We had the honor of talking with Mallika of Abnormality to discuss everything about their new record, style of music and more! Check out the full chat below\m/ \m/

1.)How was the making of Sociopathic Constructs?

Recording went smoothly. We recorded mainly at The Brick HitHouse in Hyannis, Massachusetts with producers Peter Rutcho (Revocation, Soul Remnants) and Shane Frisby (Becoming The Archetype, Bury Your Dead). The vocals were tracked by Zdenek Sikyr at Studio Hostivar in Prague.

2.)Is this a direct follow up to Mechanisms of Omniscience or is this record its own entity?

It’s certainly a new evolution for the band and a step up from our previous albums. It’s almost like a mix between the Mechanisms and Contaminating albums, while also evolving into something new.

3.)Was there an idea you had in mind when making this record or was there any improvising involved?

We had all the songs written before entering the studio. Only some small details were improvised in the studio, such as parts of guitar solos and vocal layers.

4.)Were you trying to make a record that is consistently brutal or do you try to experiment and shock your listeners?

We always write focusing on the quality and composition of each individual song. We want every song to be strong on it’s own, while having brutal and technical elements. We aren’t afraid to try new things and experiment within each song. We actually prefer to have variation within the album.

5.)Do you need music to come up with lyrics or does a lyrical concept or subject matter help determine the composition of the song?

We write songs both ways. Either we have a lyrics first and write music to the patterns, or we have music first and we write lyrics after to the music.

6.)Do you take artistic inspiration from the world around you or an external source or can some ideas or inspiration come from within?

We are inspired by what is going on in the world around us, our country and the world, our own personal lives, authors like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, and we also get inspiration from television shows and movies like The Bourne Identity, The Manchurian Candidate, Jacobs Ladder, Black Mirror, Mr. Robot, documentaries like Loose Change, Hacking Democracy, Zeitgiest, Aaron Russo’s America: From Freedom to Fascism, and so on.

7.)I have always found the style of music of Abnormality very technically impressive. When making new music, do you sometimes think about how it will translate live?

We always plan to play our songs live. We aren’t thinking too hard about it while we are writing them. We are focusing on writing the best songs we can, often writing a little above our abilities and advancing our skills to that level by the time we go into the studio, and well before we take them to the stage.

8.)How different is it executing your material live vs playing it in a studio and/or practice space?

The practice space is where we drill a song hundreds of times to perfect it before we ever play it at a show. The feeling is similar but the show is the end result, and the energy and excitement is higher, and the crowd is the main focus. The studio is another experience, where it is completely about the sound, getting the best recording of every song without thinking too much about the visual aspects. It’s also a time we can be creative about how we want to present the finished version of the song, with layers and production.

9.)Being a band from Boston, the home of some intense bands such as the metalcore movement, Revocation, The Acacia Strain and more, was there a scene Abnormality cut their teeth in, or did you have to go outside your state to get your name out there?

We feel lucky to come from such a diverse and rich music scene as Boston, where we got to experience many amazing shows and festivals with local as well as touring acts. There are so many great bands in our scene it helped push us to be better and take the band to higher levels. Once we reached a good place in our local scene we branched out nationally, and eventually internationally. It was when we started doing North American tours that our name really got out there and new opportunities presented themselves.

10.)What does the future hold in terms of touring for the Sociopathic Constructs record cycle?

We have a European tour in July booked with Gorgasm, Cenotaph, and Unbirth, including the Obscene Extreme Festival. We are really looking forward to that! Apart from that we will be booking more tours this year, most likely North America next.

Thank you!

Mallika/ Abnormality

Abnormality’s new album ‘Sociopathic Constructs’ is out May 10th via Metalblade Records