Interview with Guitarist and Vocals Gabriel Alves of Behind the Horror (Brazil)

July 29, 2020

Interview with Guitarist and Vocals Gabriel Alves of Behind the Horror (Brazil)

By Mick Michaels

COSMICK VIEW: Hello, Gabriel! Welcome to TheCosmick View. Thank you for taking some time out of your day to chat with me, it's greatly appreciated.

CV: Are there any limitations to being a two piece Metal band in your opinion? Is Behind the Horror able to compete musically with bands that have what's more commonly considered a full member compliment or does the band's real strength lie within the connection shared for one another as brothers and for the music?
Gabriel Alves: Short answer: Yes, we can bring hell! We thought a lot about this before we made this decision and we have never regretted it. We got so much trouble and lost so much energy and resources trying to carry a third wheel that we just got tired and just decided that would be much easier to make a duo happen than find a bassist. And today this is not something unusual, bands like Animals As Leaders and Ring Of Saturn, are doing the same and they’re just fine but the band who really inspired us to take this leap of fate on the duo thing was the Brazilian band TEST. Also my brother and I have a great connection up on stage…and production wise, drums and guitar have always been the core of our music. There are some technicalities that I would love to talk about but next time.

CV: With the band now residing in New Jersey, how would you compare the music scene as a whole in Brazil to that of the US? Is Metal view the same way? Are there differences?
GA: On the underground/local level I must say it is the same thing, and that is great! We came from central Brazil and Metal/Rock is not a popular thing there…we’re always the outcasts but even so we made a great movement there…check out Anapolis Metal and you will see what I’m talking about. In the US Rock is part of the culture, it’s something nobody cares if you’re a “rocker” or not. And I think the biggest difference is that in Goias where we were living, we didn’t get so many great bands touring…even smaller acts are something rare, so we basically made our great bands there.

CV: How would you define Behind the Horror's unique take on the classic sounds of bands such as Metallica, Dream Theater and Death? How has such influences inspired the band's style and musical evolution?
GA: Our music influences go much further than those bands, but when somebody asks what we sound like that’s the three bands that come to my head. Metallica represents the beginnings…I think at some point we all started with Metallica…“Kill’em All” was the album that made us start to look into Thrash Metal and was when we started to riff and scream on the mics. Dream Theater represents the change of our musical concepts…we are always trying to evolve our instrument skills and musicality and when I first listened to “A Change Of Seasons” I just got amazed of what a Metal band could be in that way. We all got our beginnings and changes, but with Death it was really different, it was certainly the most important band in our career…our first Death album was “Symbolic” and that album just showed me what I was looking to be as a guitar and vocalist. Also, it was the band that brought us more than just musical inspiration…we never cared about lyric and context of the songs but with the power of change they have, and all those lyrics and personal history with Chuck really inspired us to do what we’ve been doing do far.

CV: Do you see yourselves as warriors? Is there a battle to fight and war to be won? If so, how would you describe the epic adventure so far from your point of view?
GA: Totally…we’re fighting every day to make all the things we do and it hasn’t been easy. I don’t think there’s something to win but definitely to lose is the battle of surviving. We work really hard every day and every day is lion to be killed. We crossed miles and miles pursuing our dreams even though we deal with tons of misfortunes during our journey and yet we still here, standing and fighting.

To describe the whole adventure I would say it’s been a tough journey…we had doom, good times, lots of bad times and times when we didn’t get what we were looking for… YET! But you’ll never know if you never try for it.

CV: Behind the Horror's first full length album, "Burn Up This Truth," will be releasing in August. The album was essentially 10 years in the making. Tell us a little bit about the record. What can listeners expect to hear...does the album have a central theme or tell a particular story?
GA: We started to make the first songs when we were in Brazil playing local shows and never thought about make an album, at that time it was something kinda hard to do…so we were just making music for ourselves, soul to soul. Every song marks an important part of our lives…as we made them really slowly; all the songs carry deep feeling and stories about what we were doing at the time. In all those songs we try to pass that experience…mixing socio-politics, psychological themes and videogames…we kinda describe what was the whole journey we had to go here. We have hours of stories about each song but, for sure you guys can expect an amazing and deep experience from the start to beginning.

