The Infernal Dominion of Ardra

The Infernal Dominion of Ardra

If the almighty Behemoth and the hardcore technicians of Misery Signals spawned a bastard child, the band would manifest into the deathcore brigade known as Ardra. Pummeling and intensive, Ardra is sure to captivate the senses of all extreme metal types looking for an exhilarating auditory adventure.  Unto Leviathan is the name of their latest slab of sonic intrigue, an epic of an recording that is well worth seeking out.  Highwire Daze recently initiated contact with Ardra to find out more about their raging dominion of infernal reveries.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Ardra, and how long the band has been together.
I’m Scott Zinola, one of the guitarists of Ardra. We’ve been doing this for something like 6 years.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
We’re from San Jose, California. The local music scene here is swelling with so many different bands and a huge amount of support between them. Yet, there is not much of a fanbase. The music scene just isn’t very big here, people don’t spend their free time going to local shows. There are a lot of great bands in the area just not much of a following.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the Unto Leviathan album title?
The title is borrowed from Richard Paul Russo’s novel of the same title, but has nothing to do with that story. I just really liked the name, it sounded like you were approaching something gigantic and ominous. The concept behind the title is a Faustian-like story where a person, losing his mind, becomes pulled into a cult and obsessed with their deity, Leviathan.

Select two songs from Unto Leviathan and what inspired the lyrics.
Carrion Dawn was inspired by Sonia Shah’s book, Pandemic and the title was taken from a line in Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. The lyrics are about a fictitious disease born from fungus which wreaks havoc around the world..similar to our situation right now..#COVID19.

Dominion was written by me and Kenny together. The lyrics for this song was more of a joint inspiration of the Zodiac Killer and Marquis de Sade’s Juliette with the whole slaves of the afterlife concept; “all those persons a man kills will be his slaves in the next world; and as a result, the better a man wishes to be served after his death, the more he kills during life.”

How did Cody Fuentes from Spite become involved in producing the album and what was it like working with Cody?
We were introduced to Cody by our buddies in the band Carneficina who share a practice spot with his studio. We met up with him to record a single and absolutely fell in love with him and his process. Working with Cody felt natural or organic, like one of our best friends was recording us. He inspired us to do better, try better, and conjured from us our best work.

Who did the cover art for Unto Leviathan and how much input did you have on it?
Welder Wings, from Instagram, did our art for us. We didn’t have a lot of input in it because it was an already completed piece. We were hunting for art through numerous formats and found a small handful of artists who had the aesthetic we were looking for. Welder Wings’ The Sad and the Beauty just spoke to us. The album title track was conceptually about cults and this piece seemed to depict that with the two mysteriously cloaked figures heading towards a spiritual gathering.

What could one expect from a live Ardra show?
There is a lot of energy on stage. Me, Tim, and Mitch try to maintain a boisterous vitality. Brian behind the drums is exerting enough vigor as it is. Kenny is our menacing personality, like our very own Corpsegrinder. Also, with being vivacious all over stage we sound akin to the recordings. On stage we try to not be that cookie cutter death metal band attempting to have some reputation of intimation. We’re all just having fun up there.

If Ardra could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
There are so many bands we would want to open up for. I would probably have to say Behemoth. Each member of this band is shrouded in innumerable bands we would love to share the stage with, but Behemoth is one band we all agree on. They have been a huge influence on us from their music to their live shows.

Are you or any other members involved with any other projects outside of Ardra?
No, we all have enough things going on in our personal lives. Having side projects would probably take up too much time as it is. Brian though has his own gig making scores for films, games, and just overall contemporary classical music.

If the music of Ardra was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
I would probably say apple fritter because I don’t really know what the fuck that is.

What’s up next for Ardra?
Well, we hope to play shows in support of our new record. Maybe some tours here and there.

Any final words of wisdom?
Support your local bands…

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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