“I really wanted to push the boundaries of what we did this album,” Chris Pervelis, guitarist and founding member of seminal death metal band Internal Bleeding, explains of their latest release, Settle All Scores, out now via Maggot Stomp. “And then COVID hit, and during the lockdown, we listened to all the stuff that we had written. We had written like half an album, and we were like, this has gone way too far; we’ve lost the Internal Bleeding sound because we’ve been trying to experiment too much. So we threw pretty much everything away, except for, I think, one song, which we reconfigured and made work.”
After over three decades in the game, the key for Pervelis is finding a delicate balance between growth and alienating the longtime fanbase. He views his creative choices through a long-term lens, considering the band’s impact and legacy.
“I guess the question is, when are you a step ahead?” he says. “Are you going to lose fans because you went too far, or is it just enough that you can drag them along with you on the journey of your music? I want to bring people along on my musical journey, and I want them to stay with me. But if I go too far, I’m going to lose people. I’m happy it still sounds like Internal Bleeding. We still pushed some things forward, but we didn’t go too far.”
Touching on the lyrical themes of the album, Pervelis admits the core is rooted in revenge, but the ultimate goal is catharsis and finding closure.
“Part of it is very cathartic, being that it’s a revenge type thing,” he shares. “There’s, there’s a lot of songs on that album that are directed at specific people, and I would never mention that name in public, because that would cheapen the lyrics. I want a listener to listen to that and say, ‘Yeah, that guy in third grade who beat me up,’ or whatever. I want a listener to identify it. If you give everything away, then a listener can’t identify with the feelings of the lyrics. We want people to put themselves in their own shoes and have a cathartic release, like, ‘Oh yeah, fuck them’ and move on,” he says, “because if you hold on to that stuff all your life, it’s gonna consume you.”
Pervelis, who is approaching 60, also acknowledges the possibility that the new record could mark a major turning point, or perhaps even an end. “I don’t know if this is our last album, right? It’s getting harder and harder for me to tour, to play, and, you know, all that stuff. So it could be closure. I’m not saying it is, but, it could be that make that I’m making peace with all this stuff.”
He ultimately sees the violent, hateful, and revenge-driven material as a giant primal scream for both the band and the audience. “Let it out, let it go, move on. Otherwise, it’s going to consume your life and destroy it, and that’s just not healthy.” This theme extends to the creation of the album itself, which was a “family affair,” including contributions from several former vocalists—a move that prioritizes shared history over past disagreements.
“I’ve had fallings out with a lot of my ex-band members. We’ve had bad breakups, whatever, and I’ve stayed friendly with most of them and let time heal all wounds and reconnect,” Pervelis states. “Being in a band is tough … but when you give it some time, that disappears, and you realize that you spent a crucial part of your life with these people, and that should take precedence over the small squabbles.”
One of the most gratifying aspects of the band’s longevity has been the recent surge in popularity for the slam subgenre—a term Internal Bleeding was central in popularizing.
“For me, it’s really gratifying,” Pervelis says about seeing young fans embrace the sound. “When we first came out, fans kind of got it, but I guess it never caught on, and now slam is finally getting respect. In a way, it validates the last 35 years of my life because this is what I’ve been working on, and it’s what I believed in.”
Looking forward, Internal Bleeding have a busy schedule planned to support the new record. After a record release weekend on the East Coast, they have other U.S. dates planned, with a run down south in January and East Coast shows in March. They’re also headed overseas in the spring, touring Europe with Party Cannon.
While the band have a lot of touring ahead, Pervelis says he hasn’t gotten serious about writing the next album yet. “I have a couple of riffs that I’ve written, but I haven’t gotten serious about trying to arrange them and all that stuff … I kind of need a break. I kind of need to find new inspiration. And if it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t; we’ll see what happens.”
Settle All Scores is out now from Maggot Stomp, and you can order it here. Follow Internal Bleeding on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Photo Credit: Kyle Bergfors
