OUTER HEAVEN

OUTER HEAVEN has been churning out top-shelf death metal for over a decade now. Despite not being a touring band, they’re signed to RELAPSE RECORDS and have a reputation that seems to grow with each subsequent year. Their latest album, “Infinite Psychic Depths”, immediately secured its inclusion on countless forthcoming “Best of 2023” lists, including mine, by virtue of the fact that it absolutely crushes. It’s fair to say these guys have cracked the code, putting together a veritable masterpiece that sounds unique by modern standards, yet familiar among the pantheon of extreme metal stalwarts. And they managed to do it during the same global pandemic that’s wreaked havoc on so many other extreme metal acts.

We sat down with OUTER HEAVEN vocalist Austin Haines to get the goods on the band, their new album, and the approach it required to make it a reality. Read on, Wormsters ….

WORMWOOD CHRONICLES: The new album “Infinite Psychic Depths” is fantastic. The songs are really heavy and somehow also catchy, and everything sounds massive. What was your writing process like for this one?

AUSTIN HAINES: The writing process for this album was very long with a lot of trial and error. We had started writing before the pandemic, with the goal of moving full steam ahead during that time, but when the pandemic started, and we couldn’t get together as a full band, the writing sort of slowed down. We write better and can hash out ideas better as a group. We had at one point even decided that we were finished writing the album when we had about nine songs done, but as we tried to compile them into a tentative track listing, I think we realized that maybe we weren’t quite done after all. The flow of the album was extremely important and at that moment, to make the flow perfect, it required us to continue writing. This was also our first time writing an album with two full-time guitarists. So, ideas were flying in left and right. Our newest guitarist Zak brought a style to our sound that ended up being a perfect complement to what our original guitar player Jon was writing. We just wanted to keep the core “OUTER HEAVEN” sound while still trying to find ways to expand upon it.

WC: How was the studio experience this time around?

AH: We recorded the new album in our guitar player’s warehouse with the help of our friend Ryan. With all of our personal schedules, it can be tough to leave and go into the studio for multiple weeks at a time or get away for multiple weekends at a time. Luckily, Ryan was able to come to us with everything necessary to record the album. We spent maybe four or five weekends across several months coming in and continuing to work on the album. Then once we had finished all the instrumentals, I recorded all the vocals at home in my home studio, which I have done for all of our releases. This time around was definitely the most prepared we had ever been. We knew exactly what sound we were looking for, and how we planned on getting it. We had taken a lot of time to demo and perfect everything prior to the final recording.

WC: Were there any lessons learned from making the first LP that you applied to this album?

AH: Definitely, I think a big one was just being as prepared as possible before heading in to record. On our last album, we found ourselves in a tiny bit of a rush to get it recorded because we wanted the album released that same year. This time around, we tried not to tie ourselves down with deadlines, etc. We took the needed time to get the best quality album we could conjure up.

WC: What did Ryan Reed and Greg Wilkinson, who respectively engineered and mixed/mastered “Infinite Psychic Depths” at Earhammer Studios, bring to the table?

AH: When it came to the recording of the album, Ryan definitely has some very strong areas. We learned this from having worked with him to record our “In Tribute…” record, which almost served as a trial run in working with Ryan at the warehouse. Just to see what type of quality and sound we could get out of the place. Ryan is very skilled at getting a good workflow going and really being very proficient at making sure that all of our given time during the recording process is used effectively. When it comes to Greg, he was one of my main choices when it came to mixing and mastering. He really moved to the top of my list after having heard his work on the newest MORTUOUS album. I knew that he was a guy that we could hand over this record to and he knew exactly what type of sound we were looking for. We gave Greg very little direction through most of the mixing and mastering process. You have to be willing to trust these guys and rely on them to steer your sound in a good direction. I think it definitely paid off.

WC: It’s a great era to be in a recording band with the ease and the availability of modern production tools. However, I think one of the unfortunate unintended consequences has been how similar metal drum and guitar tones all sound from band to band and album to album. Yet, to my ears, you sound “organic” or “pre-digital” for lack of a better description. Do you agree?

