As recently stated in a review I cooked up for this little old website, remember the days of yore, when underground/extreme metal relied heavily on noise to get its point across (in case you don't know what the heck I'm blabbering about, perhaps it's time to revisit your well-worn Venom or Celtic Frost LP's)? 

Nowadays, it seems like the majority of metal is all about precision, technique, and well, same-sounding-isms. So it's good to be sonically assaulted by the recent gloriously lo-fi split single by two chaps who go by the aliases of Casket Wretch and Lord Papus.

And both lads were kind enough to chat with BraveWords correspondent Greg Prato about their recently-release split single, simply titled Casket Wretch/Lord Papus.

BraveWords: Why does Casket Wretch and Lord Papus opt to go by aliases? Is it because there is something you would not like the public to know?

Lord Papus: "Lord Papus is a legendary character from The Golden Dawn. His legacy lives on through Rockin’ Joe and collaborations with Casket Wretch. His undisclosed identity is crucial to his artistic process."

Casket Wretch: "It's really not much of an alias. It started back in the MySpace days with another band I had. Using my real name had way too many people from my past contacting me. People I would rather not deal with. It's not like I'm out there calling myself Assraper of Virgin Souls from the Ninth Gate of Hell!"

BraveWords: How did the idea come up to do a split seven-inch?

Lord Papus: "I’ll leave that one for Casket Wretch to answer."

Casket Wretch: "Pretty sure I conned Lord Papus into that one. I got him to do some leads on another project. Before I knew it, he was writing again, so we went for it."

BraveWords: Lord Papus, to the best of your knowledge, is your song ‘Hoarder House’ the first-ever tune to lyrically deal with alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann? 

Lord Papus: "Maybe for the accused, but I’m sure there has to be songs out there about the Gilgo Beach killer somewhere."

Casket Wretch: "Killer track by the way."

BraveWords: Casket Wretch, your tune ‘Miasma’ reminds me a bit of the cacophonic noise punk of the Meat Puppets’ self-titled debut. Did this occur on purpose or was this merely a happy accident? 

Casket Wretch: "You might be on to something there. I never counted them as an influence but I definitely wore out the grooves on those first two Puppets albums! Maybe it's just ingrained in me."

BraveWords: How did Casket Wretch and Lord Papus originally cross paths?

Lord Papus: "In a barn upstate New York back in 1984. Casket Wretch used to announce us (Blackwitch/SMUT) at the rare shows we played."

Casket Wretch: "It was a long time ago. Probably between a Motörhead album, a Venom album and two or three cases of cheap beer."

BraveWords: Who are some metal artists that you deem worthy as influences?

Lord Papus: "Venom and Motörhead. Throw in some Pentagram."

Casket Wretch: "Motörhead and Venom are the biggest influences. The first Bathory and early Sodom are up there. NME is a huge influence, the only band that could outdo Venom! I think it's important to mention the punk influence as well. The Ramones, Rudimentary Peni, and early Sheer Terror are all very important to the mix."

BraveWords: Is indie/underground metal alive and well? Or did it suffer a cruel death a while back? If so, when?

Lord Papus: "It seems to be going well."

Casket Wretch: "I don't really pay too much attention. Occasionally a band will grab my interest. My cut off time is probably 1986."

BraveWords: What are your thoughts and concerns about the state of modern day metal? 

Lord Papus: "All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted."

Casket Wretch: "It's a healthy scene I guess. The stuff that gets pushed nowadays is all the same. It's hard to tell one band from the other, the production is too clean. No personality to it. Again, not talking about the underground just the 'major' stuff."

BraveWords: Will there be further releases by Casket Wretch and Lord Papus, and are any live shows planned?

Lord Papus: "Yes, we are constantly recording and planning releases on our labels Minizaka and Screaming Alice. Rockin’ Joe: 25 Dogs will be the next 7” EP out soon. It’s a demo from 1986/7 that hasn’t seen the light of day. Casket Wretch and Lord Papus do not play live, and are lucky to exist above ground!"

Casket Wretch: "We'll get more out. Hopefully soon. Some pretty manic stuff!"

BraveWords: In what formats is the Casket Wretch/Lord Papus split single available? Where can fans purchase it? 

Lord Papus: "7” Vinyl Ep and cassette are available for purchase on Bandcamp, eBay or Discogs. We have them for sale at my retail record shop Record Reserve if you’re in the NYC vicinity." 

Casket Wretch: "7" vinyl and cassette. Get the cassette people, it's got some good bonus tracks!"