ASHES OF ARES / ex-ICED EARTH frontman Matt Barlow is featured in a new interview with Metal Exiles discussing the band's debut album. An excerpt is available below:

Metal Exiles: Tell us a little about the writing process. Were there collaborative jam sessions, or did one guy bring in full song ideas to present to the rest?

Matt: "It's all been collaborative, every part has really been collaborative. The one thing was Freddy had some song ideas socked away, and riffs that he developed further for this, and I had some lyrical ideas written down. Usually when I write lyrics I write them out like a poem and I’ll fit it in to however the music works or move things around if necessary. I usually start out with an idea concept and I’ll just start writing it that way. And I write it like a poem so it’s going to have a certain flow anyway. So on certain songs we had that, I had some stuff, and Freddy had brought some stuff and I thought it sounded pretty cool. For some of the other stuff he had given me I just started fresh with new ideas and I would be inspired by what he did musically. Van’s approach was just doing his thing with the song structure that we had established. His approach was not to change the structure but to add his thing to it. And that was the coolest part because what Freddy and I had pales in comparison to what Van added to it. We were both like, 'Wow, this is how a drummer writes drum parts...' and it was really cool. It added a whole other level to the songs. I think the songs were solid, but when Van got a hold of them it took things to that whole other level. Getting back to your original question, every song was approached in a little bit different way, but it was a full collaboration. The three of us all added something special to each track to make it what it is. I was able to do all the lyrics on this album, and maybe future albums down the line that may change if Freddy has something to contribute lyrically, melodically, or whatever, but it’s still going to be Ashes of Ares. Were treating all these songs as being written and arranged by Ashes of Ares. Were not taking individual credits, the three of us are Ashes of Ares and we’ll split it up that way. Everything we contributed to this made these songs what they are. It was really fun for me, because this is the first record where I have contributed all the lyrics and vocal melodies, which says a lot since I have been in music for a long time now and this is the first time I have had creative control as far as that stuff is concerned."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Ashes Of Ares - also featuring Van Williams (ex-NEVERMORE) and Freddie Vidales (ex-Iced Earth), will release their self-titled debut album on September 6th via Nuclear Blast Records on limited CD digipak, including a bonus track, as well as on two different 2LP versions. The album was recorded in part at Morrisound Recording in Tampa, Florida with legendary producer Jim Morris (ICED EARTH, OBITUARY, JON OLIVA'S PAIN, JAG PANZER).

Two track-by-track trailers are available below:

Ashes Of Ares' debut features the following tracklisting:

'The Messenger'

'Move The Chains'

'On Warrior's Wings'

'Punishment'

'This Is My Hell'

'Dead Man's Plight'

'Chalice Of Man'

'The Answer'

'What I Am'

'The One-Eyed King'

'The Answer' (acoustic version; bonus track)

‘Dead Man’s Plight’ lyric video:

Official album trailer:

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