BMS: First and foremost, thank you for sending over your debut EP, Cycloptic, to me to review. I loved it and I’m glad to put the EP’s opening track on the Metal Shredder Showcase.

Arun: Thank you. Your Showcase was well put together and I even discovered a few foreign bands as well. Keep up the good work!

BMS: Now, tell me Waves of Decay’s origin story.

Arun: Officially Waves of Decay was formed in late 2016 as a reincarnation of Horny Moses, a melodic death-industrial-thrash-progressive metal crossbreed in which Jim, Ben, Stijn and I played together for a few years. When we began Waves of Decay, Jelle came in to ask us to play along with us.
Jelle: Yeah, I used to do bass and vocals back in my younger years and I also sung for Arun’s other band Hope Erodes before I retired from that band. But Waves of Decay encouraged me to revitalize my bass playing skills.

Waves Of Decay from left to right: Stijn Kustermans (vocals), Jelle Sterckx (bass), Ben Gyles (drums), Jim Metal (guitar), Arun Rao (guitar & keyboard).

BMS: Interesting. So you formed Waves of Decay last fall and you already have an EP out of the door. That’s fast!

Arun: Yeah, when we began the band we promised ourselves to take things very seriously and make an EP. A big mistake we made during our Horny Moses years was that it took way too long for us to get an EP out.
Stijn: Not only that, but we also had the idea to add some saxophone sessions during the songs thinking it would make our band more original. Looking back, we were trying too hard to stand out from the crowd and the end result was an awkward mess.
Jelle: I did admire the fact that they had the balls to try adding in a jazz instrument to their heavy metal sound.

BMS: Cheers to you, guys. But I don’t think saxophones are suitable instruments for a metal act  The joyful sounds of a sax makes the harsh guitar riffs sound very out of place and vice versa. I’m glad you decided not to continue with that idea.

Arun: And that’s why we decided to rebranded ourselves into Waves of Decay. We wanted a fresh start and now we all are fully dedicated to this new project. We sat together to think about the sound we wanted to play and what elements we would and wouldn’t retain from Horny Moses. We decided that we would take the Swedish melodic death metal band Dark Tranquillity as our main inspiration although we’ve made our style more thrash oriented.
Stijn: We also took a look at the stuff we had written as Horny Moses and decided to rework some of that material into songs for our first Waves Of Decay EP, Cycloptic. Its opening track, Destiny, was one of the final songs we made as part of Horny Moses.
Jelle: One element we retained from Horny Moses are the keyboards although as Waves of Decay we put much less emphasis on the electronic aspect and more on the guitar riffs. That’s why we don’t have a dedicated keyboardist when we play live. Arun records all the keyboard tunes in advance.
Jim: In the beginning I was a bit sceptical regarding the use of keyboards in Waves of Decay, but I eventually grew to like them as they aren’t the dominating factor of the band’s sound.

BMS: I see. Well, I’ve listened to your Cycloptic EP before this conversation and I’d say that the keyboard tunes better flesh out the songs. They fit nicely into the overall sound and like Jim just said, they don’t overstay their welcome.

Arun: Thanks for your feedback, Metal Shredder! And when our EP was ready to be recorded we went to Bob Briessinck from Breeze Inc. Studio & Live Sound Mixing for his assistance and he was great to work with.
Jelle: Yeah, Bob’s a very nice and talented guy. We look forward to recording our further material at Breeze Inc. Studio as well.

BMS: I agree. I’ve known Bob for a few years now back when he was still frontman for the thrash death hybrid Bloodrocuted. So, what are your plans for Waves of Decay’s future?

Arun: Our main goal for this year is to have some shows to promote Cycloptic and also work out some new songs. We don’t want to wait too long to get new Waves of Decay material recorded.

BMS: I look forward to it! And today you have a shot for a spot on the line up of Black Out Bash’s fifth festival. How would you consider your chances?

Arun: I’ve got to say the other artists present here are highly talented so the band who gets the honour to play at BOB will more than deserve it. No matter if it’s us or one of the other competitors. Last year I played here with my other band, Hope Erodes, I had a ton of fun playing here and Hope Erodes emerged victorious. I look forward to seeing who will win this year. In any case, it’s great to be back here.

Picture taken by Jo De Boeck by Liveacts Belgium.

BMS: Personally, I’d say you have a good chance to win here today. You have some great songs and the combination of industrial, death, thrash and power metal gives your material a nice unpredictable nature. Plus you clearly enjoy being on stage.

Arun: All I can say is that it’s a pleasure to be here once again!

BMS: That’s the spirit! Now, what other things do you guys do in life aside from jamming as Waves of Decay?

Stijn: I spend a lot of free time practicing my vocals and taking care of my family and friends.
Jelle: Me too. Waves Of Decay is the only band I play in and I want to give it my all.
Ben: Aside from Waves of Decay I’m a freelance software developer and business marketing consultant. You can find my portfolio at www.nebit.be.
Arun: I’m the only guy in Waves of Decay who also plays in another band. That band is called Hope Erodes and we play a mix of heavy metal and hardcore punk. And I’m getting married next week!

BMS: Congratulations!

Jim: Just like Jelle, Stijn and Arun I’m a full-time family man.

BMS: I see. It's great to see you give your families the same dedication as you give to Waves of Decay. Now, time for a final question. You’re a newly formed band, tell the reader why we should all check out Waves of Decay.

Arun: We’re five guys we’ve known each other personally and musically for several years and therefore we stand tall as one band with one mission: to rock your socks off using our varied arsenal of death, thrash, power, industrial and heavy metal.
Jelle: And that’s the beauty of Waves of Decay! There’s a lot of diversity in our sound and we offer something for everyone. No matter what metal subgenre you prefer. All you have to do is to come see us and find out for yourself!

BMS: That’s one great argument! And now it’s time for my friend Kevin here to take the picture!

Picture taken by Kevin Van De Mergel.