Interview by Kris Peters
Brisbane metal outfit RVN//NT (pronounced Revenant) have accomplished a great deal since forming just last year. They dropped their debut single Void Of Mind in March, closely followed by Bleed Within, establishing themselves as a band on a mission with plenty to say.
June 7 sees RVN//NT unleash their third and darkest song yet, Distain, a hard-hitting track about the addictions and struggles with mental health and addiction.
With a string of further releases planned and a debut EP on the horizon, vocalist Connor Gutteridge took some time out to chat with HEAVY about RVN//NT’s plans to spread their brand of metal.
"The thing that we've been explaining to people when talking about Distain is its kind of the big, bad brother of Void Of Mind," he began. "It's a little bit more in the metalcore style with some tasty little licks, but then we're also experimenting with some synth stuff as well. It's honestly just a killer track. It's a big track. We've got all of the elements that we've hit forth so far - growl vocals mixed in with clean vocals quite nicely. We've got - in my opinion - one of the better drummers out there at the moment with Jake Brown, he's phenomenal. Then Damien, my brother, plays guitar for us. He's literally come from a bedroom guitarist - this is his first band. I think it was the third or fourth track that he sent through to us initially, and I couldn't believe it (laughs). As soon as we heard it, I was like 'you're joking'. He's levelling up a lot."
In the full interview Connor talks more about Distain from a lyrical standpoint and its subject matter, the darkness of the song and why it was necessary, how it differs to the band's two previous singles Void Of Mind and Bleed Within, if they are stand-alone singles or part of a bigger picture, if those three songs are a good sonic representation of RVN//NT or if there are more layers to their sound, upcoming live shows and more.