Ifrit began after the demise of the band Cocytus when members Phobos The Lesser (of Genocidal Hate) and Matt Gambino (of Ifrit) had to part due to creative differences and distance from one another. From there, Matt took it upon himself to succeed where Cocytus failed by playing old school inspired Death Metal mixed with some Black Metal influence.
In the summer of 2005 during his extended stay in Montreal, Quebec, Matt had begun writing guitar parts for what would now be the defunct band Cocytus. Matt took the ideas that he was going to contribute to Cocytus and further worked with them in order to create something new for himself. He worked with several guitar parts that were supposed to be the basis for a Cocytus song that later evolved into something that would become a staple for Ifrit’s sound. That is when Matt chose to dub himself Ifrit and named the song The Will of Ifrit.
From there, Matt was not yet set on starting his own project because he was sure he would need other members to create the sound he wanted. So, in early January Matt decided to try out with some other bands to see if he could get his foot in the door that way. He tried out with a couple local Montreal bands including the black metal outfit Body Serpent whose style of play really interested Matt. The tryout went well but Body Serpent decided Matt was not a fit for their style. This rejection only pushed Matt to work harder and from there he decided to start work on Ifrit and seriously dedicate his time to mastering his sound all on his lonesome.
It took several months of grueling practice hours and time spent on writing lyrics in classes (as Matt was in his 2nd year at Concordia University majoring in Philosophy) and coming up with ideas for songs. But finally, in April, Ifrit was ready to record the two songs that had been written up, those being Blood of the Ancients and The Will of Ifrit. Matt got in touch with Inner Light Spectrum studios to try and book some studio time. ILS studios were booked up until July, so Matt set the date for July 8th in which to record and took the next 3 months to write more songs and sure up the ones already written.
During his time off from school and in between jobs, Matt worked hard on getting the Will of Ifrit actualized. During this time, he enlisted the help of Nikolas Drury (a.k.a Smorgasmorgue), Rick Fox (a.k.a MetalJet) and Lisa Binns (a.k.a Spud) to do artwork for him. Nikolas created Ifrit's logo, Rick did work on a second logo as well as a banner for Ifrit to advertise with over the internet and Lisa was hired to do artwork for the CD cover of The Will of Ifrit. Together, these 3 artists helped Matt by creating something more substantial than a cheap MS Paint logo that was passing for Ifrit's logo.
Finally, July rolled around and Matt took his bass and guitar to ILS studios and was set to record his debut EP The Will of Ifrit with producer Joe Pacheco, with the 4 song track listing that included; The Will of Ifrit, Blood of the Ancients, Failure of Man and Burnt for Fuel. The recording session was a long 15-hour day, but the length was worth it as the Will of Ifrit was finally actualized and was now recorded for all to hear.
Upon finishing recording, Matt added his songs to the Ifrit myspace page and from there the accolades have been pouring in from his peers, friends and other listeners worldwide. Matt was still in search for a bassist and drummer that would be able to carry on the will of Ifrit. Briefly, Derek Wiltshire was set to play bass for Ifrit, but he could not allot the time to practice with work and school and was forced to decline Matt’s offer to join Ifrit as the live bassist.
In late November of 2006, Matt is finished work on his second album, a full length LP entitled The Throne of Ifrit which will once again showcase the artistic talents of Lisa 'Spud' Binns as well as the writing abilities of Matthew O'Meara (a.k.a The Infamous Chintee) whose poem 'I Call to Thee, Forbidden Beast' sparked the interest of Matt and was into an Ifrit song. The track listing also includes Valley of the Skull, Innocence Denied, Beyond Evil, Cocytus, City of Dis, Calm Before the Fall of Man and the title track the Throne of Ifrit.
From here, Matt booked time in late December with Preager Studios in Toronto, Ontario to record the Throne of Ifrit. Two long days were spent slaving over the mixers and instruments with producer Tim Preager trying to get the possible sound for the Ifrit material. The sound had evolved as the guitars featured more depth and the drumming was now more substantial and sounded less like a drum machine than the previous effort. Upon completion, Matt put more of the songs from the new release on the Internet to much acclaim. Many of the critiques from the first album were the lack of guitar depth, bass, and fullness of the drums. Matt tried to rectify this as well as add bits of synth to the songs to liven up some intros and the critics were pleased with the way the product had evolved, not only fixing the ‘problems’ but also evolving as a musician.
Future plans for Ifrit include a split with Jake Bopp and Nikolas 'Smorgasmorgue' Drury’s band Archaic Horror from Feculent Asphyxiation records. This will feature 4 new songs written about Ancient Myth, including the songs Revere the Giant that retells the story of Samson, Odyssey part 1 and part 2 that tell the tale of Homer's Odyssey and finally the Sorrowing Brute which follows the trials of Hercules. This record looks to be released early-mid 2007.
Ifrit may still be a one-man project, but Matt is searching far and wide to find a bassist and a drummer who can heed the will and will allow for Ifrit to put on some concerts and do some tours to give back to all the fans that have been there since Ifrit was nothing more than another myspace death metal band with no music. Nonetheless, the future looks bright for the shining star that is Ifrit.
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Reveal the Throne of The Tyrant
By: Nik 'Smorgasmorgue' Drury
By: Matt Petrak
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