Listening to Unborn Prophecy and their debut album, “Waking Our Ancient Memories”, was a captivating experience. The band comes from Costa Rica and its brutal, technical death metal will shock even the most demanding fans! Myth of Rock, as soon as it discovered the Costa Ricans, contacted the band and had a really interesting chat.
by Dimitris Zacharopoulos
When, where and under which circumstances was Unborn Prophecy formed? Give us a biography of the band, until now.
The band was founded in 2018 by David Gonzalez and Juan Carlos Suarez. After playing together in a cover band, David and Juan Carlos made the decision to form a new band, due to their shared interest in making original music with their own sound. In the beginning the band focused on composing and polishing the songs for the first album. During the composition process the other members arrived, starting with Paulo on bass, followed by Jean Carlo on rhythm guitar, and finally Sley on vocals. Once the lineup was complete, the band immediately went into recording the songs. When the album was finished, the band received several offers for the release and promotion of the album, with WormHoleDeath being the final choice of the band.
Why did you name the band “Unborn Prophecy”?
If someone tries to understand the etymological meaning of the phrase “Unborn Prophecy” they will find a paradox, it is usually almost existential. This is a reflection of the topics that we seek to expose in our music, the paradigms of human existence, ancient prophecies and the uncertain future of today’s society.
You hail from Costa Rica. How are things for heavy metal in Costa Rica? Is there a scene? How difficult is it to be a metal band from Costa Rica nowadays?
In Costa Rica there is a significant number of metal lovers, every week there are heavy metal concerts with a wide variety of bands from all over the world. For any new band in this genre things are not easy at the beginning, the most complex process is to make themselves known. But if things are done with excellence and quality, we believe that people will appreciate this.
Many people have said that you are the best metal band in your country. How do you feel about that? Do you agree, and why?
We will not hide that it is quite flattering to know that many people think that Unborn is a great band, we know that we are good musicians and we do what we do with a lot of passion. But honestly we don’t think we are the best, in Costa Rica there are many high quality bands that we greatly admire and have inspired us. We believe that Unborn is different, we have our own sound and a powerful message, that people appreciate this is enough for us.
You are releasing now your debut album, “Waking Our Ancient Memories”. How do you feel about this? Which are your ambitions for this album?
We are very excited for the release, as we have worked very hard on this project, and it brings great joy to see all of our efforts materialized in this work of art. We want to grow as a band, and that people have a high expectation for the second material. Of course, we would love to play our music outside our borders and at big festivals, however our purpose is that the message we want to convey is heard.
If you had to choose only one song from this album as your favorite, which one would you choose and why?
“Whispers” is the favorite song of most of the members, it has sentimental value as it was the first song that we composed together, and it is the first song that everyone learned. It is also a song written with a lot of passion, it is heavy, it is groovy, technical, and it has a powerful message.
Where and where was this debut album recorded? Describe the recording sessions as well as the whole production process and the mixing/mastering.
The album was recorded and mastered at Monnerat Studios by Marcos Monnerat in a two-year process, this process could have been shorter, but various factors such as the pandemic and our vocalist at the time who left the band, affected the release a bit. We had to re-record all the vocals with Sley. We are actually very happy that things happened that way. It was a pretty fun process where we learned a lot, it was the first time recording for almost all the members, we had no idea of anything and that was great. The production was carried out by David and Juan Carlos, who were in charge of giving the album that special touch. While the songs were being recorded, we started adjusting the order of the songs and the transitions between songs. That helped create that characteristic dark and powerful sound that we want to transmit with our lyrics, and our riffs. In the end we were all very satisfied with the result, we are very grateful to Marcos Monnerat and the support he gave the band in the process, he is a very perfectionist professional who managed to get the best out of each one.
Who is the one, who writes music and lyrics in Unborn Prophecy? Where do you draw inspiration from?
David is the main songwriter on this first album. He was in charge of the composition of the instrumental and the lyrics of most of the songs. Juan Carlos also contributed enormously to the process as a co-composer on songs like Whispers and Ocean, in addition to collaborating as an arranger for the drums. The band’s lyrics are strongly influenced by themes such as the wisdom, culture and prophecies of ancient civilizations, rituals, and traditions of our native roots.
How would you define your music style? Which are your trademarks as Unborn Prophecy?
Our music is powerful, dark, technical, meaningful, passionate, heavy and groove.
Where do your lyrics refer to? Is this debut a conceptual album?
It is definitely a conceptual album, all the songs are related to each other, where topics such as ecology, ancient prophecies, rituals and wisdom of ancient and native cultures converge with each other.
If you had a time machine, to which time period would you travel? Why?
If we had to choose one, maybe 5000 years ago, when the Sumerians were still around. It would be cool to see one of the first modern civilizations in history. Also from a purely musical point of view, we would love to hear the father of Death metal, it would be great to see Chuck Schuldiner playing live.
In your opinion, which is the atmosphere of your music? Which feelings of yours do you express through your songs?
Our music is quite atmospheric, many have already expressed that listening to the album is a complete journey. If you let your mind fly you will be able to move to the end of time and see yourself in the midst of apocalyptic wars where rituals and prophecies materialize, as well as titanic and magnificent temples, gods and ancient beasts will be present in a dark and epic atmosphere.
How did the deal with WormHoleDeath come?
At the beginning we contacted them with the album ready, they listened to our music and they really liked our album. They made us an offer and from the first contact we loved their treatment and the proposal they gave us regarding the release, so we accepted their proposal after analyzing that it was the best offer we had in our hands. They were also super supportive when our change of vocalist happened, as they did not hesitate to put the release on hold while we re-recorded vocals. We are so grateful to the label for that.
How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect you?
This crisis and the lockdown really affected the recording and release process, it represented a significant delay, but we did it and it turned out to be a very satisfying album in the end.
Do you play live on stage? Do you have plans for a tour?
We have played live on a few occasions, but now that the album is in the process of being released, we plan to play in various places in our country first. And in the near future we would be confirming several tours outside the country.
Send your message to the fans!
Thanks for all the support! Stay tuned that Unborn Prophecy will continue to perform live and we are already working on new material, which is going to be simply better.
