Photo courtesy of Coal Poet Media
Bristol, UK melodic heavy metal quintet, RXPTRS, emerged this year emanating a vibrant spirit on their impassioned full-length, Living Without Death’s Permission. On their latest Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records release, RXPTRS combines explosive power, gripping choruses, and fiery melodicism, into 10 dynamic, heartfelt songs, staying true to who they are every step of the way.
On Living Without Death’s Permission, RXPTRS utilizes musical elements that run the entire spectrum of rock music and beyond, making it a point not to limit their creative potential.
A lot of the band’s animated energy radiates from vocalist Simon Roach, who doesn’t shy away from wearing his heart on his sleeve. Roach injects about as much personal emotion into his lyrics, as boisterous character into his vocals, creating an exhilarating combination for listeners to absorb.
To Roach, “Singing is definitely the most gratifying way of unleashing emotions. It’s a physical and mental release, so it’s always a great feeling, even if it’s sadness or anger that’s being expelled…it can be super therapeutic.”
The journey of developing and finding his voice began at a young age, and grew naturally from there. “I found my love for singing very early on in life. I loved drama as a kid, in primary school. Some of my earliest memories were in the car with my mum, belting out old school ballads from Bon Jovi, Guns N’ Roses and Def Leppard. I was probably awful, but I loved yelling out with her on those road trips,” Roach recalls.
He continues, “In high school I started a band, and that’s where I really began to feel the passion for the stage. It just grew from there.”
Fast forwarding to 2018, Roach and four other friends joined forces to form RXPTRS. The members came together with plenty of experience from various music projects prior, however, this time around something different clicked. The band’s chemistry proved to be something far stronger than past music endeavors.
“Having a similar energy and vision really, really helps. We started off this project with the (mindset being) that the sky’s the limit. If one person doesn’t have the same vision, the whole thing can come off the track. When you have that, everything else comes easier. You can throw around ideas for songs more confidently, knowing that everyone is on the same page. That makes the songwriting process so much smoother.”
For their first couple years as a band, RXPTRS focused on playing live shows and touring, developing a strong feel for the stage early on.
“Road testing new ideas has always been a huge part of songwriting for us. We took raw ideas of songs out on tour and realized what worked and what could be altered in real time. If a section went off, or if something felt like it was lagging, we could cut things out, extend sections or leave things as they were,” explains Roach.
“We got a feel of who we were, what we wanted to achieve with a song, and felt people’s reactions to the tracks.”
This approach to the band’s songwriting not only accelerated their ability to play together so tightly, but allowed the band to craft songs that strike with a bigger impact. With that being said, the songs on Living Without Death’s Permission undoubtedly hit hard.
The band introduces the album with robust power in “Burning Pages,” and incorporates emotive melodies and rich choruses with both “Collapse” and “The Frail.” Further, the band demonstrates their ability to be more explosive in “Gutterflies,” while their more distinct songwriting qualities come to the forefront in “The Death Rattle.”
“I loved the process of bringing the songs together and structuring the album. There’s so much going on in the album, it felt like curating it was super important. We wrote interludes and fades to help the entire thing flow as one piece,” explains Roach.
“For this record, I got to broaden my horizons with writing, as I’ve never written as big of a body of work. Writing a full spectrum of songs was exciting. I got to push some boundaries, I wrote a section specifically for a choir and managed to pull it off (laughs), which was super fun.”
With each member contributing their own unique personality to the band, Roach humorously describes his personal flavor as “sassy, maybe spicy.”
He continues, “I like dramatic and expressive music. Two of my favorite artists are Rob Zombie and Mike Patton. I love what Rob Zombie can do artistically, through audio and visual aspects. Mike Patton is just an encyclopedia of sound, so I always have heroes like that in the back of my mind, and I’ll never shy away from bringing some dramatic flare to the table.”
Through their strong, individual personalities is where RXPTRS developed their unique identity. That, plus the release of a promising single, are what caught the attention of Blacklight Media-partner label of Metal Blade Records-to whom RXPTRS joined forces with for the release of the new album.
“We actually came together during the pandemic. We released a song called ‘You, Me and the Devil Make Three’ during the first lockdown in the UK. That song made its way all over the internet and to the label,” Roach recalls. “So when we sent out a few unreleased tracks of a similar ilk to them, we set up some zoom calls and chatted about our plans for the future, and making the album, the rest is history!”
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Watch the video for “The Frail” here: