Pyroclast, the Scottish heavy/power metal force, are offering us their new opus, and we are still trying to pick up the pieces after this heavy metal onslaught! Fractured State is a great album that Pyroclast can be truly proud of. The heavy/power metal volcano that is Pyroclast has awakened, and Myth of Rock can only admire the phenomenon! Mark Reid (vocals), Chris Horne (guitars) and Baz Fitzsimmons (guitars) spoke with us in a very interesting and informative interview, discussing the new album, the band’s musical journey, their influences, and what lies ahead. Pyroclast are here, and they are ready to shake the foundations of heavy metal!
by Dimitris Zacharopoulos
When, where and by whom was Pyroclast formed? Give us a short biography of the band!
Mark: The band is really a natural progression from a band that most of us we were from before. I’d say that Baz and I inherited the band in 2022 from the guys who started the band back in 2016. The more time went on, though, and the more we wrote, we started to see the original members drop off. Eventually, after all of the original guys had moved on and we had a much more solid lineup in place, we realised that we were vastly different from the band we initially joined, so it was time to start fresh with a brand new name and a new philosophy. It would have been March 2025 that we announced the new name and new direction. I believe.
You are now ready to release your new album, “Fractured State”. Which are your feelings about that?
Mark: It’s exciting, and it’s scary. We had so many 9/10 and 10/10 reviews for the previous album (released under our original name and then re-released after the name change) that we genuinely wondered if we’d not only top that last album but even come close to it. The reaction we’ve had so far, though, shows that we definitely improved on it. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it!
Chris: I’m very much looking forward to getting it out into the world. It’s been the soundtrack to my life since about September of last year so it’s quite surreal that it’s finally about to release!
How would you describe the new album musically?
Mark: It’s a progression, but not necessarily progressive. We’ve gone from writing riff-fests to spending more time on the arrangements, individually and as a band, and I’d say the writing itself has matured considerably.
Baz: This time around we brought our song ideas into the rehearsal room and worked out dynamics and arrangement ideas as a full band rather than leaving it up to the person who wrote the song. I think this has worked very well for the new songs.
Chris: You’re naturally going to hear our traditional heavy metal influences throughout, but the songs have developed musically and carry more weight with them this time. There are a lot of twists and turns but everything feels like it belongs, like it’s intentional, and not just thrown in for the sake of it.
Where would you trace the differences between “Fractured State” and the previous album?
Mark: Overall, I’d say this new album is more… it’s not that we didn’t put everything into the last one, because we did, but it’s almost as though we’ve still put everything into this one, just in a different way. It’s much more collaborative. With the last one, I’d write with Baz or I’d write with Chris, and that would be it. With this one, we’d still do that, but then we’d actually open the floor to the other guys and go “Right… now what?” and see what changes could be made to the arrangements.
Where do your lyrics refer to? Do you try to send any messages to the listeners through your songs?
We don’t consciously write lyrics in order to deliver a message to the listener. Even when we’re writing about mental health, social conditions, child poverty, or anything like that, we’re not writing to preach. We’re just writing because we have something we feel strongly about, but we’re not trying to change minds or steer people in a particular direction. I think we just have a lot to say. But there are also the songs like “Erebus and Terror”, “Ozymandias”, and “Slaughterhouse” that are about real-world occurrences, so we also have to make sure we treat those subjects with the tact and respect that they deserve.
Why did you name the new album “Fractured State”?
Baz: Most of the songs’ themes refer to challenges faced, and how people overcome them or are consumed by them.
When and where was the new album recorded? Who was the producer? Who did the mixing and the mastering?
Mark: We have our own recording facilities and we’re blessed to have Chris Horne (our guitarist) as our recording engineer for drums and other parts, and as mixing engineer. I tend to take care of the mastering myself. We’re just really lucky that we all know how to record to a high quality with our own gear and that we understand what sounds good, I suppose.
Chris: The whole production has been handled in-house. We recorded the drums and gang vocals in our rehearsal space. Mark and Liam recorded their parts at their respective homes; and guitars were recorded at my house. I do the mixing (with feedback from the rest of the guys of course), and Mark does the mastering.
Who is responsible for Pyroclast’s music and lyrics?
Mark: Up until now, I’ve primarily written with Baz and Chris. But it’s not some monopoly where nobody else can get involved; it’s just worked out that way so far. I’d love to spend an entire day in the studio where we all go in with NO ideas whatsoever and just see what comes out of it.
Baz: Mark likes this idea more than me! I find it challenging to write on the spot and under pressure. When I’m writing lyrics I try to find a theme suggested by the music or a title. They don’t come easy, but writing good lyrics is a challenge I love.
