Matt Flood talks us through the confessions, chaos, and catharsis behind Caskets’ third album ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’, out November 07 via SharpTone Records.

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Not too long ago, Matt Flood found himself spiralling.

Hitting the road in support of Caskets’ second album ‘Reflections’, on the surface everything seemed great. Watching the venues grow in size, streaming numbers climb, and praise for the record come in, the frontman should have been buzzing, but something wasn’t sitting right.

“I think with ‘Reflections’ we were trying to write an album that we thought the fans would want to hear, rather than focusing on what we wanted the fans to hear,” the vocalist admits.

“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we wanted it to be bigger and better than ‘Lost Souls’. That had a negative impact on my mental health, and our relationship as a band suffered because I withdrew into myself. I wanted to get back to the way things were.”

With their debut album skyrocketing them onto the radar of so many, the pressure had undoubtedly got to Matt and his bandmates, but that realisation marked a turning point for Caskets.

Finding their way back to the spark that first ignited them, their third album ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’ was created with reclamation at its core. A record of brutal honesty, overspilling with anthems of self-reflection, grief, and growth – this is the sound of Caskets finding themselves again.

Rock Sound sat down with Matt to uncover more about the journey behind ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’, and to find out why he’s certain these are the best songs they’ve ever written.

THE SOUND

After ‘Reflections’, Caskets initially wanted to make the heaviest album they possibly could.

Planning to dial up the screaming and breakdowns to the max level, it was only when they arrived at the demo phase that the vision shifted slightly. Whilst undoubtedly still their heaviest effort to date, those towering, melodic choruses are still there, alongside plenty of unexpected twists and turns.

“There are certain things that we’ve always wanted to do in our sound,” Matt reflects.

“I listen to a lot of acoustic music. A lot of folk music like Simon and Garfunkel, a lot of the Eagles, and stuff like Newton Faulkner. A lot of that music is in a lower key than what I’m normally singing in. I’ve always wanted to add more vocal pop elements, more flair, so playing around with more influences was a conscious decision we made this time.” 

You can hear it in the electronic glitches of opener ‘Lost In The Violence’, the ‘80s synth-pop shimmer of ‘Closure’, and the dark, brooding heaviness of ‘Sacrifice’. Experimenting with sounds they’d been apprehensive to incorporate into their identity in the past, it’s a record built on risk, passion, and instinct, cutting through the safety nets and miraculously sticking the landing.

“’Closure’ was the third song we did for the album, and it’s one of my favourites,” Matt says.

“We stuck pop melodies on songs, we added synths, and the whole process was loads of fun. We were adding layer upon layer of different ideas and tweaking the melodies. Those little tweaks can change the whole outlook of a song and having the time to be able to do that was amazing. We were constantly thinking about how we could make it better, but we were also having fun with it. It was like a breath of fresh air.”

THE LYRICS

“This whole album is about me coming to terms with my trauma,” Matt explains.

“Some of that’s in my past relationships and things I’ve not found closure with, but for the first time I’ve also delved into my experiences with faith. When I was young, I was dragged into faith by certain people in my life. It fucked me up a little bit, and I didn’t know what or who to believe in. I was looking for some guidance for a long time, and I wanted to believe that faith would be that. It wasn’t, and I spiralled after that.”

Having channelled so many of his own life experiences and emotions into these songs, if you ask Matt to choose one word to sum up ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’, it’s honesty. Well aware of what it means to hear a lyric that sums up your situation better than you ever could yourself, that’s precisely what drives each song on this album.

“I don’t want to write songs about getting laid, smoking weed, and going to clubs,” he shrugs.

“I want people to feel my pain, and I think the only way to do that is to be completely raw, completely honest, and very matter of fact. I wanted to go even deeper and talk about all the things that I was still too scared to talk about when we did ‘Lost Souls’. It’s pretty self-critical, but I’m human. We’ve all done bad things, and we’ve all hurt people. It felt important to open up about that.”

The likes of ‘Closure’ and ‘Make Me A Martyr’ dive into the crippling nature of self-sabotage and the toxic cycles we can find ourselves in, whilst the record’s blistering title track plays out like a pained confession. Elsewhere though, there’s a lot of healing to be found in ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’. Take for example the empowering notes of closer ‘Broken Path’, an ode to facing the pain head on.

It’s an album that would have been impossible to make without the unbreakable trust Matt has forged with his bandmates over time. Spending several months of each year cooped up in a bus together, they’ve grown closer than ever, and that brotherhood helped push Matt into all of the places he’d long been anxious to enter.

“We’ve matured so much. There’s no way I could have written an album like this when I was 23,” the vocalist says.

