Give us some background info on the band RAZOR OF OCCAM?


Razor Of Occam was born from the ugly stench of Matt Razor way back in 97/98 in south Australia. Matt and a maniac called Brad were the band for some time, producing the demo which was later released on 7”on the now defunct Damnation records. Matt left Australia and began living and working in Europe, which started another chapter for the band. Matt lived in Paris and Belgium for some time but it wasn’t until he settled in London were the band actually started to morph into a working unit. Peter Hunt was forced literally by headlock to join the band as the new drummer and the bass was taken up by a ginger slinky fella called Chris Nunravager from Adorior. I joined the band as a lead guitarist a little later on just before the recording of the mini album in 2003. After the recording Chris left the band to concentrate on drinking and we got Alex on the bass. And it was this line up of Matt Razor, Alex, Peter Hunt and myself Shrapnel that recorded the Homage to Martyrs Album. Since the recording Peter has left to go back to Australia and we now have a new drummer called Didier… and that brings us to the present day………


Did you play in other bands before? I think some of your members stayed in DESTRÖYER666, is that right?


Yeah I joined D666 in 96 and still enjoy playing and drinking with the lads. I also play in Adorior. Matt Razor also plays in D666 now, but as the bass man. Alex also plays in various projects/ groups or whatever ya want to call them. He’s the man behind ‘the One’ and also Macabre Omen. So theres a bit of experience behind Razor


Your debut record "Homage to Martyrs" is a furious style between thrash and black metal. How would you describe your album?


Its aggressive, Hand cramping, R.S.I inducing, tendon shredding metal. That in fact is the perfect description of Razor of Occam. But if you really wanted to describe it as a type of music people could relate to, then I guess your description is fair. Its vicious, unrelenting everything I look for in a thrashy album.


What bands have inspired your music?


For myself it’s a mixture of Genres, a lot of classic heavy metal … the usual suspects, Priest, Maiden, Dio, Sabbath, more extreme stuff like early Bathory, Voivod, Mercyful fate, and other stuff like Holy Terror, Armoured Angel, Exciter, Agent steel… the list goes on.


What inspires your lyrics?


Matt writes all the lyrics. Everything is based around science


What do you think is the difference between the Metal scene and the scene of all the new breed like Deathcore or Metalcore?

I don’t really know the scenes you mention so I can’t really comment. Here in London there’s a really healthy live scene with loads and loads of bands coming through. In fact nearly every band on a European tour will stop in London. That’s one of the best things about living here, killer gigs.


There is a really huge MySpace hype. How much are you involved in all those Internet communities?


I’m a dinosaur when it comes to the world of computers. Our bass player has got the myspace page up and running now which is cool, gives people a chance to check out the band and place their ‘thanks for the add’ comment. But its good stuff. I was just listening to the new Candlemass, which they have on their myspace while I’ve been typing this out. As for forums and the like, I really don’t have any time to be posting or reading that stuff…,… But yeah the internet is a great tool for metal.


Metal Blade is continuously signing a lot of young extrem metal bands. Is Metal Blade the perfect choice for you?


We were pleasantly surprised when Metal Blade picked us up. They are a great label that has stood the test of time so for all of us it was an honour to be on a label that has had so many other classic bands. They are doing a great job in getting the Razor of Occam out there so we are really happy thus far.


What's your favourite part of being on tour?


It’s living the dream isn’t it? Playing metal all over the world in different countries, meeting great people and drinking like a fish. Playing with killer bands. What’s there not to like!!! But of course seriously its hard work as well, especially if you’re on a mini bus tour. Mini bus tours can be really hard going, your getting a few hours of sleep every night if you’re lucky, cooped up in a packed van driving for endless hours only to arrive at the venue late and having to unload the backline in a mad rush…….. Then get on stage and play like a madman, have some drinks, load out and repeat all over again. Fuck, I’m getting tired just thinking about it… But seriously, it separates the men from the boys. Its hard work, but if it was easy then it probably wouldn’t be worth doing in the first place!


Which are your favourite bands out there right now?


My all time favourite bands are Judas Priest, Slayer, Mercyful fate and Armoured Angel…. Apart from those three its mainly different albums that I hold in high regard. There’s not many bands that release classic album after album…..so different albums from many, many different bands are what I like. I really fucking love the last Exciter album ‘thrash ,speed, burn’. Holy hell that album crushes everything. The new Absu is interesting as is the last cannibal corpse.


What are your plans for the future? Are you going to tour Germany?


We’re playing Hells Pleasure festival on the 17-18th of July in Germany, which should be really cool. The line up for that is really very impressive. We are also trying to organise a small European tour later on in the year.


Do you have anything else to add?


Cheers for the interview!