Video games and metal music are two things loved by many angry teenagers and fanatic enthusiasts all over the world. It's not a weird thing to see the two things go hand in hand, especially since a lot of games had metal music as soundtracks, with Doom being the prime example of a game with rock and metal music consisted of songs from Pantera, Metallica, Slayer, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Garden, Black Sabbath etc. Of course, there are also plenty of YouTubers musicians that covered video game music in metal style, but there aren't many examples of metal musicians making original songs based on video games, except for one. The band I am talking about is Super Monster Party from the US, which have been releasing video game themed metal albums since 2020, and have recently released their new single 'This is Doom!' on April 9th, with Glenn Fricker of Spectre Sound Studios and Average Video Game Nerd as guest cameos on the song's official music video. I have decided to take on this quest and embark on an epic journey, where I'll be sharing a few words with these musicians who are also fellow gamers like myself.

Vladimir

Greetings! First of all, I'd like to wish you a warm welcome on behalf of the MetalBite crew!

Thanks for having me! Pleasure to be here.

Could you please share a short history of the band and its humble beginnings? When did it all start and how did you come up with the idea of starting a band which is focusing on all sorts of video games and also varies in styles of metal music?

For years I've always had this idea to create a video game themed band that focused around the perspective of the Heroes and villains in worlds. So around the start of the pandemic in 2020. I was bored at home and decided to jump right in and write songs. In 2 weeks, I wrote songs and by the summer of that year, I released my first album.

Have there been supporting comments from some well-known video game companies or game developers over the past years and are any of them familiar with your work? Also, which video game company would you expect to be your biggest fans?

Yes we have. Sega and Konami are awesome. And even John Romero (Doom) has given us the thumbs up on our latest single, 'This is Doom'.

Your new single 'This Is Doom!' has been released and I must say that the song is a rip and tearing banger, even the music video featuring Glenn Fricker and AVGN was awesome and funny. Strangely enough, I even started playing Doom Eternal recently so this must be a sign of the universe. Was there any reason why you chose Doom as the specific subject for the song, especially since the game is turning 30 this year? Since I've already mentioned Glenn Fricker and AVGN, what do they think of your music? Are they also fans of your work?

Both James and Glenn have been amazing to me and the band. As someone that has been a fan of their shows. It's an absolute honor to work with them. And to have them together in one video? Just wow.

Just as it is with video games, albums also have some certain form of difficulty when it comes to making them, be it songwriting, recording, mixing, mastering or whatever. Has any of your albums been a bit challenging for you to make and if so, what was the reason?

I think it's the challenge of creating art that makes it worth creating, if that makes sense. Trying to one- up yourself every time through your song writing and storytelling. The beautiful thing about video games is that there is an abundance of material to work with. Sometimes the songs write themselves. Sometimes they require being left on the back burner and revisited later.

Have you managed to get in contact with some record company that would be interested in releasing your music in physical format? Would those physical formats be some exclusive releases with CD cases shaped like video game cartridges?

So to date we have released on our own, 3 full albums. They already come in Sega genesis cases and feature immersive narrations in between tracks to provide that epic experience. As far as labels are concerned. Nowadays being on a label doesn't really do much. Especially since most of the things like distribution you can do yourself. That doesn't mean we wouldn't like to be part of one, someday. Never say never.

Has Super Monster Party ever got a chance to perform live or has the band at least been contacted by any organizers to do live shows in the future?

We have performed live only a handful of times. Most of the members are based out of Miami and our drummer is based out of Texas. So it's hard to do shows frequently. We have done a few events such as "Too Many Games" convention last year and we have a few planned for 2023 we cannot announce yet.

I know that your albums focus on lore from various video games, but how come you never settled to do a concept album based around one video game?

I could. But I feel like it would feel forced. I like having the freedom to work on a song by song basis. Zelda has gotten two tracks so far.  So I guess we are a quarter of the way there.

Music is very important for video games since it can either drive the story or create a certain feel and atmosphere, but if some company approached you and asked you to do a soundtrack for a video game, would you accept that offer?

Oh of course. That would be a dream come true.

Thank you for doing this interview! I would like to wish you many successful years and keep up the good work! Are there any final words you'd like to leave to all the fans reading this?

I appreciate that. Thanks so much for having us. We look forward to seeing everyone on the road soon.