CR: Fine, fine, Why don’t you please introduce the band to our readers? What’s Hell Within all about?
Tony Zimmerman: We’re Hell Within from Massachusetts U.S.A. We’re a straight up, to the point metal band. Hell within is all about writing well written quality songs.

CR: I was reading in your web site about a tour you guys were doing through the United States, is that tour over? How was it, and how many cities you guys visited?
Tony Zimmerman: The tour was great it was with our good friends in The Autumn Offering. It was an east coast tour that took us through about 30 cities. It started April 5th and ended May 5, 2005. It was one of our last tours for the year before we go into the studio to record our new album.

CR: What would you say is the biggest lesson a band learns on the road? What other bands did you guys played along side with?
Tony Zimmerman: A band learns how to survive. We learned how to get along with everyone in the band and just how to get along with people in general. It sounds basic, but they’re only lessons that you can learn by doing it. It’s a new adventure everyday without a doubt. We toured with, Byzantine, Nightrage, The Autumn Offering, God Dethroned, Manntis, Thine Eyes Bleed and The Human Abstract.

CR: The new album, your first album Asylum of the Human Predator, has been out for quite some time now, how does it feel to have your first full length in a store? Have you seen the album in a store when you go in to buy some music?
Tony Zimmerman: It’s cool to walk down the isles and see your shit there. It’s kind of weird how other people react to the album being in mainstream retail stores. People will ask “where I can get your album” and when you say “Best Buy, FYI etc...” they’re amazed.

CR: What did you guys learned from this album, from the recording session, what things you will not do on a next release that you did on Asylum of the Human Predator?
Tony Zimmerman: Not anything in particular, we were well prepared for Asylum and the sessions went well. I mean every time we go into the studio we get better and better at it. I mean you do learn, but the main thing is prepare, prepare and then PREPARE!!!!

CR: How’s Asylum of the Human Predator doing in radio playing time, is there a big culture in radio broadcast towards your kind of music?
Tony Zimmerman: It has gotten next to no radio air play. It’s hard to get air play and to tell you honestly it did not get a big push to radio. Music needs to be pushed to get any radio attention here. We feel that it did not get enough of a push to radio, which upset us, but what can you do?

CR: Let’s get a little deeper into Asylum of the Human Predator; the album is frenetic, fast with just a few short interventions of clean vocals, how do you guys measure the amount of a certain element (like the clean vocals) to place on an album, I mean how do you know the exact quantity of some sound that will enhance a song or an entire album?
Tony Zimmerman: We write the songs and how it comes out, is how it comes out. The biggest thing for us is writing a good song. It’s not like we sit down and say it’s going to have this much clean vocals or this much screaming. We do what the song calls for and what sounds right. At the end of the day it’s about what sounds good and what fulfills us musically.

CR: The record has some great guitar solos, how vital is a solo for Hell Within?
Tony Zimmerman: It’s a huge thing for us. The guitar has the ability to play rhythm and to solo and we embrace them both. It’s not like every song needs a solo but if it calls for one then we lay it down. When you do lay it down, make it tell a story and be slick about it.

CR: When you guys were recording the album, did you have any specific idea of how many songs or how long did you wanted it to last?
Tony Zimmerman: Not really, we looked at our recording budget and figured how many songs we could do the right way. It is very important not do any of them half ass. That’s all we care about is doing the songs right. I hate songs that sound like they’re rushed or just thrown together.

CR: How important is for Hell Within the lyrical content of the songs?
Tony Zimmerman: It’s very important. It’s the story you’re telling and it’s just as important as the music. Lyrics are the things that people read to help understand the meaning of the song.

	Pic courtesy of: Hell Within "The only bad thing is that been a metal band from Boston you get slapped with that trendy tag of been Metal-core. I’ll tell you we hate trends and labels, but what can you do? People seem to have the need to label everything"

CR: Is the song Godspeed to Your Deathbed about suicide?
Tony Zimmerman: We don’t really like to tell people what the songs are about. We like people to take their own meaning from each song. Music is a very personal thing and when you tell people what they’re suppose to think it takes away some of the magination of the song.

