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The Obelisk Questionnaire: Dan Lorenzo of Cassius King, Patriarchs in Black, Vessel of Light, Hades & Non-Fiction

Posted in Questionnaire on December 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan

Dan Lorenzo cassius king hades vessel of light etc

The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Dan Lorenzo of Cassius King, Patriarchs in Black, Vessel of Light, Hades, & Non-Fiction

How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I’m a salesman in the tattoo business who considers himself a mediocre musician who is also one of the most prolific riff writers in heavy music.

Describe your first musical memory.

I’d like to pretend it was hearing Kiss Rock and Roll Over and being floored, but the truth is I was born in 1963 and my first “musical” memory was watching The Partridge Family and thinking David Cassidy looked cool and that I should grow my hair.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Pantera’s Phil Anselmo singing one of my songs ( Non-Fiction’s The My Way) to me in a hotel in Los Angeles to prove he remembered who I was.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I love this question, but I don’t think any of my beliefs have ever been tested personally.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

For me it leads to retiring about two years later than I could. Even though all my bands have record deals I dump a large amount of my own money into marketing and promotion. Want a free Patriarchs In Black hoodie JJ?

How do you define success?

The ability to eat whatever food I want every day. I moved out of my home in 1983 and for about ten years meals were not guaranteed. I didn’t eat every day.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

A few years ago, I was in my car at a railway crossing after eating breakfast. The gates were down and I heard the train coming. I was distracted by something, and I looked down for a moment

When I looked up, I saw a 23 year old woman with a hint of a smile in front of me. She had earbuds in and was scrolling on her phone just 6-8 feet in front of me crossing the railroad tracks. Before I could yell or honk my car horn she was gone. Her death fucked me up for months.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

My 23rd album. A second with Patriarchs In Black. It’s already in the beginning process. It’s just another album, but it still keeps me energized and excited as “the next album” always should.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Providing people with a strong emotional feeling.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Summer 2023. The winters in northern New Jersey blow chunks.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063461712608
https://www.instagram.com/cassiuskingband/

https://cassiusking.bandcamp.com/
https://cassiusking.hearnow.com/field-trip

https://instagram.com/patriarchsinblack
https://patriarchsinblack.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/vesseloflightband
www.instagram.com/VesselOfLightMusic
https://vesseloflight.bandcamp.com/

Cassius King, Dread the Dawn (2022)

Patriarchs in Black, “Demon of Regret”

Vessel of Light, Last Ride (2020)

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Vessel of Light Premiere “Dead Flesh and Bones” Lyric Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 25th, 2017 by JJ Koczan

vessel of light

Vessel of Light release their self-titled debut EP via Argonauta Records on Nov. 3. The six-song/21-minute offering is the first fruit borne of the collaboration between Ancient VVisdom frontman Nathan Opposition and Hades guitarist Dan Lorenzo, and as Lorenzo tells the tale below, it all started out innocently enough. A basic correspondence between two players respecting each other’s work has yielded tracks of deeply mood-fueled heavy doom rock, and finding songs like “Where My Garden Grows” and “Dead Flesh and Bones” working around murderous themes or the depressive fare offered throughout “Living Dead to the World” and the decidedly metallic “Descend into Death,” there’s a balance being struck across the songs that draws influence from the pasts of Lorenzo and Opposition alike.

Whether that comes through in the bluesy underpinning to the central riff of vessel of light vessel of light“Descend into Death” or the rolling doom that unfurls itself throughout “Meant to Be,” the consistent element tying the material together is the overarching grimness of spirit and the violent tendencies played out so vividly in the lyrics. Even the eponymous closing track, with its druggy focus and chorus, “LSD has got a hold of me,” and so on, has more than a small measure of threat behind its promise to “make your nightmares come true.” And certainly as that song proclaims in manipulated screams that the speaker is a vessel of light, one gets the sense that it’s way more a vessel of the post-Manson sense than one who might actually offer a level of peace. Unless, you know, you think of being murdered as peaceful.

Lyrics are a focus throughout Vessel of Light‘s Vessel of Light, so it seems only fitting that the duo should unveil the track “Dead Flesh and Bones” with a mind directed specifically toward them. The words may be about burying someone in the garden, but it’s also worth noting that the song is catchy as hell, and amid the red-tinted imagery and striking nature of brutalism, that aspect is not at all lost.

You can see the video below, followed by more info on the EP, courtesy of the PR wire.

