The Making of "Lvl. 1" (Part 2 of 3)

Part Two: In The Basement

“We’re just writing music that’s really, really good,” drummer Evan Sammons said on Jan. 11. “It’s not like you can hear these songs now and be like, ‘oh, this fits into this genre of metal.’ It’s just Last Chance to Reason. That’s what it sounds like. We’ve just melded our own kind of thing.”

With that attitude, Last Chance to Reason hit the road to record for two straight weeks at Jamie King’s studio, the North Carolina-based Basement Recording, beginning on Jan. 28.

“Everything sounds the way it should, everything is very clear, unlike a lot of the [old material],” said bassist Chris Corey during the recording. Vocalist Rob Delaney called the process “intense” and “absolutely amazing.”

On Jamie King, Delaney said: “I was confident in his production, but wasn’t sure what to expect out of him as a person. He was awesome from day one. We just got along really well from the get-go. We didn’t go into the studio as fans, we entered the studio as professional musicians looking to get a sick album, and it worked.” Delaney added that in downtime, Jamie King was never at a loss for an entertaining anecdote, often talking about “King Diamond and Motley Crue and how much ass they kicked.”

“I think he is really on the same page as us, musically, in a lot of ways,” Sammons said. “We’ve definitely formed somewhat of a bond. He had a lot of praise for our originality and approach to song writing and gave us a lot of good advice about the music business, as well.”

“They work hard but have fun at the same time,” Jamie King said when asked for comments on Last Chance to Reason and the recording of their first full-length album. “[They’re] super prepared. The music is on point stylistically and is catchy. Labels should acknowledge that and start bidding. They should have no problem getting a good deal.”

As guitarist AJ Harvey predicted, the album title practically fell into place on its own following King’s comments on how the album sounds like the group is playing Metroid across each song. King likened the sound to “aliens taking over the world,” and the band embraced the theme for an exceptionally unique outcome.