Chris: I enjoy coming up with music at home, or collaboratively in person with others. I find that other folks’ ideas can influence a new riff that you wouldn’t have otherwise come up with. Liam and I came up with our songs mostly collaboratively in our old band from years ago. It was so easy to just bounce ideas off each other and create a full song. I recall, in our old band, coming up with a new song with Liam in the time it took the other guys to make up some super noodles.
How is a typical Pyroclast song composed? What comes first, music or lyrics?
Mark: When I was a young teen, learning to play guitar, I’d write lyrics first and make the music fit. I have NO idea why I did that! Now, I’ll just listen to what the music is saying to me and the first line will come from the music, and then every subsequent lyric will flow naturally.
Baz: I’m the same. Music first, then melodies and rhythms for lyrics come to me.
Chris: Music first, 99% of the time. Though my one lyrical contribution to the band, “Judge, Jury, Executioner”, was written first, and I wrote the music around that. Mark handles the rest of the lyrics in that song, thankfully!
I’ve not got one set way, though. Sometimes I’m just noodling and something will stick. Other times I may start with a melody in my head, or even just an energy that I’m trying to capture.
How do you make decisions in Pyroclast?
Mark: I tell them all what to do and then they just ignore me and do what they want. Actually, no, we’re fully democratic when it comes to decisions. It can be a good thing and it can be a bad thing. We’ve done things that I personally think are wrong because the decision fell that way, but if you fight against a decision and try to sway it so it falls your way, there’s really no point in having a democracy at all, so you learn to live with every decision and make it work.
Which are the main music influences of Pyroclast?
Mark: Speaking for myself only, the music I write… hmm… I’m not actually sure what my musical influences are. Last week, I was playing Kansas’ “Leftoverture” to Baz and Chris while we were painting the studio and Chris said “I hear where your influences come from now!” and it made me think a little deeper into the songs I write. I think most of my musical influences come from the bands I listened to in the early ‘90s like Conception, Helloween, Dream Theater, Sabbath (with Dio, mainly), Spock’s Beard, and The Beyond. Vocally, it’d be Kiske, Dio, Dickinson, and a bit of Tate.
Baz: I’m a little more traditional in my influences for writing heavy music, I guess. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and a light sprinkling of Thin Lizzy’s Celtic melodies.
Chris: For the song writing itself, I’m very much influenced by Maiden, Halloween, Priest, Sabbath, and Deep Purple. Most of that comes through in my solos, but I try change it up a bit which probably comes from my progier influences by the likes of Dream Theater and Symphony X.
Which are the trademarks of Pyroclast?
Mark: Beautiful twin guitars, exhausting double kick, crazy basslines, stupid vocal sustains, and in-depth special edition packages!
How would you describe a live show by Pyroclast?
Mark: We take our music very seriously, but when we’re on stage, we don’t just entertain the audience, we like to keep ourselves entertained, too. So we’ll have a lot of fun with it.
If Pyroclast was a movie, what kind of movie would it be?
Mark: I’m the wrong person to ask that question of, so I’ll pass that one over!
Baz: Horror! Psychological horror.
Chris: Yeah, psychological horror is quite accurate. Especially those ones where they introduce some comedy, so you find yourself in a horrific moment where you’re tempted to laugh but you’re questioning the ethics of it. That kinda horror. Crossed with Rom-com.
If you had the opportunity to collaborate with a famous musician on a song of yours, whom would you select?
Mark: From my perspective, I’d sell what’s left of my soul to have a duet with Roy Khan or Michael Kiske.
Baz: If I could bring Phil Lynott back to life or have Adrian Smith play a solo on one of our songs, I could die a happy man.
Chris: I think I’d have to go with Kai Hansen, in terms of writing a song together.
If you were stranded on a tropical island, which three albums would you want to have with you?
Mark: “Permanent Waves” by Rush (not an island pun), “Keeper of the Seven Keys” by Helloween (I don’t care if it’s Pt 1 or Pt 2), and “Parallel Minds” by Conception.
Baz: “Jailbreak” by Thin Lizzy; “Moving Pictures” by Rush; “Live After Death” by Iron Maiden
Chris: “A Matter of Life and Death” by Iron Maiden, “Firepower” by Judas Priest, and “Rising” by Rainbow.
How are things for classic heavy metal in Scotland today?
Mark: Bleak. We were discussing it the other day when we were throwing around ideas to bring another classic metal band on to some gigs with us. The bands are either dead now (Bastyon, Wild Fire, Carbon Replica) or they just appear to have stopped gigging and releasing music. It’s sad, but I think the economy has a lot to do with it. When you’re spending £60 for one rehearsal, and you typically rehearse twice a week, that’s £480 a month JUST to remain a tight unit. Before you take venue hire, merch production, CD production, travel etc into consideration. Yeah, it’s bleak.
