While Mental Cruelty couldn’t play due to technical issues, we managed to find some time and sit down with Lukas and Nahuel for a quick chat during their tour with Cradle of Filth at L’OM in Liège! We took a look at the evolution of their sound, composition, the unexpected hardships of the tour and the brand new Deluxe edition of Zwielicht!
Who are you, what do you do, and how would you describe your music?
Lukas: I’m Lukas, vocalist for Mental Cruelty and Sun Eater, and this is Nahuel, our guitarist! We’re known as a blackened deathcore band—deathcore with a blend of black metal influences. Right now, we’re in Liège, Belgium, but unfortunately, we’re NOT playing tonight due to logistical issues with Cradle of Filth.
NB: Cradle of Filth’s bus broke down in Amsterdam, causing delays in delivering the production to l’OM in Liège. As a result, Black Satellite, Mental Cruelty, and Butcher Babies couldn’t perform.
What’s it been like touring with Cradle of Filth?
Nahuel: It’s the biggest band we’ve toured with so far, and it’s been a pretty unique experience. We just finished a US tour and immediately joined them on the road. We only had about four days to prepare, so it was tough to recharge before heading back out. It’s been amazing, but there have been challenges—like tonight’s cancellation. We also had to skip a show in Prague earlier on the tour because our van broke down.
Lukas: That was a nightmare. A guy drove 10 hours from Belgium to weld a specific screw that broke off one of the wheels. We were only two hours from Prague and thought we could maybe grab a cab or rent a car, but there were no cabs willing to take us that far, no rental cars, and no one at the gas station could help. We even tried asking random strangers, but nothing worked.
Despite all that, the tour’s been fantastic. Black Satellite, Butcher Babies, and Cradle of Filth are all amazing people—so down-to-earth. They’ve really helped us push through everything from bus breakdowns to stomach viruses that have hit us along the way.
Your music has evolved significantly since your first release in 2017. How did you develop your current sound?
Nahuel: It started when I joined the band. Back then, Marvin, our lead guitarist, was more into deathcore, while I leaned toward old-school black, death, and thrash metal. That mix gave us this unique “bastard” sound and a new direction.
Do you handle most of the songwriting yourself?
Nahuel: No it’s Marvin and I composing. I start writing a song and then we get together, I do most of the guitar work, the drums and stuff and then Marvin does the orchestration stuff since I don’t know enough about that.
Does Marvin have a classical background?
Nahuel: Not really—he’s just super into it.
Lukas: Marv is the kind of guy who can learn anything. Once he dives into a topic, he really goes deep.
Would you say he’s the mastermind behind the deluxe edition of Zwielicht then?
Lukas: Pretty much, yeah. It’s coming out soon—like one or two weeks, I think? We’ve lost track with everything going on during the tour. Our management emails us updates, but it’s hard to keep up.
Marv put a lot of work into it. We didn’t just want to re-release Zwielicht just to release something. We wanted to give our fans more value. The album’s still getting a lot of streams, so we thought about what we could add for the listeners. There’s so much symphonic stuff happening in the background that Josh Schroeder (Lorna Shore, Signs of the Swarm, Tallah) brought out beautifully in the mix. We figured fans might love hearing the orchestral stuff on its own, so that’s what we focused on.
You’re back in Belgium for the second time this year after playing a packed Swamp Stage at Alcatraz. How did that show feel?
Nahuel: We didn’t really know what to think of the festival before since we’ve never been to Alcatraz and you never know what to expect of festivals, the whole fucking tent was full and it was completely sick.
Lukas: Alcatraz was one of the most fun gigs this year, for sure. The whole fucking tent was packed and we only played at noon on the first day. We didn’t expect that many people to show up, but it completely blew me away.
And to wrap it up, Spotify Wrapped just dropped! What does yours look like?
Nahuel: Mine’s kind of weird—Watain, Wintersun, Mental Cruelty, and Dimmu Borgir. My top songs are basically just Watain. (laughs)
Lukas: My top artist is Zeal & Ardor, and yeah, Mental Cruelty is on there too. We listen to our own songs a lot while preparing for live shows. Kanoenenfieber is also on my list—they’re great friends of ours. We actually opened for their album release show.