Crannk Interviews Killitorous Vocalist Mathieu Dhani

Reigning down blast beats and some of the most insane riffs you’ll hear are Canadian tech death metal band Killitorous. Featuring members from Annihilator, Suffocation, First Fragment, Epiphany From Abyss, Killitorous have come to blast and shred their way through any party.

Killitorous latest album “The Afterparty” is set for release May 22nd and was co-produced, mixed and mastered by Chris Donaldson (Cryptopsy, Despised Icon, The Agonist, Shadow of Intent) and features an absolutely huge list of guests Dan Mongrain (Voivod/Martyr), Riley McShane (Allegaeon), Leo Diensthuber (Divine Realm), Cody Ford (Soen), Raphael Weinroth-Browne (Leprous), Youri Raymond (Unhuman), Callum Clark (Ending Tyranny), Paul Ablaze (Blackguard), Matt McGachy (Cryptopsy), Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschlager (ex-Obscura), Gore Lussier (Erimha), Bob Katsionis (Firewind), Steven Henry (Neuraxis).

Jai That Aussie Metal Guy from Crannk recently caught up with Killitorous vocalist Mathieu Dhani to talk about Killitorous, the Latest Album “The Afterparty”, Mike Wyszynski, how Mathieu got into singing, heavy metal and what truly happened to the guy in the donut shop in Wayne’s World.

Q: First off for those that haven’t heard of you all can you tell us a little about yourselves and who Killitorous are?

A: Killitorous is a 6 Piece technical death metal band from Canada.

    Members are :

    Aaron Homma – Guitar(Annihilator, Ex-Vital Remains)

    Nick Miller – Guitar (First Fragment)

    Eric Morotti  – Drums (Suffocation, Ex-Blind Witness)

    Marc Roy – Guitar (Divine Realm)

    Xavier Sperdouklis – Bass

    Mike Wyszynski – God

    Myself – Vocals

    The most important thing you need to know about us is that we’re here to have fun. We will blast and shred our way to wherever we can party. We talk about what compels us, which is anything from the 90’s, cartoons, videogames, movies, sitcoms, you name it. We try not to take ourselves too seriously, but we seriously want to party.

Q; Can we talk about your musical journey so far how did you first get into heavy metal and what was your first metal album?

My parents didn’t really “listen” to music when I was a kid. So I had to do my research.

My older brother was playing guitar and listening to things like Children of Bodom, Unearth, Protest the Hero, and I just loved watching him play. So I guess this is where it comes from.

The first metal album I ever bought was (I was pretty late into the buying music thing) Nocturnal by The Black Dahlia Murder, and oh man did I not know what that was going to get me into.

Q; How did you first get into singing and vocal work?

When I was a kid I loved guitar so much I used to watch videos of people play, any playthrough, any music video I could. But I myself was never good at it. Then I started having friends that were playing a bit and we hung out and I started singing and we formed our first band. One thing led to another, 6 years later I started being kind of good at screaming and a buddy told me some friends of his we’re looking for a vocalist and I showed up (Epiphany from the Abyss).

And I guess this is where it all started.

Q: Who do you feel has helped inspire and influence you as a musician?

Trevor Strnad was definitely one of the biggest inspirations I ever had in my life.

Dude’s totally just out there to have a good time, and I think it’s the most important thing there is.

Q: How did you get involved and become the vocalist for Killitorous?

After maybe 5 years playing with Epiphany, we got booked with Killitorous, who I had never heard of before. I think it’s just around the time they released their first album Party, Grind.

They were playing so f***ing fast my jaw was almost touching the floor and me and my bandmates just rushed to the stage to watch them play in awe.

Next thing I know a couple of years later we play with them again, and the singer at that time, Youri Raymond (Unhuman), asked if I wanted to do a song with them. And i did, and they liked it I guess, next thing I know they’re asking me to go on a month and a half long tour as their vocalist. Which was basically my first tour ever. I quit my job and we made it happen.

Been partying with them ever since.

Q: The Afterparty is a brutal slab of brilliance, damn I enjoyed the heck out of this album. How did you approach the songwriting for this album?

The Afterparty was a complete mess of an album to make. The band went through a ton of changes and the members were also playing with other bands to make a living.

But the time it took to actually make it helped it make it that much better. During that time the guys just kept getting better and better at their craft.

