This one's for all you doom lovers. With the Dead (comprised of former members of Cathedral and Electric Wizard) will drop their newest slab of low-slung, nihilistic doom, Love From With the Dead, tomorrow (Sept. 22) on Rise Above. It's the second record from the outfit and an improvement on what was an impressive debut, plunging further into unmitigated desolation.

Whatever you had lined up for the next hour, drop it all and drop out of life starting with the opening track "Isolation." A rumbling, impenetrable wall of distortion signals the beginning of a journey through complete agony as tormented riffs listlessly crawl forward. This is the theme fully embodied on the entirety of Love From With the Dead as frontman Lee Dorrian's expressive and charismatic voice is the only thing that showing any hint of life. If you still have a pulse by the time "CV1" rolls around and you've persevered through the tectonic destruction, you'll flatline along with the swells of noise by the time it concludes.

Get your copy of Love From With the Dead at Amazon or digitally through iTunes and make sure to follow the With the Dead Facebook page to stay up to date with everything the band is doing. Now, stream the album in its entirety in the player below and start reading our interview with Lee Dorrian.

With the Dead, Love From With the Dead - Exclusive Album Stream


Interview With Lee Dorrian


Ester Segarra
Ester Segarra
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Cathedral, despite being doom, were pretty lively and upbeat a fair amount of the time. With the Dead are far more cold and nihilistic in the approach. What pushed you in this direction?

I was actually, initially, against the "groovier" direction Cathedral took after Forest of Equilibrium. I wanted the band to stay slow and heavy, personally, though we did rein it back in more than several times over the years. With the Dead is a band that started from scratch with a clear vision, which was to be the heaviest band we possibly could. When you have that as a focal point, it’s something you find yourself committing to, whatever the consequences may be on your personal life, as well as the personal experiences you put back into it. As a result, the second album is heavier than the first, largely due to some personal experiences becoming heavier since the first.

Cathedral embraced many different styles and wasn’t afraid to take unexpected twists and turns along the way, whatever the consequences were artistically, as well as commercially, which is something I’m very proud of. With the Dead is a different beast altogether really.

Leo Smee (bass) and Alex Thomas (drums) have joined the band since the debut was released. What did they bring to the table on Love From With the Dead and how did you come to work with (ex-Cathedral member) Leo again?

It just feels like a proper band and a tighter unit with Alex and Leo involved. Alex is such a talented and powerful musician, he adds a whole new dynamic, intense dimension to the minimalistic approach of the band. He knows where to draw the line and when not to over indulge. Same goes for Leo; he’s naturally very musical, so holding back on playing can be a challenge, but [he] also displays a strong amount [of] controlled torment. Keeping things stripped down is very important for the feel of the band as it currently stands. Raw sounds and raw emotions are something I personally find lacking in a lot of music these days, whether "heavy" or otherwise.

Leo is still a close friend, even if we don’t see each other for a year or so. He lives in London, as do I, so it seemed obvious that I should ask him if he would like to be involved. Fortunately he was into it.

“Watching the Ward Go By” explores minimalist ambience and the very end of “CV1” is rife with noise. Do you think these sounds will be further explored in the future?

Maybe…. I think there are more options open to us for the next album, as opposed to the first album going into this. That is largely down to the aspects of this album that you mention. It’s early days though really and how the next album sounds also depends on what happens to us personally between now and then, in our personal lives. I’m not against the idea of more experimentation but we don’t want to go too far away from the cold nihilism you mentioned earlier on.

Going back to your early career, you went from Napalm Death to Cathedral - a huge change in style. You play in Septic Tank who are a bit faster (at least compared to With the Dead), but overall you’ve strayed from anything nearing the speeds of your grind past. Have you felt the spark to play faster music at any point since then?

Well it was a change in style in various ways going from Napalm to forming Cathedral but, to me, it was where I was going anyway. I was dedicated to that early hardcore scene and what came out of it and breaking speed records was very exciting and a great thing to be part of. But, for me, I thought it had a short lifespan and there was only so far you could go with it. I never stopped listening to the classics though, all through the years. Septic Tank actually does have some very fast tracks, as well as the more general Discharge kind of speed. We recorded our debut album earlier this year and it’s sounding pretty killer. Hopefully it will be out March / April time next year.

Has there been any discussion regarding a new Teeth of the Lions Rule the Divine album?

No.

Thanks for your time and your tireless service to doom!

And thank you for your valued support! It’s now 1:10AM, so I’m kind of knackered but getting tired of doom is not an option!

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