After the sonic annihilation that was their 2018 debut Errorzone, Vein.fm has steadily turned into a metallic hardcore powerhouse. Now nearly four years later, the band’s virtuosic heavy songwriting has been put to the test with their sophomore album, This World is Going to Ruin You (via Closed Casket Activities). While it’s often difficult to assess both the quality and trajectory of a band solely off a debut record, Vein.fm has time and again felt like an exception. The sheer visceral heaviness the band delivers in the studio and through their live performance has brought them only genuine hype and praise. Consequentially, this has made the follow up to 2018’s Errorzone feel like a pivotal moment for the band’s future and their place in the heavy music scene.
With This World is Going to Ruin You, it’s safe to say Vein.fm has seemingly one upped their musicianship and determination as band. The ambition of this record is easily heard and felt from the tightly woven transitions to the climatic finale that is “Funeral Sound,” which stands as one of the band’s most sonically unique tracks to date. However, the array of dynamics and cinematic-like motifs on This World is Going to Ruin You is what elevates it from its predecessor — the track order is every bit as intentional as the satisfyingly dissonant guitar riffs and groove changes. It’s clear Vein.fm wanted to make an album that listeners could consistently comeback to and dissect for years to come. And while Vein.fm manage to do so from purely a songwriting and performance standpoint, Will Putney’s production work further highlights the timeless nuances of this album.
The sheer level of colossal heaviness Vein.fm is able to maintain whilst keeping a very grounded tone, is quite possibly their biggest feat. Often is heavy songwriting approached as a gimmick or arbitrary tool. More often, when bands get the ‘heavy’ moments right there’s a sonic disconnect from these moments feeling sensible within a band’s grounded identity. Vein.fm are one of the few bands who’s approach to heavy songwriting is balanced, consistently impactful, and moreover genuine. This World is Going to Ruin You solidifies Vein.fm as one of the most important and exciting heavy music acts of this decade
Diving into the details of their Sophomore release, Vein.fm vocalist Anthony DiDio shares his thoughts and experiences behind the new record, This World is Going to Ruin You.
Was there a clear vision before going into the writing-recording process for this sophomore album? Or did things take flight once you were in the studio with Will Putney?
Well I think we had a clear vision before hand, and I think things really started to take fight when we hit our stride writing at home. There was definitely a clear vision going in before we went to Will. Will is always there to help give us criticism on the songs and make decisions based on what’s going to be best for each song, but there was definitely a clear vision before going there.
Having worked with Putney on your debut record as well, did things go pretty seamlessly working on this second record together? It’s since been revealed that you all locked yourselves in the studio throughout the recording process.
Yeah I mean the fact we had already made one record with Will by the time we were finishing the first record I feel like we all kind of understood each other as musicians and as people, and how to communicate and work together. It was a great vibe. So going into it this time it was kind of like picking up where it left off, and this time around he already knew how to work with us and who we were, and how to get the best out of us. After crafting one Vein.fm record and us coming in with a new vision and a new idea for this one, he had an even better understanding of how to make it come to life so it definitely helped a lot.
There’s certainly a cinematic aspect that comes across when listening to this record. Was that a very intended aesthetic to put on the album? Are you all lovers of film, specifically horror, which seems to have an influence?
Yeah, yes to all of those things, I think that even with all of our music I feel like we approach it from a cinematic perspective, and you can hear that in the way that the album progresses and with the dynamics of the album. And we’re all horror lovers yes and things like visuals, especially horror. Visuals like that can really help inform the music, even if it’s like you said ‘it sounds cinematic’ — even though you’re not looking at anything, you know you’re listening to it and you’re visualizing things. It’s also kind of the reverse sometimes where the inspiration for the music comes from, visuals can inspire music and vice versa. We definitely land on those things and I think this album, since it has more dynamics, it definitely feels even more cinematic than Errorzone which tends to be one speed nearly throughout the whole album. In [This World Is Going To Ruin You], the extreme moments are more extreme and the moments of relief are there, and I see it as a movie just as much as you do when I listen to it.
How did the track Funeral Sound come together? It’s certainly one of the most unique tracks on the record and in your entire catalogue.
It was interesting, I had a demo of it and then we jammed it as a band and wrote the second half and finished that. Once we brought it into the studio the front half of it changed a lot, and there was a lot more going on initially in the first half of the song and it ended up getting stripped down a bit. One thing lead to another thing to another thing, but it was just a lot of weird situations of f**king with the song. And then the voicemail in the middle and the ending, that was already initially there but it kind of took flight naturally. I put together the first half and I remember when I was putting it together it was like “ah, it makes perfect sense to do this here.” And the end half of the song with the sing along chant is like one of the oldest parts of the album that was written, so it was like a full circle moment being able to make that song real.
Do you see Vein.fm doing more long formatted songs in the future, similar to “Funeral Sound?”
Absolutely, it’s something we’ve been talking about and it’s something that we definitely all want to do. I don’t want to freak anyone out in saying that, or think we’re going to change the whole sound of our band, but I think that’s a whole other side of our band that we haven’t fully explored and I think we’re really ready to. We’re going to definitely be doing more s**t like that on future releases and hopefully even live, just whenever we get around to it and whenever it makes sense. We’re still going to be the same band but we definitely want to tap into that side of it, and you can hear that on “Wavery” and “Wherever You Are.” That’s another thing that [Errorzone] didn’t really have as much of, there was moments like “Anesthesia” which was drums, samples, and bass, but I think this time around it shows the instrumental side of Vein.fm a lot better.
There are a number of features on this record from Thursday vocalist Geoff Rickly to BONES. How did these features all come together?
Yeah well we played some show’s with Thursday and we also played some shows with Jeromes Dream [who’s also featured on the record], so we had already met them and talked to them. They’re amazing people and obviously big influences and heroes of ours, and BONES is a big influence to us as well even though it’s a different kind of music. Matt [Wood] was mainly the one who had brought up the idea of that, and we all thought it would be sick so we hit them up and they did it all remotely and it was cool. Part of it too was like, it’s almost like these guest spots serve a purpose on each song and they represent like three of our biggest influences as a band in general. Putting them on there was a big deal for that as well.
Given how successful the first record was, did you all as a band feel any kind of pressure with this sophomore record? Or was that not at all on your minds?
Yes and no. There’s a ton of pressure because I think it’s kind of a given that with most bands when you have your first record you have your whole life to write the first one, and then you have to follow up the second one quickly and then it’s like ‘can you do it again?’ I think that there was obviously pressure and expectation but it more came from fulfilling the goal that we already had, because we did have a goal in mind. It was just a matter of writing the right songs and grinding that out, and fitting all of the pieces together. I think even before Errorzone came out we were already tapping into this record. As far as pressure goes, we didn’t just write Errorzone and go “oh my god, well I hope we can do it again.” There’s definitely a lot of pressure at times but we just kept grinding through it, and I think the end result is exactly what it was supposed to be.
