“Viral Nation” Track List:

1. Viral Nation (intro)
2. Oblivion
3. The Execution
4. Sing For Freedom
5. Ignite
6. Metafilth
7. A Dark Chapter
8. Human Crutch
9. Home

When the four member’s of Obey the Fist headed into Alchemy Recording Studio one November day in 2008, they were quite the optimists.

“We thought we’d be done in two weeks,” confesses vocalist/guitarist Chris Kreuger, “but it took a hell of a lot longer.”

They recorded the final tracks for their upcoming debut album in December 2009, just over a year from when they laid down the first drum tracks with Alchemy engineer Jeff Muller behind the board.

“It was spaced out, though,”adds guitarist Kyle Wilson. “Most of the sessions were spaced by two weeks because we’d have to wait for pay cheques to come in.”

“We didn’t take any short cuts, either, and we’re super proud of this CD,” Kreuger smiles, holding up a copy of Viral Nation.

Before settling on Alchemy, the band shopped around. Having recently moved to Calgary, Alta. from Moose Jaw, Sask. they didn’t know enough people to ask for recommendations, so they went to the phone book.

“We did some studio tours. We went to The Beach, I talked to the guys at Slaughterhouse. In the end, when we went to Alchemy and listened to some of the stuff, that just happened to be the one we wanted to go with,” Kreuger says.

It not only fit their budget, Muller had the metal credits to go with it. The relaxed recording environment didn’t hurt either.

“It’s definitely a nice laid back place to go to record.”

The studio suited them well enough, they hired Muller to take care of the mixing and mastering on the nine-track album, though they were clear about what they wanted.

“We even gave him some samples of what we kind of wanted,” offers drummer Joe Puff. “Basically, the volume of it, we wanted him to match it to Lamb of God. But that’s pretty tough to do. Their engineer is really, really good, and Jeff did an excellent job of what we were looking for.”

Lamb of God is just one of many influences, and Viral Nation is across the metal board. Heavy, aggressive, and progressive, intense with energy everywhere but when it suits the moment, and melodically alternative, the album is interesting right from the intro to the final track, and you never know when each moment will occur.

“There are lots of changes going on in the music,” agrees Puff.

“It takes us a long time to write our songs,” Kreuger nods. “Everything is well thought out. Every single part is worked out exactly the way we want it.”

When it came to writing the songs for Viral Nation, Obey the Fist had a fairly standard routine that’s carried into their current songwriting process.

“The formula for Obey the Fist’s songs is that Kyle or myself will come up with a guitar part, then Groz (Grosenick) will get some screams and bass in there,” Kreguer explains. “And then we take it over to Joe and he changes everything, and that how they usually end up.”

“If everyone likes it!” Puff interjects.

“Joe likes everything harder and faster, and that’s okay with me,” smiles bassist Chris Grosenick, whose sister, Candice, provided the cover art for Viral Nation.

On the whole, “the album reflects us finding our sound,” Kreuger suggests. “It’s one thing to be good at your instrument individually, but when you bring it together with other people, especially with awesome backgrounds, and a history of playing in bands, you’ve got to test what your capable of.”

“Nobody’s really nailed us in comparison to another band,” he continues, “so I think people will just have to listen to it.”

Obey the Fist is bringing the infectious grooves of Viral Nation to The Distillery on Saturday March 6. The band’s CD release show will also feature Bridgefallen Prohecy and Cricket.