AH: I would definitely agree with that, and we certainly strive for that type of sound. We wanted something that sounded like old CANNIBAL CORPSE and old DEICIDE. The type of albums that we recorded before a lot of these new age recording technologies. But a lot of that sound also comes from being able to play your instrument as proficiently as possible. A good sound always starts with a rock-solid take. I also have a background in audio engineering myself, so that knowledge definitely lends itself to steering us in the right direction when it comes to certain sounds.

WC: So, take me back to the beginning. What was the original inspiration for OUTER HEAVEN and what was the scene like a decade ago in Douglassville, PA?

AH: Originally the band started as just our guitar player Jon and our drummer Paul, practicing together on some songs that Jon had written but didn’t really have a place for them. I had taken a recording on my phone from one of the practices, which I took home and recorded vocals over. I showed it to the guys and, all of a sudden, the band was coming together. We brought our original bass player Phil into the fold shortly after that as well. This would be the lineup that recorded the demo and the “Diabolus Vobiscum EP”. From there we have had various members in and out but the foundation of the OUTER HEAVEN you see and hear today is mostly the lineup currently. We have always been inspired by anything extreme. From CANNIBAL CORPSE to MORBID ANGEL to DECIDE to DEMOLITION HAMMER to ANIMOSITY and so on and so forth. The list obviously goes on and on. Our sound has always been a bit eclectic. The scene in Douglassville, PA has never really been anything special. We are fortunate to live here though because it gives us easy access to a lot of other major cities and states like Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia—where we can easily travel to see almost any band on any tour with relative ease.

WC: You guys seem to fold in elements of a few extreme musical subgenres, from black metal to hardcore, but all those elements are fully suspended in the OUTER HEAVEN “solution,” so to speak, and the result is distinctly death metal. How do you make all the ingredients work together without sounding like an extreme metal highlight reel?

AH: Thankfully this has always just come very naturally for us. We have two guitar players who do all the writing, but they are distinctly different in their tastes and playing styles. This has worked in our favor and really forced us to learn to combine a lot of these different elements that they each bring to the table. This has really become our niche, in terms of our ability to become an amalgamation of different sounds and styles but still write a killer tune.

WC: Tell me how OUTER HEAVEN landed on RELAPSE RECORDS?

AH: We are fortunate to be based out of an area very close to where RELAPSE operates. So, over the years a lot of guys from the offices wound up seeing us at various shows in the area as we were coming up. We had spoken at shows over time where they would kind of launch a soft inquiry into what we had planned for the future, but it usually just kind of ended at that. When we had gotten to the point where we had finished writing our first album “Realms Of Eternal Decay”, we decided to demo the entire album and send it around to a number of labels to see if anyone was interested in releasing it. After a few back-and-forth emails, we were invited into the RELAPSE offices to discuss potentially signing with them. They have always treated us so well, never pressured us, and really given us room to grow. We are always super appreciative of them.

WC: Touring has been pretty difficult post-Covid. How have you approached it?

AH: We have never really been, or will ever be, a full-time touring band. Most of us have too much in our personal lives to really dedicate that kind of time to touring. So, when we approach the idea of touring or playing shows, we really try and make it worth it. We enjoy playing with friends and traveling to new places, so we always try to take the opportunities that best allow us to do that.

WC: If you could change one thing about the current state of underground music, what would it be?

AH: I don’t think I would change anything honestly. The scene needs space to grow if we want it to continue flourishing. I think the metal scene is about as big as it’s ever been. You’ve got metal and hardcore bands sort of breaking into the “mainstream” a tiny bit by touring with certain bands or being featured in certain games or movies or shows. It’s very exciting.

WC: What’s next for OUTER HEAVEN?

AH: We are hoping to continue to play out, travel and write more new music for you all! We promise to try and not take as long writing the next album!

OUTER HEAVEN