Michael Christopher from Thephoenix.com spoke with DOWN singer Phil Anselmo (ex-PANTERA) recently about a number of topics. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Thephoenix.com: Where do you think that Down fits into the landscape?

Anselmo: "They’re gonna lump us into the Southern, doom, whiskey, redneck...fucking, Confederate flag waving this and that - which is really not true. We haven’t done anything like that in God knows how long, because so many bands ran and took that LYNYRD SKYNYRD all away from us - and that’s fine. We do have a core following, whether we make new fans or break new ground or whatever, I am never the guy that will sit back and say, ‘Oh, we gotta break new ground!’ and have all these gigantic expectations. I’m the biggest pessimist in the world; even when I was in Pantera, I didn’t expect a fucking thing."

Thephoenix.com: What have the early responses been from people that have heard Down IV: The Purple EP?

Anselmo: "The small amount of people that I know, that do not - and I will not allow them to - kiss my ass or I’ll choke ‘em, they like it, and they think it’s epic. I’ve said this before, and it’s the truth, I didn’t put no goddamn pressure on myself for this Down album. I don’t think any of us did. We didn’t over-think this motherfucker. Let’s just get in there, hammer out songs, walk away from them, walk back and see how it feels. Not to sound too cliché, but it came very natural. I did what I did when we recorded the first demo. There were no expectations when we first got together and that’s why we did Down -– just to have fun."

Thephoenix.com: What do you think the current state of metal is these days?

Anselmo: "It depends on where you look.. it does depend on where you look. When you look at the big guys that are still pluggin’ along, the METALLICAs the SLAYERs and all that - they’re still on top of the heap. But then there is this big wash of bands that are kind of similar in style, and I think that’s where people might get a little confused, turned off or complacent when it comes to deciding. Then there’s the beautiful underground where kids are still goin’ bananas, but there are certain things in the underground that have run their course like true black metal and whatnot. But then again, there’s a rise of really excellent black metal coming out of France with bands like DEATHSPELL OMEGA leading the way. And even death metal; bands like Portal? Oh my god. Portal is just crushing, and I know they have some new stuff coming out and I can’t wait to hear it. Then you got bands that I can’t slide into the slot of heavy metal which I kind of like, and I guess they’re calling themselves a cult rock band, of course Ghost would be the first band that comes to mind. I love what they do actually, there’s so many different elements to their music that you can pick out and go, ‘Whoa, that reminds me of that.’ They way they pull it off, the main songwriter for GHOST, whatever he calls himself, Papa Emeritus, great songwriter. So that’s my summary of where you look."

Read more at Thephoenix.com.

Down IV Part I – The Purple EP is out now and features the following six songs:

'Levitation'

'Witchtripper'

'The Misfortune Teller'

'The Curse Is A Lie'

'Open Coffins'

'This Work Is Timeless'