Interview: Immortal Tax Evader

There's often a trap which metal musicians fall into, particularly in the more technical styles of heaviness, where virtuosity and musical ability become the overbearing focus and the music loses it's creativity and personality. I've seen it in numerous bands and solo artists whose ability should, on paper, produce fantastic heavy metal. However, in my opinion technicality in metal is always better when it is used as an integral part of the excitement, energy and passion of the music.

Luckily, I don't see Immortal Tax Evader falling into this trap. The US artist has, on his latest single Astrofetishist, produced a whirlwind of wild shredding guitars, thumping drums and roaring vocals that sit somewhere between James Hetfield and Cronos of Venom. It's all wrapped up in a tune which is remarkably catchy and never diminished by the flashy guitar playing, and together it all builds into something that verges on the psychedelic.

There's a lot to get your teeth stuck into just in this one song; the verses are full of hooks, and the choruses are dark and menacing. The track certainly has elements of classic thrash bands like Metallica and Slayer, but there is also something particular modern about it's construction that evokes the likes of Sylosis and Revocation too. The solo break in the final movement of the song is phenomenal; the playing reminds me as much of the soulful anti-virtuosic shredding of Omar Rodriguez-Lopez or John Frusciante as it does traditional technical metal players like Chuck Schuldiner or John Petrucci.

For all the comparisons one might make though, there is something indescribably distinct about what Immortal Tax Evader is producing. To get a further insight into the project, how it began, what inspires the music and what the future holds, I asked it's founder a few questions that reveal a hugely passionate musician setting out their own path in metal.

Tell us a little about the project's history and how it began. 

I started the project because I was tired of trying to form a band, and I had written too many songs to just sit on. So I started amassing the stuff I’d need to do it myself and learning how to play other instruments. I started as just a guitar player, but everyone and their mother seems to be a talented guitar player and with increased supply comes waning demand. Ever since I first started playing music and with how quickly it came to me, I realized it’s all I wanted to do. My new efforts with Immortal Tax Evader are kind of the culmination of my frustrations and a lot of trial and error of learning how to record by myself.

What was the main inspiration behind the project? 

The main inspiration is just my love of making music, cliché yeah, but I am completely obsessed with song-writing and discovering new ways of making noise. Another motivation was wanting to make music that I want to listen to as there isn’t much nowadays that really stands out, with a few exceptions. But it sucks not getting to enjoy the tunes because I’ve heard them over and over and over in the process of recording.

Who would you consider to be the primary musical influences? 

I’m influenced by Sepultura’s early efforts, Pink Floyd (more evident in my newer stuff), Megadeth’s first 4 albums, Pantera, Metallica, Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Randy Rhoads, Black Sabbath, Brian May of Queen, Alice in Chains, Corrosion of Conformity, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and Vivaldi. I want to skirt the line between metal and psychedelic rock.

In metal there is often a divide between the old-school styles and the modern ones. Do you fall on one side or the other, or somewhere in-between? 

I’d like to think I fall somewhere in between, this track is kind of the flagship for my recording efforts. I wanted a straightforward song to start with and then experiment more once better acquainted with the equipment I’m working with. I want to chill in the grey area and have a distinct sound above any specific label or genre. In my mind it’s all semantics anyway. I don’t want people hearing my music and saying, “Hey this sounds like x,” or having people try and categorize every single choice of note until they’re blue in the face. In the stuff coming up there’s a divergence from the more traditional sound of Astrofetishist.

There's some very technical guitar playing in the tracks, is this a focus of the song-writing or just something that comes naturally? 

The technicality of my playing is just what comes naturally. Spontaneous order, go with the flow type thing. I don’t really approach a tune I’m working on from a theory point of view. I know my notes and some rudimentary scales (in name), but until recently I was unaware of how technical the stuff was until told by other musicians. I usually write as I go along in a single session and I don’t really give it too much thought. I just roll with the punches until a song is done, and oftentimes the riffs and leads are stuff I would’ve never thought consciously of doing until playing over the mix, and it's always a pleasant surprise.

The pandemic has had a massive impact on bands and musicians, how has it affected things for you? 

The pandemic has been a bitch, but as a musician it's given me more time to focus on getting things done. I can’t really play shows solo anyway, so I’m relegated to studio work for now until I get some like-minded people to jam along with. In the bigger scope of things and in my opinion, the turmoil of today will catalyze new movements and make for new sounds, not unlike the 1960’s. There wasn’t much of an impetus for change in the mid 2000’s-2010’s, and I think we can look forward to new music with more prescient lyrical content by up and coming artists in the underground.

What are your future plans for new music? Can we expect more singles or perhaps an album? 

My immediate plans are to wrap up the vocals for the many instrumental tracks I’m sitting on and release them as singles. With additional personnel and a larger budget I’ll record an LP with most of the material already written and sitting on demo reels on my laptop. I feel some of these songs are too precious to just wing it on the recording end of things.

Any final words from you?

My new single Rhapsody of the Affect (Intermission) is also out now. I’d like to thank you for your time and review. This is the first interview I’ve had and this gives me hope for my future in playing music.

 

You can listen to Immortal Tax Evader on Spotify and Youtube, including the singles Astrofetishist and Rhapsody of the Affect.