Dan Luna of Resistance: "This album is kind of a tribute to the fallen"...

Congratulations on Skulls of My Enemy – it’s a great record. Tell us a little bit about how it came together – were you held back at all by the pandemic? “First off, thank you Sentinel Daily for reaching out and thank you for the kind words about the album. Secondly, hello Australia! We hope to make it down to you someday. We’re super excited about this album and we’d love to share as much detail as possible. Skulls of my Enemy came together during the height of Covid. We took the time to demo and share the tracks via email. Everyone had time to listen to the demos and figure out which made the most sense for the album. Having so much material and time allowed us to not only select the right songs but also to contribute to the songs and craft our individual performances. Sequencing usually comes at the very end of a project for us but we were able to spend enough time with the group of songs that would become Skulls of my Enemy that we finalised the running order at the same time. Once the songs were selected and everyone was ready we entered the studio. However, this time we did it ourselves. I engineered and recorded the album in our own rehearsal/recording studio. This is a first for us because in the past we’d enter a traditional recording studio to do drums at the very least. We did everything ourselves this time and it allowed us to be more creative without the ever present “clock” ticking. When the tracking was completed we set out to find the right mix engineer and we were very lucky to find Ron Sandoval at Rev Studios. Ron has an incredible ear and his goal was to capture our live sound. We think he nailed it”.

And talking about the pandemic – without trying to sound too cute, do you see that in the final washup it might be seen to have been a good thing for the music industry in terms of changing working practices and expectations? “The pandemic didn’t hold us back as far as our creative process but it did keep us off the road which was difficult to process because we had built a lot of momentum leading up to the global shutdown, especially in Europe. We hope to pick up where we left off now that the album is out. The only bright side to the pandemic is that we, like many bands, were able to spend more time writing and refining our music. It’s hard to think about all the bands that threw in the towel and all of the venues that shuttered. This album is kind of a tribute to the fallen”.

Back to Resistance more specifically now – America seems to be getting back to something approaching normality, gig wise, but we often read that more traditional forms of metal are not popular in the US – especially less established bands playing ‘trad’ metal is that so in your experience? Or is proper heavy metal still alive and well in America? “It’s true. Traditional metal is somewhat of a hard sell here in the US. There are now more NWOTHM bands than ever and it’s slowly developing into the strongest sub-genre of metal. Will it ever be the dominant sub-genre? Probably not. But it will continue to grow and share the limelight with more mainstream forms of metal”.

That’s good to know! Let’s bet a bit deeper into Skulls… now – please give us a brief insight into each of the tracks on the album.
The record kicks off with Call To Arms… “This is the album intro. It’s a short piece intended to set the stage for what’s to come. We wanted to introduce the listener to all of the elements of our music that follows in under sixty seconds. A slightly longer version will become our new walkout music as we get back on the road”.

Valhalla Has Locked It’s Doors is the first ‘proper’ track. “We chose Valhalla Has Locked It’s Doors as the opener in hopes of getting everyone’s attention. It’s one of the faster songs on the album and we felt that it has the right energy to show what we’re all about. A lot can happen in four minutes and this song is proof of that”.

On Dragon Wings is next. “On Dragon Wings came about early in the demo phase. A late pre-production lyric change pushed this song in a different direction. It was originally penned as a “life on the road” epic like Iron Maiden’s Wasted Years but lyricist/drummer Matt Ohnemus had the idea of writing it about dragons – from the dragons perspective. We all fell in love with the concept and the song really came together”.

Earthshaker is track four. “This is one of the heaviest songs on the album and it also has a heavy meaning. It’s written about the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion during World War II who’s sole mission was to hunt down the Panzer Brigades. They were at Normandy, Northern France and made their way through the Rhineland. It’s an amazing tale of courage under fire”.

We love a bit of historical metal at Sentinel Daily! (unless it’s Sabaton – Ed). Nordic Witch is up next. “This is probably our most NOWTHM song. It too came together early in the process and the lyrics developed over time. We’ve already tested this song live and it’s sure to become a staple at our shows”.

Next up is one of our tracks of the year so far here in the Sentinel Daily office – Empires Fall. “This song was written by guitarist Nano Lugo and it’s a banger. He brought it to us midway through the songwriting process and we were on board immediately. Matt and Rob (Hett, vocals) had a great time writing the lyrics to match the intensity of the music”.

Tell us a bit about Templar’s Creed. “Rob had the idea for the lyrical concept for quite a while before this song came along. He knew it had the right feel for a story of the Knights Templar. The twist is that they slowly realizse that they’re not fighting for the cross but for the greed of kings”.

Was it ever thus! The penultimate track is Awaken The Necromancer. “Necromancy. Not many things more metal that that! While this song does have a darker feel than many of the other songs on the album it’s a fun song to play and while we’ve only performed it live once we will definitely be bringing back for extended sets”.

Metallium closes the album out. “We all felt strongly about this being the album closer. It closes the album on a high note. It’s written as an ode to metal, particularly in Europe where bands like us thrive. We call out by name some of our most memorable venues and it really means a lot to us”.

Anything else you think the readers of Sentinel Daily should know about the record? “We’d again like to that you for having us. We’d like everyone to know that we made this record out of our love for metal and the fans that support us”.