UN: Insect Song is the album that has to prove to people that Beyond the Embrace is capable of remaining consistent. Do you guys feel that you have improved on what you started with your last full length? I think it goes above and beyond, showing you guys coming into a more original style. Did you guys feel any pressure to outdo the last album?

Jeff: What's up. Jeff here from BTE, I think we have improved on what we started. I think "Insect Song" has a certain level of maturity and originality that our first album lacked. Not to say that "Against the Elements" was bad, but I think we were trying to figure out what all six of us felt was most comfortable. Its a very good progression from the first. We never felt pressure to change anything, aside some sound issuses with the first album, I still think it kicks ass. We just wrote music that we all loved and never stopped to think if it sounded like something else. We tried to play with our hearts verses our mind.

UN: Did the songwriting process differ at all this time around? With the first album you must have been playing those songs to death. You must have to bust your asses to write and learn new songs in a shorter amount of time. Did you guys adjust well to the different writing style?

Jeff: The song writting was a little different, the first album had alot of a Shawn and Oscar team songwriting. This album is more of an all three guitar players songwriting and ideas. We still had about two years to write this album so we really had no deadline.

UN: There seems to be a stronger rock feel on this album. The opening track Fleshengine Breakdown just reeks of Entombed. Can we expect the band to continue to explore this even more in the future? You had these elements of the debut, but they are much more prominent now.

Jeff: The stronger rock feel just happened. We weren't looking for it. I personally think its an amazing addition. It sets apart from the rest of the thousands of metal bands. Considering that Shawn is an important part to the song writing and he is heavley influenced by rock n roll, I see it as an important element in future songwriting.

UN: I'd also say that the new album has a much more raw production. The guitar sound is more crunchy and there seems to be a lot more mids in the sound. Did you guys have an ideal production in mind before heading into the studio? Is the what you guys have always imagined BTE sounding recorded?

Jeff: I like the raw production, being a fan of albums like "Kill em All", "Black Sabbath", and early Maiden & Priest I was very happy with the sound. I like the cleaner more midsey distortion sounds. We had no idea what we wanted all we knew was that it had to be better sounding then the first album. Ken did a good job with the guitar tones.

UN: What made you guys want to record with Ken? Seeing as though he is in a heavy band that also uses melody, he must have known right away what you guys were going for. Was he an easy producer to work with?

Jeff: I'm not sure why we went with him. Metal Blade set that up for us. Ken kind of had an idea what we were going for, he comes from a different school of thought, we are all old school metalheads that never left 1987. So at times there were some conflicting ideas but everything would end up working out.

UN: Do you think that doing pre-production on this album helped to make the final product even stronger? It seems like a great idea to record the songs and then criticize them and add things before committing them to tape permanently. Less bands would complain down the road if they took the time to do this.

Jeff: Yes it definatly was helpful. We shortend and cut out all lot of nonsense out of the songs, that we had not notice before.

UN: So you guys must have had a great deal more time in the studio when recording this album? Does the added time really allow you to bang things out correctly and not feel at all rushed? It must be hard to work if you know that you have a deadline. After all this is music, not a 9-5 job.

Jeff: It was wierd recording this album. I felt it was rushed toward the end. We started mid December and were done by Febuary. It was hard at times because we had to travel 2 hours to get to the studio. So we would go up a couple of hours at a time. We also had to deal with a few snow storms so that didn't help. Sometimes we would think we were done with a song and then sit back and realize we forgot a solo or a rhythm. Ken loved when that happed! ha ha ha!!!

UN: Can you explain the concept behind Insect Song? I'm assuming that the title came from the lyrics. Did you guys have any other ideas in mind before settling on Insect Song?

Jeff: The basic concept behind the album is pretty much how everyone likes to follow everyone else, never able to think or choose for themselves. We used the idea of insects as away of showing the mindless drewl of the majority of society. The title Insect Song was the only title we ever considered. We thought of it one day and it always stuck.

UN: I was also curious to ask how the entire concept wraps into the artwork. Travis Smith totally outdid himself with this cover! It's such a striking image. The logo fits in with it perfectly too. Doesn't hurt the impact of the painting.

Jeff: The artwork tries to show what I explained in the previous question but using a baby to kind of show that society pretty much breeds there children to think and act that way. Travis Smith did an amazing job, I think at first he had a hard time grasping the idea but he eventualy came through with a beutiful piece of art. You can thank Metal Blade for the new logo and placement, they also did a good job.

UN: Now that the album is out, will you guys be hitting the road more then you have in the past? You've already been out with Prong, which is an interesting tour package to say the least. Do you think a lot of people into Prong might not get what you guys are doing? Did you make a lot of new fans on that tour?

Jeff: We hope that we get to hit the road alot more, and I'm sure we will, we are ready to tour. The Prong tour was cool, it was a toss up some nights the crowd would be good but other nites the crowd seemed like they never heard of any other band besides Prong. It was very strange. The DFD fans were really open minded and would support us. Right after that tour we got on with the second leg of the Iced Earth tour. That was a much better match, the IE fans were nuts!!! they loved us. Hopefully we can tour with more band like Iced Earth, I think Nevermore would be a good match for us or even Megadeth I here they are hitting the road soon that would be amazing to get to tour with Megadeth.

Beyond The Embrace Official Website