CR: Do you have any favorite songs in this album? What’s the toughest song to play live?
Tony Zimmerman: My personal favorite is “Godspeed to your Deathbed’. I feel that it is the most complete song on the album. It has everything in it. Speed, groove, and guitar solo. It’s just a full song. I would say that Godspeed is the hardest to play live because of the speed, but the most fun to play.

CR: What does the album art work means? Who did the cover art?
Tony Zimmerman: The cover art was done by Mario Garza. We more or less went to him and told him what we didn’t want and the point we were trying to get across. Then in a few weeks he came up with the cover. We wanted it to show the grim view of the world that a person can see. We wanted it to be beat on, dim and overall an old scene; we wanted people to see the Asylum of the Human Predator.

CR: I presume you must be really happy with the results of this album, is quite good; if or when you guys decide to record a new album are you guys going to be using the same production team?
Tony Zimmerman: Yes, everyone that worked on the album did an amazing job. We would most definably use the same team again if possible, no doubt.

CR: Any ideas in how many copies of Asylum of the Human Predator have you sold?
Tony Zimmerman: I believe we’ve sold a little less than 10,000 discs world wide.

CR: You guys hail from the Boston area if I’m not mistaken, how the metal or hardcore scene over there?
Tony Zimmerman: Its ok, it’s like any area. You have your good bands and you have your bad bands. The only bad thing is that been a metal band from Boston you get slapped with that trendy tag of been Metal-core. I’ll tell you we hate trends and labels, but what can you do? People seem to have the need to label everything.

	Pic courtesy of: Hell Within "The business side sucks!!! It’s no different from selling a car or a computer. I’ll go one step further in saying that it is one level above prostitution. People are 2 faced and liars who turn something fantastic like music into a cut throat industry"

CR: Do you guys sometimes feel a little “discriminated” by the regular metalhead? This been that metalcore seems to have such a big support from young masses, and most of the die hard metalhead seems to be very close minded or fearful that its favorite music or band becomes too popular for him/her to be able to relate to them.
Tony Zimmerman: I say “OH FUCKING WELL”. We’re a metal band period. If a person is going to talk shit about us because kids dig us or because we’re from Boston, they can kiss my ass. Music is Music. Music has all aspects in it singing, screaming, solos; it’s about being a well rounded band. We’ve been playing like this since 1998. I could not play in a band that is one dimensional, I’d get bored. I’m 100% into what Hell Within does and wouldn’t change it for the world.

CR: How much power would you say music has?
Tony Zimmerman: I’d say music is very powerful. A person once told me and I believe this 100%, that “Music is an extension of your soul”. With a song you can touch a person in a way that nothing else can. There are songs that pick you up and then there are songs that bring you down. I feel that music is one of the last true forms of expression left. Music is such an amazing thing.

CR: How does the business side of music affect the music itself, the creating process of the artist?
Tony Zimmerman: The business side sucks!!! It’s no different from selling a car or a computer. I’ll go one step further in saying that it is one level above prostitution. People are 2 faced and liars who turn something fantastic like music into a cut throat industry. I love music with everything I am and having to deal with the business side is such a drag. I’m so glad that the fans and my other band members are so cool; it drives me to keep going. I guess it’s a price you have to pay to do something you love.

CR: What does the future holds for Hell Within? Any future plans that you would like to share with us?
Tony Zimmerman: We’ll right now we just finished a full year of touring and 200 shows. Now we’re in the rehearsal room writing the next album. Then once it’s complete we will tour our asses off. We’ll get back out there and start hanging with our fans again, which is always a kick ass time!!!!!

CR: Well, thank you for this great opportunity; I would like to congratulate you on a great album, if you have something to add, please do…
Tony Zimmerman: Thank you, I had fun with the questions. All I have to say is thank you to all our fans that bought Asylum and came to our shows. It’s them that makes all of this worth doing. Lastly, please go out and buy Asylum, keep coming to shows and when our new album comes out in 2007 go out and pick it up.