It's a pleasure to talk to you! I would have to describe it as hectic. We have been through a couple of member changes, ended up in strange situations in foreign countries, toured all over the UK in a car, slept in that car etc. But on top of it all we have got to play some amazing shows and meet some awesome people, all while writing music we want to write, getting drunk and hanging out with our best mates. I wouldn't change it for the world.

The name literally means 'live forever', but this was a crap band name so I imagine that's why our old guitarist (who came up with the name) didn't just use that instead. All the current members of the band are unsure of the exact story as to how 'Exist Immortal' came about as a name, but because our songs tend to be about frustrations we feel towards the human race, it almost serves as an ironic reminder that we are unlikely to exist forever as a species if we continue behaving the way we do.

The British metal scene is teeming with underrated talent that doesn't get anywhere near the amount of exposure it deserves. Having said that, the UK metal scene is fantastic if you can break into the right circles. Perhaps this is, in part, due to over saturation; we are a tiny island with a huge amount of metal bands per square mile, therefore it is likely that hugely talented bands that are less marketing-savvy will fall away unnoticed. Smaller festivals like Ghostfest and UK Tech-Fest do a great job and breaking down this glass ceiling that some bands are faced with, by combining the huge headline acts with amazing, but relatively unknown, smaller bands.

I guess so, although it has never been a conscious decision of ours to make music that is difficult to pinpoint, we just seem to end up doing it because it sounds cool to us. Having said that, we have found that once a fairly large press agency labels you as something, it can be very difficult to shake off the reputation and reach new audiences! We certainly prefer to keep our categorization vague, so that, as you say, we do not stagnate in one place, either in description or musically! It is much more fun to have the freedom to write whatever we want to without expectations from anyone for it so sound a certain way.

Of course it helps in a broad sense of things, as it makes it possible to organize things according to a group of peoples tastes. Music is subjective, but the human mind naturally looks to categorize things, which makes categorisation of music inevitable. Practically speaking, it makes it easier to find music you may potentially enjoy, plus it helps promoters create the most effective lineup for their target audiences.

We write each song individually, making sure each one is a structurally sound and works on its own, then we think about how the album will flow once we have enough songs. Many late nights at our studio makes this possible, experimenting with ideas and sounds before finding what works and fits the song perfectly. We wanted this album to sound huge, stretching beyond our basic setup of 2 guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Mix wise, it was hugely important for me to make sure that each of the many layers had its own space and served its purpose properly.

The response has been fantastic, especially when playing the songs live. Crowds seem to dig this new material a lot!

It pretty much just happened. We never intentionally set out to write a 'prog' song or a 'metalcore' song, we just write riffs and piece them together into something that hopefully works!

We use a combination of both. Usually, our guitarist Kurt writes a selection of riffs, which we then piece together into a song or take inspiration from to build a song out of. Because we have the studio, we tend to lean towards the more clinical method of songwriting, chopping and changing things around in Pro Tools until we are happy with what is in front of us. Having said that, many initial ideas for songs come from jamming during soundchecks or at a rehearsal. For example, most of the extended edition track 'Delirium' was written on our last tour, we just had to refine it back in the studio.

We will be touring a lot throughout 2015 across the UK and Europe, but we are very much hoping and looking to tour in the USA and other parts of the world later in the year. We are eternally grateful for everyone who has ever supported us in any way, and we will hopefully be playing near you sometime in the near future!