EPK – Whythre – Impregnate My Hate (2022)
Publicist – Jon Asher – jon[@]ashermediarelations[.]com
“Whether it’s writing with wailing solos, slithering with sinuous synth lines, or awash with waves of riptide riffs, Whythre’s latest is without remorse. They came to lay waste and write solid album titles — and they’re all out of album titles. Consequently, Impregnate My Hate opens with the single Scorchbreath, an onslaught of solos, slamming breakdowns, subtle orchestration, and a sing-along chorus that embodies Whythre’s deft formulation of melodic death metal singed with a blackened edge. Having been fixtures in the Seattle metal scene since 2016, band members Shon Petrey, Adam Chambers, Eric Close, and Steve Fournier know their way around both riff craft and laying down a tight performance. But Whythre’s latest expulsion of fury seethes like a band that’s only getting started, from the first violent lick to the final double-bass kick. Follow along to standout tracks like Immanence, which thunders along with the certainty of slow death and offers little in the way of forgiveness, or to Scorpions of Sinai, which has a groove guaranteed to move any circle pit. The fury of Whythre’s writing is real, but fury is rarely this much fun: expect to get your ass kicked, and to enjoy it.” – Whythre
For fans Hypocrisy, Children of Bodom, Havok, The Black Dahlia Murder
Album Title: Impregnate My Hate
Release Date: May 26, 2023
Label: High Point Records
Distribution: CD Baby
Whythre.com | Facebook.com/Whythre | Instagram.com/whythreofficial | YouTube
Whythre.bandcamp.com | Spotify
Linktree – https://linktr.ee/whythreofficial
“The drums snap and boom; the nimble, pulsing bass work amplifies the song’s surging, head-moving rhythms; the guitarists deliver jabs and jolts, fiery soloing, and fluid melody; and Tachell’s vocals [previous vocalist] are scalding in their intensity. You put all that together, and you get music that sends the blood rushing and proves to be highly addictive as well” – NO CLEAN SINGING ‘Savage’single review
“The songs on this EP turn out to be damned addictive. It’s very easy, at the end, to just go back to the beginning and ride this lightning again… and again” StillBorn World EP Review – NO CLEAN SINGING
Album Title: Impregnate My Hate
Release Date: May 26, 2023
Label: High Point Records
Distribution: CD Baby
Track Listing:
1. Scorchbreath (3:54)
2. Impregnate My Hate (3:11)
3. Can’t Escape This (4:55)
4. Scorpions of Sinai (3:29)
5. C Section S1urpee (2:48)
6. Death Frontier (3:09)
7. Tantric Aspects of the Cross (2:32)
8. Immanence (4:02)
9. Run it Red (3:50)
Album Length: 31:54
Album Recording Credits:
• All songs performed by: Adam, Shon, Steve, Eric
• All songs written by: Adam, Shon, Steve, Eric
• Produced by: Shon Petrey
Drum engineer: Don Gunn
Vocals engineer: Adam Chambers
Backing vocals on Scorchbreath by Gabe Tachell & Carolina Chambers
Backing vocals on Impregnate My Hate & Run It Red by Carolina Chambers
• Mixed by: Shon Petrey
• Mastered by: Levi Seitz , Black Belt Recordings
• Album Artwork by: Andrzej Masianis
• Album Band Line Up:
Adam Chambers – Vox, Guitar, Synths
Shon Petrey – Guitar, Synths
Eric Close- Bass
Steve Fournier- Drums
Live Band Line Up:
Adam Chambers – Vox, Guitar,
Shon Petrey – Guitar
Eric Close – Bass
Steve Fournier – Drums, Backtracks Synths
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The album as a whole (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
[Adam] – ‘Impregnate My Hate’, as a phrase really sums it up….Modern times… Most folks are jumping down each other’s throats, willing vessels to the online projection of what modern entertainment and communication should be. Society is fragmenting into niche groups & how each individual deals with this is literally making or breaking their existence.
