[Interview]: Aaron Osborne of AGLO (Melbourne Death-Doom) - 23.04.23.
EDIT: Due to innerstrengthcheck.com unfortunately being deactivated and no longer available, the original post has been reuploaded to our new site.
With “Into the Maze” Melbourne’s AGLO unleash 6 filthy and crushing tracks that take the swagger and groove of Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues” and infuse it with the tar-thick pull of doom. There is no escape, just the slow and inevitable march of the riffs towards total annihilation.
Lumbering like some slow-crawling and atrocious beast through the murk of a polluted swamp, this one-man doom project created by Aaron Osborne seems to take pride in all that is rusty and ugly, delivering exceptionally murky and nasty riffs, slow and powerful drumbeats and tormented growls.
I caught up with Aaron, mastermind behind the entire death-doom sludge machine that is AGLO, for a brief Q and A. See below.
B: How have you found the process of recording and releasing music as an individual versus in a band?
A: For the most part it’s been pretty easy to be honest!
'The hardest part is obviously taking the time to make sure everything is good and be critical when writing the songs as you don’t have other ears to bounce off.
However, I make sure I send everything to some close mates to give me feedback as well. Other than that it’s just a bit slower playing every instrument myself when I record, haha.'
B: Were there any specific motivations for striking out in the doom scene as a solo artist?
'I mainly just wanted to see if i could do it on my own, as I’ve played each of the instruments separately in other bands. I’m looking forward to putting a band together to play shows now though, which should be fun.'
B: Melbourne’s sludge/doom scene has been kicking off recently, from Mammon’s Throne and Religious Observance to Lucifungus. Any particular local/national favourites of yours, including any that might’ve influenced your own sound?
'Yeah, it’s definitely moving in a really positive direction here at the moment. My friends band Potion have been a big influence on me getting back into this stuff from a writing perspective, and they’ve been a massive support in helping me play the AGLO songs as well. Pod People are a constant influence on me and my riffs, and bands like Kvll and Isua from here fuel a desire to riff loud and heavy.'
B: There’s some overt lyrical/artistic themes reminiscent of Artificial Brain – rogue technology, biomechanical hybrids, etc. Do you have any particular influences (other than the Borg, of course)?
A: 'Well, the overarching ‘theme’ of the band is essentially taking all influence from Star Trek haha, so the Borg storylines have influenced a lot of the lyrics/visuals as I think it’s just one of the coolest arcs in the show/movies. But I think a lot of the stories are very relatable to every day problems and societal issues (which was the intent of the OG Trek writers), so it’s very easy to apply those themes to lyrics about the world/people being shit, haha.'
B: Any plans for some live shows in future? If so, any plans for use of additional members, or utilising backing tracks etc?
A: 'Yeah' definitely getting into playing live in the future, I’ll have some friends do the other instruments with me and I’ll sing. I’m looking forward to putting it all together and hearing the riffs big and live with others!'
Thanks,
- Aaron