In The Midst Of Lions | Transformation
Written By: Jeremy Seick

lot of things come and go, while some have the foundation and materials to last. At first I was stoked on these guys because they were so heavy. Then the concept and the message of The Heart Of Man kept me listening. In The Midst Of Lions is clearly not messing around, and it is their musical ferocity and fervor for the message that these tracks are built on that will make these guys a main-stay in this scene.

You guys are brutal… and technical, what influences your sound, both musically or otherwise?

Alex Livingston: Thanks! All of us have a lot of different musical influences which create an interesting sound. I (drums) am really into indie and electronica music. Matt (vocals) is really into old school death metal. Ryan and Sam listen to a lot of shred metal and country and Jake is into rap and electronica. With Blood Comes Cleansing, Veil of Maya, Meshugga, Whitechapel are a few bands that have influenced us musically.

What did the first 2 years look like for ITMOL?

AL: Things progressed pretty quickly for us. We starting playing local shows and did well in our general area. We played Cornerstone and that’s where Jason Dunn from Facedown/Strikefirst heard us. We were signed a few months after that and started to tour full time. We have been on the road almost constantly since then, and continue to do so.

Tell us the meaning behind your name In The Midst Of Lions…

AL: I actually came up with the name as a metaphor for being a Christian band in a typically anti-God genre. A few months after coming up with the name we actually came across Psalms 57:4 which reads “I am in the midst of lions; I lie among ravenous beasts–men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.”.. So it was meant to be for sure.

Your album The Heart Of Man is out on the 3rd of August, talk to us a bit about what the title is about and what you hope to get across with this album.

AL: The name comes from The Lord of the Rings movie. “The hearts of men are easily corrupted” If you are familiar with the movies, you may recognize that the first melody on the song “The Heart Of Man” is from LOTR (laughs). It’s a three part concept record. The first 4 songs are the about corruption, the next 4 are about consequence and the last 4 are transformation.

Was there anything you tried to do differently on The Heart Of Man as compared to your 2009 release?

AL: We stayed in the same general area as far as the sound goes, but it is musically leaps and bounds better than Out of Darkness. Those were some of the first songs we wrote and we were still finding our sound. Ryan and I write everything and since our last record we have really locked in musically, and have gotten much better at our instruments. I am very happy with how the record turned out and I believe most will agree that it’s quite an improvement.

The word on the street is that you guys are amazing live. For those of us who haven’t had a chance to see you guys yet, tell us what your live show is like and what is most important to you when ITMOL are on stage.

AL: That’s crazy! I don’t know who is spreading those rumors! (Laughs). It is really hard for me to talk about our live show, but most would agree that it is a much better experience live than on CD. We strive to be as solid as possible, but still throw down and give the crowd as much energy to feed off of as possible. Most of all though, we just want to invite the Holy Spirit into the place to just rock kids’ worlds!

Any big tours coming up for you guys?

AL: After Scream the Prayer we have some pretty awesome stuff in the works for September and after but nothing that I can talk about yet. Our booking guy is working hard to get us on some bigger support tours that we are very excited about. Just keep updated on our MySpace and Facebook and we should have some tour news up soon!

Final words?

AL: We love all of you, and Jesus does too! Be on the lookout for The Heart Of Man August 3rd, and don’t forget to pre-order!