Like many guitarists of his generation, the guitar playing of Polyphia’s Scott LePage has been heavily impacted by video game music. “The original Starcraft might be the single most influential soundtrack to me,” he says. “Man, it takes you on a journey.”
Appearing on the rebooted soundtrack for the Cult of the Lamb video game, then, satisfies a lifelong dream. It doesn’t hurt that he features alongside Matt Heafy (Trivium), Javier Reyes (Animals As Leaders/Mestis), Josh Baines (Malevolence) and Sean Long (While She Sleeps).
The game certainly has a metal backstory, revolving around a lamb who must repay a debt to a god-like stranger dubbed “The One Who Waits” by creating a cult in its name – and, naturally, defeating anyone who goes against it. It’s what video game fans would term a roguelike game, rooted in fantasy epics.
Producer Sam George says the musical side of the project had a strange birth. An unnamed drummer “from a big American metal band” had contacted the Mammoth Studios (aka Pick Up Goliath) operator with the concept of giving the game’s music a more metallic garb. “Then,” says George, “they ghosted me.”
Determined not to let the idea fizzle out, he tapped up Monuments drummer Mike Malyan to help build the instrumental foundation before hand-picking an elite team of riff-slingers to bring it to life. Guitar World spoke to its all-star cast of guitarists.
What appealed to you about this project, and how did you approach it?
Matt Heafy: “Scoring video games is something I’ve always wanted to do since I played Doom when I was 11. Ashes from Ember to Inferno was inspired by Chrono Trigger; I wanted it to feel like I was in the star realm.
“I was able to look at the visuals, read some lore, hear the music, and then everything was pretty instantaneous, which was awesome. When true inspiration sparks on a collaboration, like it did on Chaosit’s magic.”
Sean Long: “Games hold a very deep place in my subconscious from when I was a child. I have a huge love for the influence they have on us. Any chance to be part of that experience, I’m in!”
Javier Reyes: “It was a fun opportunity to work on something outside my personal projects, put on a different creative hat and add my sound to the songs. The parts I was presented with had basic power chords with a melody going over it. I basically replaced the parts by combining the parts.
“I added a thumping riff that basically mimicked the melody and power chord parts simultaneously. I stayed within the rhythmic themes of each section; the selective picking part was me replaying the galloped guitar parts with selective picking. I don’t consider myself a very fast picker – selective picking is an excellent way of disguising my lack of speed.”
Josh Baines: “I’m so used to writing my own stuff from scratch; creating something new from a pre-existing composition was a challenge.”
One of the challenges was working with time signatures and keys I’m not as familiar with
Josh Baines
Scott LePage: “I loved the idea of doing a remix album with a bunch of other artists, and this seemed a really fun way to get a feel for writing for video games. I really just wanted to express the main themes in a way I could perform them.
“In Cultthose melodies are so cool; I wanted to have them in whatever I wrote for it. A lot of this was making sure I kept the parts of the songs that people already loved, and redesigning them in my own way, so they could hear them in a new light.”
What are your thoughts on the other players on the EP?
Long: “I think what makes people great is the desire to do what they want, not what the crowd wants. When they do it with integrity you can hear it in their playing. Josh from Malevolence is making his style of playing into his own – he excites me because he has that fire within him that’s going to take his band to the top.
“He has an original riff style that has been prominent even since we were kids playing barns together. For me, the more you someone sounds, the better.”
Baines: “I’d said yes before I even knew who else was involved, so it came as a massive surprise. It feels really good to be part of something with such high-caliber players… it’s like it was a mistake that I got asked!
“I grew up listening to Matt’s playing because Trivium was a gateway for me into the heavier stuff, and Javier’s creativity and technical ability is off the scale. I’m good friends with Sean – we’re from the same city. He’s developed a really cool signature style using Whammy pedals to create a synth sound with his guitar. Each and every player brings their own flavour; they’re the kind of players that boggle my mind.”
Reyes: “I didn’t get to directly work with Matt on Pestilencebut he’s a stellar player. I hear he’s a black belt in jiu jitsu so I’m gonna give him a 10 out of 10!”