Please enjoy:

Vessel of Light, “Dead Flesh and Bones” lyric video

Dan Lorenzo (Hades, Non-Fiction, The Cursed) teamed up with Nathan Opposition (Ancient VVisdom) to form a musical project called Vessel Of Light. The duo entered Brainchild Studios in Cleveland to record their debut during Summer 2017. Lorenzo has issued the following update:

“I decided to write about the band in NJ’s Steppin’ Out magazine and I mailed Nathan Opposition (Ancient VVisdom’s singer) a magazine and I think an old Hades CD. We started communicating by email and then on the phone. I had no intentions of asking him to write with me because my musical career is long over. I’m considerably older than him and I honestly wasn’t playing guitar much, but when Nathan asked me if I wanted to write together I couldn’t say no.”

Nathan Opposition says, “Lorenzo and I became friends due to my inability to not be susceptible to flattery. Turns out he’s a really cool guy who writes awesome riffs too. Randomly one day I ask him about the band we are starting in joking fashion. I guess it was the right timing and the right person because we immediately agreed we should actually start a project. Before I knew it he was sending me CDs of riffs and I had lyrics flowing like a faucet.”

Vessel of Light on Thee Facebooks

Vessel of Light on Instagram

Argonauta Records website

Argonauta Records on Thee Facebooks

Argonauta Records on Twitter

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Vessel of Light Debut EP Coming Nov. 3 on Argonauta Records

Posted in Whathaveyou on August 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan

Much like yours truly, Hades guitarist Dan Lorenzo is a Jersey boy with roots in print media. Hell yes I remember when he got together with Overkill vocalist Bobby ‘Blitz’ Ellsworth, bassist Jon ‘Job the Raver’ Nardachone from Murder 1 and his own former Non-Fiction bandmate, drummer Mike Christi, to form The Cursed and release their lone full-length, Room Full of Sinners, 10 years ago. Are you kidding? Hell, I still have the Evil, in the Bag demo! I saw them play at the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan. It ruled. We’ve been in touch on and off for years and he’s always been a good dude and absolutely cordial — a pro through and through. That’s not something I’ll say about everybody.

As such, it’s cool to hear Lorenzo has a new project in the works, and doubly fascinating to learn it’s with Nathan Opposition of Ancient VVisdom. There’s no audio yet from Vessel of Light that’s been made public, but I feel like given the sonic histories of these two, their debut EP is among the least-predictable releases I can think of for the remainder of this year. It’s pretty wide open as to what the hell they might come up with together, but that’s cool by me. I’ll hope to get the chance to find out sometime ahead of the Nov. 3 issue date.

They’ve signed to Argonauta for the release, because that’s what you do, and the EP tracklisting and more background follow here, as per the PR wire:

vessel of light

We’re excited to announce we inked a deal with supergroup VESSEL OF LIGHT, formed by Dan Lorenzo (HADES, NON-FICTION, THE-CURSED) and Nathan Opposition (ANCIENT VVISDOM).

“For the last decade since I recorded The Cursed cd (with Bobby Blitz from Overkill)” Lorenzo said “I haven’t really felt the desire to jam music with anybody. I’ve had offers to join a few bands, but I’ve always considered myself more of a songwriter than a “real” musician. I never wanted to join somebody else’s band. A few months ago that all changed when I heard the songs “The Opposition” and “Deathlike” by the band Ancient VVISDOM.”

Nathan Opposition said: “Lorenzo and I became friends due to my inability to not be susceptible to flattery. Turns out he’s a really cool guy who writes awesome riffs too. Randomly one day I ask him about the band we are starting in joking fashion. I guess it was the right timing and the right person because we immediately agreed we should actually start a project. Before I knew it he was sending me CDs of riffs and I had lyrics flowing like a faucet.”

The track listing of songs recorded by the duo are:

Where My Garden Grows
Dead Flesh and Bone
Meant To Be
Descend Into Death
Vessel of Light
Living Dead To The World

On the record deal: “Although we conceded to the fact that signing to a label was improbable, I sent music to one of my former record labels and an Italian label I found that I thought was right for us: Argonauta Records. When Gero from Argonauta replied I knew it was the right call. The right label. Somebody who knew and respected my past and Nathan’s currency. I am so happy that thanks to Argonauta the world will soon hear the magic Nathan and I have captured with Vessel Of Light.”

VESSEL OF LIGHT debut ep will be released on CD/DD and available from November 3rd, 2017. A lyric video will be posted by the end of this month.

https://www.facebook.com/vesseloflightband
www.instagram.com/VesselOfLightMusic
www.argonautarecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/ArgonautaRecords/
https://twitter.com/ArgonautaRex

Ancient VVisdom, “The Opposition” official video

The Cursed, “Evil, in the Bag”

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