For Mark Whelan, the frontman, guitarist, and founder of the vicious death metal band Fuming Mouth, the creation of their latest studio effort Last Day of Sun was a far-from-ordinary experience. After releasing their first full-length album, The Grand Descent, the band embarked on an intense touring schedule, only to be halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Whelan then faced an even greater challenge when he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
In an interview with Metal Injection, Whelan opened up about his health scare, including undergoing a bone marrow transplant. “It was a brutal process,” he explained. “They gave me an I.V. and blasted me with chemo to get rid of the cancer. Then, they performed the transplant. My doctor explained it like a huge knife, and if the cancer comes back, the new bone marrow would cut it in half. I liked that analogy – it’s extremely metal.”
Whelan’s experience with illness naturally influenced his music, resulting in a darker and more aggressive record. However, the ideas behind Last Day of Sun, including its expansive, world-ending concept, were conceived before his health issues and the pandemic. “I was watching 30 Days Night after we finished recording The Grand Descent, and there’s a scene where it says ‘Last Day of Sun’,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘Is that the name of the record?’ A lot of the big ideas for the album were formed back in 2018, before I got sick.”
Whelan enlisted the services of Converge‘s Kurt Ballou to record Last Day of Sun in Salem, MA. He describes the album as The Grand Descent “dialed up to 11” – bigger, heavier, and stronger. “We tried to make every aspect of the music better,” he said. “The heavy parts are heavier, and the melodic parts make them stand out more. We have a new song called ‘Leaving Euphoria’, which is the next step in the kind of song that Fuming Mouth is known for.”
With Last Day of Sun complete, Fuming Mouth is now focused on their upcoming tour with Devil Master and Final Gasp. The band is eager to perform their new material live, particularly songs like ‘Rest in Piss’. Whelan also revealed that they have already stockpiled B-sides from the recording sessions and are working on their third album. “The hunger to write music and release it is stronger than ever,” he said.
Fuming Mouth will kick off their North American tour on Halloween night. Fans can catch them at the following dates:
10/31 Brooklyn, NY @ St Vitus
11/1 Troy, NY @ El Dorado Bar
11/2 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East
11/3 Montreal, QC @ Le Foufounes Electriques
11/4 Toronto, ON @ Nineteen Seventy Eight
11/6 Milwaukee, WI @ X-Ray Bar
11/7 Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen
11/9 Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
11/11 Salt Lake City UT @ Aces High
11/13 Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt
11/14 Seattle, WA @ Substation
11/15 Portland, OR @ Dante’s
11/17 Berkeley, CA @ Thee Stork Room
11/18 Los Angeles, CA Midnight Hour
11/19 San Diego, CA @ Brick By Brick
11/20 Mesa, AZ @ Pub Rock
11/21 Albuquerque, NM @ Moonlight
11/24 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
11/25 Dallas, TX @ Cheap Steak’s
11/28 Tampa, FL @ Orpheum
11/29 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11/30 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
12/1 Richmond, VA @ Canal Club
12/2 Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar
12/3 Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Get your tickets here.
