Each album differs. We've had a bunch of lineup changes over the years so writing depends on who is around at the time. For this album, it was Tom, Sal, and myself and we would get together and just jam as a three-piece, and once those riffs came together, we would start assembling the songs. Writing in the band is always a group effort.

For this album, we demoed all 3 songs prior to hitting the studio. I'd take a rehearsal recording and go home and overdub guitars to that and the layer would start to come together. I'd say 90% of the melodies were written before going in to record. However a bunch of cool melodies and harmonies came to life once we were comfortably ensconced in familiar surroundings.

This was the most effortless recording we've done yet. I don't mean to downplay it, but we were pretty ready to go when we got in the studio thanks to demoing the songs beforehand. We got in there salivating to record these songs. Things came naturally this time around. This is the first album where we recorded as a three-piece, so things were stripped down.

We are already thinking about the next one. We have a few amazing shows coming up to promote the new album, but after those, as long as nothing else blows us away, we will get back to writing for the next album. We have always evolved with each release, I think. No two GSF albums sound alike, in my opinion. I expect this trend to continue moving forward. I don't think the next album will be another "Cold Dead Lands." I feel it will retain doom/death elements and whatever else we come up with gets thrown into the pot.

There are a few treasons why this album sounds very different than all previous GSF releases. First being, there are no more keyboards. When Craig and the band parted ways in 2015, we decided to not replace him, and just not have keys anymore. We wanted to be more guitar-driven with the guitars being more up front. The second factor is on this album, I'm playing all the guitars. I did that once before, on the "Introspective" EP. I love playing all the rhythms myself. I find they sound much tighter when one person plays them instead of two. So that's a major contributor. The stripped-down aspect of this album is a factor. Usually, we record as a 5-piece. Finally, hiring Dan Swano to mix and master this album was the most important element. His mix of this album is more than we could ask for. All of these things contributed to the album sounding as it does.

We are all death metal fans. While some elements of death metal are evident in the music, I don't see us throwing on the HM-2 pedals and becoming Entombed clones. However, Tom and I have a new band we are putting together more in that vain.

We'd love to tour with My Dying Bride.

Back in 2000, the idea was to make a double album, one disc being metal and one disc being clean. Then Opeth put out "Deliverance" and "Damnation," and that was the end of that idea. While "Cold Dead Lands" isn't a true concept album in the strict definition, but it does follow a central theme for the most part. Perhaps we can delve into something massive like that next.