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Interview / Neck Surgery

Updated: Mar 28

Neck Surgery was formed by rhythm guitarist and vocalist Alexey Ayzin in 2022. They are breaking the mold of the thrash revival with elements of black and death metal, exploiting the boundaries of speed, chaos, melody, and groove. Joined by lead guitarist Ron Iglesia, whose soaring leads cusp over the blazing rhythm section of Ciro Gutierrez on bass and the brutal momentum of Sam Levitine on drums, they are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the underground. With a year and a half of shows under their belt and the release of their full-length album Table Torture in October of last year, the band is poised to further extend their influence into the new year.


From left to right: Sam Levitine, Ciro Gutierrez, Alexey Ayzin , Ron Iglesias
From left to right: Sam Levitine, Ciro Gutierrez, Alexey Ayzin , Ron Iglesias

So tell me about the origins and formation of the group.


Alexey: I came up with the songs that appear on the Neck Surgery EP over the course of a couple of years before I met all the guys. I met Sam while jamming with someone I had found on Craigslist, and he introduced me to Ciro and Ron. Ron was actually a last-minute replacement before our very first show, and it’s been amazing working as an ensemble.


I was very focused on recording the music and was thrilled to be able to put Table Torture out this year after a lot of rehearsing, shows, and recording. The group is extremely professional and passionate about thrash metal, which is all I could have asked for.


Luckily for me, the guys have a lot of the same influences. They’re a little older, so they were in high school during the mid-2000s thrash revival and got to see a lot of those bands at their peaks.


What are some of your main influences? I personally hear elements of Death, Sadus, and Morbid Saint. What inspires you?


Alexey: Yeah, the obvious influences are Morbid Saint, Death, Slayer, and Vektor. I love the blackened/brutal thrash sound that started emerging in the early ’90s as well as the technical stuff that came out of Europe and Canada. Obliveon was a huge influence on Table Torture, and Invocator from Denmark had a big impact on me as well. My daily listening is almost entirely thrash, but contemporary death metal bands like Barn, 200 Stab Wounds, and the now-defunct Texas Ketamine were big influences too. I love the stuff going on in Boise.


In general, I always want to be extremely fast and retain some sort of interesting melodic and harmonic content. I love the little harmonies in Metallica’s music. I also love fretless instruments, and there will be more of that coming up in our music. The microtonal instrumentation of 1960s and 1970s Turkish psych rock may finally be seeping into our music.


The cover for Table Torture has a great horror vibe. Are you personally into horror films? If so, what are some classic favorites? Any best-ofs for 2024 in current horror cinema?


Alexey: Honestly, I’m not super into horror movies. The last one I can remember watching was the original Nosferatu as part of a college class. My interest in shocking imagery came more from the metal scene itself. I’m a big fan of Cryptopsy’s Blasphemy Made Flesh, Slayer’s Hell Awaits, and other horror-centric thrash and death metal albums.


I also love science fiction. While I’m not going to write a concept album like Terminal Redux, I will be incorporating some themes from books I’ve read, like The Inverted World and There Is No Antimemetics Division. I love how authors concoct horror and shock, and I think metal music lends itself well to aesthetically amplifying those feelings.


Staying with the horror theme, can you tell me about some of the lyrical inspiration for Table Torture? I personally love the opener “Fallen Angel,” but with titles like “Lover Nurse” and “Paging the Hangman,” one can’t help but have one’s imagination stirred. When writing songs, do lyrics come first or riffs?


Alexey: Lyrics are the absolute last thing on the agenda. It is exceedingly rare that I know what the lyrical content of a song will be until the last minute. “Lover Nurse” was a special case because my girlfriend wanted a song about sirens on the album, so I compromised and came up with the premise.


Typically, I sit at my computer and write or pull riffs into the abyss until something really sticks with me or inspires me to write more in a certain direction. The lyrics to “Paging the Hangman” were written months after the album was supposed to be released—I’m a big procrastinator in that regard.


The instrumental interludes on the album bring a momentary pause and serenity before the melodic brutality resumes. Am I hearing Arabic scales during some passages? These are not often heard in metal. Denmark’s Artillery comes to mind, but how did you come about using those notes? Can we expect Neck Surgery to incorporate these melodies more in the future?


Alexey: I wouldn’t necessarily call the interludes “Arabic.” They have some influence from the Western Hollywood “Eastern” sound but are largely a brutal amalgamation of my flamenco and Turkish guitar playing influences. I liked the dancey vibe we could get on the clean sections. The clean interludes you hear across death and thrash metal certainly had a big influence (stuff like Death, Megadeth, Artillery, Brutality, etc.).


You’ve been performing live consistently for the past couple of years. I’ve attended some gigs personally, and your shows are tight, brutal, and energetic. Is there a dream band you’d hope to open for someday?


Alexey: Well, ideally, bands are opening for us. Jokes aside, we’d love to get on bills with cool contemporary bands like Barn and Mindforce—stuff that’s more or less in our lane but different enough to draw non-overlapping crowds. I’d love to play with some of the bands I listed as influences, but it’s much more important to me to play with people whose music I like and who are closer to our age.


What are the band’s plans for 2025?


We’d love to release another album. We’ve been exploring a new sound in recent sessions, and the goal is to push the Neck Surgery vibe even harder. I struggled with getting the production quality I was looking for and fleshing out little ideas into strong, grandiose sections. We are changing the songwriting process and coming at the new album with specific goals that I think will make for a better product. Additionally, we plan to scale up our merch and booking. We aim to make a step forward and let people around the country know about Neck Surgery.


What are your thoughts on the NYC metal scene, particularly the underground? How are the bands, fans, and community treating you?


The scene is extremely hospitable. I consider myself lucky that my band members are veterans who know practically everybody we see. The bands are the best part. I love playing with Non Residents, Presence of Conflict, and Electrocutioner. Mark from Electrocutioner even learned our entire new album in a week to play our original release show.


The venues are great. I particularly love Main Drag (our most frequented venue) and Electric Bowery. We also recently played a show organized by The Satanic Temple at Rubulad, which was amazing even though we were short a bassist.


I wish the fans were a little rowdier. I recognize it might be a skill issue, though, so I’m working on making the music and my performance more energizing. The more people move and get loose, the better everyone feels. Long live NYC.


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