“It probably seems a bit counterintuitive to use such a baseball bat neck for really fast thrash metal, but I just love it”: Manuel Köster from Aoryst on his Steve Harris Precision Bass

Aoryst, a promising new band in the thrash metal genre, have recently released their debut album, Relics Of Time, under MDD Records. Originating from the creative efforts of guitarist Kristian Leš, the band brings together a mix of thrash, death, and classic metal influences. In this interview with Bass Empire, Manuel Köster, the band’s bassist, shared insights into his musical equipment the thought process behind their first album.

“It probably seems a bit counterintuitive to use such a baseball bat neck for really fast thrash metal, but I just love it.”

When asked about his main instrument, Köster shared, “My main instrument is the Fender Steve Harris Precision Bass. It is from the first series of models they built for Steve, and technically it’s an Iron Maiden signature, not a Harris signature. Unlike the newer models, it was made in Japan, not in Mexico. It was the first quality bass I bought more than twenty years ago. Plenty of other basses have since come and often gone, but this is the one I keep returning to. The quarter-pounder Seymour Duncan pickup as well as the Badass II bridge give it plenty of oomph and attack, especially when strung with D’Addario Pro Steels. However, the thing I like most about the bass is it’s really fat neck. It probably seems a bit counterintuitive to use such a baseball bat neck for really fast thrash metal, but I just love it.”

Regarding his gear setup beyond the bass, Köster detailed, “I used to be quite the gear nerd in my twenties and early thirties but have since reduced my equipment massively. I use an Orange OB-1 with an 8×10 Orange cab (or whatever is provided in a live situation). I like the way you can blend clean and crunchy sounds with the OB-1. The idea there is that the amp emulates a mix of a clean bass amp and an overdriven guitar amp which affects only the higher frequencies. But to be honest, practicality and portability play just as much a role here. I used to lug around big, heavy tube heads but found that more and more often, I would find excuses why on that particular night I would rather bring the OB-1 (which used to be a backup) rather than the heavy amps. I have since managed to find the crunch tones I liked about tube heads with the OB-1, with the added bonus of a much tighter bottom end. That is pretty much all I use, except for the very occasional use of a TC Eyemaster (a cheap HM-2 clone).”

On identifying the track from the new album that best represents their musical vision, Köster noted, “Aoryst started life as a studio project by our guitar player and mastermind Kristian, so I’m not actually on the album. I feel like Kristian takes a bit of a guitar player’s approach to playing bass, inasmuch as he often doubles guitar riffs on the bass. He is a much more technical player than I am, so I feel that my job in a live setting is to declutter some of the bass parts which might otherwise feel muddy (at least when I play them). In other cases, I try to provide counter melodies rather than follow what the guitar is doing. A good example is the song ‘Deterministic Chaos’, the album opener. On the record, around the 0.50 mark, there is a pattern of quick triplets played in unison, followed by a unison guitar and bass riff. Instead of following along with the guitar, I play a slightly simpler triplet pattern with a counter melody and follow that up with some chords to give the following riff a foundation.”

“any thrash metal fan will find something to like there.”

Reflecting on how Relics Of Time fits into the thrash metal genre, Köster observed, “I feel like the record provides enough nods to the greats of the genre that any thrash metal fan will find something to like there. There’s the occasional Slayerism, a bit of Kreator and technical parts that put me in mind of Atheist or maybe Sadus. However, there is also quite a bit of harmony and melody there, with riffs and lines that might well be at home on a NWOBHM album. So there’s parts that will make you want to bang your head, parts that will make you scratch your head and a few fist-raising moments. If we can evoke that reaction, we’re satisfied. Heed the call of the void!”

Relics Of Time by Aoryst is available for streaming and purchase through MDD Records.