Counterparts: “We Wanted To Kick Things Up A Notch... It Paid Off”

There is a sense of rejuvenation that can be found at the heart of Heaven Let Them Die, the latest project from Canadian melodic hardcore group, Counterparts.

The six-track EP features some of the band’s most intense and raw music to date, the first offering from Counterparts since their seventh album, An Eulogy for Those Still Here, in 2022. For songwriter and vocalist Brendan Murphy, the essence of Heaven Let Them Die is tied in with the band’s desire to kick things up a notch for themselves, as much as their fanbase.

Counterparts – ‘A Martyr Left Alive’ / ‘No Lamb Was Lost’

“I’m really stoked on it. It’s not necessarily new, it’s not a 180 by any means, but I’m really stoked on it,” he says. “I’m glad that everybody was on the same page, we wanted to just do something heavy. Not that we weren’t doing heavy things before, but we wanted to kick things up a notch. It seems like everyone likes it, so it paid off!”

The band’s sound, rich and diverse in its hold on hardcore, metal and punk sensibilities, has evolved brilliantly since the debut Counterparts record, Prophets, back in 2010. Murphy’s songwriting style remains some of the most engaging in the scene, largely because of the way he has been able to weave unflinching brutality with vulnerability in perspective.

With Heaven Let Them Die, Murphy admits that the creative process behind this project remained largely the same – the Counterparts formula is well oiled at this point, so why fix something that ain’t broken?

What did shift slightly with the creation of Heaven Let Them Die, was Counterparts’ drive to create a record that was specifically primed for the live setting; an environment that Murphy describes as the one where he feels the most comfortable.

“Personally, I hate writing and recording! I like the shows, that’s where I have my fun,” he admits. “Moving forward with the band…it’s not that we haven’t taken chances before, we’ve done it on past records where we’ve gone, “How about we do a song where it’s all singing?” It’s not like our fanbase flipped out and stopped listening. This EP further solidifies that.

We can do whatever we’re feeling at the moment and for the most part, people are going to be stoked regardless. At this point, they’ve come to expect that it’s going to sound like Counterparts, it just might be a little heavier, or a little softer.”

Lyrically, Heaven Let Them Die features some of Murphy’s tightest compositions and as a lyricist yet. The arrangements punish with their riffs and pacing, while the ferocity of Murphy’s presence is undeniable.

“The main thing for me, with lyric writing, it’s just about capturing what’s going on in that moment,” Murphy explains. “With that, I make it a point to pick up where the last record left off – “How did I get here from that?” I go back and trace it and put it all together. It’s linear in some way.”

“As far as songwriting goes, I think collectively, we all reached a point where…we definitely didn’t want to switch it up like crazy. You don’t do that on album seven or eight, you know? If it was album two or three and we wanted to pivot, sure. We’ve been doing this for so long, if we wanted to do something completely different, we would just break up and start a new band.

We definitely wanted to do something fresh and something that would breathe a little bit of excitement into the band. On every other record, there are a couple of really heavy songs, so we wondered what it would be like if we just did an EP where it was all heavy, mosh music. It would still be us, but we just let ourselves write what we knew would pop off at a show. We did that and honestly, it was a lot easier than the other stuff!”

Australian fans will be able to experience this new live energy around the East Coast, when Counterparts return to the country for a long-awaited headline tour this June. The band’s last tour of Australia saw them touring with Architects in 2023, so their return was only a matter of time.

Counterparts – ‘Heaven Let Them Die’

Having built a strong relationship with fans on this side of the globe across the last decade, Counterparts’ presence in Australia is one that has grown brilliantly with each visit.

“I love Australia, since the first time we toured there in 2013 or 2014. I’ve always really liked it there. It’s my favourite place on the planet,” Murphy explains.

“If I had to move anywhere where I didn’t have to learn another language, I’d pick Australia. If I could snap my fingers and suddenly know Japanese, I’d probably move to Japan, but Australia to me is like…if Canada kicked ass. Melbourne is like if Toronto was better in every aspect and it never snowed. It’s so sick. We’ve always had a decent following there, even on our first tour in Australia, the shows were great.”

“We made it a point to keep coming back, we all really like it. The last few times we’ve done it, we’ve been on support slots, so it felt like it was about time that we tried to do a headline run and see what happens. See how many people really like us. I’m excited.”

Bringing Heaven Let Them Die into the broader Counterparts live show has been something Murphy and the band has thrived on. As a prime addition to what has become a strong legacy of music and a body of work that represents such an unique creative journey, Heaven Let Them Die is a great jump off point for new fans, and a perfect touchstone from those who have been on the ride from the beginning.

“That’s the coolest thing about it,” Murphy says. “With the new EP, if you’d never heard the band before, you could listen to it and be like, ‘Okay, I get it. I understand!’ You can take it at face value for what it is.

“But if you’re a longtime fan and you care about the lore of the band, I guess, you could go back and work in reverse order – go from the newest to the oldest material, and get an idea of how we got to where we’re at right now. I think that’s cool.”