Lyrically, I had so many problems getting my head around what they were about.

My vision of death metal at the time was pretty classic, “METAL” stuff.

And now they’re telling me we’re writing a song about a 90’s sitcom called Married with Children. And literally, what happened was that we just kept saying the dumbest sh*t we could and wrote it down and made a song with it. It was definitely new for me, but it helped me get out of the cage of what Metal is supposed to be. It can be whatever the f**k you want and no one’s going to stop you.

Q: This album is packed to the brim with so many amazingly talented musicians from the Canadian Metal scene it must’ve been a lot of fun making this album can you tell us a little about that?

Having a lot of crazy musicians helping us make this album was an absolute blessing.

Most of them are friends with my bandmates from touring together at one point in time or whatever. Some I can now actually call friends myself. The whole metal scene has always been so divided by genres or images. But the music itself brings people together and that’s what we’re about. We want as many people involved as we can so that it becomes a collaborative effort and not just another regular album by some band.

Q; Chris Donaldson co-produced, mixed, and mastered this album as well can you tell us about the recording and production process for The Afterparty?

I only met Chris when I went to his studio to record the vocals.

But he was a truly great man to work with. He knows how to make my voice sound good more than I do. He is one of the most professional sound engineers I’ve ever worked with. He is loved and has a beautiful egg-shaped head.

Q: The first couple of tracks that have been released can we talk about what they mean for you first

“Total Protonic Reversal” ft. Dan Mongrain – Voivod/Martyr

Total protonic reversal is actually the first song we wrote the lyrics for.

And at the time I didn’t even know what I got myself into.  They had a track with Synths playing the guitars over fake drums and it was absolutely horrendous. They showed me that the whole off-time part that literally made no sense and I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Aaron sat down with me and we started pitching ideas about vocal patterns and all that. So I guess for me, this song is what introduced me to what the Afterparty would be.

“Married With Children”ft. Gore Lussier – Erimha

Married With Children came to life while thinking about what truly happened to the guy in the donut shop in Wayne’s World (Ed O’Neill, who also played in a sitcom called Married with Children). Dude is scarred for life. We just knew we needed to use that “Why do they come to me to die?” line. So yeah, we somewhat built a backstory and wrote a song about it.

This song is what made me understand what Killitorous was really about.

It’s about laughing, having fun, saying what we want, not taking anything too seriously, and most importantly, trauma.

Q: If you had to pick a track that is your favourite or one that you are most proud of from “The Afterparty” which one would it be and why?

Seriously I’ve been asking myself this question for a little while. And it’s kind of hard because every track brings something totally different to the table. I’ll have to be a bit conservative and I’ll say Eat Your God Alive because it’s just so catchy. But there’s definitely something for everyone in this album.

Q; It’s a crazy time worldwide just wondering where is the best place we can get along and support Killitorous and buy some merch?

I normally bring some tour leftovers at my work. EXOSHOP, a cult skate shop of Quebec City.

https://exoshop.com/en/music/?k=killitorous&b=&g=

We also have our official online store at

www.killitorous.bigcartel.com

And as of recently we now have an official EURO store thanks to Tentacle Industries.

If you want to preorder the album, just check our official stores!

Q; Before we sign out mate is there anything else you’d like to add or a shoutout?

The Afterparty will be available everywhere on May 22nd, be a lad, and pick it up.

Shoutout to Crannk for giving a shit, bigger shoutout to the readers for getting this far.

Let’s bring people together. We’ll see you at the Afterparty. <3

Mathieu Dhani thank you so much for taking the time to do this greatly appreciated my friend and Congrats on a really great album in “The Afterparty”. 

Here is a little comp thing that Killitorous has going for those that pre-order check out the details below.

All you have to do to have your name entered in a draw to win this ORIGINAL “𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺” NES Console is purchase any pre-order package. If you have already purchased one, don’t worry YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN ENTERED!

𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝘼𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚:
https://killitorous.bigcartel.com
𝙀𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚/𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙚:
https://tentaclesindustries.bigcartel.com

The draw will be done via LiveStream May 22/2020 on the day of the album release.

Killitorous Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Killitorous/

Killitorous Bandcamp https://killitorousofficial.bandcamp.com/

Tentacles Industries Bandcamp https://tentaclesindustries.bandcamp.com/