Separatist is a technical death metal band hailing from Tasmania, Australia… Read Full Bio ↴Separatist is a technical death metal band hailing from Tasmania, Australia. The bands debut full length album - The Motionless Apocalypse - is a fine example of brutal death metal, with a huge 'punch in your face' sound, technical riffage and dominating growls.

The band now only consists of one member, Sam Dishington who does vocals and all instruments. In February 2014 they signed with Canadian Independent label 'Subliminal Groove Records, and released a remaster of 'The Motionless Apocalypse' as well as a brand new album 'Closure', which are both available for free digital download from bandcamp: http://separatistdm.bandcamp.com/

Separatist was originally formed in early 2003 by guitarist Zack Wiggins and ex-drummer Mark Cooper. They started jamming on the odd occasion, not really taking things too seriously. It wasnt long before they decided they would seek out to find the other key ingredients for making a great band, bass and vocals. After discussions with a good friend of Zack’s, Matt Lowe decided to take up the position of vocals, and soon after came Dom Crawford who claimed the position of bass guitarist. As soon as possible the band started practicing almost once a week, covering Fear Factory songs (eg. Martyr, Self Bias Resistor, Edge Crusher and Replica) and attempting to write originals.

After a few performances at the their high school they were entered in the TasMusic Rock Challenge in mid 2003. With not much excitement for the crowd in the first two bands Separatist was the first to get some energy happening. Unfortunately they were marked down in the organisation category due to difficulties that arose with their school music teacher, and so they didn't make it through to the final stage. They continued to try and make original material, and also for a short time employed a second guitarist, Robert Jenkins (he didnt last long), but the group merely wasn't co-operating well enough to be productive, so, at the end of the year the members went their separate ways, with Zack being enrolled into a highly rated college with known success in the music area he was almost certain he would find a new band and continue the dream.

He soon met up with fellow guitarist Sam Dishington, who was also keen on starting a metal band. Zack contacted Separatist's old drummer Mark and shortly after they began composing originals. The original decision to have Sam singing whilst playing rhythm guitar had been discarded due to difficulty. After a few practices they had formed their first two original songs; Faceless and Splinter. But unfortunately progress was hampered by the lack of a bass player, a few alternative options were tried, but Chris Tanner, who had originally applied for the vocal position, was discovered to also be a rather talented bass guitarist. Although he was disappointed that he wasn’t selected as the bands vocalist, he gladly took up the role of the bass player. With a few more practices they became confident with themselves and their material and entered their colleges rock challenge. They played their first 2 originals and did a cover of My Last Serenade by Killswitch Engage, and the crowd was more than suitably impressed.

Unfortunately, Separatist was still not entirely happy with the progress being made and the co-operation in the band was still not at a happy working level, so it was decided that changes had to be made. After hours of intensive debating Sam and Zack came to the decision that Mark was to be removed from the equation as he and Zack were not working well together, and so, Separatist once again were short a member, and so the search for another drummer began.

During this period Sam and Zack continued to write original material, and then Jared Foster (Solvent Intake) reccommended Matt Carter, who at that stage was playing drums in Iron Leather, an 80's metal band put together almost solely for the purpose of competing in the college rock challenge. Unfortunately word was circulating that Matt was less than dedicated to previous bands he had been in, and so there was a great deal of uncertainty with the initiation of Matt into the band. After a few jam sessions it was quite evident that Matt was a more than suitable drummer and was exactly what was needed to fill gap, and he was gladly taken on as a permenant member. Since Matts initiation, Separatist have been working painstakingly and has been making great progress in the composition of quality original material, and now have quite a variable cornucopia of original songs to suit the tastes of metalheads the world over.

In around mid 2005 while Separatist were awaiting a grant from the government, ex-bass player Dom Crawford was approached and consulted about picking up his guitar and being the 5th piece of Separatist. For a while he played along but after a few weeks he decided to go his own way and leave the band. After this incident, vocalist Sam made the decision to pick up his guitar and try his hand at being rhythm guitarist aswell as singer. After their first practice with Sam singing and playing guitar it was clear that a fifth member was not needed and that Separatist could remain the four-piece metal act they had been for the past year.

Towards the end of 2005, bass player Chris Tanner left the group for personal reasons, and the search for yet another member began. Thankfully it didnt take very long to find budding metal musician Luke Ranson to fill his place. Separatist were once again a whole band.

