Art Cruz, drummer for the metal band Winds of Plague, has been with the outfit for about a year and a half. With the group's new album "The Great Stone War," his first with the band, he became a full contributor to the group's sound, as did all of the members.
It is a concept album that looks at an Armageddon scenario. The group brings "The Great Stone War" to Utah for the first time on Wednesday, though it is not the band's first trip to Utah.
"I know the band has been out there before and done really well," said Cruz. "And I was there once. It's a long story not worth telling here, but my first band got stuck in Provo for about a week." He laughed. "I hope this trip is a little less weird than that trip was."
Although lead singer/primary songwriter Johnny Plague came up with the concept of the album, Cruz said, everyone in the band was involved with the writing. They wrote the lion's share of it on the Atticus Metal Tour of '08.
Some artists find it difficult to write on tour, but not so Winds of Plague, said Cruz.
"It actually brought us tighter together, in the way everyone was involved," said Cruz. "I mean, you are stuck together in a bus. You almost have to do something together, so we did something creative instead of destructive. It was definitely a good experience."
Cruz said Johnny Plague had talked to them about wanting to do a concept album this time out, to actively pursue it as a narrative.
In Plague's dystopian vision, World War III won't be fought with technological prowess, but rather, with tools straight out of the Stone Age.
"There are really no real characters," said Cruz. "But there are two armies that might be looked at almost as characters. Problems just keep getting worse as the story goes on. It's really a thoughtful work. I like to tell people that even if this isn't their kind of music, they should read the words. But the music goes well with the lyrics. It sounds like it is supposed to."
Cruz said Plague gave them precise ideas to work with, so far as building the melodies.
"He would guide us -- 'Hey Nick, I want this to sound like the priest coming into church,' or 'There is a storm outside, make that part of the sound.' The way he explained it to all of us made it easy and rewarding to write."
Not death
Winds of Plague is often labeled death metal. But Cruz sees several differences in the band's music and what is commonly considered death metal. Along with growling vocals, complex melodic and tempo structures, death metal incorporates tuned-down, heavily distorted guitars.
The band's music does not fit that mold, said Cruz.
"Don't get me wrong. We are all fans of death metal. We have some aspects of the genre. But I want to say we are deep orchestral-based metal.
"For one thing, the tuning we use is just standard E tuning, a fairly bright sound. People will say to us, 'Man, that sounds so heavy,' but it is more the way we play it than any tuning or manipulation. Maybe we were more like that at one point, but we've created our own sound. Musically, and in many aspects, in fact, we have matured. I think the music and the writing on this album shows this."
PREVIEW
- WHO: Winds of Plague
- WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Wednesday
- WHERE: In the Venue, 219 S. 600 West, Salt Lake City. This show has been moved from Layton; tickets will be honored or refunded at point of purchase
- TICKETS: $15.50/advance, $18.50 day of, available from Smith's Tix, (800) 888-TIXX
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