As the Oct. 25 release of their new Halloween/horror-themed EP “Legions Of The Undead” draws closer, the Los Angeles-based death/thrash/shred quartet EXMORTUS has unveiled a play-through-style music video for their cover of Danny Elfman's “Beetlejuice” theme. The clip – which premiered Friday via Consequence of Sound – sees the group's members dress up as the title character of Tim Burton's iconic 1988 fantasy/horror/comedy film.
Check out the “Beetlejuice” video below:
“I've been meaning to cover this for a while now,” says EXMORTUS guitarist/vocalist Jadran “Conan” Gonzalez. “As a kid, I loved the movie and the cartoon series that followed it. Danny Elfman's music really does lend itself to metal orchestration, so this was a breeze to learn and jam out. Hope you have as much fun watching it as we did recording it. It's showtime!"
“Beetlejuice” can now be streamed on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp and other digital platforms. Along with the recently-released “Evil Dead” homage “Swallow Your Soul,” the song is one of two “instant grat” downloads that are being offered with digital pre-orders of “Legions Of The Undead.” Physical copies, meanwhile, can be pre-ordered on CD and limited-edition green slime-colored vinyl at this location: http://smarturl.it/exmortusofficial
Recorded earlier this year with longtime producer Zack Ohren (Machine Head, Immolation) at Oakland's Sharkbite Studios, “Legions Of The Undead” – the cover art for which was designed by Toha “AHOT” Mashudi – will be released on Oct. 25 via the band's own Exmortus Music in cooperation with M-Theory Audio. The five-track release includes two originals (“Swallow Your Soul” and the title track, which nods to the Dead Men of Dunharrow in “Lord Of The Rings”), as well as covers of three well-known instrumentals performed in the band's inimitable neoclassical metal style – Elfman's “Beetlejuice” theme, Bernard Hermann's iconic “Psycho Theme” and 19th Century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's haunting “Night On Bald Mountain.”
“Legions Of The Undead” marks the first EXMORTUS release featuring the lineup – founding guitarist/vocalist Gonzalez, guitarist Chase Becker (also of Warbringer), bassist Cody Nunez and drummer Adrian Aguilar – that has logged numerous miles on the road together over the past two years with the likes of Obituary, Venom Inc., Sabaton, Kreator, Havok, Allegaeon, Hatchet, Homewrecker and The Absence. The group – whose most recent performance was alongside Exodus at the legendary thrash group's sold-out “Bonded By Con” concert during San Diego's recent Comic-Con – will support another iconic Bay Area act this fall, when they team up with Death Angel for a five-week tour across the U.S. and Canada. See below for the complete itinerary.
Tracklist:
1. Legions of the Undead
2. Swallow Your Soul
3. Beetlejuice
4. Psycho Theme
5. Night on Bald Mountain
Founded by Gonzalez when he was just 12 years old, EXMORTUS released their debut album, “In Hatred's Flame,” via Heavy Artillery in 2008. After gaining additional acclaim with their 2011 sophomore effort “Beyond The Fall Of Time,” the group signed a three-album deal with Prosthetic Records in 2013. In support of that acclaimed trilogy of releases (2014's “Slave To The Sword,” 2016's “Ride Forth” and 2018's “The Sound Of Steel”), the band toured alongside some of metal's biggest names, including Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, Abbath, Dark Tranquillity and Marty Friedman, earning extensive praise along the way for their live power, prowess and proficiency.
ONLINE
LINEUP
Jadran "Conan" Gonzalez - VOCALS/ GUITAR
Cody Nunez - BASS
Chase Becker - GUITAR
Carlos Cruz - DRUMS
{tab=title="BIOGRAPHY" class="orange"}
Los Angeles based neo-classical shredders Exmortus, founded by guitarist and vocalist Jadran “Conan” Gonzalez, have racked up achievement after achievement. From appearing in a national TV commercial for Virgin Mobile to being played constantly on Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal, from appearing on the first Ozzfest meets Knotfest in San Bernadino to touring with heroes Children of Bodom and Marty Friedman. However it’s probably the band’s 5th album, The Sound of Steel, that Conan will be most proud of. It’s his most personal album, an album forged together after a bit of a setback but also one that given his upbringing could never have not seen the light of day.
