English transcript of the SMASH HIT COMBO: Deux Ex episode
Please note : This is an English translation of an automated (yet perfected) AI transcript. It is provided for informational purposes only. While we did our best to capture the vibe, automated tools can sometimes twist spoken words—especially with our local Quebec slang! For official or accurate reference, please consult the original audio episode.
Hugo Lachance
We are on September 22, 2026, coming to you from the Salle des Tortues in Montreal, and today I have the chance to intercept a French metal band right in the middle of a Quebec tour, so strap in tight because I’m welcoming Smash Hit Combo to L'Album Podcast! It's time for us. Subscribe on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky. I'm everywhere. So come join me. Take a quick second. It makes me extremely happy. It's essential for independent podcasts like mine. I also want to thank Hopera, the Hopera microbrewery that has been supporting the podcast for quite a while. So, Hopera is a restaurant on Saint-Dominique Street in Jonquière. It's also a production plant right in the industrial park in Jonquière. They can host you, that's where they brew their beer, they have a nice counter, they have foosball tables, they host lots of events. They are people who are above all very culturally involved in Saguenay and all over Quebec. So there you go, go visit Hopera, thank you very much to Vlad and his team.
Also, I want to thank Véronique Lambert who is providing the studio today. So, for all your shooting needs, whether it's video, music videos, conferences, tutorials, comedy sketches, anything at all, there is a magnificent green screen studio called the Salle des Tortues. So, you just have to look on social media and Véronique will know how to welcome you. Oh yeah, and it's fully equipped. I don't know if I said it, but sound, lighting, gear, etc. Everything is turnkey. Do you like the podcast? Do you like what I do? So, you can support the podcast. You can make a spontaneous donation or a monthly donation. If you're listening to the audio version, head over to www.lalbumpodcast.ca. Otherwise, the link is in the description.
I am with Paul... is that right? And Matthieu... hello, hello! A running gag starting with Paul and Matthieu from Smash Hit Combo. Welcome and thank you very much. Now, we're catching you right in the middle of a Quebec tour. How is it going so far?
Paul Henry
It's incredible. We have 11 dates scheduled. We've done the first 4. We've already been partying hard too. It was good.
Hugo Lachance
You stopped by Hopera, I believe?
Paul Henry
Exactly. Shout out to them. We gave them kisses and we even had a party with them, it was very cool. But no, it's really very cool, we're super happy to come back, it's been 9 years since we last came. So it's a real return to our roots, it feels good to be back.
Hugo Lachance And hey, what are the major differences you've noticed since the last tour in Quebec, specifically?
Paul Henry
I don't know if I can talk about it... First of all, there's Tim Hortons! Is that a drama? For us, when it was explained to us, it's a drama. So first thing, that's what changed. It sucks. I don't know what you think about it.
Hugo Lachance
But wasn't it you who arrived with a Tim Hortons?
Paul Henry I know, but I didn't have a choice. Seriously, we've done the whole tour. If you knew how much we drove around, it wasn't booked. Still, you get used to it. Of course. And we don't have that back home. Despite everything, savory breakfasts, we're not used to it. We're so happy to eat some here.
Hugo Lachance
Oh yeah? You see, that's good. That is indeed a change. Welcome to America!
Paul Henry
Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
Hugo Lachance
I'll start by introducing you individually. I always ask the same six questions to my guests to find out where you come from, we all have a background. So, I'll start with you, Paul. Paul is a little guy from where?
Paul Henry
So for me, we come from Alsace, in France. I personally come specifically from Cernay. It's a small town of a little over 10,000 inhabitants. Background-wise, I used to do hip-hop, independent rap since forever, back in a distant era when rap had a lot of things to say and I thought the message was really cool. And step by step, we all kind of knew each other in the area. We had rehearsal spaces. There were people playing hardcore and metal next door, and one day we said to ourselves: let's try doing things together. But we'll get back to that.
Hugo Lachance
But can I talk about you specifically?
Paul Henry
About me, absolutely! Born in Mulhouse in 1983... You really want me to give you my parents' names and everything?
Hugo Lachance We can go deeper! No, no, no, I'm asking for your childhood album, as far back as you can remember.