Shon and I talk at great lengths about exploring the shattered and celebrating the depravity used to nurture ourselves at the moment. It all comes with consequences…Personally, it’s fun to creatively dive into how this all plays out for each individual on an extended timeline.
[Shon] – Musically we wanted to explore writing ranging from aggressive mindlessness to slow and somber moments…with some catchy hooks!
Track by Track (LYRICALLY & MUSICALLY):
SCORCHBREATH
[Adam] – Lyrically I wrote this in an airport terminal after a trip to Bogota (Colombia) and Chicago. It’s about having a rad time…but specifically, it’s referencing when Carolina (my wife), Shon and I went to Movement and hit up some afterparties…Just wall-to-wall sweat, people tripping balls, a codeword at the bar to order alcohol past 2 am…it was everything we hoped it would be. We went with friends we made that very day at Movement…a beautiful experience with lovely people and I’m smiling right now just thinking about it.
[Shon] – Musically this song has some punchy/ thrashy verses with a big carnival vibe of a chorus. All while incorporating some fun shred moments. This song is our single because it kinda displays all the elements of the album in a very condensed way. This is the song that kicked off the inspiration to start this album. We felt like we found something here that was worth exploring.
IMPREGNATE MY HATE
[Adam] – Lyrically – Modern times! Most folks are jumping down each other’s throats, willing vessels to the online projection of what modern entertainment and communication should be. My friends showed me an old TV series called ‘V’ that deals with subtle mind control and mass hypnosis…while I watched the series after writing the lyrics, I was like ‘yeah! This is it! This is what I’ve been trying to say’
[Shon] – This is our most thrashy song…it’s not really the most melodic tune at all. When writing the song an old-school vibe kinda just appeared here and we ran with it.
CAN’T ESCAPE THIS
[Adam] – Lyrically – It’s about the choices people make at ill hours of the night while celebrating after months of hard work. Then those celebrations happen after weeks of work…then days of work…then after no work at all. Fuck.
[Adam] – Musically, Shon’s ending solo on this song is my favorite on the album. It’s ALL feel dude. And he almost went with something more shreddy! The outro on this song serves two purposes…It’s a moment of mellow reflection and also makes a great contrast for ‘Scorpions of Sinai’ to hit that much harder.
[Shon] – This is a mid-tempo, slow, very melodic piece. It’s a bit of a different approach to songwriting, with a two-part song structure. There’s no revolving arrangement…it just keeps building.
SCORPIONS OF SINAI
[Adam] – Lyrics – Go read Roald Dahl’s ‘My Uncle Oswald’ and then read the lyrics to Scorpions. I can’t say much more without spoiling that experience. It’s a quick read, just go do it.
[Shon & Adam] This is our fastest song by far and always leaves Steve sweatin’! There’s a lot of underlying repetition in this song, which was a first for us. Each instrument here has its own texture, there are lots of synths…honestly, the track is heavily inspired by underground techno vibes.
C SECTION S1URPEE
[Adam] – Lyrics – Always wanted a tongue-in-cheek metal song title a la Metalocapyse. Here it is. “A Mindless libation from you I now tear!” Cherry slushies for all!
[Shon] Definitely a death metal element to this one here. That middle section drum/riff thing is probably the heaviest part of the album.
DEATH FRONTIER
[Adam] – Lyrics – This tune was originally called ‘Annihilate the Proper.’ It’s about being yourself and celebrating the filth you live in even if it means being alone.
[Shon] – The triplet song! Has a waltzy feel with black metal elements and time signature surprises in the middle. You know a time signature change is gonna be fun when it just flows and doesn’t call too much attention to itself.
TANTRIC ASPECTS OF THE CROSS
[Adam] – Lyrics – Originally called ‘Malicious Compliance’- parts of this were written while I worked 12-hour shifts 7 days a week at a shipyard. Paying off student loans is no fun. I fucking hated that job.
[Adam & Shon] – Another thrashy song with an old-school vibe. We built out the middle section of this song the weekend after we opened for Hypocrisy & Fleshgod Apocalypse.
