Here’s Part 2 of our interview with Primary Slave. Massive thanks to the guys for taking the time to talk to us!

There’s also the review of ‘Another Mark is Drawn’ afterwards if you missed it first time around, available at: www.primaryslave.com

Part 1 of the interview is right here!

6. I had a difficult time pigeon-holing your sound in the review, how would you describe Primary Slave’s sound to someone who had never heard the band?

Currently…layers…it is fresh from the madhouse electro-modern metal, it twists and turns. Then it sounds like the Martians have landed!

7. Has the album exhausted the supply of music on Marks computer or are there a few more tracks lurking around waiting to be brought back to life?

Actually there were three more killer tracks for the album which sadly received no vocals before the accident , they can be heard on the website www.primaryslave.com

As for the computer we had great pleasure in smashing it up after as the damn thing was cursed! Anything that could be rescued was when the hard drives originally went down.

We have plenty of demo’s to keep as personal memory’s going right back to early Cenobyte days when the lads were just 17!

8. Is this the final chapter for Primary Slave or could it be possible to continue with or without another member in the future?

(CD) Despite all the setbacks we have secretly enjoyed this project as we all spent too long away from the scene until now. Members are doing other things already at present Lee Dunham collaborated with Doris Brendel for her 7^th album ‘Not Utopia’ (recently released). G. lyons is recording a second album with ‘Gulls’ (TBA).  Neale Dunham is giving his Bleeding ears a rest from doing ‘Another Mark Is Drawn’, and fair play!, whilst I myself keep pressuring them all into a third P.S album already…will I get my way or will we have to wait another 12 years…sod knows!

Thanks again to Primary Slave for talking to us, now here’s the album review from earlier in the year! Check it out…

PRIMARY SLAVE ‘Another Mark is Drawn’ Review

Primary Slave’s second album has had more blood, sweat and tears go into it than most bands whole back catalogues. ‘Another Mark is Drawn’ is an album born out of tragic circumstances and a tonne of hard work.

Primary Slave were first formed back in 1998 by Cradle of Filth’s Paul Allender amongst others. Vocal and guitar duties were quickly secured by Cenobyte’s Mark Giltrow, and what started as a studio project gained momentum with their first album ‘Data Plague’. Unfortunately, due to many reasons the band soon disintegrated. After some time away from music, Mark Giltrow started to resurrect the project, laying down the music in his spare time that would eventually become ‘Another Mark is Drawn’. When the album was around 90% complete however, tragedy struck as Mark was killed in a motorcycle accident aged just 31.

Although the album was near completion it was still not a simple task to release the music Mark had been working on tirelessly.  The computer on which all the files that made up the album was saved on failed and the hard drive would not work. A miraculous effort to recover the data and piece the music together as it was originally intended followed. After this mammoth task, ‘Another Mark is Drawn’ is the finished product.

Primary Slave are very difficult to pigeonhole. There are lots of different things going off on the album, and you’d be very hard pushed to say that they sound like any other single band out there. The overriding sound is of futuristic metal aided by samples and sometimes the music strays into an industrial feel which also gives the album a sort of sci-fi backing. It isn’t an industrial record though. There are also flourishes of classic rock and metal and there are certainly influences drawn from much further afield than metal. Mark’s melodic haunting vocals in particular wouldn’t sound out of place on a more indie record and some of the music is very clean for a metal band. At the same time you’ve got some massive nu-metal riffs raging alongside big beats and crashing drums.

Like I say…there’s a lot going on, and that is the beauty of the album.

Album opener ‘Powdered’ is a real highlight. With a heavy Prong-like intro riff, the song soon descends into a desperate panic of guitars and vocals before a calm section in the middle prepares you for more chaos. ‘Defiled’ takes a more laid back approach, even straying into ballad territory, but it’s a catchy well-crafted heavy pop song.

‘Eye Feel Free’ is brings back the heavy stuff which stays persistent for much of the rest of the album. ‘Cums a Round’ is the standout track for me though. Starting with a dirty riff that Korn would be proud of, the track is crammed of bouncy guitars balanced out by mourning vocals and some mixed up electronica.

It’s a real achievement that this album has ever seen the light of day considering the circumstances. Add to that the fact that it’s actually really quite good, and then you’ve got reason to start handing out the accolades. ‘Another Mark is Drawn’ is a fitting tribute to both the hard work put in by Mark in creating it and to those who rescued it from the brink of disappearing forever.

8/10