UN: It has been a few years in between Dedicated to the Impure and They Called Me Mad. I was curious to ask if it was a matter of it taking a long time to get the album together or if the songwriting was a bit more meticulous this time around?

Patrick: By all means I loved Dedicated... but They Called Me Mad is just a better album in pretty much every way, shape, or form. I agree! Anyway, it was really both - I had a lot of problems with equipment, had to move a couple of times & I even damaged my fretting hand during a scuffle with a shoplifter at the record store where I worked! I also felt I had to up the ante composition wise in order to please myself, so everything took much longer than I intended.

UN: This album marks the bands first time using a real drummer. Would you agree that it makes a huge difference in the overall sound? The drumming style and sound totally reminds me of early Swedish death metal.

Patrick: That's what I wanted - that Fred Estby style! But I must beg your pardon sir, are you implying that my old drummer Mortificus was not "real"? How dare you! Even though I grew him in a test tube he was just as "real" as you my good fellow. He'd love to saw you in half for that remark!

UN: I mentioned in my review that I thought the production of the album was a bit on the raw side. Were you going for a more old school type sound and feel with the album? Even smaller bands in the death metal genre are becoming overproduced these days and it is sometimes tough to separate a drum machine from a pro-tools recorded drummer.

Patrick: I can't stand overproduced Death Metal with quantized, triggered drums. I've always emulated the strangely produced albums like early DEATH, CEMETARY or ROTTING CHRIST, where the production isn't really all that "good" but has a lot of character. The sound of SUNLIGHT STUDIO, TICO TICO or UNISOUND are much more appealing to me than what comes out of Erik Rutan's studio!

UN: The majority of the songs on the album are around the two minute mark. Was it a conscious decision to try to keep the songs succinct and keep the album moving quickly? There seems to be absolutely no filler in a Crypticus song.

Patrick: That's part of the plan. If I get bored playing something I'm pretty sure you'd be bored listening to it, so I'll cut it out. Every now & again I'll write a longer song, but it usually will contain enough riffs for 3 standard songs!

UN: Another thing that I noticed about the album is that is seems to be one big piece of music rather than individual songs. By that I mean that the pauses in between the songs are almost non-existent and the songs flow together well incredibly. Was this something you set out to accomplish or am I reading too deeply into things here?

Patrick: No sir, you've been dead-on about everything! I was really blown away the first time I heard SLAYER - there were no pauses & it just kept building up in intensity until the album was done. I loved that & always wondered why more heavy bands haven't used that. I am very careful in sequencing my songs to make sure they can each flow into the next in such a way that the pauses become unnecessary. I've even re-written the endings songs to be more complimentary to the beginnings of the next.

UN: I read in an interview that you said that Rush was an influence on the new album. I was definitely surprised to see that you were a fan of Rush. Being Canadian myself, there are tons of people that hate Rush, but I think they are a fantastic band. In what way would you say they influenced the new album if even minutely?

Patrick: I love RUSH, especially "2112", "A FAREWELL TO KINGS" and "HEMISPHERES" when they were at their "nerdiest", dressed as wizards & writing crazy Prog Rock about sci-fi & fantasy. That stuff is just the best! Though I don't possess even one hundredth of the talent they do, I'd like CRYPTICUS to be the Death Metal equivalent of that: obsessive musical nerdiness about horror, sci-fi & the occult. The more technical aspect of "THEY CALLED ME MAD" can all be attributed to their influence. RUSH fans might also recognize a certain riff in the song "Unnatural Science". (The title alone should be a huge clue!)

UN: While there is definitely a horrific vibe to the music, a horror movie influence isn't quite as overt with Crypticus as it is with many of the horror influenced bands. Do you draw upon specific films for inspiration for lyrics or do you prefer to construct your own creepy tales?

Patrick: I've gotten sick of hearing the same samples from the same five horror movies on the thousandth song written about zombies! I'm much more interested in creating new tales of terror with previously unknown monsters. I have notebooks with sketches & descriptions of the stuff in the songs. So while "Necroborg" "Plasmic Eaters", "Mortificus" & "Crypticus" might just sound like cool titles, I assure you they are beings with back stories.

UN: Many of the people in bands on Razorback right now seem to have a lot of side bands in the works right now. I noticed that you were in Tombstones. What can you tell us about the band? Any releases or a demo in the works yet? Are you involved in any other projects?

Patrick: TOMBSTONES is my only other project at the moment. It's Stevo from the legendary IMPETIGO on vocals, Wayne from DECREPITAPH on drums & I'm doing the guitar, bass & production duties. So far it sounds amazing & is very different from our regular bands! Stylistically it's early Death Metal like DECEASED, the first DEATH album or "HELL AWAITS" era SLAYER. The debut album "Not for the Squeamish" is in the works & will be out later this year on RAZORBACK RECORDS!

UN: They Called Me Mad marks your second album on Razorback Records. Do you feel like they are the perfect home for the band? They seem to be one of the few labels still operating on a more old school level and the quality of releases is always ridiculously consistency.

Patrick: RAZORBACK has no interest in trends or big money. They only release albums that they like, which is super rare to find these days! I consider them to be the CRITERION of underground Death Metal - every release is a passion project! I plan to work with them as long as they'll have me.

UN: Crypticus is mainly a studio project. Have you ever given any thought to putting together a full line-up and playing shows?

Patrick: Folks keep asking me to, but I'm really just a studio nerd! Maybe some day - I already have enough collaborators to do a live show, but for now I'm not really interested.

UN: Colorado has always had a fairly healthy death metal scene. Do you pay much attention to what is going on with newer bands in the state? Any older bands that people might have missed out on that you think they should look into from the state?

Patrick: These days the scene here mainly consists of Metalcore & bandwagon Thrashers, but there are quite a few great bands around: ENEMY REIGN, DEADSPEAK, MARTIDDEN, SATAN'S HOST, TORRID FLESH, SLEDGEHAMMER AUTOPSY, NIGHTBRINGER, SERPENTINAM, DETHRONED & of course, CEPHALIC CARNAGE.

http://www.myspace.com/crypticus