(1) Could you tell our readers about your band Carrion Vael ? – What kind of music do you perform, when was it established, etc.?
Travis: Carrion Vael is technical melodic death metal. We released our first album in March of 2017, so that was basically the start of the band as it’s known today.
Ryan: I joined Carrion Vael in early 2021, though the band had been a serious project since at least 2017 with the release of ‘Resurrection of the Doomed’.
We play a mix of melodic and technical death metal, with earlier albums leaning more towards the former and our most recent albums leaning into the latter.
(2) Which bands or artists inspired you to play music?
T: It would be crazy not to mention The Black Dahlia Murder when talking about who Carrion Vael drew influences from. Have we evolved into our own sound? Yeah, we have, but they are clearly an influence that we had early in our writing experiences. When I was a young kid, I watched Metallica videos all day long, just wanting to be half as bad ass as they were. Modern death metal bands keep evolving and impressing, and it’s important to always keep your finger on the pulse with what these guys are doing, it can be inspiring.
R: I was fairly young when I started to play music, so it was more rock and hard rock than metal that got me inspired to play.
Enter Sandman was the song I heard in 4th grade that kicked off my descent into music listening, collecting, and playing. My cousin played it for me while I was on a road trip, and it sent me on an entirely different journey.
Once I had expressed interest in music, my Dad and my Mom were pretty cool to share a lot of their favorite 60’s, 70’s and 80’s music from their record collection with me (Deep Purple, Beatles, Demons & Wizards, and all the classics), my older sisters got me into a lot of 90s and early 00s alternative music (Soundgarden, APC etc.) and my friends helped me navigate into more metal and heavy music. A year or two of that and I was saving up for my first guitar. I was playing for maybe a year before I discovered anything with a blast beat.
(3) Who came up with the cover art for the album Slay Utterly ?
T: Justin Abraham and myself have worked closely together on the art of the last three albums. “Abhorrent Obsessions”, “Cannibals Anonymous”, and now “Slay Utterly” have all been tight collaborations. Justin is super easy to work with and willing to get the details locked in for the concepts of each album. Love that dude.
R: The last four of Carrion Vael’s album covers and liner note pieces have all been done by Justin Abraham. The only exception being the gatefold band portrait on the inside of Cannibals Anonymous, which was a pen/ink/marker drawing that I did.
Conceptually, our vocalist, Travis, comes up with the concepts as well as some loose visual ideas to kickstart the pieces.
(4) Who wrote the lyrics for your new album, how did they come to be?
T: I write all the lyrics. Years ago I found myself fascinated by true crime, the brutal stories were part of it, but a lot of it revolved around wondering what the hell was wrong with these people. So, I started using the stories as lyrical content, not all necessarily about the murders, but often times touching on the experiences of the victims or the mental maladies. It’s important to remember not to put these killers in a pedestal, that’s not the point. “Slay Utterly” is specifically about axe murders or particularly vicious acts, such as the Villisca Axe murders, Jack the Ripper, or Elizabeth Shorts death.
(5) Who created the logo for the band, and who takes care of the graphics and the website?
T: Christopher Horst created the logo, and Ryan Kuder manages our social media.
R: Travis will have to confirm or deny on both points, but I don’t think we have an active website – and I thought it was a Christopher Horst logo.
As for our various social media posting and the various graphic design work that ends up on those platforms, that’s almost always me.
(6) How many shows have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether (Venues or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best?
T: At this point we’ve probably played hundreds of shows. Looking for more, so book us. We love touring with the homies. We leave 1/16/26 for a short run with Summoning the Lich and Demon King, and any chance we get to play a show or tour with folks like that, we will take.
R: I keep an ongoing list of the shows I’ve played, though I’m missing a lot from my first few years of playing small local shows. I’m currently somewhere in the mid 200s with a pretty busy new year stacking that number higher.
I don’t know if I can say I have a preference for tours vs fests. Some of my favorite shows have probably been on our most recent tour through Canada with Carnosus & Apogean, or some of the shows on the first Rags to Riffage tour while I filled in for Summoning the Lich.
(7) What is your songwriting process?
T: Typically starts with the guitar players writing riffs. They put them together in a pre pro song, send them to me, and I kind of set them up for vocals. Then we send them off to the drummer to adjust his parts. You got yourself a stew going at that point.
R: I’m typically writing on my own rather than with a band. When I’m playing guitar and I hit an idea that I like, I prop up my camera and record. I try to create as many new variations or responses to the original riff or idea as possible while it’s still fresh and exciting. When I have a lot to work with, I’ll quit recording, review the session, and tab out all the enjoyable parts. At this point I analyze keys & tempos, divide ideas into what might work for verses/choruses/etc., and assess if the arrangement needs anything further to fill it out.
From there, I’ll demo a full song around that. I program drums, bass and orchestra to fully get the ideas across. Though I fully want and expect my bandmates to rewrite their instrumental parts to fit their own style and help with the final arrangement.
(8) Who would you most like to collaborate with?
T: Never really thought about it. Collaborating in metal is kind of done through festivals and touring. Inferi would be a cool band to tag team a song with. Similar but just so good ant what they do imo. We’ve been blessed to tour with some great bands, whatever Coles from it, we’re down.
R: My old guitar teacher Christian Muenzner would be sick to get on a track one day. He has a good track record of really elevating the songs he’s hired to guest on. Check out ‘Carved in the Wind’ by Gorod for a great example.
(9) What are the main themes or messages in your lyrics?
T: Diving into the mental state of each killer’s story.
(10) Do you have endorsements that you want to talk about or share?
T: We’ve been lucky enough to be from Indiana, which means Sweetwater treats us well. We also have worked with KSR amps a little bit, Kyle makes great amps and is very chill.
R: Nope! Free or discounted shit sounds pretty cool though!
(11) Would you like to share any shows or festivals coming up?
T: We have a busy year coming up! So keep an eye out, so far we’ve only announced our tour with summoning the lich and demon king, but we have a tour in March, July, August, and October we will be announcing soon!
R: We have a short run with Summoning the Lich and Demon King coming up, a one-off opening for Rivers of Nihil in February, then plenty as of yet unannounced for the rest of the year.
(Summoning the Lich x Demon King)
01.16 E Street Pub | Richmond, IN
01.17 Diesel Concert Lounge | New Baltimore, MI
01.18 WC Social Club | West Chicago, IL
01.19 MagBar | Louisville, KY
02.20 Black Circle | Indianapolis, IN (w/ Rivers of Nihil & Fleshbore)
(12) How and where can your fans contact you? What about you and social networks?
T: They can message us directly at our Facebook or instagram. Each member is easy to find as well. We won’t mind!
