Brian Rush discusses Skeletal Remains’ new album “Fragments of the Ageless”

Skeletal Remains, the Californian quartet known for their relentless foray into the realms of death metal, are on the brink of unveiling their fifth studio effort, Fragments of the Ageless, due for release on March 8th, 2024, via Century Media Records. Following the critical acclaim of their 2020 opus The Entombment of Chaos, the ensemble, comprising Mike De La O, Chris Monroy, Pierce Williams, and the latest addition, Brian Rush on bass, has delved deeper into the genre’s visceral essence. Bassist Brian Rush offers BassEmpi.re an in-depth look at the gear, creative process, and aspirations that underpin this latest chapter in the band’s discography.

“this album is the natural progression of Skeletal Remains and explores the 90s death metal style in a few more varied sonic realms.”

Brian Rush

“As a lefty, it’s just difficult to find something in the first place. I’m not about to shell out thousands for a custom build, and I’m not about to order something online that can’t be tried in person first,” Rush admits, revealing his choice of a StingRay for its ease of play and compatibility with the band’s sonic landscape. “For Fragments of the Ageless, I used a traditional Music Man StingRay. It was something that was available to try in store, and it’s pretty smooth and effortless to play. It feels similar to a Fender Jazz. I, of course, had it set up for our tuning: G# C# F# B. It had a built-in active preamp, which was causing some noise issues, so it was modified to be just a passive volume knob. But almost right after recording, I got ahold of a Schecter Diamond Series P-Bass, which I’ve been using live and will most likely use on following albums.”

The recording process saw a departure from traditional amplification, with Rush opting for a direct input approach to accommodate the nuanced mixing and mastering envisioned by Dan Swanö. “For live, it’s always been a variety of amplifiers, from Ampeg SVTs to Peavey to Acoustic. But for the recording, I just went straight in DI because we knew Swano would have other plans for reamping. I really wanted the bass to complement the rest of the sound of the album, so I left it up to him entirely to do what he thought best. Among other plugins, he used Parallax (Neural DSP), a FabFilter Pro-Q 3, and a MSpectralDynamics plugin.”

Delving into the intricacies of composing bass lines, Rush articulates his role as the cohesive link between the guitar work and the dynamic percussion. His decade-long collaboration with drummer Pierce Williams lends a synchronicity to their interplay, enriching the album’s textural depth: “For the sound of Skeletal, the bass really needs to be a tight glue to the drums. Luckily, having played in bands with Pierce for almost a decade now, even though his beats still surprise me, I can lock into the eccentricities of his style. I’m a strong believer in having the drums lead on a recording. It just makes everything punchier and tight. In terms of writing, most of the bass follows the guitar, but there are plenty of parts on this album where the bass is used to create a different atmosphere for the guitar riff to play over.”

Tracks such as Relentless Appetite and Verminous Embodiment showcase Rush’s ability to enhance the sonic narrative with underlying harmonies and countermelodies, adding a layer of complexity to the band’s aural assault. “Doing this just adds another subtle layer of sound that builds and relieves tension in certain places, and isn’t done in this style of death metal very often. It makes the album more dynamic and fun to listen to, whether people realize the bass is contributing to this or not. In terms of technique, I almost exclusively downpick for power and consistency (shout out to Kelly McLaughlin for driving this in). This is fine for live, but on the album it had to be reined in for a few spots. On certain riffs, the technique varies from alternate to downpicking and back to create more dynamics. All in all though, the playing is ultimately very abrasive.”

As Fragments of the Ageless looms on the horizon, Rush reflects on the band’s journey and the exploratory ethos that defines this record. “It’s the 5th album, it’s going to be a slightly different flavor than what’s come before,” he contemplates. “We really spent a lot of time crafting these songs and fitting them together in a way that makes the album a heavy, reliable, and enduring ride. There are some parts people will hear in territory that the band has never ventured into before. Large open and ‘epic’ sections, dense frenetic sections, bass harmonies, more low and brutal vocals (not in a BDM way). In conclusion, this album is the natural progression of Skeletal Remains and explores the 90s death metal style in a few more varied sonic realms.”

Pre-order Fragments of the Ageless here.