“We went into this record no longer thinking about trying to please other people. We wanted to write songs that pleased us. The truth is that if we don’t like it, our fans can probably feel that through our music and lyrics. If we’re not 100 per cent in it, they’re not going to connect to it as much. I never want our music to feel fake or ingenuine.”

THE COLLABORATORS

Recorded in LA alongside producers Zach Jones and KJ Strock, the band entered the studio with over 20 songs fully demoed. The process of whittling them down took place in Zach’s studio, located in a separate building behind his own house. Consisting of a live room and a recording room, as well as separate living spaces, it allowed Matt and his bandmates the freedom they needed to create.

“They are two of the most professional and talented producers I’ve ever met. We told them what we wanted with this album, and they took it straight on board. They instantly became a part of the team,” Matt nods.

“I’m a country boy from England. I’m not used to being in one of the biggest cities in the world recording an album with world-renowned producers. I was in awe, and that feeling drives you. We knew that we were going to make the best piece of music we’ve made so far.”

“When the other guys were doing guitar work, I could just go into the front room and chill on the PS5. Zach also has a newborn baby who came to visit every now and then, as well as his dog. It was so nice to have that homely feeling while in a recording studio. I don’t want to go anywhere else to do our future stuff now.”

It’s impossible to talk about the collaboration involved in creating ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’ without mentioning Australia’s Make Them Suffer, too. Looking back, Matt remembers sitting in the studio listening to a filthy breakdown they’d tracked for the pummelling ‘Our Remedy’. Knowing that it needed a guest vocalist, a list of potential options took shape, but none of them seemed to be the perfect fit.

“We had a few in mind, but at the time we were listening to a playlist on Spotify,” he recalls.

“One of the super heavy Make Them Suffer songs came on, and it clicked. We reached out to them, and they got back to us straight away. We got the first demo back from them, and it hasn’t been changed. We didn’t need to send it back to them, it was perfect the first time.”

THE TITLE

For anyone who has been following Caskets’ journey for the last seven years, there are plenty of Easter eggs to be found hidden in the album’s cover art. Whilst the most obvious is the literal casket featured in its centre, there’s also the reflections in the puddles of water (a subtle nod to album two), and the rose petals sprinkled around the image.

“We wanted to touch back on the start of the band, and we used the symbol of the rose when we began,” Matt explains.

“We appreciate that branding because it did a lot for us. Including that little touch was to show people our appreciation of what our band has done for us. We had it in a lot of our early music videos, and I guess we’re still in love with it.”

When it comes to the album’s title, guitarist Benji Wilson is once again the person we have to thank. Having named every record Caskets have put out, as soon as the words came out of his mouth, Matt knew it was the perfect fit.

“We’d talked a little about what I wanted to say on this record, and we had a few demos,” the vocalist recalls.

“At first, we wanted to call it, ‘This Is The Only Heaven You’ll Know’, but it was a bit much. It was simple to shorten down though, so that’s what we did. It’s funny, because there’s no deep story to it. Benji just said it, and we knew it was the one. It fits into a lot of the song’s stories, and that’s why the song ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’ is the title track. That song is specifically about my ideology towards faith and God when I was a kid. It inadvertently fell together really well.”

THE FUTURE

Growing up idolising Green Day and My Chemical Romance, being on the other side of things will never cease to amaze Matt. Spending his formative years stood in front of a stage staring up at his favourite musicians, he and his bandmates refuse to take a moment of their journey for granted.

“We’ve gone through a lot as a band in the last seven years, and we’re still fucking here,” he nods.

“We have our fans to thank for that, and it’s the best feeling in the world. I know what it feels like to love a band with all your heart, and now there are people on the other side of the barrier that feel that way towards us. I admire those people. I know the dedication it takes to go to shows, and I know what they give up to be there. I love and appreciate every single one of them so fucking much. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to do this.”

Sharing some of his darkest, most vulnerable memories with the world for the first time, Matt has undoubtedly put a huge part of himself into the songs on ‘The Only Heaven You’ll Know’, but as we talk, it clear he’s aware that soon they’ll no longer be his.

Every time someone puts on their headphones and listens to these songs, they become a part of their story. Projecting their own lives onto Matt’s words and finding themselves in the music, for Caskets, that’s what this is all about.

“We want them to love it just as much as we love it,” Matt smiles.

“I want them to feel something, and to share it with other people. Not for our sake, but so it can help other people. If there’s anyone you think would benefit from hearing these songs, share it with them.”

“Most of all, I want people to be able to sit down and cry to this album,” he finishes.

“I want them to feel the pain, and I want them to feel the honesty. Every song on this record is real and every emotion you hear is pure. I hope that people can feel that.”