How did the writing process compare to your parent bands?
LePage: “The songs were already written, so all I had to do was come up with a way to re-imagine the already awesome themes. When I’m writing for Polyphia, I like to try and fill as many elements; there’s a lot more freedom to take the song to a place you might not expect it to go.
“Plus I have three other dudes to write with, and we throw ideas around and rewrite each other’s parts all the time, so there are always tons of ideas on the board to grab from.”
Baines: “One of the main challenges was working with time signatures and keys I’m not as familiar with. Being forced to change up lick patterns and create new paths to unsuspecting chord changes made this project really fun and gave me a great sense of achievement.”
Reyes: “With AAL and Mestis, I’m trying to write complex riffs and use more abstract harmony; whereas with PestilenceI just focused on adding a bit of my style to the existing music. I was really stoked about being able to work on a riff that worked well with the song and focused on what I believed the song needed.”
What gear did you use?
I got my first Whammy pedal when I started working on Cult – a lot of experimenting got infused with these songs
Scott LePage
Long: “I used a profiled EVH Icon head, my Charvel San Dimas signature with EMG 57/66s, and a (Digitech) Whammy. EVH has taken the spot for my favourite riff amp these days so it’s a no-brainer for me.”
Baines: “I’m lucky enough to have gotten my first Ibanez LA Custom Shop. It was a huge deal to be recognised by Ibanez, so I want to use it and show it off as much as possible. I also used my MKH Epiphone Les Paul seven-string that was gifted to me by Matt last year, which I’m eternally grateful for.
“And I used a lot of the tones from my Heavy Artillery Quad Cortex tone pack and some Neural plugins too, mainly Gojira and Tim Henson.”
LePage: “I used my Ibanez KRYS10 and SLM10 for lead work, which are my two go-to guitars for bridge pickup leads and rhythms. For the heavy lower-tuned stuff I used the Meshuggah M80M beast of a guitar – that thing is always fun to play low stuff on.
“I used my Axe-Fx for the mega low-tuned stuff and a Quad Cortex for the leads, and Whammy. The Quad has a really good pitch block that automates pretty nicely and the Axe is really good at replicating what an amp should feel like in a panned hard left/right mix, if you can believe it!
“I went intentionally dark for the tones on Famine. There’s some more Whammy, a bunch of chorus-infused wah action, and tons of reverb and delay to create a nice dark atmosphere. I also used some post-EQ automation in the intro, which kinda makes it sound like a cat meowing.”
Scott and Sean, you both use a lot of Whammy pedal tricks in your songs.
Long: “Even though I never really planned or consciously tried to make the Whammy my sound, it just somehow is now. And when you hear me bend it in a particular way, it’s recognisable as me – which is pretty cool. Riffs can be written by anyone; so on Death I wanted a chance to try get some lead in to express myself and feel truly original.”
LePage: “I got my first Whammy pedal around the time I started working on Cultso there was a lot experimenting that got infused with these songs. I’m using the Whammy to create a rhythm with the notes that get thrown up an octave when you activate it, but at weird spots, and keeping the pedal in toe position for some of those notes before I bring it back down to heel position.”
If you could have any of the other guys’ signature guitars, which one would you pick?
Reyes: “I’m pretty stoked about my ESP LTD JRV-8. It’s essentially a giant Strat-style guitar so the tone it creates is ideal for thumping and selective picking. For those, I generally run my pickup in the split position that gives it a sort of scooped tone along with a very slice-y top end that really helps to hear the string and fret sounds.”
Long: “I don’t care for guitars in that way – my love of the material side of it has subsided. Any guitar will do. Just let me make some music!”
Baines: “I’m an Ibanez guy so Scott LePage’s signature would be cool. But I just love playing and trying new guitars so I’d love to try them all. I’m envious of them all having a signature! Hint hint, Ibanez…”
- Cult of the Lamb: Hymn of the Unholy is streaming now. Vinyl and merch can be found at Return.
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