Watch Derek Engemann playthrough Cast The Stone’s “The Burning Horizon”, off their forthcoming EP “Empyrean Atrophy“, which you can pre-order now through Agonia Records ahead of its August 31st release date.
Here’s the gear Derek uses to make his bass sound like the breath of Satan:
Peavey Headliner 1000 Bass Amplifier Head
Peavey VB-810 Bass Speaker Cabinet
Tech 21 – Sans Amp Bass Driver DI
Amptweaker Tech 21 Tight Metal Jr (distortion)
ESP – E II Stream 5 String Bass – Snow White
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Bass Electric Bass 5 String Set 45 – 130
Korg Toneworks DTR-2 Rackmount Digital Tuner
Planet Wave American Stage Instrument Cables
CAST THE STONE is guitarist Mark Kloeppel (Misery Index, Scour with Phil Anselmo), bassist Derek Engemann (ex-Cattle Decapitation, Scour), drummer Jesse Schobel (Legend, ex-Scour) and vocalist Andrew Huskey. First formations of the band began in 2002, long before its protagonists departed for their better known metal-scene mainstays. While such ties leave a clear mark, CAST THE STONE emerge not as some metal supergroup, but as a project of the original and purest intent of its membership.
Each of CAST THE STONE members is involved in writing music, and each has varying tastes. But they all seem to have one acquired taste in common: an appetite for American and Swedish death metal. On “Empyrean Atrophy”, one can distinctly hear sounds similar to Dismember, Grave, At The Gates, and other proponents of the genre. There are also artisan elements one could liken to more dark and progressive Swedish acts such as Opeth, Edge Of Sanity and Dissection. Perhaps this reason alone, Dan Swanö was a clear choice for production (having produced or had been a member of some of the aforementioned bands).
Hybridizing the dark ferocity of Swedish death metal through a lens of American brutality, CAST THE STONE hits a creative stride with “Empyrean Atrophy”. Guitarist Mark Kloeppel commented, “The band’s sound is a testament to an enduring spirit that’s driven us to return to our most organic influences, merge them together, incorporate disparate elements, and forge our own sound. Each person has a distinct sound unto themselves, so it’s really cool how smooth and cohesive this stuff comes across. You can immediately hear how different this is from the other things we’ve been involved in, yet it’s still very true to our individual styles. Our bassist Derek progressively weaves my guitars and Jesse’s uber-creative drumming style together in a way that only he can. This is all crowned off by Andy Huskey’s crazy death metal vocals which are… well, just listen”.
“Empyrean Atrophy” was produced by Dan Swanö (Katatonia, Merciless, Edge Of Sanity) and features cover artwork by Gary Ronaldson of Bite Radius Designs (Primordial, Kreator, Napalm Death). It includes five new, original compositions and a cover of Infestdead’s “Jesusatan”.