It was shortly after this time that it was again decided that a second guitarist was required rather than Sam playing guitar, so the search began, and after a long hard quest for a guitarist, Tom "Moteman" Hamilton (Solvent Intake) showed up on the scene and offered his services. This birthed a whole new era in the Separatist saga. After his induction into the group, Separatist played as support acts to many important metal bands, including Skinless, Alarum and I Killed The Prom Queen.

In March 2007, after a long Summer of working on new material and jamming in general, Separatist finally stepped into Red Planet studio to record the drum tracks for their at that time untitled debut release. Not until the end of November was the album, by then entitled "The Motionless Apocalpse", finally complete and mastered, ready for printing, but thankfully for all those involved, it was finally finished after almost a year of twiddling fingers and experimenting with recording techniques.

Unfortunately, in early 2008, while Separatist were waiting patiently for record company Reverb Productions (Malaysia), who had kindly stepped in and offered to help with the launching of the album, to finish printing and reproducing the CD, both Zack and Tom decided that they were no longer 'feeling it' with Separatist and decided to call it quits. And so began yet another search for new members. Thankfully, a close friend of Sams, who goes by the name of James Brady (ex. Corpse Carving) had previously expressed an interest in playing guitar in Separatist if a position had become vacant, and evidently, one had... Two even! But thankfully James was able to fill one of these spots, and it wasn't long before young musical talent Dave "Gilbo" Gilbert was put in contact with Separatist and filled the guitarist-less void that had previously plagued them.

From this point onwards, with the release of their debut album "The Motionless Apocalypse", set for the 12th of May, just around the corner, being asked to record a track for a compilation cd produced by Metal Asylum Records from Sydney, and being asked to headline the Chaos A.C.T. IV Extreme Metal Festival in Canberra on the 7th of June, things finally seemed to be looking up for Separatist. From this point, they could only imagine what 2008 might hold for them...

Isolation
Separatist Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Confined within this desiccant husk
This godforsaken artefact of what once stood
A sutra of isolation and absence
We have become the thrall of famine and drought

The Earth that we once enslaved has fallen
Consumed by our own insatiable starvation

Our focus shifts
To ingest the weak and the inanimate
Those who cannot resist
We turn to our own fragile veins
Drinking deep the arterial libation
Dissecting the lesser among us

Spanning beyond this infinite horizon
Sustenance lies in deficit

Excise the feast locked within the flesh
Death of the weak to feed the strong
We are the scavengers of our own mortality

Isolation

Flocking like vultures to feed on our own skin

Where sustenance lies in deficit
We have become the thrall of absence

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Isolation" by Separatist speak about the destructive impact of human actions on the environment and consequent repercussions. The opening lines, "Confined within this desiccant husk, this godforsaken artefact of what once stood" suggest the idea of constriction and confinement that humans have created for themselves by exploiting the planet's resources. The following lines, "A sutra of isolation and absence, we have become the thrall of famine and drought" signify the state of crisis due to famine and drought caused by excessive use of natural resources.

The song goes on to highlight the greed and disregard for life that humans have developed by saying "Our focus shifts to ingest the weak and the inanimate, those who cannot resist." The subsequent lines "We turn to our own fragile veins, drinking deep the arterial libation, dissecting the lesser among us" depict the extent to which humans have become insensitive towards the environment and other living beings. The lyrics also refer to the fact that the planet has become barren because of human intervention, which has caused the imbalance of nature.

In the concluding lines, "Flocking like vultures to feed on our skin, where sustenance lies in deficit, we have become the thrall of absence" show the dire state of the planet and the world due to human neglect. Overall, Isolation is a powerful and desperate commentary on the state of human destruction of the planet.

Line by Line Meaning

Confined within this desiccant husk
Trapped inside this dry, lifeless shell

This godforsaken artefact of what once stood
This abandoned remnant of what used to exist

A sutra of isolation and absence
A scripture of loneliness and emptiness

We have become the thrall of famine and drought
We are enslaved by hunger and thirst

The Earth that we once enslaved has fallen
The planet we dominated has collapsed

Consumed by our own insatiable starvation
Destroyed by our unquenchable hunger

Our focus shifts
Our attention changes

To ingest the weak and the inanimate
To consume the helpless and lifeless

Those who cannot resist
Those who are powerless to fight back

We turn to our own fragile veins
We look to our own vulnerable bodies

Drinking deep the arterial libation
Drinking heart's blood like a ceremonial offering