Paul Henry
I've always been Alsatian. We have Spanish origins in the family. We're immigrants who have lived in Alsace for about ten generations, and very proud to be Alsatians. Mind you, we're quite chauvinistic around our parts! And listen, always immersed a bit in music, also heavily immersed in video games. Those are the two things that gave me all my sources of inspiration. And then, everything else as well, of course, animation and overall pop culture.
Hugo Lachance
Isn't there a childhood album you can identify? Music, a childhood music album? We're talking about music, so I'm asking for the earliest one you can remember. Whether it's Brassens, whether it's Renaud...
Paul Henry
There is Renaud. My parents listened to a ton of Renaud, actually. That was something we had a lot of in the family. My parents were very eclectic, they listened to a bit of everything. They listened to a lot of 80s ultra-pop, so we had a lot of vinyl singles, 45s. So music was there, but it wasn't overly present either. It's more me who subsequently built my own culture and brought it in.
Hugo Lachance And your adolescent album, the one that shaped you?
Paul Henry
NoFX, Punk in Drublic.
Hugo Lachance
Aha, cool! Excellent choice. Your first instrument?
Paul Henry
My voice. No, I played the piano. I played the piano a long time ago, I was totally garbage at it. But I played piano for three years.
Hugo Lachance
At what point did you realize that music was going to be fundamental for you?
Paul Henry When my parents bought me a Playskool cassette player with a microphone and I recorded an album on a full cassette, and they listened to it. They made fun of my face the whole Christmas by playing it for the whole family. I was very ashamed, but at the same time I was in front of everyone and I still totally owned it. I sang my songs in front of everybody. I think that was my most difficult audience in history! But yeah, it was there. Starting from there, I said: OK!
Hugo Lachance Matthieu, a little guy from where?
Matthieu
Willer Yes! So uh from the same area, from Cernay. We've almost always been close.
Hugo Lachance
There you go! Your childhood album?
Matthieu Willer
My childhood album was Neil Young, Harvest.
Hugo Lachance
And your adolescent album, the one that shaped you?
Matthieu Willer
Blink-182, Enema of the State.
Hugo Lachance
And what played at your place? Your first instrument?
Matthieu Willer
For me, I started directly with the bass, because I'm the band's bassist. I started right on the bass. And what really gave me the urge to create, to make a band, was that I had software on my computer back then that allowed you to compose tracks. You had samples and with the samples you created your track. One day I created a track and from that moment on, I never let go actually.
Hugo Lachance
And at what point did you realize that music was going to be fundamental?
Matthieu Willer
Oh well, precisely at that moment!
Hugo Lachance
Aha, that's brilliant! We're here to talk about your album Deus Ex. But first, I'll go over a bit of the band's history. We'll start with the name. Where does the name Smash Hit Combo come from?
Paul Henry
Actually, it was a band that for a long time didn't have a name. We were doing Chimaira covers, there were music covers. We were one of the bands that weren't bad... Well, I wasn't in it yet, I was watching them from afar. But Smash Hit Combo was kind of the good elements around who made music together and hadn't defined it yet. And when we started putting rap into it, we said: alright, now we need to find a name. Smash Hit Combo comes from Killer Instinct, because you see, it's a fighting game and there are ultra-violent combos, and a "smash hit combo" is an ultra-violent combo. We thought it sounded good. We thought the three elements separately punched you in the face and we really liked that. And it actually relates directly to Killer Instinct, the fighting game.
Hugo Lachance
Let's talk about the band's history.
Paul Henry
The band, well we had lots of bands. We were a huge music incubator back where we're from. There were lots of different bands who loved doing live performances, who made small recordings, but there was always an element that wasn't quite right, I find. The people on our team quickly realized it and started building a band across the bands, you see what I mean? The best guitarist said: go ahead, I'm coming with the best drummer. The good bassist came along too, and it naturally created a band that didn't have a name and didn't have a singer. So it was quite special. Afterwards they got a singer, and I grafted myself on later and it actually created this unity. But we're all buddies who've known each other for 20 years, so I've known these assholes I like for 30 years! We all have our assholes we like, you see what I mean!
Hugo Lachance
SEGMENT: Wikipedia, The Trial of Facts
Hugo Lachance
We're going to move on to the Wikipedia, The Trial of Facts segment. So I browsed through your Wikipedia page...
Paul Henry
Everything is fake! I'm warning you.
