Lindsay O has a way of sounding like the end of the world and a gut-punch of honesty at the same time, and her work on Coma Cluster Void’s new single “Pray for Death” is no exception. The track leans into the kind of chaos she naturally thrives in, shaped by pandemic-era isolation, loss, and all the messy stuff that ends up making the most powerful art. Lindsay lets TGEFM in on how she taps into that intensity, what it’s like blending the feral with the fragile, and why creating something this heavy can also be oddly grounding.
- Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us, and congratulations on your powerful work on “Pray for Death.” What first drew you into the world of avant-garde and experimental heavy music?
Thank you for the kind words! I suppose I have always been drawn to heavier styles; I grew up on grunge, and Soundgarden specifically was a favorite because they had something of a much darker sound than a lot of similar bands of the era.
I got into brutal technical death metal around the same age – early teens – with Cryptopsy being the first band in that genre that really just did something for me on a visceral level (Whisper Supremacy era!).
It’s just an audio aesthetic that I feel an affinity for because it helps to absorb and transmute a lot of darkness and pain, while transforming it all into something kinetic. - “Pray for Death” feels both brutally technical and emotionally devastating. How did you approach balancing that raw emotional delivery with Coma Cluster Void’s intricate rhythmic and harmonic complexity?
Thank you for that observation – the song was recorded during the peak of the pandemic, so much of that raw emotion (and devastation) was channeled into the performance.
All of that darkness, isolation, and confounding grief and fear really coalesced into this massive wallop of a sound.
It is really important to me to perform with honesty, so I tried to pull from all that I was experiencing at the time in the performance, and not to sound like anything or anyone other than who I was at that time- someone struggling to make sense of the collapsing world. - You’ve described your voice as an instrument that can “shape-shift.” How do you decide when a song calls for guttural ferocity versus something more ethereal or haunting?
I think it really comes down to how a song makes me feel. I do really like juxtaposition; I enjoy contrasts, and irony, so if there’s a particularly gritty moment, I do try to hear how something riding atop, such as a clean vocal, could help both textures compliment or contrast. Starkness – grating starkness and contrast – is really interesting to me. - Your performance on “Pray for Death” feels almost theatrical at times. Do you consciously think about character or narrative when recording vocals, or is it more instinctive?
I think more instinctive; honesty is really important to me, so it’s a challenge for me to architecture an untruth and act through that. I think there’s an eternal world of self to pull from that doesn’t really require a lot of equivocation. - You’re sharing vocal duties with Michael DiSalvo and Auston Taylor on this track. How do the three of you navigate such an intense vocal landscape without overpowering each other? Was there a playful (or not playful) sense of competition in the vocals?
That’s a great question; I think that each of our vocal styles are so unique that there’s not a huge risk of one tone overpowering the other. I think Mike probably has one of the most distinct vocals in all of metal, with his previous work in Cryptopsy pretty evident, and then of course Austin has such an incredibly complimentary aggressive style.
For me, I try to find the pockets of bright sharpness that I can punctuate within the music and hold a more graveling tone to add to the rawness of the music. To try and add to the low tones, I’ll fold in some gutterals. - Your delivery often channels both the personal and the cosmic; grief, rage, transcendence. Do you see your vocal work as catharsis, communication, or confrontation?
Great question – all of the above. Confrontation, yes, often, with self or self in the world. I often question how I can be more skillful with the rage I often feel towards the world as a catalyst for the expression.
Being mindful of how that rage shows up is why I do Death Metal (haha) it helps me to be productive with it.
Catharsis, of course, very much. It’s impossible to stay purely centered in this crazy world, and so finding some opportunity to just get it out is important. In terms of communication – I really hope that lyrically, someone finds the things that I say empowering or helpful. It’s important to me to, in the end, put out good in the world, not add to its problems. - You’ve collaborated with a wide range of musicians and producers. What qualities do you look for in a creative collaborator?
I just love feeling excited about a song or a sound and it motivates me to collaborate to see how we can build something new together. Qualities include openness and flexibility to pushing boundaries and just being fucking weird. I love people who don’t care about polish or production or even reception – it’s just can you show up and do something that’s REAL and raw. - Finally, what’s next for you? More singles, a full record, or something unexpected lurking in the shadows?
I am currently working on the next Coma Cluster Void song, and finishing up some spoken word tracks I’ll be releasing soon. I am also collaborating with MOSTRO creator Lucas Wysbrod again as we have a top secret Grindcore project due out soon!
Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed. The interview may be lightly edited for content and clarity.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/