In terms of local extreme metal, Nemesium have to be regarded as one of the most pivotal acts around. I feel like whenever a large scale metal act that comes to town, it is constantly Nemesium scoring a well-deserved support slot, a statement which will be backed when they support Brazilian icons Krisiun on Thursday.
But what do the lads get up to when they are not sharing the stage with huge exports?
“I work at the TAC,” laughs Chris McEwin, the group’s lead guitarist. “A lot my colleagues know what I do but they just pay me out a little bit about it but that’s alright. They always try to encourage me to get up and play guitar at the end of year parties but I don’t think they quite know what they would be getting themselves in for.”
A statement that I agree with. Especially considering the genre that Nemesium tie into. Extreme metal isn’t Parkway. It’s not clean vocal choruses. It’s not the triple j feature album.
Instead, it’s blistering, fierce and complex. A genre that many would struggle to find accessible, but, the crowd that does are more loyal than any other genre I know. If you don’t believe me, check out ‘Sentient Cognizance’, the groups 2015 debut EP which has since become a favourite of local metalheads who will quite soon have new material to indulge in.
With a debut full-length album on the way, Chris touched on the changes to Nemesium’s songwriting for the newer material.
“It’s definitely refined compared to the EP, which was somewhat chaotic. The songwriting wasn’t as structured as it now is. The approach that we now take with writing is much more holistic as opposed to putting in specific effort to make it progressive which is what we were once focusing on.
“We did the EP in 2015 and that was basically done just so we could get a recording out but even at that point we were working on songs for the album and we have just been refining those songs over the last couple of years.
“We did the drums back in November so we have been recording for quite a while now so there has been a lot of work that has gone into the album. Being a bit older and having members with kids and things like that it’s not always the easiest to find time for recording but it has been coming along really well.”
With new material in the works, Nemesium will be hitting up the Workers Club for ‘The Darkest Winter’s Night’ a double headliner event featuring the best of local metal.
“That was an idea that we have had for a while. We wanted to initially do it with all Geelong bands and the initial lineup we had was great but we never really got around to actually putting it together. So this one we booked the date at the Workers Club which we have never played before and then got this one happening. I was surprised at how quickly the guys in Damnation Day got back to us because they aren’t always prompt with that kind of thing and then we decided to bring Requiem down from Ballarat as well who are a great band.”
“It should be a great night so if you can make it along, come down for sure!”
When & Where: The Workers Club, Geelong – July 5. Check the FB event here.
Written by Alex Callan
