We chatted to the amazing Beyond Salvation the other week about their debut album, their live schedule and the state of the scene. Check it all out below!

Your album was released just over a week ago now [at the time of recording]. What’s it like to finally have your debut out?

Arun: Yeah, it’s pretty special. It’s kind of something we’ve been working towards for a long time. We do this in our spare time and we do it when we can, but it’s a labour of love. It is something we took a lot of care and a lot of attention over and we’re really, really proud of it. And so to finally have it out in the world is pretty special, actually. I stayed up until midnight and like went on Spotify and Amazon Music and waited for it to sort of come out. And it was like, oh, wow, it’s all there!

John: It’s quite surreal, actually. We’ve been working on this for a long time. And we always knew it would take… I don’t know… I felt like we felt that sort of like stereotypical, ‘we’re going to put an album out and it won’t take that long’. And then it took forever. But there’s been loads of good reasons why. And we’ve done releases in between. And I think then that sort of summed up this testament to how strong we feel about these songs; because we wrote these songs a long time ago. And I just love writing new stuff all the time. So for me, especially when I’m always writing stuff in the background, to still be so convinced of these songs that have lived with us for a bit, it makes me feel the flip side to what I’d usually be. Like, really convinced they are the songs they should be and sit together and just dead, dead, dead proud of it. And it’s like, I feel like it’s a bit like a tattoo, a real timestamp over the last five years of what we’ve been through.

It’s a passion project, isn’t it? And we’ve had line-up changes. If you take the very first song, ‘Incarcerate’, that’s with our old drummer, old bass player, which is mental. And then, yeah, that ended up being a single! So, yeah, a relief in a most positive way possible!

What went into the decision to do an album?

Arun: I actually think the reason we chose to do it as an album was actually artistic, so it was us, because if you look at our history kind of up to now, we’ve always released singles and EPs and, you know, we’ve done loads of those sorts of things. But we didn’t want to break this block of songs up. Like, there have been conversations between me and John about splitting the album into two and releasing it as two EPs or dropping a single here or there. But we feel really strongly about the album and it flows, particularly when I think the lyrics started being penned by John. The story it was telling… it’s not a concept album, but it is conceptual in its sort of flow. We didn’t really want to break that up. But I think it is just the strength of the songs. We just felt, no, these songs need to come out together as a block, as an album.

And although we’re told that the industry does push us towards singles and EPs and the frequency from the listener’s point of view, I think, from the other side, albums are still preferred. And again, maybe we’ve got a bit of an old school mindset in that. If I see a new song come out by a band, ‘I’m like, oh, that’s great. Right, when’s the album out?’ It’s still a bit of a stamp in time. Maybe that’s a little bit more of a metalhead way of thinking as well!

I’ve noticed it does feel like it’s a little easier to get a tour and do the festival circuit when you have an album as opposed to just the odd track.

John: Yeah, definitely. I think if I checked out a band that they hadn’t got an album that I could just invest in, I’d be a bit like, really? So, it still ticks that box for me. But, that’s me. It’s just constantly not trying to constantly say, oh, is it because I’m old? It’s just like, it’s a good body of work, you know, it’s a good way to get a good cross-section of a band. I’m not dissing singles or EPs at all. I think they’re great. They’re a great way to kind of dip your toe in. But I think particularly in metal, there is that thing of people like to invest and immerse themselves in the music. I would have a guess that probably doesn’t happen in R&B. I don’t know. Maybe it does. But, you know, particularly in metal, there is that sort of thing.

What’s the writing process like for you guys? Has it evolved as new members have joined?

Arun: There’s a general framework. Basically songs start either from John or from me. And they usually start with riffs. And often, like me and him, we’ll tend to sit back and forth between us. It’ll either be a verse idea or a chorus idea or something from me or from him. And then we’ll send it to the other person. That might spark some ideas. We’ll send it back, send it back. And we’ll sort of put a very rough but not final at all structure together just in a demo just so we can listen to it. And then we’ll send it on to the band. And then we’ll bring it into the room and the guys will have their ideas. Bringing Owen on board, he’s got some really good ideas for grooves and things that will lift certain parts in certain ways, which John and I don’t think of because we’re not drummers. So there’s definitely ideas from them. Sometimes we find the recording process can be a bit creative as well. We’ll sometimes, you know, we won’t change structures necessarily, but how something’s played or whether a fill goes in a certain place, for example, might change depending on when we record it. So, it is kind of quite a team effort, but it’s also very DIY.

Do you guys have a favourite track from the album?

