Rockezine.com interview with Paths Of Possession on Jan 29, 2006

with Randy Butman on Jan 29, 2006

This interview with Paths Of Possession was done a while ago but got lost somewhere on the line. Nevertheless, here it is.
		Hi Randy, can you introduce Paths Of Possession for us a bit? Sure, Paths was formed in 99 and we did our first release Legacy in Ashes in 2000, we paid for it ourselves and couldn`t really afford to make alot of copies, in 02 we got George and we recorded a splt cd with Floridas Dark Faith. after that we had a few member changes and we signed with Metal Blade and we just released our first official release Promises in Blood.
		How did George end up as the singer of Paths Of Possession? About a year after the Legacy release Paths was pretty much over, and I had joined with Withered Earth and was planning to move to New York to play with them. A couple of the Paths guys were doing something different and Spattergod Records was wanting to put it on a split disc with Dark Faith. I was jamming with them in the meantime and their singer moved, so I called George and asked him if he wanted to do it. Me and George have been friends for a while and he always liked what we did, so he said yes. then the last Paths member joined up and now it was everyone in Paths with George singing instead of me. so we decided to keep Paths alive and record under that name. Withered Earth broke up and I stayed here. I was alot better off because I have alot of history with this band and was happy to see it continue.
		In the past Paths Of Possession had another “star” in its ranks: former Morbid Angel guitarist Richard Brunelle. The bio only stats that he was replaced, this implies that he was kicked out, why was that? Well, it was not exactly like that. Richard was having alot of personal problems in his life that he was dealing with. the band was becoming a big burden to him. and he and the band were starting to suffer because of it. So we mutually agreed that it was best if we went our seperate ways. I`m not sure what he`s doing now but we all wish him the best.
		How are the reactions towards “Promises In Blood” so far? About 90% of everything has been great. Alot of people are interested in it. we have heard a couple of bad things but not that much really. we have been trying to let everyone know that this does not sound anyhting like Cannibal Corpse, so people are being real open with it so far.
		“Promises In Blood” has a very distinctive sound I think. On the one hand its old school death metal but on the other heavy/thrash metal with a lot of melodic touches to it. Who came up with this musical direction or did it just evolve? Yeah, it was kind of an accident. when I first got together with Rich and Jay and we were writing songs, we all had different writing styles and influences. me and Jay, both of us are big Maiden fans, we wanted to incorperate more harmonies and melodics, while Rich would write completely different. but we would write the songs together and we all have our parts in there, so it gets a wierd mix. I like it like that though, and writing with Jack is the same way, he really adds alot to this band.
		Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal, Morbid Angel) produced he album. Why did you choose him as he is more known as an extreme death metal producer? We wanted to work with Erik because he is an awesome producer and he knows metal, he has produced the more extreme shit, but he is into alot of other shit as well. He knew what sound we wanted and he got it. Erik really was like a member of the band, he would push us real hard. It was great working with him and I hope that we can do it again next album.
		How did you end up with Kris Verwimp? I think he (once again) did a marvelous job on the cover painting but how did you get in contact with him? there was a Polish label, Still Dead, that was going to re-release the Legacy album a few years ago and he actually got Verwimp to do the art for it, we saw it and thought it was amazing. After that we contacted him and told him that we were going to record an album and we wanted him to do all the art and layouts for it. so i talked to him through email for a while because it took so long for this album to come out. but he did an amazing job, and we hope to work with him on the next album.
		Are you aware of the fact that there is also a Swedish band by the name of Spawn Of Possession? Do you think this can cause some problems when people mix those up? I have heard of them, i dont think there will be any problems from it though. hopefully no one will mix it up. there are alot of bands that have similar names....but that is pretty close isnt it? I used to be in a death/thrash band called Silhaven, which was a made-up word from our drummer....and a year or so later we learned of a band called Will Haven. I just cant win...haha
		We all know George is before everything else the singer of Cannibal Corpse. Will this be a problem when touring with Paths Of Possession? Does he have enough spare time now that here is also a new CC album coming up? We are trying to go around their schedule, 2006 will be hard because their album comes out and they will be touring alot for it, but we are going to try to do a full US tour in febuary, before their album, and then we hope to do some fests in Europe next summer, and then do a full Euopean tour later in 06. we will see what happens.
		Did it came it as a surprise to you that you were offered a deal with Metal Blade? When we did the split, George gave a copy of it to Brian at Metal Blade and told him that we wanted to do a full length. Brian said that they wanted to put it out, but it took a long time to happen because we had the member switch with Jack and with Nick, plus Cannibal was touring in support of The Wretched Spawn. but when everything started to happen, and we got the contract, it really started to sink in. I was pretty exited.
		Is any of the other band members active in another band or is Paths a full time endeavor? Paths takes up all of my time definately, but our drummer Nick has just started drumming with Dark Faith a couple of months ago and he also plays with another band called Evisorator.
		In which band do you like George’s voice best. The way he sings in CC or in Paths Of Possession? I think George has a great metal voice. he is very brutal in Cannibal and he sings alot more midranged with Paths. I can`t say which way I like better but I don`t think that if he sung with us like he does with them, that it would sound right. and the other way too. Cannibal wouldn`t sound the same with George singing this way with them.
		What are the changes of Paths opening for CC on a world tour? I mean, you’re both on the same label and all. It`s funny because I tried really hard to tour with Cannibal before George was doing vocals with us. but unfortunately i don`t think that it will happen, we would love to , but I don`t think George wants to do two shows a night. but there is a good possibility that we will do some festivals together.
		If offered, would you accept an opening slot for CC? Definately, I have always wanted to tour with Cannibal, they are all great guys, and they are a killer band. it would definately be an honor.
		What does the future holds for Paths Of Possession? Or are you just looking at it one album at a time? We are writing new material now and hopefully we will be in the studio about this time next year. we are going to shoot a video for "Bleed the Meek" in December, so we will see how that turns out. other than that ...we just want to get on the road and play some shows.
		Randy,thanks for answering these few questions. Anything else left to say? thanks for the interview, anyone who gets this album, let us know what you think on the forum at www.pathsofpossession.com also there is a free download for "Bleed the Meek" at www.metalblade.com , check it out, and we will see you in 2006.
		(Roy van den Brink)