Charismatic Undeath frontman Alex Jones had a chat with Knotfest's Cori Westbrook during their Slave To The Grave co-headlining tour with 200 Stab Wounds, Enforced and Phobophilic. Alex and Cori shared mutual excitement for the bands critically acclaimed album It's Time...To Rise From The Grave, the current state of the metal scene, and the sense of community stemming from the death metal and hardcore crossover that is taking place.

Alex spoke about the welcoming nature of Undeath, despite their sound and appearance, what he hopes to see in the future, and what a general blast 2022 has been for the band. Undeath saw a rapid rise in popularity this year, being one of the bands on the forefront of the new wave of old-school death metal. The band embraces the humor and absurdity of the genre, something long forgotten in favor of a more serious approach, while remaining technically proficient.

The obliteration of the barriers between the metal, hardcore and punk genres is a welcomed phenomenon in the music world, where we are now seeing more genre crossover on tour and festival lineups than ever before. "I think it works so well as a combination, because I feel like a lot of people who are starting death metal bands grew up listening to all different kinds of music," Alex shared. "Speaking from a personal perspective, I grew up listening to hardcore, I grew up listening to punk, I grew up listening to that stuff just as much as I grew up listening to death metal and all different kinds of metal. I feel like people like me, who are starting death metal bands, in the past 3 or 4 years, all had similar kinds of experiences where we were all consuming as much music as possible via the internet."

After the interview, came the band's set, with Alex being one of the most encouraging frontmen out there. Offering up a t-shirt for "best stage dive", Alex made it clear: it doesn't matter if you're scared or embarrassed or too shy to tear it up in the pit or jump on stage with them, do it anyway. Undeath welcomes fans from all walks of life with an open casket. It is hard to make a death metal show feel "happy", but that is exactly what Undeath does.

Check the compete interview with Alex Jones of Undeath below.