Can you remain to us the story of Slit ?

The history of Slit can be taken back to 1997 when founding members Gerald (drums) and ex-guitarist Daniel started jamming in school. Joker (bass) and myself Frank (vox) joined forces in 2000 and a few months later we did out first live gig.
Slit as it stands today after some line up changes is over a 100 gigs older, with 2 albums released and with newly recruited guitarist Omar Grech
 

What are your biggest musical influences ?

It’s very hard for any musician to just mention a few names! Individually we all listen to different stuff as much as we are on the same line of musical tastes. Personally I listen to a wide variety of music be it metal and non-metal, which heavily influences consciously or subconsciously
I grew up listening to a lot of Iron Maiden, Pantera, Sepultura, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Atheist, Deicide and many more which I still listen to nowadays

How would you describe your music in your own words ?

I believe we capture a variety of extreme genres from thrash metal to death metal to sludge to stoner to noise to hardcore, musically we’ve been compared a lot to bands like Exhorder, Pantera, Godflesh, Knut

Can you tell us more about your new album called « Ode To Silence » ?

Being our latest album (our second following Cronaca Nera) it’s the closest to describing what Slit seeks to deliver in terms of music, attitude and mentality and we are very confident it is our best material to date
OTS has a very strong local maltese/siciiian element related to the Mafia’s ‘code of silence’ (The Omerta’) which is heavily present in our culture influencing people’s mentality. We tried to deal with the topic not only lyrically but also by including certain sounds which give the music a certain identity, without overdoing it or totally losing direction

Can you speak to us about the recording sessions ?

As with all our previous cd’s we recorded at Temple Studios in Mistra Malta with engineer Don Davide Vella. The studio is situated In an isolated area in between farms, greenery and the sea which really sets your in the right mood. We worked in the studio for around 3 weeks between recording sessions, mixing and mastering

How did you proceed for the composition ?

We basically wrote 90% of OTS as a 3 piece : Gerald, Joker and myself that is without a guitarist. We’ve always sort of adopted the same method, we’ll meet at rehearsals, jam on riffs and ideas to construct songs to which I eventually write the lyrics and give a title

What are the lyrics talking about ? Where do you find inspiration ?

As i mentioned before there’s a very strong relation the ‘Omerta’ (code of silence) as an influence on society. Something which I lyrically tried to relate to ourselves, our mentality and our lives. In that sense OTS is partly a concept album

What’s your favourite track on « Ode To Silence » and why ?

All of the tracks I feel very strongly about because they all mean a lot to me but my favourite is ‘La Mano Nera’ for two reasons: lyrically I believe it’s the best words I’ve ever written and musically it’s a perfect balance of all the slit elements, fast/extreme parts, grooves, melody with a touch of eerie sounds

How is the metal scene in Malta at this time ?

Considering the fact that Malta’s population is merely over 350,000 I think the metal scene is quite healthy. New bands emerge every now and than but unfortunately not many bands last very long due to the geographical limitations of the country which make touring very hard

What are your favourite bands and all times albums ?

Some of the most important albums which I grew up with where definitely Iron Maiden’s -The Number of the Beast, Pantera – Far Beyond Driven, Sepultura – Arise, Slayer – Reign in Blood, Morbid Angel – Blessed are the sick, Death – individual thought patterns
Some other albums which I believe are worth mentioning are Atheist – Piece of Time, Mastodon – Leviathan, Coroner – Grin, Knut – Challenger, Down - Nola

You played with bands like Rotting Christ, Happy Face … What are your best memories ?

Playing with Rotting Christ in Malta after being hassled by authorities, who tried to ban the show by all means was personally one the biggest satisfactions in my life. We had to change venues in the very last minute and did the show in a very clandestine, underground fashion which turned out to be one of the most memorable metal shows Malta ever experienced.
A perfect example of ‘omerta’ to say the least, of metal defying the law

Are there any plans for an upcoming tour ?

We have 5 shows in the UK next week on the Eternal Anger Tour with Susperia, Grimfist and Red Harvest. After that we’ll do some local shows and plan on possibly doing some French shows in Feb 07

Do you have funny or strange stories about the band you can share with us ?

Apart from our drummer being occasionally an exuberant lunatic, we’re pretty much meat and potatoes. Possibly the strangest thing about us is that on the road we listen to a lot of Johnny Cash and our favourite beverage after a gig is tea

What are your projects for the future ?

To keep on doing what we’re doing, making music, touring, sharing the stage with other great bands and bettering our position to make things easier for us physically and financially

And as a conclusion, can you say some words for my radio show called Metal Choc ?

Thanks for your time, keep on listening to heavy music and hopefully see you in France next year – Frank