John: Like you say, you’ve had them for a few years in the chamber now, so it might have changed since you first wrote them. I also had the reactions to the songs and people doing, like, little top threes really, really cool and really interesting. And it being really, like, quite broad, like, it seems to have been, like, a really different mix, which is really cool. So, that kind of spreads it across the album. And then, I think, I don’t know, emotionally attached, I’ve got a different, probably, stance because there’s lyrics in there, aren’t there? And they’ve changed and developed over time. And I think I’ve written some songs in the past where I’ve written them about someone else. And then you fast forward two years and suddenly realise I’m relating them to even more than when I wrote them about a friend or a loved one or something like that. And that’s happened on numerous occasions. The single we put out called Aftermath is a really good example of that, but that’s definitely happened on a few of these. So, yeah, I don’t know, but I think if I had to pick one for me, I think it’d just be the final nail. Like, it’s that kind of sad but true sort of groove, headbang, but it still goes fast and heavy.

Arun: for me, I think it really depends what day you ask me, because it’ll be almost a different song every day. But if I had to pick just one, it’d probably be Broken Reflections. But I’m also very, you know, I really like The Storm. The Storm means a lot. I think that’s quite a good indication of where we might be going. Yes, I think. And it was quite collaboratively written, which I quite like as well. that song is quite a few people picked up on that. And I feel like at the moment it’s not one of the singles, so it’s not been one that’s pushed in people’s faces. So the few of the people that have checked out the album for them to zone in on that song is quite cool.

Do you have a busy rest of the year show-wise in support of the album?

Arun: Yeah, we’ve got a few. So the main thing that we’re pushing quite a lot is on the 18th of July, we’re doing what’s essentially an album launch show. And it’s kind of the closest thing to an evening with Beyond Salvation. But what we’re doing is we’re playing the entire album in full from start to finish. And then some old songs at the end as well. So that’s the one we want to push the most. Yes. But aside from that, we are doing a few shows around the country. we had to take a conscious decision to go, right, we’ve got to fucking stop gigging. Yeah. We’re going to get this album finished. that’s been something that we’ve not done much of. So hopefully it’ll all work out like a perfectly oiled machine. We’ve got this album. We can push that. We’re going to be dotting around the country with some great bands.

John: What’s going to be really cool about the gigs this year. So until this point, we’ve constructed sets in a certain way with, as any band does, which is largely from your released music and particularly with what you’re promoting at the time. Live, we have played Incarcerate a few times, not since we released it as a single. We played it back in 2021, actually. But we haven’t really played any other song off the album live before. We didn’t want to fall into that trap of like just playing new stuff and getting excited about it and then no one can buy it. But actually, when we start writing sets for the gigs coming up, we’re going to be primarily, it’s going to be new for us, actually, because, you know, we’re going to have to write new sets that we’ve not done before.

What do you guys make of the music scene in the UK at the minute?

John: I think we’re spoiled in Manchester because it’s brilliant! I was talking COVID. It’s quite weird now because it’s half a decade ago. But like, the band started like four or five years before COVID. And it was interesting to come back after COVID and then suddenly you’ve got this like whole fresh generation younger bands suddenly coming out and feeling like they’re already like, Tortured Demon would be a really obvious example. But yeah, I think Manchester genuinely were like pretty spoiled because a lot of the gigs get a really, really good turnout for like an underground scene. So that’s really nice. And then broader… I don’t think we’ve had good gigs. We’ve had iffy gigs. So it’s just one of those where I’m really, really intrigued, excited, curious to see what this back half of the year holds. But I mean, particularly with stuff like Metal to the Masses that happens around the country for Bloodstock that gets such a good reaction. I mean the Manchester Metal to the Masses final was the weekend just gone and was rammed from the second the doors opened. I also know that other ones around the country get really, really busy as well. I think I saw like one or two of them were sold out a couple of weeks before the finals, a couple of weeks before the actual date. It’s almost like are there more bands than fans now?! That’s got to be a good thing, right? Because it means more people want to have a go. More people are feeling inspired.

Arun: Also, I think these days, some of my very, very favourite bands are British. Not even just like, oh, I like it because they’re from the UK. Like, they’re genuinely some of my favourite music that I’ve listened to lately. I remember being a teenager growing up. I don’t want to name anyone, but it was all America bands that were like, the ones. Do you know what I mean? It just meant nothing really from the UK seemed to click with me at all. I would say growing up, obviously you had your UK pioneers, like your Judas Priest and your Black Sabbaths and stuff, but we were a little young for when they first came on the scene! But growing up, all my favourite bands were American, and quite a lot of them still are, but there are lots of really, really cool British bands. Everyone seems to, you know, kind of go along to each other’s gigs and everyone’s pretty supportive. And it’s, yeah, it’s quite a nice vibe at the minute.

You guys are quite up on the whole social media thing, any advice you could give to bands just starting out?

John: You’ve just got to do it! Arun’s more the daddy on this and the guys we’ve been working with from DC Sound Attack have been a massive help and stuff. But try and make it as fun as you can. But you know what, I have really fucking funny, happy, fond memories of just me and the guys trying to pull things together to try and get content together. So you know what, just be genuine, I think. Be yourselves and have fun with it. But unfortunately, it’s like a necessary evil.

Arun: Planning ahead actually works really well. And you know, we’re doing this for the music, so the music’s still got to be really good. You don’t want to let the music suffer because of the content you’ve got to create.