Charlotte melo-tech death metal vagrants, Wretched, carve up a brutal slab of viscousness on its fourth full-length effort, Cannibal. The band has been wreaking havoc since 2005 but somehow has flown under the radar within the genre and hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. But on Cannibal, Wretched has upped the ante. While walking the same path as Arsis and The Black Dahlia Murder, the quintet churns out its own sound with melodic and technical proficiency. In the following interview, vocalist Adam Cody talks about what might shock metalheads if they knew what he likes to listen to, why his lyrics are cathartic and why he likes to hang out in the parking lot after playing a show.

BraveWords: With Cannibal being the band’s fourth release, the second you’ve participated on, how do you see the band’s progress compared to the first two?

Adam Cody: “It really does in my opinion, stack up to the other ones. I think we had some good songwriting on all the albums, but I think on this album we really fine-tuned exactly what we wanted to be. We put a little more of our influences as a whole into it, instead of just one side of our sound.”

BraveWords: What would these influences be and what bands or music would surprise people to know what you like to listen to?

Adam Cody: “It’s always a big shock when I tell people that I like indie pop. I like anything from classic rock to sludge, doom and grime. There’s so much music at your hands, it’s so hard to pinpoint any one thing. But I’d say right now, hip-hop and old-school R&B; has been my thing. I’ve been into the Temptations and stuff like that. I’ve been blasting with the metal for awhile, so I’ve been kind of taking a break. It’s hard to keep up with it. I still like my classic death metal and grind albums; anything from Napalm Death to Cannibal Corpse. I’ve been listening to a lot of up and coming metal bands recently. Something Wretched could be associated with those bands. There’s a lot of good melodic technical metal bands out there.”

BraveWords: On Cannibal, the band mixes the right amount of melody with an abundance of brutality and aggression. How do you go about mixing the two and are you involved in the music aspect of the songwriting?

Adam Cody: “I throw my two cents in. I can’t keep up guitar wise to put my input in. The guys write the songs. I try to piece stuff together. I leave it up to Joel (Moore, guitar). He had an idea of what he wanted. I don’t think he consciously puts in any more melodic parts, he just wants to write a good overall song. We did consciously want to get on this album a little heavier and a little groovier. Which doesn’t mean it’s full of breakdowns, we wanted to groove on some parts but still remain heavy and thrashy. We tried to lean on some thrash type things that we could.”

BraveWords: Do you consider Wretched to be a deathcore band or a melodic technical death metal band?

Adam Cody: It’s OK if someone wants to call us deathcore. If you want to divide it up, we all grew up in hardcore and was exposed to all kinds of metal. I think punk rock and hardcore was the first genre that got me into music. We all have different influences but we just have gravitated toward heavier stuff as we’ve gone on. Technical melodic death or thrash is what we’re going for.”

BraveWords: Where do you get your lyrical inspiration? You tend to sing about more negative subject matters, but is this in turn, a cathartic experience?

Adam Cody: “It is. This album has been that for me. I wrote lyrics that would make myself happy and the band happy. There wasn’t any pressure. The first album I did I didn’t feel comfortable enough to put in a personal way. This album has a lot of true life stuff; day to day things that affect people in different ways. They’re hard to interpret sometimes. I try to keep up with what’s going on and I try to write it down. It’s pretty important for ourselves to get that side of the lyrics out there. The storylines on the first two albums are about different worlds, people traveling through points in time. I thought this stuff was pretty cool and that’s what attracted me to the band in the first place. I think as time has gone on, I just want to be real about things.”

BraveWords: The album’s title track is an instrumental and guitarists Steven Funderburk and Joel Moore really show off their immaculate skills. What was the intensity level like between the two in the studio while working on their solos?

Adam Cody: “It was a process. It was one of the final difficult parts of the album to get done. We just slowly worked the instrumentals and added layers. Steven and Joel had a pretty clear idea where they wanted to go with it. It’s not split up, it’s just one solid long jam-out. As a listener and a vocalist, those parts are really needed for a band this fast and heavy. I can get wound up and listen to all the heavy songs and then smoke a bowl and listen to the instrumental. It’s not like a constant thing, it’s just a jam. It just feels natural.”

BraveWords: Your vocal style sounds like there’s a couple of different ranges layered and mixed over each other. What’s your style or formula for your vocal parts?

Adam Cody: “It’s pretty simple now. When we’re recording, I achieve a sound and get a tone. I think I figured out what I can do with my voice. As soon as I hear the demo for the song I get an idea. As far as styles go, the punchy, powerful stuff, I want it to be that full-time bark, that’s really Napalm Death-inspired. For the slow parts I like really deep stuff going on. I just did it line by line. Sometimes we just roll with what has to fit. Some of it is a percussion thing sometimes.”

BraveWords: Wretched will be on the Mayhem Fest 2014 starting July 5. Are you looking forward to it?

Adam Cody: “Yes, I’m really excited about it. I think the largest tour Wretched has ever gotten has been the Alliance Tour, which was almost two years ago now. This tour is a whole new thing for us. We’ve never toured with bands like Korn and Cannibal Corpse, two bands that definitely inspired us and influenced us while growing up with music. Honestly, these are two of the most key bands that I can think of as far as lyricists and vocalists that really had an impact on me.”

BraveWords: What’s next for Wretched and what are you hoping to achieve?

Adam Cody: “I think we just want to keep making cool music. We want to progress and move forward. We don’t want to make the same album every time. We just want to get out and tour. We like hanging out and if you’re at a show or see one near by, if you’re hanging out after the show, just come afterward. We’ll probably be hanging out in the parking lot. We just want to have a good time with the music and keep it real, you know?”