[Adam] Technically, the transitional soundscape at the end of this tune was really fun to design. It was made on an outboard synth with 3 oscillators and a couple of morphing LFO’s/filter sweeps…the intention was to create a sound that changed from TAOTC ending pitch to the starting pitch of Immanence. Besides the pitch shift, we also had to imply a tempo change. The soundscape was recorded in real-time with some knob turning / dialed in LFO’s that come in at the end to imply the new tempo and sync up with the intro to Immanence.
Immanence is a bit of a slower, psychedelic-influenced tune and we wanted to differentiate the lead-in with something a little different compared to the rest of the album.
IMMANENCE
[Adam] – Lyrics – This sums up the collective experience of a group of friends that went to a music event called unter x second nature. This one is for all the friends and interactions that happened that night. There are references for you all. Thank you. I love you.
[Shon & Adam] This is the oldest song on the album, by far! It was originally called ‘Black Forest Rain Dance’ and was re-written a couple times and nearly left for dead. We wrote maybe 4-5 choruses for this song and they all sucked…then when we wrapped up all the other tunes we gave it one last go.
[Shon] There’s a lot of Hans Zimmer influence on this one. It took time to explore this vibe and I’m more proud of this song than any other on the album.
[Adam] Shon and I really dove into designing the sounds on this one. This is where I started feeling confident playing around with outboard synths.
RUN IT RED
[Adam] – Lyrics – More underground techno shoutouts here. This was from going to a Kremfest after-hours in 2019. Woke up at 8 am and met a bunch of friends on the dancefloor. After that ended, went to Shon’s spot and recorded guitars for C Section S1urpee. Spent the afternoon trying to nail the rhythm guitar sixteenth notes while my entire body was like ‘yeah, nope’. Thank God Shon has a sense of humor and we just joked about what a terrible player I am the entire session. Eventually, it got tight
My favorite memory of that afternoon was taking naps every 20 minutes and playing Sasha’s track ‘Xpander’ while I dosed off. Shon was like ‘what song is that?’ And when I replied all he heard was “Sausage Expander”. We still bump some Sausage Expander every now and then…I think that’s now the name of the USB stick we use to pass ideas back and forth.
[Shon] It’s a minimal/ dance/ industrial influenced tune that was written/ demo’d in one night. Very straightforward song, but is a different sonic arena for us to explore. It makes for a fun end to the album. There’s more focus on vibe than instrumental prowess.
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BAND STORY ANGLES / FUN FACTS:
1. Eric (bass) and Steve (drums) are veterans of the Seattle metal scene, having played together in a number of bands including In Memorium, Aggression Core, and Castdown, and have known each other for over 20 years.
[Adam] It’s insane working with these two. They ‘just know’ what each other are doing and have an insane drum/bass vibe. I can’t begin to explain how much this dynamic elevates the songs. 20 years of playing music together and they just keep evolving. Unreal.
2. How Adam & Shon met
[Adam] I moved to Seattle in 2014 and knew I wanted to dive into the music scene. Seattle is the kind of city where you just have to meet people in the moment or through a social circle. There’s a bit of a freeze and just going to shows isn’t necessarily a social experience for those new in town.
I busked on a corner in Capitol Hill outside of Neumos for a few months. I figured I’d do that until I met the right people/music situation. I met a lot of musicians but nothing really clicked.
For a few months, I was playing with a bucket drummer named Joe Buckets. We weren’t just tipped in cash…Sometimes little plastic baggies with unmarked pills and capsules ended up in my guitar case. Someone once tipped us a Crown Royal satchel full of weed.
While busking during Pride 2015, Joe was taking a break and I started playing metal riffs…While playing ‘Bodom Beach Terror’ there was a guy and girl that posted up within earshot. It was Shon and a friend. He introduced himself, and we all shared a smoke and traded contact info. Shon had just released a full-length (Hel’s Hallows) with his project called Whythre. I remember getting home that night and making myself some mac n cheese at 4 am and listening to the album. I sent Shon a message that I would join the project right then.
