Sunday 24 March 2019

Interview: In the Fire



Ryan Moll is a man behind the blackened death metal project In the Fire who back in February  launched a debut album "Volatile Beings," available from Bandcamp. In an interview for Metal Horizons, Moll speaks about the release, touring, inspiration, and more.

Alright, first thing is first. Before we dive into all the music stuff, how's life? 

Life is fucking fantastic. 

Speaking of new music, you have an album. What can people expect from “Volatile Beings”? 

Diversity. These songs were never written with any specific sub-genre in mind. Whatever I felt worked for the dynamics of the song is what was used. I try to keep an open mind when writing, but I felt like the flow was for the most part musically pretty natural. The vocals were the real challenge for me but I'm pleased with how it all turned out. 

What was it like working on the album? 

At times it was lonely. I missed the camaraderie of writing with a band for this album that I've had in the past. There are many positives and negatives for sure but not having other people there to bounce ideas off can be tedious and at times uncertain. I had to be in the right mindset for it. It was a lot of hard work also having to perform so much on my own, so making sure I had everything down thoroughly was challenging in itself. 



Are there any touring plans in support to “Volatile Beings”? 

At the moment there is not. Initially this was just something I wanted to put out there that consisted of a bunch of song ideas that I’ve wanted to bring to light for some time. It has however more recently evolved into a live band but that is still in the works. I don’t see us playing too many lengthy tours though. Probably most likely small strings of shows here and there but hey you never know. Maybe someday we'll go on tour with Def Leppard! 

While we are on the subject of touring, what countries would you love to tour? 

Would definitely love to go to Japan. I’ve been over there once before for a small string of shows with Total Fucking Destruction and I would love to go back. Its an amazing country and I had a fucking blast over there. Other than that I’d imagine Australia would also probably be pretty rad. They seem like a rowdy bunch. They also have some of the weirdest animals on the planet which being an animal lover is an intriguing aspect of it as well. 

Who and what inspires you the most? 

Musically a number of things. But probably my deepest rooted influence in heavy music would have to be King Diamond and Mercyful Fate. I first got into King in junior high school I think when my cousins turned me on to his music. From there I discovered Mercyful Fate as well. I’ve been listening to heavy metal and hard rock since I was in kindergarten and I always found one band to latch on to here and there but with KD and MF it was something deeper. It changed the way I listen to music in general. I had never heard anything like it. It was dark, complex musically, and it just pulled me in. I would be foolish to say that hasn’t been a heavy influence in my writing at times. 

As far as what inspires me? Anything and everything going on around me. It doesn’t take much. I’m always looking to write and play. Its therapeutic. Maybe this sounds cliché but its true. If I did not play music I would most certainly be dead or locked up. There are so many countless ways that my life could’ve gone really bad. And most of them would’ve been no one elses fault but my own. If I did not have this as something to occupy myself I have no idea where I could’ve possibly ended up. But I can say with quite certainty that it most likely would not have been anywhere good. 


What other genres of music do you listen to? Have any of the other genres you listen to had any impact on your playing? 

Over the years what I listen to and what I play and write have started to become two separate things. Its hard for me sometimes to get into newer heavy bands because I’m so in it already. I’ve been playing for so long that I find myself subconsciously critiquing it and comparing it to what I might do rather than just fucking enjoying it whether it be not good enough to meet mystandards or so fucking good that it just make me mad. Haha. Its annoying and something I’m trying to get past because I don’t think it’s a good thing and I want to continue to be able to enjoy new things coming out of the genre of the music that I grew up listening to. But I often find myselflistening to a lot of 80’s synth pop, early 90’s indie rock, or 80’s hard rock (hair metal) bands. Ironically, the things that I listen to that are the most polar opposite to heavy music are the things that often inspire me to write heavy music the most. I think its honestly been like that for a while now and its been rather auspicious in terms of productivity. I think some of the best and most unique ideas that I’ve ever written have come from this so I continue to roll with it. 

I really appreciate you giving us your time today. Is there anything else you would like to tell us and the fans before we wrap things up? 

Yes. I still have another 7 songs that I have not yet released featuring Mike Heller (Malignancy, Fear Factory, Azure Emote) on drums and also guest solo from Steve Jansson (Crypt Sermon, Daeva). I decided it would be better to keep that as a separate release. I plan to put that out sometime early next year so there is already more to come from In The Fire and it is some ripping shit! So be on the lookout for it early 2020!!!

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