Baz: I’ve been banging the drum for classic metal in Glasgow for 20 years. There’s always been one or two bands of our genre at any one time, and I’ve been in them all! We know our primary audience is in Europe, but getting there to play after Brexit is a big problem for an independent artist.
Chris: Scotland’s metal scene is on the heavier/more aggressive side predominantly, with no shortage of incredibly talented bands. Traditional/melodic metal bands aren’t quite as common. It would be nice to see more of course, though I’m not sure there’s much of a demand for it.
What do you think about the use of A.I. in music and art?
Mark: Ooof, that’s an interesting and very divisive question. I’ll speak only for myself here as I know others in the band are dead against the use of AI in any form. In terms of art, first… I’ve been a professional graphic designer for 36 years now, and one of the things that takes up most of my time is sourcing assets. For example, if I’m designing a paperback wrap for an author and they want a female fantasy protagonist on the cover with a very specific sword and shield, there are two things that can happen. The first is that I say to them “I can source the woman, even if I use legs from one person, arms from another person, and the head and torso from another… but your sword and shield are so incredibly specific that you’d need an illustrator rather than someone who works in composite imagery” or I say something similar but finish with “or we can just leave the sword and shield off the cover completely”. NOW, though, I can direct them to my Gen-AI policy and have them read through it, and I can then create their sword asset in AI (typically 40 to 50 attempts to get it close) and do the same with the shield. I have a local Stable Diffusion installation that contains the 1000+ covers that I’ve designed so that I know every single thing it generates is in MY style. I can then still build their entire cover in Photoshop using the stock image background, stock image additional assets (trees, moon, mountains, etc), stock image woman (potentially several different women, actually) and then the Gen-AI sword and the Gen-AI shield, even though I’d still need to manually overpaint to get them 100% like the book’s description of them. And then, 100+ layers and adjustment layers later, their cover is ready. That’s using AI as a tool to supplement legitimate abilities. In terms of music, though… I feel very differently towards that. I wrote, recorded, mixed, and mastered a solo album in January 2026 and released it in March. Everything was done by me. All instruments (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals) were me with the exception of three solos (Chris and Baz). I have a friend who is putting out albums that they describe as ‘my music’ yet none of it was done by them. The lyrics are AI, all of the instruments are AI, the vocals are AI, and the production is AI, all done in Suno. Let’s say I recorded my entire solo album and thought “I’d quite like a saxophone in this area”, I’d use my MIDI keyboard to synthesise a saxophone. It would be easier to just take it into Suno and go (assuming you actually CAN) “shove a saxophone here” and it’ll do it. I find it to be taking shortcuts… but if I didn’t have a MIDI keyboard, I’d probably do it but only because everything else was legit. So, in short, if you’re using AI to create an entire artwork where you do nothing at all to it and have only typed prompts, then it’s not art. If you ask AI to create music for you using only prompts, then it’s not music. But if you’re still using legitimate abilities and the AI aspect is only a tool, then I have no issue with it.
Chris: Generative AI, I’m against. I’ve never used gen-AI for art or music, but I used to be okay with the idea of folk using it to generate assets, or even just to get inspiration. But I’d rather it just be avoided entirely, now. I think it should be used as a tool at most, I suppose!
Which are your future plans?
Mark: We have a number of things in the pipeline that we can’t talk about just yet. There’s obviously the release of “Fractured State” on September 4th and we have gigs coming up with Wailing Banshee, Rattlesnakes, and our good friends at Spartan Warrior. There are already festival bookings for next year, although I think we need to keep those under wraps for a while. In terms of new music… as much as it pains me to say it (as I’d quite happily start writing a new album tomorrow), I believe we’re going to let “Fractured State” breathe a while, and so it’ll likely be 2028 before we put out another album. But, we’ll see!
Send your message to our readers!
Mark: Grassroots music is begging to be resuscitated – the venues are closing all over the place because of the lack of patronage, the promoters aren’t paying bands because they’re concerned that they’ll end up losing money from venue hires, gigs are being cancelled days before the performance date because of poor advance sales, and band are in a position where they can’t sell their merch or CDs to stay afloat because there aren’t enough gigs to sustain them but streaming payouts are absolutely appalling. So, if you can… do what I do – you hear a band and you like them, buy their CD even if you don’t have a CD player. If they have an online store or a Bandcamp store, buy a t-shirt. There aren’t huge profits on any of these things but it’s enough for the bands to know that there are still people out there who care about independent bands. Buy your tickets in advance, and buy something from their merch stand. You’d be surprised how much of a difference it makes. A HUGE difference, actually.
Baz: If you like our music, become a pain in your local venue’s ass until they ask us to play!
Chris: Continue to support artists/bands where you can. Times are hard for bands and for fans, absolutely. Even just interacting on the socials helps massively. I know I’m terrible with that side of things!
