Chilean Metal band ATER are set to release their second full length album entitled Somber on April 19th. The band’s bassist/vocalist Fernando Bühring took the time to talk with Metal Express Radio about their upcoming album, their latest single entitled “Ignis Immortalis”, the Metal scene in Chile, and more. Check out the chat below!
Metal Express Radio: Your band, ATER are set to release their second studio album entitled Somber on April 19th, what can you tell fans about the upcoming album?
Bühring: We have been working hard on this release. There is more music videos coming out soon and some other content. To our fans, we can tell you all that this record IS different from our debut album Eternal Gray Spiral. I am doing main vocals for the band now and supported by Josh in backing vocals. The tuning is much lower and the music is way harder overall. Everything feels more cohesive and full. We didn’t change everything around of course, and core elements of what ATER is are intact. Complex syncopated riffs and dense atmospheric layers are very present in our new work Somber.
MER: How was the writing and recording process having this being your second album with the band?
Bühring: Writing the new album was very different for most songs. When I met the Seguin brothers back in early 2018 I already had a new song written that they learned quickly and we started rehearsing it. That process of playing the new music live in our studio space right after writing it was very inspiring to me. There is two songs that I wrote while visiting family in Santiago, Chile (I was living in Los Angeles, CA, until the Covid pandemic). Most songs were effortless for me to write, I was very inspired and finding this new sound i wanted to keep developing. Some of them were written during the course of one night. One song in particular, Ignis Immortalis, was very difficult for me to write. It took me over a year. One of the last tracks written for this album was done in collaboration as a band in the studio. This was very inspiring to me and I hope we get to write more collectively in the future. The lyrics for Somber were mostly written by me with the exception of “Ignis Immortalis”, whose lyrics are Josh’s. Somber was recorded in different locations between 2020 and 2022. Drums were done at Insania Recordings in Los Angeles, a studio I used to operate (no longer exists) guitars and bass were recorded at the previous ATER headquarters in California. Josh’s vocals were done there as well of some of my vocals. All the background layers, clean guitars and vocals were tracked by myself in different locations in Mexico City and Santiago, Chile. I mixed the album in a recording studio I was running in Mexico City during the pandemic. The album was then mastered by none other than Ted Jensen from Sterling Sound.
MER: What kind of feedback have you received on the song “Ignis Immortalis”?
Bühring: So far the feedback has been really good, we are very happy with how the reception has been. We are bringing in a lot of new fans with this new song and video, and a lot of our fans from Eternal Gray Spiral seem to like it a lot as well, which we are really happy about.
MER: How did it come about choosing “Ignis Immortalis” as your first single from the album?
Bühring: To us this song encompasses everything that ATER is at this moment with Somber.
MER: What do you see as plans for you and your band after the album release?
Bühring: We will be playing live as much as possible to support Somber. We are working on a couple of tours, one which will be announced soon. Also we are working on new material already for a follow up album.
MER: Who do you hope to tour with and why?
Bühring: I have my dream list, which includes Meshuggah, Septicflesh among others… I think we would be a good tour fit with bands like Batushka, Hate, Belphegor, Dark Funeral, Humanity’s Last Breath, Folterkammer.
MER: Where are you mostly looking forward to playing live and why?
Bühring: I would like to play locally in Chile now that I’m living back here, and definitely would like to go all around Latin America. It’s just home you know? I want to be in front of the Latin crowd because there is not a lot of bands representing their own countries down here. Besides that, I hope ATER gets to travel and play everywhere really. Europe is next on the list but also is the USA.
MER: How would you describe the Metal scene in Chile?
Bühring: The scene here is interesting at the moment. There is a lot of young new modern metal bands coming out and a scene seems to be building back up, which is exciting to me. There is a lot of metal fans here in Chile but not a lot of bands, and I’m glad to see that start to change. Some of my favorite acts currently are All Tomorrows, Hamadryas and Chances.
MER: For anyone unfamiliar with your band, how would you describe your sound?
Bühring: ATER strives to make some of the heaviest music ever. We combine elements from progressive, syncopated modern metal with the heaviest of what I find in black and death metal. The shortest term I have heard from fans a lot is “Meshuggah meets black metal”
MER: What are your hopes for your band’s future?
Bühring: We hope to play shows in as many places as we can. If possible, I would like to release a new album with ATER in 2025.
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