keep our sights on the end goals and that stops us getting too down about the little things.

Almost forgot – The electric van we were given on tour in February. That made J very unhappy. It was terrible in every way. 

Feature Image Photo Credit: Supplied By Polymath PR

Existentialist’s latest ‘Terminal’ EP is out now on Seek & Strike.

Official LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/existentialist