One can say the sound of steel injected Conan at an early age. Born into a family of musicians, he grew up listening to his grandparents sing and play guitar, while his father and uncle both were in rock and metal bands. At just 5 years old, his father took him to watch his uncle play in a death metal band at the Whisky. The experience left quite the lasting impression on him. He soaked in the vibe and the atmosphere and begged for a guitar of his own. He was gifted a beginner Crate guitar and combo amp and once his father saw him stick to practicing, purchased him a solid Gibson SG. It was just a few years later at the age of 12 that Conan formed Exmortus, which would not have lasted had it not been for his parents.
Conan reflects, “My family has been and continue to be very supportive of my endeavors with my music. I don't think Exmortus would exist if it weren't for my parents driving the band to our gigs. My dad also acted as our first manager and made sure we played on time and were taken care of at the gigs, since we were so young when we started performing.”
An LA fixture for well over a decade now, they released their first LP, 2008’s In Hatred’s Flame, when Conan was just 18 years old, but had already paid their dues through their shows and buzzed about demos. The mixture of thrash, death, black and especially neo-classical that made them stand out from the LA thrash revival in the '00s.
“Classical influence came from watching Fantasia and Looney Tunes a bunch as a kid," explains Conan. “Of course I got into Ozzy because of Randy Rhoads's neo-classical style and then into Yngwie during my high school years. Ever since I've delved deeper by studying counterpoint and harmony with old theory books that have all the classic examples.”
It’s the many influences that have made Conan a guitar hero to many. He’s constantly covering solos from a diverse group of players on the Exmortus TV Youtube channel. Everyone from Boston’s Tom Scholz, Brian May and Jason Becker to Bach and Tchaikovsky, though out of all the classical composers, Beethoven gets the most love from Conan. Exmortus have done interpretations of his music on their past three albums, with Tempest, being of Piano Sonata No. 17 on The Sound of Steel.
2014’s Slave to the Sword was the album that took all their influences and forged them together the strongest. Touring nonstop in support of that LP with the likes of Dark Tranquillity, Krisiun, Destruction, Arsis and many others prepped them for a more mature sound on 2016’s Ride Forth. Constant touring with Amon Amarth, the aforementioned Children of Bodom, Abbath and this year’s run with Kreator and Sabaton proved too much for some of the members, as founding member and drummer, Mario Mortus as well as long time guitarist, David Rivera, stepped down to pursue other interests. Conan had been used to line-up changes, starting a band with preteens can see many of the members change as they get older, but this one seemed especially tough since Mortus was not just a member, but family.
Family was what started him on this path, but it was ultimately his family that told him to keep going. Mortus urged him not to give up and while speaking with his parents and uncle, they all told him he had gone too far to quit now, so he hunkered down in his studio and crafted his finest songs to date, enlisting Chase Becker (guitar) and Carlos Cruz (drums) of Warbringer to help record the tracks. That line-up did a run with Darkest Hour and Warbringer prior to recording The Sound of Steel to see how they all gelled together and needless to say, they all got a long great.
With The Sound of Steel, Conan once again revisited the team that made Slave... and Ride Forth such successes, working with producer Zack Ohren (Machine Head, Fallujah, Suffocation) at Sharkbite Studio to sonically capture the tracks while artist, Philip Lawvere (Kreator, Celtic Frost, Helloween), created the cover art.
Immediately after finishing the album, the band headed to Europe for a month-long tour with FL death metal legends, Obituary. They’ll come home, start up the US promo cycle and expect to be back out on the road, where their steel shines the brightest, this summer and throughout the next year.
DISCOGRAPHY
In Hatred's Flame - 2008
Beyond the Fall of Time - 2011
Slave to the Sword - 2014
Ride Forth - 2016
The Sound of Steel - 2018