Death metal the specialty of Genocide Architect

They're one of Vegas' fiercest acts, a death metal battering ram whose tunes are equally catchy and concrete-heavy. Read 'em and weep with The Genocide Architect:

What does The Genocide Architect sound like?

"We pretty much consider ourselves to be straightforward brutal death metal. We try to incorporate elements of groove, intensity, technicality, catchiness and dirtiness in our songs, but never lose focus on what we feel is best for the songs themselves. Sometimes the most simple of things will be what makes the song."

Death metal is an acquired taste -- kind of like bourbon and battery acid. To someone new to the genre, name some records you'd recommend to get into the music.

"The path all of us took was the standard Metallica/Slayer/Pantera/Megadeth/Sepultura etc., and growing into death metal from there. It's best if you have an ear for metal music in general at first, to really understand what's going on with the songs. If you've never really listened to metal, and you bust out a Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation or Guttural Secrete album, then you're not gonna know what the hell's goin' on. Your ear gets accustomed to the fast paced guitars and drums after a few listens and you really start to understand where it's coming from. We probably couldn't list every recommendation we have, but to start off you wanna go with the roots: Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Morbid Angel, Deicide and Death -- just to name a few bands to start with. Then maybe move on to a little bit of newer generation stuff like old Decapitated, Hate Eternal, etc. Pretty much anyone with a super brutal name will work."

The first song off your latest demo is titled "Eternal Torment." What's that in reference to? Being forced to watch an endless loop of Tyler Perry flicks?

"As tormenting as watching an endless loop of that would be, it was written about kind of the whole big brother thing. We all seem to sit by, watching as those with excessive power and money control our lives, while we do nothing about it. Sure, we live in a much better place than some people, but the governmental power in this country has become too strong. 'Eternal Torment' talks about the elimination of greed and corruption in our system, and the downfall of those who are at the forefront of it all."

When not grinding out spine-snapping death metal, what do you dudes like to do for laughs? Punch babies?

"We had to give up the whole baby punching thing a while back. Too many wrist injuries. Besides the music, just regular stuff, crackin' jokes on each other, whatever. We're metalheads, so we can have a pretty laidback sense of humor sometimes. We'll pretty much turn anything into something funny."

Check out The Genocide Architect at www.myspace.com/thegenocidearchitect.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@review journal.com or 702-383-0476.