By Aaron Small

It’s been three years since Rhode Island’s THY WILL BE DONE issued their sophomore effort, In Ancient Of Days. But the band has been far from dormant. Leading up to the September 25th release of their new EP, Temple, the group toured Japan and were hand-picked by METALLICA to perform at their first-ever Orion Music Fest this past summer. Vocalist J. Costa further fills in the blanks between recordings.

“We actually toured for a couple of years on In Ancient Of Days. We did a ton – the Thrash and Burn tour, that was a full North American run where we got to be really good friends with the guys in DEVILDRIVER. Dez (Fafara, vocalist) and I really hit it off; we realized we had a lot in common and enjoyed each other’s company. That was really cool. Right after Thrash and Burn we went to Europe for six weeks with EARTH CRISIS. As a result of Thrash and Burn, Dez invited us back out with Devildriver, SUFFOCATION and GOATWHORE in the winter and spring. After that we ended up going out with FEAR FACTORY, then it was ALL THAT REMAINS – we stayed busy. And we’ve been writing for a while too. I know it seems long to people when the album was out in 2009, I understand why it seems like it’s been a while. But for us, we’ve been active.”

In addition to the aforementioned touring highlights, Thy Will Be Done did experience an unfortunate lull. “I lost some family members,” reveals J. “It was definitely difficult. We were out on the road and I remember coming home for my Grandmother’s funeral, in particular for her wake. That was the first night of one of the tours we were doing. We rolled up to the funeral parlour in a van and trailer, a couple of the guys came in to pay their respects – which was awesome; I got my best friends in the band with me. I almost didn’t do the tour, but my parents and family members were like, ‘what do you think she’s going to do?’ And I could hear her, so that’s why we did the tour; it was therapeutic and kept my mind occupied. So after I endured that, I also had some close friends diagnosed with some horrible ailments and disease – they’re better now luckily. Then, I had a significant other who I’d been with for almost a decade, she found somebody else while I was away. Very, very difficult to deal with… there was a point in time where I didn’t know if I was going to continue making music. It just shook my world; being on the road away from it, and not knowing if I had a home to come home to was difficult. After we got back from that last run we had done, I hadn’t said anything to the guys that I was having all these crazy thoughts, cause I didn’t want to jump the gun. I even knew myself that they were irrational thoughts, but you go through that process – the anger, and then acceptance; it’s part of the healing. And sometimes when all these things happen in your life that you have no control over, you make irrational decisions so you feel like you can control something. A lot of people don’t realize that, at least I was aware of it. But I did some soul-searching and went on inspirational trips to find my centre.”

The first single from Temple, ‘You, The Apathy Divine’ contains the line, “You were beautiful when you were faithful.” Infidelity is an ugly thing. It can turn the most important person in your life into something worth less than the shit on the underside of your shoe. “Well put sir, well put. I’m glad that jumped out to you and there’s a reason why it spoke to you, because you felt that. For me, it’s always been about expression. The bands that I’ve been drawn to the most are about expression or awareness. I’m just honest in everything I do. I tell ya what, considering that I almost stopped, I had to take that time to reconnect with what it is I love about music. I’m able to express myself when I create music or write lyrics. That’s what it’s about and that’s what I do.”

Switching to the business side of things, the music industry is changing. It’s getting harder and harder to find an actual record store, and places that do still sell CDs such as Best Buy, have continually shrinking selections. As such, a lot of artists are trying different models. For example, DOWN is releasing a series of four EPs, as opposed to one full-length album. Why did Thy Will Be Done decide to release a six-song EP as opposed to a full-length? “Great question; there’s a lot of reasons, a lot of factors. For us, the biggest thing was once we started tracking things. We originally were going to do the next full-length, and we came to this pivotal point where we had this revelation – or at least I did. There were some songs that had a different vibe to them. I knew, because of what I had gone through, why they had a different feel to them, why there was a different kind of energy to them. I made the decision to keep those separate. Not that I felt they would pollute the next full-length or anything; they needed to be their own thing because they are, and they represent something to me personally. To be completely transparent, I didn’t necessarily think it was the best idea to release an EP after the full-length, which might have had a different energy to it post-trauma. It sets it up because this is what happened chronologically. I don’t mean this in a pompous way, but as an artist or someone who creates, I want people to understand and feel that energy because that’s what it is.”

Thy Will Be Done also experienced a change in record companies. The first two releases - Was And Is To Come, and In Ancient Of Days - were on Stillborn, distributed by Caroline. Now they’ve started their own label, Eye.On Lion, distributed by Fontana. That in itself is a huge undertaking. “Yeah,” chuckles J. “Tell me about it. I’ve always been inspired by artists that have done it themselves. I’m a blue-collar guy; it’s where I come from as far as my family’s concerned. You work for what you have. You only get out what you put in – all those wonderful analogies and proverbs, but it holds true. I loved labels like Dischord growing up because I felt like they were really doing it from a passionate perspective, and they kept that DIY mentality; it was done for the right reasons. For us, it’ll serve as a conduit for all of our passions. What better way to oversee everything? The other thing is, no one’s going to work as hard as you if you believe in it yourself. From the ground up with this band, I’ve always been in the captain’s chair and done as much as I could, because it’s what I love doing! To say it’s a passion is an understatement, it becomes your life. The people I’ve met through this, the friends and connections. I don’t even like using the term ‘fans’ because I look at them as friends and human beings I connect with; that’s so rewarding! It’s the big picture, the whole package.”

Again, on the first two releases, Jamey Jasta of HATEBREED and KINGDOM OF SORROW was credited as executive producer; but he’s not involved this time around. “Actually, the EP was done and we hit up Jamey cause he had first dibs, he’s our friend first and foremost. I love that dude, we have such a great relationship. At that juncture, there was some things going on with his distribution and whatnot, and he didn’t want to hold us back. So he said, ‘do what you’ve got to do. Go find something, you know I love you, you’re my bros.’ And that was really awesome. He just didn’t want to hold us up and I respect that, that’s huge. I don’t think a lot of people who listen to the music necessarily understand behind the scenes. Jamey works hard, Jamey busts his hump. He’s got how many bands, a clothing line, a label. And that’s inspirational to a person like myself. Not only is he a peer, he’s a friend. He cares about us and be believes in us. It’s weird when you see an artist and then you start working with them, it’s like wow, this is surreal.”

The one consistent between the three CDs is Zeuss (WHITECHAPEL, SUICIDE SILENCE, SOULFLY), who’s always provided a tremendous mix. “Ah, Zeuss is the man! He’s got a great ear and a great way about him. He doesn’t try and change a band. He takes what you do, dials it in, and then uses all of his expertise to blow it out of the stratosphere. He makes it better than beyond your expectations. I love the way it came out! Kurt (Fraunfelter, guitarist) engineered it and did an amazing job. Even Zeuss complimented his skills, which was great for Kurt to hear.”

Going into Temple, the idea was to capture Thy Will Be Done’s live sound in the studio, and they certainly achieved that goal. The guitars are a little bit sharper, J’s voice is a little bit angrier; the bite hurts a little more. “Wow, thank you; that means a lot to me. I guess mission accomplished on that. We put a lot of hours and a lot of heart into it, that’s for sure. It was important for us for the listener to feel that. I can’t thank Kurt enough, he did a bang-up job. He went to school for audio engineering and got a degree in audio science. We knew the sound that we wanted, and he made sure we all delivered; hats off to him.”