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One can say the sound of steel was injected into Exmortus founder, guitarist and vocalist, Jadran “Conan” Gonzalez at an early age. Born into a family of musician, he grew up listening to his grandparents sing and play guitar, while his father and uncle both were in rock and metal bands. At just 5 years old, his father took him to watch his uncle play in a death metal band at the Whisky. The experience left quite the lasting impression on him. He soaked in the vibe and the atmosphere and begged for a guitar of his own. He was gifted a beginner Crate guitar and combo amp and once his father saw him stick to practicing, purchased him a solid Gibson SG. It was just a few years later at the age of 12 that Conan formed Exmortus, which would not have lasted had it not been for his parents.

Gonzalez reflects, “My family has been and continue to be very supportive of my endeavors with my music. I don’t think Exmortus would exist if it weren’t for my parents driving the band to our gigs. My dad also acted as our first manager and made sure we played on time and were taken care of at the gigs since we were so young when we started performing.”

An LA fixture for well over a decade now, they released their first LP, 2008’s In Hatred’s Flame, when Conan was just 18 years old, but had already paid their dues through their shows and buzzed about demos. The mixture of thrash, death, black and especially neo classical that made them stand out from the LA thrash revival in the 00’s.

“Classical influence came from watching Fantasia and Looney Tunes a bunch as a kid, “explains Gonzalez. “Of course I got into Ozzy because of Randy Rhoads’s neo classical style and then into Yngwie during my high school years. Ever since I’ve delved deeper by studying counterpoint and harmony with old theory books that have all the classic examples.”

2014’s Slave to the Sword LP was the album that took all their influences and forged them together the strongest. Touring nonstop in support of that LP with the likes of Dark Tranquillity, Krisiun, Arsis and many others prepped them for a more mature sound on 2016’s Ride Forth. Constant touring with Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom and Arsis proved too much for some of the members, as founding member and drummer, Mario Mortus as well as long time guitarist, David Rivera, stepped down to pursue other interests. Gonzalez had been used to line up changes, starting a band with preteens can see many of the members change as they get older, but this one seemed especially tough since Mortus was not just a member, but family.

Family was started him on this path, but it was ultimately his family that told him to keep going. Mortus urged him not give up and while speaking with the parents and uncle, they all told him he had gone too far to quit now, so he hunkered down his studio and crafted his finest songs to date as well as enlisted Chase Becker and Carlos Cruz of Warbringer to help record the tracks.

With Sound of Steel, Gonzalez once again revisited the team that made Slave and Ride Forth such successes, revisiting producer Zack Ohren (Machine Head, Fallujah) at Sharkbite Studio to sonically capture the tracks while artist, Philip Lawvere (Celtic Frost, Helloween), created the cover art.

“This new record takes the best from both Slave and Ride albums and adds a killer twist especially accentuated by Chase and Carlos of Warbringer. While still paying homage to our classic favorites like Priest, Malmsteen, Slayer, etc., we also deliver tastefully the extremities of black/death metal and of course the neo-classical structure/harmony that we are known for.”

The band kicked off the promotion for the album by heading to Europe for a month long tour with FL death metal legends, Obituary. For this run and from now on, Adrian Aguilar has joined as drummer and they are ready to start up the US promo cycle. They return to the road very soon, when their steel shines the brightest, this Summer.