CV: If asked, how would you describe “Burn Up This Truth” to someone who has never heard Behind the Horror? What would be three words you would use in that description?
GA: Metal For Real

CV: The massively popular world of gaming has also had a major influence on the band's writing style. Games such as "Magic: The Gathering" and "World of Witchcraft" have played a major role in the lyrical content and storyline narratives. What is it about these particular games that have had such an impact on you personally that they found their way into the band's music approach?
GA: For some people books and movies are their fountain of inspiration, for us its games. Magic the Gathering was always an immersive and rich game in terms of lore with tons of conflicts and syncretism with real life events, such as the Warcraft franchise where you can live through all those stories and events with your character. But our list of inspiring games goes from the old arcade games such as Mortal Kombat, tabletop RPGs like Vampire The Mascaraed and Dungeons and Dragons, to Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Fatal Frame and a lot of other franchises.

CV: How has the COVID pandemic affected Behind the Horror's road to glory? Has a shift in priority as to what truly is essential to the band's career taken place or has it been business as usual for you?
GA: It has been a total bummer. We had so many great things planned for this year. Album release with a tour around the area, we got selected to play on the Battle Of The Bands NY for the Wacken Festival, we lost our studio that we recently had setup, and it’s all gone for now. We are still gonna release the album but totally online, and the shows are probably gonna be live stream. But the biggest impact was in our personal lives, as contactors, we kinda lost most of our jobs and all of our savings to invest in the band had to be turned into food and rent. But so far we’re all healthy and the jobs are coming back and the new album is coming!

CV: Regardless of the differing beliefs and opinions related to the COVID pandemic, it has greatly affected us all. For artists, a livelihood of any kind has been ultimately altered and for many, has come to a complete halt, unfortunately. Do you see the music industry being forced to make a radical change just to maintain its relativity in what’s now becoming a "new norm?"
GA: Well I must say, we’ve been playing empty venues wayyyy before it was cool (haha). I mean we’re not professionals so we’re just looking forward to things getting back to normal as soon as possible. We don’t believe that this “new norm” thing is really gonna happen…at least if it is something that’s enforced…people are already acting like there’s nothing going on, and masks and all other preventive measures are only in course because of that law enforcement. But in terms of the music industry, everything is the same as it was before…we got a boom on the digital activities but nothing actually new under the sun. We just miss the stages.

CV: In addition to the new albums upcoming release, what more can fans expect to see coming from Behind the Horror's in the second half of 2020?
GA: We would love to be touring this year but due to the whole thing going on with the world, we will be working on more videos for our Youtube channel; play playthrough videos, music videos, lyric videos, reaction videos…all that kind of stuff. But for sure we will be showing our new album to most people as we can!

CV: Thank you again Gabriel for spending some time talking and sharing with our readers. It was a pleasure. I wish you all the best and continued success.
GA: Thank you so much for this opportunity to talk about our projects, we really enjoyed answering these questions and we’re looking forward to getting in touch again! Soon we will release a video answering these questions on camera…so as soon as we can we’ll send it over. Thank you so much and keep up the amazing job!

Check out Behind the Horror at:
Official: https://behindthehorror.net/
Red Bubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/behindthehorror/shop
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BehindTheHorror
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/behindthehorror/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5hMpNTz1WBNyguj8Hcwvgj?si=_5pdnHFhTnO0PklEjZzZnQ

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My name is Mick Michaels...I'm an artist, music fan, songwriter, producer, dreamer and guitarist for the traditional Heavy Metal band Corners of Sanctuary. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me; what I couldn't say in speech, I was able to do with the written word. Writing has given me a voice and a way for me to create on a multitude of platforms including music and song, articles, independent screenplays, books and now, artist interviews. The Cosmick View is an opportunity to raise the bar and showcase artists in a positive and inspirational light. For me, it's another out-of-this-world adventure.