As far as Ludicra and Impaled bassist Ross Sewage is concerned – shit is going down this year! In a good way – of course. A veteran of the Bay Area metal scene, Sewage pulls double-duty bass jobs in at least two separate Bay Area metal bands, both of which are playing monsterous metal festivals in 2010. The highly-anticipated new album from Ludicra called The Tenant came out this week (order the new album here) and the band is preparing to head out for the Scion Rock Fest later next week. On the other side, Impaled are getting ready to depart on a Central American tour in support of Nile before they gear-up for the 2010 Maryland Deathfest.

I had a chance to exchange a few letters with The Boss over the past weeks and decided to break up the interview into two parts. In part 1, Mr. Sewage lays out the status (in true well-written and comedic metal-viking fashion) with Ludicra’s upcoming shows and talks a little bit about what fans can expect from their new album. In part two, he fills us in on the upcoming Impaled tours and what else the mighty Oakland “Death Metaleers” have in store for 2010.

I’m a little flustered at the moment trying to keep track of the news coming out of the Ludicra camp as of late. So, rather than me trying to explain to everyone out there, perhaps you can fill us in on the “decancelation” tour and what happened exactly?

Ross: I think you can then consider yourself well in the flustered camp, as we all in Ludicra are quite the flustered ones. The news goes thusly:

Ludicra gets big break as second choice for direct support of the Mayhem tour, Ludicra makes big plans for first full 30 day tour, dates get released, Mayhem cancels for no conceivable reason anyone can understand. What else would you expect from a band called Mayhem, deliberate action and order? No, my friend, these Norwegian pioneers of black metal are abiters of chaos! They worship the Old Ones in a fourth dimensional temple filled with a piercing din that will drive you MAD! Blessed be that they should cancel just a week after the dates were released, as opposed to canceling a week before the tour started. As the Deconsecration tour is canceled, so shall the Decancelation tour rise from its ashes. We are salvaging the time we already had dedicated to perform our craft and heading out to the wild blue yonder on our own. We will find friends on the way, such as Krallice and Tombs, and maybe if we’re lucky, we will also find ourselves.

Ludicra are playing the Scion Rock Fest this month with all kinds of bands, including several from the Bay Area. Is this the first major festival of this sort for you guys? How did this gig come about for you?

Ross: This is the biggest festival we have ever been a part of. The only other comparable events might have been Stoner Hands of Doom 5 and LadyFest some number I can’t remember. Our band of miscreants hath not yet traveled enough to wear out the soles of our moccasins. We can only imagine that the screaming and moshing hordes that will be in attendance to watch Cannibal Corpse should also enjoy our melodramatic musings on an urban life in decay.

Toyota’s Scion lifestyle division contacted us and we responded. And lo did we decide to stick our accelerator to the floor and make our way with all due haste and never buckle or brake on the way! Forward to conquer and car cons!

The new Ludicra album, “The Tenant” came out this week. A lot of people are looking forward to this album, especially since it’s been almost 4 years since Fex Urbin Lex Orbus came out. What can fans expect from this album?

Ross: Listeners can expect a natural development of our black metal and prog rock tinged style, with likely our best production to date. We are not developing a radically different approach, like switching from Picasso’s blue period to cubism, but there is progression as we are battered down by life’s little failures again and again and again. The raging torment is there, coupled with the sweet sounding calm in the eye of the hurricane. This is a fuller album than the last, but still we have eschewed some of the trappings of our sophomore effort for another recording that focuses on only our quintet and not on a bevy of guests and production tricks.

What you hear in your ear speakers will truly reflect the caterwauling cacophony and pathological empathizing you can enjoy at any of our in-your-fucking-face performances.

You guys have pretty much pushed your way up to the front of the underground metal scene in the Bay Area over the past decade. What do you think about the scene back from when you first started compared to now?

Ross: The scene has ups and downs so far as general productivity, but I will always love the Bay Area for pushing boundaries just as our forebears who came searching for a golden dream did when they risked fortune, life, and their yellow teeth for a chance at riches. The riches never came, but the hookers, drugs, and wallowing filth did.

Such as it is for music here, where people dare to dream big despite being crushed year after year. The vibrancy of our local creations is usually caught past the fact, past the point of terminus, and a bludgeoningly cruel outside world stares inwards, and says “Yeah, I totally had the demo… too bad they broke up, but I was into it way back.”

Long live death.

Click here to read Part 2…