Lingüa Brütallica - Episode 52: Will Smith of Afterbirth (Long Island, USA)

In this episode we chronicle Will Smith’s work with diverse death metal projects including Artificial Brain, Biolich, Reeking Aura, and most recently, Afterbirth. Departing from death metal’s love affair with gore, many of Will’s lyrics capture images of mental illness, invasive insects, and filth. Though such scenes would not be out of place in your average horror movie, Will explains that their inspiration is closer to fact than fiction. Many of Will’s lyrical motifs reproduce aspects of his past experience growing up in a blue-collar neighbourhood in Long Island and his current work in disability service provision. Will describes how writing these lyrics gave him an outlet to work through the trauma of witnessing first-hand the devastating effects of poverty and untreated mental illness. In effect, while death metal is best known for its celebration of death and destruction, Will finds that working in the genre can be profoundly therapeutic.

To hear more from Will, follow https://www.facebook.com/AfterbirthNYDeathMetal/ for Afterbirth and https://www.instagram.com/exsanguinated666/ for Exsanguinated, and https://www.facebook.com/reekingaura/ for Reeking Aura

And check out Will’s metal-themed podcast “Heavy Hole” at https://heavyhole.fireside.fm/