LORD GRYPHUS interview

 1. “Death as a force of reverence rather than fear” is a pretty strong statement. Death metal has spent decades turning death into gore, horror and shock value. What does it actually mean for LORD GRYPHUS to revere death rather than simply use it as an aesthetic?

For us, death is not simply something frightening or violent. It is part of the natural cycle and something that has always been connected to human history, spirituality, and ancestry. The Lord Gryphus mythology treats death as a powerful force that demands respect. The darkness and violence are there, but they are part of something larger than shock value.

2. LORD GRYPHUS comes from Vultur gryphus, the Andean condor, while the band is based in Austin, Texas. Why an Andean symbol for a Texas death-metal entity? Was the condor already important to you before the band existed, or did the mythology grow around the music?

The Andean condor was the starting point for the entire concept. Vultur gryphus immediately gave us the name, but the symbolism behind the condor was what made it much more important. It represents death, ancestry, freedom, endurance, and the ability to observe history from above.

Lord Gryphus was created in Texas, but the cultural and ancestral roots behind the mythology are South American. We wanted those two worlds to exist together.

3. The press text puts execution, sacrifice and ritual devotion next to colonial violence, cultural erasure and imposed religion. How much research went into the lyrical side of the album, and where did you draw the line between historical reality and creating your own mythology?

The historical elements are important because they provide part of the foundation for the mythology. We explored the history and symbolism surrounding the conquest of the Americas, indigenous cultures, death, sacrifice, and ancestral traditions.

At the same time, Lord Gryphus is our own mythology. We are not trying to present it as historical fact. We take real historical themes and transform them into a fictional world that serves the music and the story we are creating.

4. You describe the band as anonymous, masked and built around a carrion deity. Why was anonymity necessary?

Anonymity helps keep the focus on Lord Gryphus rather than on the individual musicians. When we put on the masks, we become part of the mythology.

It also gives people the opportunity to interpret the characters and the story in their own way. The identity of Lord Gryphus is more important to us than the identities of the people behind the masks.

5. There is an obvious danger with masked bands and invented rituals: eventually the imagery can become more elaborate than the music. Did you consciously put any limits on the LORD GRYPHUS mythology to make sure the band remains a death-metal band first and a fictional cult second?

Absolutely. The music comes first. The mythology exists to support the music, not replace it.

If the riffs, vocals, drums, and atmosphere don’t work, no amount of imagery can save the band. Everything visual we create has to serve the music and the world behind it.

6. You call the album a declaration of allegiance to death metal “in its purest form”. What have you deliberately excluded from LORD GRYPHUS because you consider it incompatible with that idea of purity?

For us, that means staying connected to the fundamentals of death metal: aggressive riffs, powerful drums, deep vocals, dark atmosphere, and raw energy.

We are not interested in chasing trends or adding elements simply because they are popular at the moment. We want Lord Gryphus to remain focused on the spirit of the death metal we grew up with.

7. Morbid Angel, Gorefest, Sepultura, Grave, Autopsy, Incantation and Sinister is a pretty serious shopping list. Which influence was actually the hardest one to keep under control?

Honestly, all of them are deeply embedded in our musical DNA. There are definitely moments when a riff can sound too close to an influence, and we have to step back and make it our own.

The goal isn’t to hide our influences. It’s to absorb them and create something that ultimately sounds like Lord Gryphus.

8. “Troops Of Doom” is an interesting choice for a cover. What does LORD GRYPHUS bring to that song that wasn’t already there?

We don’t think we needed to add something that wasn’t there. The original is already a monster of a song.

Our goal was to take that classic and play it through the Lord Gryphus identity. We kept the raw aggression and primitive character, recorded it live, and allowed the song to develop naturally through a spontaneous jam. Reese and Mike then added their own energy to it.

For us, it’s a tribute rather than an attempt to improve or reinvent the original.

9. You had Reese Alavi and Mike De León involved on the record. Did you approach these guests because they fit the LORD GRYPHUS world specifically, or was there also a conscious desire to connect the band with the contemporary underground around you?

It was really both. The most important thing was that they genuinely understood the spirit of the song and could contribute something that felt natural rather than forced.

We already knew Reese, and he was someone we trusted musically and personally. He understood the raw, old-school character we wanted to preserve, so his involvement came very naturally. Mike is also deeply connected to the Austin metal community, and he brings a lot of energy and authenticity to everything he does. Both of them genuinely live for metal, and that matters to us more than simply having recognizable names involved.

10. The album was recorded in Texas, with the drums, guitars, and bass tracked, recorded, and reamped by Jeff Henson at Red Nova Ranch in Bastrop, Texas. The vocals were recorded and produced by Kike Valderrama at Buziraco’s Lair Studio in Houston, Texas, while the mixing and mastering were handled by Andrés Mauricio Gallón at Sound Blast Studios in Armenia, Colombia. Was that simply how the right people came together, or is there something deliberate about having the record pass through different parts of the Americas?

It was really a combination of the right people coming together and the natural connections we already had. Jeff Henson handled the drums, guitars, and bass engineering at Red Nova Ranch in Bastrop, Texas, where everything was tracked, recorded, and reamped. Kike Valderrama then recorded and produced the vocals at Buziraco’s Lair Studio in Houston, Texas. Finally, Andrés Mauricio Gallón mixed and mastered the record at Sound Blast Studios in Armenia, Colombia.

So the record remained very much rooted in Texas, where Lord Gryphus was created, while the final stages connected it to Colombia, which is deeply connected to the cultural foundation of the mythology. We didn’t necessarily plan it as some grand geographical statement, but having the record move through these different places became a natural part of its identity.

11. The band is presented as a three-piece, but the mythology is deliberately much larger. Does the music itself need to feel “ceremonial” when you play live, or can LORD GRYPHUS simply walk onto a stage and destroy everything without the ritual theatre?

It can absolutely destroy everything. The ritual and visual elements are there to enhance the experience, but the foundation is still death metal.

We want the live performance to feel immersive and connected to the mythology, but ultimately it has to be three people getting onstage and delivering aggressive, uncompromising death metal.

12. You recently played dates with Internal Suffering. What did you learn from sharing a stage with a band that has already survived three decades of underground death metal?

It was an honor to share the stage with a band that has been part of the underground for so long. One of the biggest things you learn from bands with that kind of history is the importance of consistency, dedication, attitude and simply continuing to do what you believe in.

Lord Gryphus is still a young band, but the people involved have been part of the underground for many years. That connection is very meaningful to us.

13. There’s a lot of talk today about reclaiming forgotten histories and confronting colonial violence. How do you prevent those subjects from becoming just another fashionable lyrical costume for an extreme-metal band?

For us, it isn’t a fashion or a trend. These ideas are connected to the personal cultural background that inspired Lord Gryphus from the beginning.

We are not trying to make a political statement or present ourselves as historians. We are taking themes of ancestry, memory, death, resistance, and historical violence and incorporating them into our own mythology. The important thing is that the connection is genuine and consistent throughout the music and visual identity.

14. If Lord Gryphus is a deity of death, sacrifice and transcendence, what happens when the three masked humans behind the deity eventually have to remove the masks, go home, pay the electricity bill and behave like completely normal humans? =)

The masks come off, the electricity bill gets paid, and unfortunately the deity has to return to reality. =)

That’s part of the fun of Lord Gryphus. There are three normal humans behind the masks, but when we put them on, we become something else. The mythology exists when we create it, perform it, and share it with people.

And then eventually… the masks come off. Death is eternal. The condor watches. Decapitor - Drums

Decapitor — Drums

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