"Lvl. 2" is coming
A new interview, covering the last year in retrospect and the band's future and sophomore album, is coming soon.
Chronicling Last Chance to Reason's invasion and assault on the metal world.
After two weeks of nonstop recording, tinkering, adjusting, and being overall perfectionists to assure the best possible outcome, Last Chance to Reason packed up and headed home, anxious to hear Jamie King’s final mix. When they did, the results shocked even them.
“Our album came out better than any of us expected it to,” said guitarist AJ Harvey. “I don’t get sick of our new songs, I love it. Each of the instruments and vocals sound amazing.
“The final product is better than we ever thought we could sound thanks to long hours and Jamie’s production expertise,” Sammons added. “Overall, I think the album has a really good balance and flow. We did everything we wanted to do. We took the time and did those little things and polished it, and it all fits together. This is definitely cohesive as an album.”
The group is beyond satisfied with the result. “We want to go back [to The Basement Recording] for LP number two,” Sammons said, leaving no doubt in the band’s appreciation for King’s production talents.
“I am sure that we are going to work with Jamie King on future projects,” vocalist Rob Delaney added with enthusiasm. “He basically said that we are one of his new favorite bands. He assured us that we were one of the most unique sounding, distinctive, technical bands he has worked with,” Delaney said; impressive comments coming from the producer of Between The Buried and Me, among other respected metal acts. “He also said that Chris was in the top three of all the bass players he has ever worked with.”
“I love listening to this album,” Delaney said; another testament to the album’s merits. In the process of making the album, the band had to write, rehearse, practice, record demos, and then hear them for hours on end in the final recording stages; an exhaustive process that often turns bands off to their own material. “‘ Lvl. 1’ Is by far the best album I have ever been involved with. I don’t think there is a weak moment on this album, regarding anything,” said Delaney, who has filled the role of vocalist for numerous other acts, including Maine groups Vatican City and Amaranthus, as well a tour through Europe with Washington D.C.’s Age of Ruin.
The album ended as the group planned; nine songs, four of which are older titles reworked – some drastically, others moderately – and three interludes. “All the songs we reworked should be fun for OG LCTR fans,” Sammons said. But are there any favorites among the band members?
Sammons picks no favorites among what he considers by far to be his band’s crowning achievement. “It’s great just to hear the complete album.”
Looking back to the pre-recording interview, did Last Chance to Reason achieve their goals? Did they indeed perfect the execution and “groove the fuck out of it?” Yes.
All photos and captions courtesy of Jayme Boucher.
“I’m going on record and saying that we’re eight million times better a band now than we ever have been. I don’t know how anybody thought we were good before,” Evan Sammons said on Jan. 11, as Last Chance to Reason were holed up in the Augusta apartment of guitarist AJ Harvey and bassist Chris Corey, recording the final demos before their trip to a much more professional recording environment: The Basement Recording Studio in North Carolina.
“If you hear this album and you think we were better before, you’re an idiot,” Sammons said with a smile. “This album’s going to be fucking awesome.”
His point practically proving itself, the group lounged in the kitchen, reading lyric sheets as Rob Delaney recorded the vocals to a demo at that point known as “Strange Ass.” The song, which would eventually become “Those Were Real Witch Bones,” had a chorus so powerful and catchy the band struggled for words. With feet tapping and faces glowing, the one adjective they could agree on was “epic.”
Nearly a year prior, Last Chance to Reason booked studio time with Jamie King, the renowned producer of over 350 metal and rock groups including Between the Buried and Me, Through the Eyes of the Dead, A Prayer For Cleansing and KillWhitneyDead. With the studio time booked, the group took on the task of composing their best work.
“We’re playing on our strengths and not trying to be something that we’re not. We’re not like, ‘oh, we have to play something that’s like BTBAM or The Red Chord or Into The Moat because we’re a tech metal band.’ No, instead of putting eight million notes in this measure, let’s just pick every note and be really careful with that to make the best riff possible,” Sammons said of the writing process.
“Everything is a lot tighter,” Harvey added. “We’ve grown as musicians, definitely.” As Sammons stressed after the band’s debut show with the new lineup in October, a great deal of thought went into every single riff. The members concurred that they were essentially the same band, only much improved.
And so, after months of writing, rehearsing, recording, and reworking, nine songs were ready to roll, with three planned interludes. The interludes would be used to segue between songs and would “incorporate layers of synth material that [could] be even more experimental than what’s in the songs,” according to Sammons.
With two weeks to go until the Jan. 28 recording began, there was no shortage of gray areas concerning the album. Song titles, the album title, and the opening song were all up in the air. “We’ve talked about it and thought about it and wrote the songs all down in different orders,” Harvey said. The group had been stacking the arrangement of their songs up to classic metal albums like Metallica’s black album and Pantera’s “Vulgar Display of Power” to get a feel for prime song flow.
As for the album title, Harvey wasn’t worried, saying, “I think one day someone’s just going to say something and it’s going to be like, that’s it. There we go.”
“It’s probably going to be right up to the end,” Sammons said. With the last two weeks at home, the band needed only to finish their demos and practice the material.
“We need to make it so we’re not just executing [this stuff], but grooving the fuck out of it,” Sammons said. “First you need to execute it, but second, you need the attitude. That’s what makes what you’re playing good. It’s not what you’re playing, it’s how you’re playing it. You can play a riff that’s awesome and it doesn’t feel like anything or you can play a riff that, you know, anybody can play, but you make it the most kick-ass thing you’ve ever heard.”
“We’re going to concentrate on that; making everything brutal, making everything groove,” Harvey said. The band’s constant goal to appeal to both the technically minded musician and the average metalhead clearly underscored their philosophy.
In Sammons’ words, the goal was clear: “The task at hand is making the best record possible right now.”
Mission stated. With two weeks of non-stop recording and work with a professional producer, could the task be as concisely accomplished?
"It's a big process with everything. And having Rob in this band has been amazing because he can do that, and he does it awesome," Sammons said.