Last Chance To Reason

By Brian Leak

Last Chance to Reason has been pushing the boundaries of typical metal for the better part of a decade with progressive, melodic, video-game inspired heaviness. Hailing from Portland, Maine, the band has been hard at work releasing not only albums that raise the bar in the genre but also an online video game that coincides with their music. Synthesis had the chance to speak with guitarist A.J. Harvey about the band’s upcoming tour, video games and their most recent release.

What are you looking forward to the most on your tour with Protest the Hero and Scale the Summit?
We just really enjoy being on tour with other musicians, so seeing both of those sick bands every night is going to kick ass.

How are you enjoying the success of Level 2?
We’ve done some things I never thought we would do because the chances of success are so small. We are really enjoying it. It’s still new and I still get as stoked with every bit of good news like with our first show with a national act. [The] New England Metal and Hardcore Festival  has been a dream for the whole band for a while and to have a great response was incredible. In July we toured with Animals as Leaders which was another dream come true. Shit, I still can’t believe we got to see them for a month straight. Intronaut ended up blowing us away. In August we had a nine-page spread in Premier Guitar. We’re currently on tour with Obscura and Abysmal Dawn…. Obscura are phenomenal. Still stoked on how everything is going.

After numerous line-up changes, how have things been with the current roster?
We just got a new guitarist, Mike Abdow, who is sick. He has a solo record, Native Alien, that was released on Shred Guy Records. Abdow learned the tunes quickly and tightly.

What are some of your all-time favorite video games?
Zelda, Metroid, Lords of Thunder, StarCraft, Smash TV.

How has the move to Prosthetic Records been for the band?
We’re very pleased with Prosthetic. It’s great to be peers with such sick bands as Animals as Leaders, Scale, Gojira, and White Arms of Athena.  Everyone we have met from Prosthetic are great people.

Have you begun working on your next release?
We have a shit ton of ideas for what might be called Level 3.

What is the next big goal for Last Chance to Reason?
Evan is working on the next level of the game and we’re going to continue to tour our asses off while working on new material. We’ll also be doing lessons online and at shows in the near future.

Tags: Last Chance To Reason, metal, Prosthetic Records, video games