Fatal Conceit is a heavy-metal rock band from Michigan and was created very recently in 2020; 4 musicians together have created an intense and hardcore band with soul-crushing lyrics. Fatal Conceit has been born, and their latest shred is “Devil’s Little Helper.”
The band is made up of Timothy David on vocals and guitar, Katie “Kixx” Puga on vocals and bass, Joe Blake on lead guitar, and James Balina shredding the drums. FatalConceit is composed of these 4 unique individuals, with many accomplishments under each one of their names. Timothy has played alongside many screamo-metal bands, including We Came as Romans, Asking Alexandria, and many more. Kixx has been a manager of many successful bands, Joe Blake has served as concertmaster in a number of musical ensembles as well as James Balina being involved in music since the age of 6.
Fata lConceit’s sound is loud and aggressive, with heavy guitars and drums that create a sense of urgency. The lyrics by FatalConceit are dark and violent, reflecting the dark side of human nature.
“Devil’s Little Helper” has that aggressive and dangerous sound; it is thrilling to listen to.t they thought it was love, but it was just a mask for the deception. “Devil’s Little Helper” talks about how the vocalist is now aware of the truth and is burning the relationship to the ground. There is no regret or sorrow, just a sense of relief that they are finally free from the deception.
The song is full of energy and aggression, with fast-paced drums and distorted guitars. The vocals are growled and guttural, adding to the intensity of the song. The overall atmosphere is one of chaos and destruction.
Fatal Conceit’s sound is loud and aggressive, with heavy guitars and drums that create a sense of urgency. The lyrics by Fatal Conceit are dark and violent, reflecting the dark side of human nature. “Devil’s Little Helper” has that aggressive and dangerous sound; it is thrilling to listen to.
Throw on “Devil’s Little Helper” as loud as your speakers can handle, and listen to the shredfest. Fatal Conceit’s “Devils Little Helper” is now available on all streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Fatal Conceit. Congratulations on releasing your sincere single, "Devil’s Little Helper." What inspired this piece?
Thank you so much for having us! We’re so dang excited about this thing. Believe or not, we didn’t actually write this song. Back a few years—2018, I think—we worked with a drummer named Hunter Grunwald when we were in a band called Vox Ad Nil. Hunter brought the song to the band we were in at the time, and it was always well received by audiences back then. Fast forward a few years to summer 2021, we had just released Takin Back the Name and our producer at the time was discussing the follow-up with me, and he suggested I knock the dust off of Devil’s Little Helper. So, I reached out to Hunter—who’s still drumming, now with a group called The Half Of It—and asked if he’d be alright with us using his song, and with his blessing, we got to work on the recording.
Could you expand on your songwriting process for "Devil’s Little Helper?” Do you face any difficult moments when writing lyrics?
Well, when Hunter pitched the song back in 2018, he was very nearly finished with the work. He had already produced a pretty fleshed-out demo. He allowed me to tweak the lyrics a little back then, so we kept those small alterations when bringing the song to Fatal Conceit. But there was always this question about what to do with the middle of the song. We tried a bunch of stuff. Xavier, our lead guitarist back in 2018, wrote a solo that was very shredd-y but had a lot of live variation. Shawn, our producer at this time last year, experimented with a disgusting hardcore-type breakdown. I tried my hand at a solo— truthfully, it wasn’t a very good one. But then Pizza Joe Blake, who only just joined us last September, wrote the nasty shred-fest that made it to this latest recording. As far as lyric writing goes generally, we find ourselves asking what kind of band we want to be. We have to consider whether what we’re doing would fall more into the category of “art” or more “entertainment,” and, whenever possible, we want to strike at something deeper than simple entertainment. This makes lyric writing generally very difficult. It’s so easy to write nonsense to accompany the music, but we want our music to have more to say. While we didn’t compose these lyrics in their entirety, the reason this song resonates so much with us and with our audience is that it does strike at that deeper something.
Did you have any artistic influences or projects in mind when creating the single "Devil’s Little Helper?”
We were really channeling our affinity for Breaking Benjamin and Avenged Sevenfold on this number. They both provide a dark aesthetic for the audience to bask in. The riff that Hunter wrote feels very much like that early Breaking Benjamin stuff, and the solo Joe put together evokes the same sort of agile yet powerful shredfest you might hear from Synyster Gates.
What does "Devil’s Little Helper" mean to you?
For me personally, this song is representative of a profound disappointment in a love lost tragedy, expressed in a tantrum through the veil of pain and heartbreak. The narrator gives us a lament from the imperfect perspective of the jilted. It’s worth pointing out that the lyrics are explicit and that it’s really about being disappointed about not being able to see the deception. That’s really what it’s about for me.
What's next for you?
Well, in the near term, we’re doing a couple of private shows but our focus will be on completing a feature-length album in the next year or so. Just put drums in the can for two of the songs this week. One of those songs is our next single, titled “Under the Ashes.”
