- Describe your sound in three words.
Technical Death Metal
- Should music as a form of art always challenge the listener?
Absolutely. If the music is not making the listener feel different levels of intellect then the artist is not doing their job enough. While there is nothing wrong with simplistic music, the more value you can provide within your music, the more listeners will connect and appreciate it overall.
- Tell us a few things about your creative process.
From a composition standpoint we each write remotely using Guitar Pro where our band members live across 4 different states. After extensive collaboration within Guitar Pro we practice as much as we can prior to recording and try to include as many subgenres of metal within our music as possible. You will find death metal, core, slam, tech, hardcore, djent, and progressive elements all within TLK’s music as diversity is our goal with each release. Appealing to a wider audience is how you stand out in any genre.
- Do you think there is a true underground metal sound today?
Personally we do not however sometimes a band will come along that has such a nostalgic feel almost like an “underground sound” because it brings you back to the bands you started with when they were young. We always wanted to recreate that OG All Shall Perish, As Blood Runs Black, Through the Eyes of the Dead era of Deathcore however knew we needed to evolve our sound amidst all the other amazing young bands coming out around us. The underground metal scene is actually stronger than ever these days as there have never been so many quality underground bands active on the internet like this before. It should not matter if a band is underground anyways as there are just as many good unknown bands as there are popular ones.
- What is your favorite album of the past year?
For the year of 2020 I’m going to have to go with either Exocrine’s “Maelstrom” or Krosis’s “Memoir of Free Will” as these are two of the best bands I’ve ever listened to. Incredibly huge influences for sure.
- If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Obviously any musician would love to generate a full time income off of their music. We’ve always put our all into this band even despite all having different career paths as we understand music is a very expensive activity to participate in. Any musician that truly stays in music is never in it for the money but rather for the personal fulfillment. I guess if we could change anything it would be to enable more opportunites for bands to generate income aside from touring, moving merch, livestreaming, and pushing for streams. It is what it is however as we will continue working hard to get to where we’d like to be.
- Do you prefer writing music or performing your music live?
Both are incredibly rewarding and valuable within our lives. When you can create a cohesive piece of art that you’ve put your all into and feel strong about, that is a feeling nobody can take away from you and can be quite emotional. The same applies for live performances however as a strong crowd can seriously make you feel happier than anything else in this world. All touring musicians know what I’m talking about when I say that the dopamine from a successful live performance is extremely addicting.
- What would be your dream performance venue?
A dream performance venue for us would have to be the House of Blues in Boston, MA! Having grown up seeing countless epic shows there, it would be an honor to open for one of our favorite bands there and to experience the nostalgia in full circle!
- What was the best film you have watched during the quarantine?
During quarantine I revisited Adam Sandler’s catalog and seriously had a blast re-watching many of his classic films. Uncut Gems and That’s My Boy are two all time greats that I think everyone should see!
- One last thing we should know about you?
We are The Last King, from New England, USA. We have music available on every streaming platform and are active on all social media sites so please hit us up as we love making new friends to talk metal with! Promoting and helping grow the underground community is what we’re all about alongside releasing consistent quality music for all fans of metal.
Our new album TLK 3 will be out within the first half of next year as we will continue dropping singles leading up to it’s release. We just dropped a horror themed music video for our new song “Aberration”.Thank you so very much for taking the time to read this and for any support as it truly means the world to us! Keep it metal!
Secret Eclectic 