TENET = “An opinion, doctrine or principle held as being true by a person or especially by an organization.”
Strapping Young Lad / Zimmer’s Hole guitarist Jed Simon herewith gives you his opinion with gracious help from some very good friends! With SYL’s relentlessly busy schedule in the last years, Jed had been waiting for some time to get “Sovereign” done…and with SYL down, now is the time!
TENET originally started out in the Summer of 1996 for Jed Simon, founder of the band. Together with Steve Wheeler (Zimmer’s Hole drummer at the time), they started getting Jed's ideas down to demo-tape form, but while both continued along with ZH and SYL, nothing much happened for TENET apart from some casual jam-sessions, which among others also included players like Stu Carruthers (Grip Inc.). Jed then initially met guitar-partner Glen Alvelais (ex-Forbidden) way back in 1997 when SYL was touring with Testament, for who Glen was playing guitar at the time. After quickly becoming friends, Jed eventually asked Glen if he would be interested in playing together in TENET and long years later when they re-connected, Glen’s first question was “Whatever happened to that album we were gonna record?”. They laughed and Jed said “Soon, are you still into it?” His response was “FUCK YEAH!”
After signing a deal with Century Media Records Jed started out working on “Sovereign” with bassist Byron Stroud (Fear Factory, SYL, Zimmer’s Hole) as well as drummer Adrian Erlandsson (At The Gates, The Haunted, Cradle Of Filth, Paradise Lost, etc.), but after reviewing the fact that not enough attention could be given to the project by Adrian due to the immense geographical distance and other pending commitments, Jed turned back to his long-time partner in crime Gene Hoglan (Death, Dark Angel, SYL, etc.) to take care of the final drum duties. TENET was still looking for a vocalist though and after a few auditions were done, Steve “Zetro” Souza (Legacy / Exodus) turned out to be the perfect man for the album, as he instantly gave the band that 'classic' metal feel that Jed was looking for. Jed quickly flew to the Bay Area twice to first oversee a very smooth vocal recording with Zetro and then later on to mix the album with Vincent Wojno (Machine Head, Kreator, Trouble, etc). Finally, Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Opeth, Arch Enemy, etc.) was recommended for the mastering of “Sovereign” and the album’s artwork comes courtesy of Travis Smith (Opeth, Death, Nevermore, etc.).
That all said, even if TENET might seem like a brand-new name to the scene, the fact that the band’s line-up involves some of the most respected players within the Thrash and extreme Metal scene will easily explain the immense quality to be found on the deeply personal-themed debut album “Sovereign”. If you like your METAL heavy and with a good dose of the 'old school', then you have found your home on “Sovereign”. And speaking of home: leave your keyboards there…they are not welcome here!
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