South Carolina death metallers THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD have commented on the band's forthcoming record, Malice, while recently completing a North American tour offering direct support to The Red Chord. Recently sitting down with Way Too Loud.com while in Canada, guitarist Justin Longshore talked about the band's new record, due out August 21 through Prosthetic Records. Excerpts include:

WTL: Since Erik Rutan is producing your new album Malice, what’s he like in the studio?

Justin: "He’s a pretty hard-working dude. He tries to get the best performance out of all of us, and he worked us really hard. He’s a different guy outside of the studio. He’s a cool guy, and we’re really good friends now. It’s definitely cool to meet him, because I grew up with Morbid Angel. 'Domination' is my favorite death metal record of all time. We actually recorded "Dominate" for the European release, which I’m sure you can find on the internet sooner or later! We ended up covering that song because it was a last-minute thing, because the label wanted a cover for the European release. Who better than Morbid Angel if we’re in one of the guy's studio, who actually recorded the song, right? We got it pretty close to how they actually recorded it, like the same setup guitar-wise and all that. We didn’t use the same guitar, but we did use the same amp, and cab, and they have a “rat” pedal they use just on that specific song. It’s pretty cool!"

WTL: What can we expect from Malice?

Justin: "We’re doing a lot more guitar work now, and the drums have been stepped up. Most people think that we were kind of going in a more commercial direction, but it’s definitely the opposite of that. It’s a lot heavier and faster. I’m not a fan of just changing for certain people. We’ve got to stand behind our music 110 percent before anyone else can. We’re the people writing it, so we should write what we like to do! We’re very happy with what we’ve done. I know everyone says that when they come out with a new record, but seriously we’re all really satisfied with it. We focused a lot on song structure, and putting all of our old influences in, and it came out great!"

WTL: Will the lyrics on Malice be similar to the themes you were doing in Bloodlust?

Justin: "Actually, not on this record. We changed it up a little bit. We’ve got a new singer now, and he entered the studio with a few songs written. Me and him wrote a lot of the lyrics in the studio. Me and him pretty much did it 50/50, and I’ve never written lyrics, ever. It came out pretty good because we double-teamed the lyrics, because we had the whole concept of Malice, and all the atrocities in the world."

WTL: In the past, you’ve been a very hard touring band. Has a lot of your audience come from so many live shows?

Justin: "Yeah, I think so. We put a lot of effort into out live show to create the intensity that’s on the record. I think we’ve been touring for so long that I think we’ve got that connection. Our live show is what we love to do!"

The entire interview can be read here.

Meanwhile, Through The Eyes Of The Dead drummer Josh Kulick also met up with SickDrummer.com to speak about his technique utilized on 'Malice.' You can view the entire 10-minute interview here.

Recorded with Erik Rutan (GOATWHORE, CANNIBAL CORPSE, VITAL REMAINS), Malice marks the debut of vocalist Nate Johnson (ex-PREMONITIONS OF WAR, DEADWATER DROWNING) and is the follow-up to 2005's Prosthetic Records debut, Bloodlust. Scheduled for an August 21 release, the band has made the track 'Failure In The Flesh' available on the Through The Eyes Of The Dead MySpace page, and are currently shooting a video for the track in New York with director David Brodsky (Goatwhore, KYLESA, THE ACACIA STRAIN, GWAR).