DRAGONFORCE Guitarist Explains Decision To Cover DEATH's 'Evil Dead'

During a brand new interview with That Drummer Guy (a.k.a. Josh Rundquist),DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li spoke about the band's decision to cover the DEATH classic "Evil Dead" as the bonus track on DRAGONFORCE's new album, "Reaching Into Infinity". Herman said: "Well, I guess we just wanted to do something different and unexpected. No one expected us to do a cover like that. Just like when we did the Johnny Cash cover ['Ring Of Fire'] on 'Maximum Overload', people were going, 'What the hell is that?' And, of course, we love DEATH — it's such an awesome, legendary band — so we thought we'd try and see if we can do it justice and give our own style to it. And at the same time, this opens… When you do something different that you haven't done before, you put new challenges and you kind of get better when you finish it. No one ever heard Marc [Hudson, vocals] sing that way before on previous albums, and it helps us grow and finetune our other techniques."

Li added that be expected to get plenty of negative feedback for the "Evil Dead" cover, but insisted that he won't let it bother him. "There'll be plenty of people that's gonna say how much it sucks," he said. "I mean, so far I haven't heard anyone complain about it, but once people start talking about it, they can complain all day long. Because whatever you do, there's always gonna be some haters complaining. So it'll be interesting to see what they have to say. I mean, I always find it kind of entertaining how people slag bands; it's always kind of fun, actually. But I have a twisted sense of humor."

"Reaching Into Infinity" will be released on May 19 via earMUSIC on CD, LP and a special-edition CD and DVD. The follow-up to 2014's "Maximum Overload" marks the band's third full-length studio release with Marc Hudson, who joined the group in 2011 following the departure of original frontman ZP Theart (now in SKID ROW).

The bulk of the recording sessions for "Reaching Into Infinity" took place at Fascination Street studios in Örebro, Sweden with producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with OPETH, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, AMON AMARTH, KATATONIA, SOILWORK and SYMPHONY X, to name a few. The band also laid down tracks while touring their "Killer Elite" best-of album, utilizing Lamerluser Studios in London, U.K.; Dark Lane Studios in Witney, U.K.; as well as the band's own Evil1 Studios in Charleville-Mézières, France and Shredforce One Studios in California.