INTERVIEW: FALLUJAH IN CONVERSATION WITH KYLE SCHAEFER
Interview by Cecilia Pattison-Levi
The Californian, now Nashville based, technical death metal band, Fallujah are primed to take on the world of metal again and broaden Australian metal fans minds in the process. Fallujah will join forces with Obscura, Ashen, and Anoxia to bring cutting-edge extreme metal to the fans at the Shred Fest Australian Tour in September.
Fallujah promise a set loaded with material from their new album ‘Xenotaph’, and if their live shows are anything like their music suggests, it’ll probably feel like being launched into space and hit in the face at the same time. Fallujah: Kyle Schaefer, Scott Carstairs, Evan Brewer, Sam Mooradian, and Kevin Alexander, have delivered a record that dazzles with its atmospheric soundscape, brutal instrumentation, and lyrics. I have to declare that Fallujah’s 2025 ‘Xenotaph’ is one of the best metal albums I have heard.
“We were clear on the vision for this album,” explained lead vocalist Kyle Schaefer. “It was a concept album built around the ultimate reality of death. Death has this realness and will happen to us all. It is relatability to everyone in the world, but there is also this mystery of what happens when we die. It was a big picture, but what we really wanted was to make an album that was short, dense, and told the narrative. We wanted to make it in 30 minutes, but it ended up being nearer 50 minutes. We are happy the album does not overstay its welcome, if you know what I mean. We made the songs, and it was very deliberately put together by the band, and it was driven by the story, the journey through the darkest depths of the human psyche and what happens at the end”.
“But now, we are so tour-focused,” mused Kyle Schaefer. “Making the album was brilliant. And we are toying with new music, and we are eager to start writing again, those ideas are coming. But we are focused, we are getting out to see fans and play them our songs. We are travelling everywhere, it seems, we are just back from Latin America, and then we are off to Japan, Canada, and more US dates. But we are really looking forward to coming back to Australia”.
Fallujah last toured Australia in September 2023 with Cattle Decapitation.
“It was such a great tour,” mused Kyle Schaefer. “The line-up for Shred Fest is amazing as well. It’s going to be such a great tour. I just know it’s going to be awesome. We love the food, the people, and the fans as the shows just go crazy down there. We love the enthusiasm of our Australian fans. It’s so unique! And we cannot wait to go to places like Darwin, Tasmania, and we get to go to New Zealand. We have been so lucky and grateful that Obscura has asked us along on this tour”.
There is such an emotional core to Fallujah’s lyrics and music.
“We promise to play fans a mixed set when we get to Australia,” said Kyle Schaefer. “If we don’t play some fan favourites, we know that someone will come to the merch desk and say, ‘Where was ‘Sapphire’?’ It always happens if we don’t play that song. We know that Australian fans like hearing the new and the old, and that’s what we will deliver, a happy mix”.
The band’s new album ‘Xenotaph’ that combines the ideas of the cenotaph, that refers to an empty tomb, and Xeno’s philosophical idea of the outsider or the ‘foreign’ is just extraordinary. If you have not heard the album yet, make sure you give it a listen, and you will be rewarded with an eight-track song cycle that delivers the most amazing fusion of powerful lyrics, atmospheric soundscapes, and brutal breakdowns with the most amazing guitar riffs you will hear.
Fallujah’s set at Shred Fest should not be missed if you love diversity in your metal diet. The wait will make the concert all the sweeter.
Tickets are on sale now for Shred Fest Australian Tour where “More Is Not Enough”. The dates for the massive Australian and New Zealand tour running through September 2026.
