Frédéric Leclercq - Sinsaenum ‘By Carrying On, Joey Lives On’
They say ‘Out of tragedy, comes new strength’.
For the Death Metal connoisseurs Sinsaenum, their recent years were shaped out of unimaginable tragedy. From the passing of co-founder, drummer and all around heavy icon Joey Jordison in 2021, the loss of their lighting engineer Fred 'Mumu' Miller just over 12 months ago as well as the loss of founding member Frédéric Leclercq’s father, you could almost forgive a band for not returning under the circumstances of loss. But this multinational Death Metal five piece had plans of implementing new strength in honour of their fallen family.
7 years since their last release, Sinsaenum have returned to the airwaves with the announcement of their third album suitably titled In Devastation set for release on August 8th. The band have also triumphantly released the title-track single to a rave of positive reviews from critics and long term fans alike. The near five minute blitz on the senses serves as a baron flame scorching the comeback trail many thought would never be treaden. This classically infused Death Metal track inspired by the current state of the world serves as just a forefront to a emotionally and creatively album shaped out of all feelings constructed by the mind.
“I was devastated, hence the title of this album,” Leclercq explains. “But we knew we had to carry on. This record is our tribute to my father, to Joey, and to anyone who’s ever had to find strength in their darkest moments.”
Before the year truly kicks off for Sinsaenum as the band gears up for their first shows since 2018 - the last of which had the band playing through Australia and New Zealand - founding member Fred sat down with Wall of Sound to discuss the brand new album, bringing longtime friend and drum tech of Jordison, Andre Joyzi, into the family and how balancing his own project whilst dominating the world as bassist of Kreator has set the tone for the future.
Watch the interview with the French metal titan below, or read on for the best bits...
When asked about the self described “life hitting hard” period the band had gone through leading up to the album, Leclercq spoke about how talking about the upcoming album and title track is as tough as it is rewarding
“To be fair on a personal level, starting to do promotion for the new album, I have to talk about the loss of my father, the loss of joey and the loss of others. So it’s quite heavy in that sense, but also it's great that we are finally back. It’s always like a glass half full and half empty.
...the title itself ‘In Devastation’ I think was a nice sum up of how I personally felt and still feel after all these years and what I went through.”
For a band to be away for 7 years and attempting to make a comeback, it can be difficult to find the right way to do so. But Fred firmly believes that the title track for the album was the best way to do so.
“I think it made sense to use that as a first single as in 'We are back'. I didn’t want to come with that… we have a song on the album called ‘The Last Goodbye’ which is very emotional. Which will definitely 100% describe how I’ve been feeling. That song is definitely dealing with grief, sorrow and sadness. But that would not have been the perfect business card for what Sinsaenum is."
After suddenly passing in 2021, it would be completely fair to say that Joey Jordison has left an irreplaceable legacy. But when it came time to continue on Sinsaenum, Leclercq says that new drummer Andre Joyzi was always the perfect piece.
“We could have gone for a very well known drummer who would impress people with their skill. Instead of going down that road of 'let's try to bring a new exciting element blah blah blah'. For us it made way more sense to have him because of him being the drum tech of Joey on the world tour we did with Sinsaenum. So he was already a part of the family, he’s been on the road with us, he was close to Joey as well. To us he made perfect sense, someone from the inside.
We had a few names and then why not try Joyzi? Because he’s already a part of the family. Fuck yeah.”
Diving deeper into the loss of the ever talented Joey Jordison, Leclercq says the band was the last thing on his mind going forward.
“At first when we had heard that Joey passed away, I didn't think like ‘Oh what about Sinsaenum?’ It was like you lose a friend, you know it's the mourning process and what not. But once we started talking about it with the other guys because we told each other how we were feeling, exchanging memories and what not. We just said the album was going to be dedicated to him of course, let’s carry on.
By carrying on, he lives on. Not only in the music but in the name he gave us."
Outside of Sinsaenum, Leclercq joined Thrash Metal titans Kreator back in 2019 on bass duties. Contributing to the band's latest album Hate Uber Alles in 2022 (as well as mammoth touring responsibilities) Leclercq speaks highly of his past few years in the band that helped guide him back to slowly piecing together Sinsaenum’s return.
“Because I felt very empty when it came to inspiration... it was nice that, like you said, Kreator is a titan and that moves with or without me. So I can take the backseat or passenger seat. It’s not the driver seat that I have in Sinsaenum. With Sinseanum, there is no pressure to move. We just need to make sure it’s a good album. It has been done in parts, it hasn’t been done in one go. With my schedule with Kreator together with my incapacity to be able to drive for that long, that was sort of a luxury.
A blessing in disguise because we could stop recording the drums and then do the guitars. Then stop for a while then go back at it and just like, 'okay let's do the melodic guitars but also maybe change that rhythm guitar.' That’s how it worked.”
Fred also touched on touring Sinsaenum again (including to Australia) and if there's enough response to the new record, they'll put us back on their potential schedules. So get streaming!
Interview by Cody-James Henderson @cody_j_henderson
In Devastation will be released Friday, August 8th via earMUSIC. Pre-order/save here
Sinsaenum - In Devastation tracklisting
1. In Devastation
2. Cede to Thunder
3. Shades of Black
4. Obsolete and Broken
5. Last Goodbye
6. Spiritual Lies
7. Destroyer
8. Buried Alive
9. This Wretched World
10. Over The Red Wall