3. Adam’s foray into vocals
[Adam] When Gabe [previous singer] and his wife started a family, he said he could record with us but could not commit to playing live. Shon and I decided it would be best to have the singer on the album also be the one playing live…
I’m not a singer by trade, but out of desperation, I tracked a few vocal demos of Whythre songs. It was rough…really not very good. Despite this, I felt that learning how to sing would be less painful than dealing with recruiting a new singer. The pandemic had just hit, so I knew I had some time to learn.
While tracking Steve’s drums in the studio, I asked Don [engineer] and Steve if they had any recommendations for vocal coaches. They set me up with Susan Carr. She’s worked with Alice In Chains, Mastodon, Macklemore, Drowning Pool, and a long list of others.
Over the past two years, I’ve been attending vocal/opera lessons with Sue and she’s 100% responsible for my vocals not sucking as much as they used to.
4. [Shon] – [We had a studio engineer record the drum tracks. Shon mixed all tracks/the entire album. Here are Shon’s comments on mixing the album]
I’ve always had a vision of how I wanted a song to sound. At the roots, I would deconstruct my favorite tunes (probably a Metallica tune). I’d learn all the instruments, and observe how they fit in as a whole.
After a couple of attempts using other mixing engineers to dial up a tune, I was never happy with it. I’d just be left there wondering why the engineer didn’t try “this” or “that”, and wishing I had the power to control “this” or “That”. Two knobs and chords later, here I wander the vast world of the audiophile.
To sum it up, if I knew how long it would take me to achieve the sounds and balance I am getting now, I would have probably stopped. It was a combination of being stoked at making sounds and being ignorant of how badly it sounded that kept me motivated to dig deeper into the eternal rabbit hole.
5. Despite being an excellent cook, Shon can (and will) live entirely off gas station burritos and 7-11 fare. C-Section S1urpee is equal parts a dig & celebration of this talent. He’s going to outlive us all.
6. [Adam] I met the graphic designer that incorporated the album name/ band logo in the album cover at an underground rave that DVS1 played in Seattle. Ryan was dancing on a speaker stack and while walking by I shouted ‘fuck yeah!’… We ran into each other months later and laughed about that. Eventually, I found out about Ryan’s graphic design page https://www.ryanricketts.com/ and asked if he could help with the cover design. He’s literally the best.
L-R – Steve Fournier – Drums, Adam Chambers – Vocals, Guitars, Synths, Eric Close – Bass, Shon Petrey – Guitars, Synths
(Photographer Credit – Carolina Chambers)
Whythre is a melodic death metal band from Seattle, blending hints of black metal and thrash into their hook-driven songwriting. The band was started in 2015 with the release of their debut full-length ‘Hel’s Hollows’ followed by their 2019 EP ‘Stillborn World’. The lineup has undergone numerous changes and now consists of Shon Petrey (Guitars, Synths), Adam Chambers (Vocals, Guitars, Synths), Eric Close (Bass), and Steve Fournier (Drums).
The new album “Impregnate My Hate”, due out in 2023, is a move toward a wide variety of moods on each track. It is packed with heavy grooves, blistering riffs, and huge symphonic waves.
Their live shows have spanned the northwest including two appearances at Washington Deathfest and opening for acts like Obscura, Pain, Archspire, Orphaned Land, Beyond Creation, Ghost Bath, Astronoid, and the upcoming Hypocrisy/Fleshgod tour. On stage, they put on a raw thrashy show with face-melting leads and fist-pumping riffs. Whythre is a growing force with a distinctive sound that is not to be missed!
Discography:
2023 – Impregnate My Hate (LP)
2019 – Stillborn World (EP)
2015 – Hel’s Hallows (LP)
Shared Stage With:
Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hypocrisy, Pain, Orphaned Land, Archspire, Obscura, Inferi, Beyond Creation, Exist, Ghost Bath, Astronoid, Wastewalker, Aenimus, Embryonic Devourment, The Convalescence, Otep
Tours and Festivals:
2018 – Washington Death Fest III – Kelso, WA
2017 – Washington Death Fest II – Bremerton, WA
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