Hugo Lachance
Perfect, we'll be able to set the record straight! So: "Smash Hit Combo is a French rap metal band. Their music combines elements specific to rapcore (vocals), death metal (riffing, growls, double bass drum) or even deathcore (breakdowns and screams)." Is that accurate?
Paul Henry
That's accurate! That's good.
Hugo Lachance
"The band was formed in 2004 in Cernay, Alsace, and includes several members from different musical backgrounds. As the band members share a common passion for video games, their lyrics often denounce the 'virtual generation' created and the resulting violence; the lyrics are often violent, amoral, raw, while referencing numerous video game titles (Grand Theft Auto, Need for Speed, Mario, etc.)." Do you consider that you've created or evolved a new genre within metal?
Paul Henry
Damn, I'm forced to say yes! I think we brought geek culture to France, it was an approach point. There was... We have a channel that's a bit known because it's subversive, which is Canal+. A pay channel but one with a very corrosive humor at the time. And I think it was in 2007... I've been collecting consoles since 2000. Since 2000 I've been doing garage sales, buying consoles. As soon as I sold my first console and realized I missed it, I started collecting, saying to myself: damn, this will never happen again, I'll always buy back the previous generation when the new one comes out. And I've always done that. And at some point, I didn't understand: I was collecting, accumulating, putting stuff everywhere, I loved watching my old cartoons... And there wasn't a word at the time for that phenomenon. And in 2007, there was a great documentary called Suck My Geek that came out, back when no one knew the word geek. And when I saw that thing, I had an epiphany telling myself: shit, I'm not alone! And it was a rallying cry to tell everyone... We talked a lot with Brice, with several band members, saying: now this, pop culture, it's not the guys who play FIFA who won, it's the guys who play Final Fantasy who won. We're the ones running the world, we're the ones making movies, we're the ones with tons of ideas in industry, in technology. And clearly, we won. And it's quite incredible. And we weren't supposed to win, maybe we won too much! Now the problem is that with AI and all that, we've still won way too much! But so it was super important to explain it, to highlight it and to be proud of it, because people weren't proud back then.
Hugo Lachance
For sure, it was totally new, and it was like a sort of impossible mix: metal and geek. Though at the same time, metal has always had a historical, medieval side, very geeky too, closer to The Lord of the Rings than video games. But for video games, it still took balls to do it, to own it too.
Paul Henry
You had to own it, and it was on top of all the influences we can bring in, because it's not just that, but it was a foothold and it was a rallying cry to put it forward.
Hugo Lachance
I'll make a small aside. You're a geek: do you know the Quebec channel Le jeu c'est sérieux? Shout out to Giz!
Paul Henry
I'm a fan of Giz too, shout out to him! Great work, super nice collection, it's incredible. It makes me cry every time I look at the background set!
Hugo Lachance
Aha, that's good! But you know that in Quebec, I hosted a band that has a very strong connection to video games, but it's not metal: it's a Nippo-Quebecois band called Teke::Teke, which participated in the soundtrack of Assassin's Creed Shadows. They're people of Japanese origin who have lived in Quebec for a long time and who did KEXP sessions.
Paul Henry
Incredible, brilliant! You should go check that out.
Hugo Lachance
Let's continue with the trial of facts. "Quickly, the band gains popularity. They multiply concerts all over France to total nearly a hundred, and open for national bands: Gojira, Enhancer, Eths, X-Vision, Black Bomb A."
Paul Henry
All of that is true, and those are great moments. With Gojira, before it blew up very big... It was already blowing up, we did two concerts with them, the guys are adorable, good team, insane moment. And we were the little guys, we were the tiny ones. But what a pleasure! Everything you just named are my references, that's what shaped me in metal. Imagine, those things, you're with them, you're almost on an equal footing for a moment. That feeling made me cry inside. It was insane. So all of that is true, all of that is incredible. With the pride aspect behind it, you tell yourself: brother, we manage to play, to spend moments, to eat together... It wasn't even conceivable in fact! Those are strong moments.
Hugo Lachance
Because there are contacts with those people?
Paul Henry
Yes, there are a lot. Black Bomb A, Mass Hysteria, truly those are people we're used to talking to and who are cool, and we hang out when we get the chance to do it.
