NSW Central Coast metal outfit Path Of Victory have returned with a new single, Reaper, that marks the heaviest material released by the band yet.
The band also welcomes new guitarist Mardy Leith into the fold for what promises to be a new era for the guys.
HEAVY caught up with Path Of Victory for a Q&A session to discover more.
HEAVY: Path Of Victory premiered your new track Reaper through HEAVY last Friday, September 2. Tell us about the song musically and what you were going for with it.
James Greig: We’re definitely excited to get it out there mate thanks for having us, With our new track Reaper we’ve stepped out into the heavier realm of things, the band has a wide range of metal & hardcore influences and amongst the dark times of covid this is what we brought to the table.
H: Reaper is much heavier than previous songs. Was that a planned direction, or did it just happen that way?
Mardy Leith: Reaper is the first track that was written upon me joining as the new guitarist, and given that I have a different musical background to the previous primary songwriter, the heaviness is just part and parcel of adding that new experience.
H: The song comes with a pretty cool film clip. Tell us the story you are telling.
James Bergan: We wanted to add a story element instead of doing a performance only style like all our previous videos. It follows a individual as they try to escape the inevitable end we all must face. But we also injected some of the personality of the band Into the clip. As serious as we like to play, we do enjoy having fun. Don’t want to give it away, but you should definitely stick around till the end.
H: The press release alludes to Path Of Victory “marking a new era” with Reaper. What does it mean by new era?
Liam Millar: Path has always been for fun. And while that is true, like every band, there has always been an element of seriousness about it. With the addition of Bergsy and Mardy there is very little holding us back exploring who we are and what we are capable of. This is only the start, and we hope you like what we have to offer next.
H: Is it a stand-alone single or part of a bigger album picture?
James Bergan: Reaper is a stand alone. Kind of a statement that we are moving on from the against the odds era of path of victory. We are currently working on the next EP.
H: Will future music continue down the heavier path of Reaper or was it more of an experiment with that sound?
Ben Murdoch: Reaper was made to push new boundaries for the band, so yes we will keep heavier elements, but heaviness is just a part of where we’re heading. We want songs that challenge us as musicians and keep music exciting for us, and hopefully raise the bar a bit higher for our scene post-lockdown.
H: Reaper sees POV welcome new guitarist Mardy Leith to the band. Tell us about him and what he brings to the band.
James Bergan: MARDY brings a level of experience and technical proficiency that we have not had before. It is certainly noticeable in the leads he wrote for reaper. He is a multi talented individual who’s great on guitar and awesome at vocals. It just opens the door for us to expand on our sound. As well as some great chemistry that brings out some of the most fun elements of us as a group. And cowboy hats.
H: For those who might not be familiar with POV, tell us a bit about the band.
Liam Millar: POV started quite some time ago as a 4 piece hardcore band. We’ve had lots of our friends play with us over the years, and lineups have never been important. We all have different music tastes and influences, but the love for heavy music is something we obviously all share.
H: You come from the central coast of NSW, which is outside of the major music areas. Do you find you have to work harder without having the opportunities bands in bigger cities like Brisbane or Melbourne?
James Greig: Correct, in some cases yes & no, Over the years we had done a lot of shows along the East Coast befriending a lot of awesome bands & muso’s until covid had hit & shows had stopped indefinitely, And now with this proof of life that we’re back, We’re starting to get quite a few cool opportunities & hope we can continue branching out.
H: What types of things do you do to make sure you reach those bigger markets?
Ben Murdoch: When we play our bigger city shows, it’s really important to have a quality line-up that we can build our promotion off of, and then showing the other bands and promoters that we are a band that can be relied on to deliver. Being less heard of has actually worked in our favor as people are more surprised of how tight we play and the energy we bring to a line-up. We’re really looking forward to getting back out there to those bigger shows and getting some momentum going into our next release.
H: What are the band’s plans for the rest of 2022 and beyond?
James Greig: We plan to continue writing more music bringing the heavies, We actually have a show this Saturday night at The Cambridge in Newcastle with the boys in Hatescape, Russian Novel & The Bloods, We also have more shows coming up this year just waiting for the announcements to drop so keep those eyes & ears peeled.