Hugo Lachance
Brilliant. "After numerous concerts all over France, in Europe as well as in Russia and Eastern countries, the band signs with partners like Schecter, Ernie Ball then joins the Quebec label Slam Disques." So you're rooted in Quebec in a way!
Paul Henry
Damn, with Jesse it's a love story! He's someone you know, sometimes there are people, naturally you see them, you talk a bit and you know it's OK. And Jesse is one of those people. And he's also one of those people who, even after years without seeing each other, when you see each other for a minute, you feel like you've never been away from him.
Hugo Lachance
I hosted Rouge Pompier on L'Album Podcast, go watch the episode! It's one of my favorite episodes. They're cool guys, they have good stories and they have depth. Shout out to the guys!
Hugo Lachance
Moving on to current members: Paul Henry on vocals.
Paul Henry
Yes, Paul Henry!
Hugo Lachance
Brice "James" Hincker on drums.
Paul Henry
Yeah! Pâtisserie Hincker! I think you're the one who updated our Wikipedia, because it's accurate!
Hugo Lachance
Matthieu Willer on bass.
Paul Henry
Wait, see you at the next music video, you'll get the explanation of that word! We're keeping the surprise, you'll get the whole story. Oh, this is going to end in a ring, that!
Hugo Lachance
Baptiste "Bat" Ory on guitar.
Paul Henry
Who is an OG of the band too!
Hugo Lachance
And Arthur Rohou on vocals. And for former members: Florent "Mr.Void" Curatola, Samy Haouaci, Maxime Keller, Nicolas Dzieciuchowicz.
Paul Henry
Nicolas Dzieciuchowicz, he's the very first singer!
Hugo Lachance
Anthony "Toon" Graizely on turntables, Jonathan Bonzani on bass, Anthony "Chon" Chognard on guitar, and Charly Wick on guitar. And by the way, the band was a 6-piece for a while?
Paul Henry
6, it's complicated on stage, it's a lot. We realized that at 5 it's much more homogenous, simpler for moving the van, and we felt right at home in the 5-piece format. We were also 3 singers at one point, which was a nameless mess! We're always trying things out. It's true that at 5 it's good, at 5 it's perfect. A DJ can be replaced by tracks, it's easy... You shouldn't say that to DJs! We still miss them, all the DJs in the world! Now we're all replaceable with AI...
Hugo Lachance
DISCOGRAPHY
Hugo Lachance
We're going to go through your discography. I'm asking you in a sentence or two what your state of mind was, where the band was at that moment. 2005: Next Level (demo).
Paul Henry
Oh fuck! So here... The beginning! Next Level, damn, how did you get that one? It doesn't really exist, it's a legend!
Hugo Lachance
You put it on your Wikipedia!
Paul Henry
Damn, we gotta take that thing down! It was recorded in the rehearsal space, on an audio cassette that we converted to CD. The cover art, the design, everything was handmade. There must be 5 songs, it's really a small demo.
Hugo Lachance
2007: Hardcore Gamer (EP).
Paul Henry
That's the first time we really go into a studio, with someone professional, but who gives us three choices: you have to record your song in full three times and it's done, no overdubs possible, backings recorded simultaneously by both singers. It's a feat!
Hugo Lachance
2009: No Life.
Paul Henry
That's the real start. We decide to release the album, to go further, to step up. That's when we assert geek culture, we make decisions, we have the band's vision. Monsieur Steph Buriez is the one who masters it for us, a name in Loudblast. We put the cash on the table, we do everything entirely self-produced, and we tour. The story starts there.
Hugo Lachance
2010: Loading (EP).
Paul Henry
It's the most beautiful album cover we've ever made: the Final Fantasy VII cover remade with a microphone instead of Sephiroth's meteor! Same geek commitment, everything done ourselves. There was an industrial accident: the PC of the guy who mixed it crashed a week before the deadline, he had to redo everything in a week! But the songs are really interesting, and that's when Deathcore arrives.
Hugo Lachance
2011: Génération Test (compilation, Quebec only).
Paul Henry
A cover inspired by PlayStation games, it's a fusion of No Life and Loading. It's our establishment in Quebec, a mega mix!
Hugo Lachance
2012: Reset (and the Quebec version in 2013).
Paul Henry
Reset is a turning point. We want to kick some ass, we mix deathcore and rap, the writing becomes much more mature with precise geek punchlines. One of the guys in the band leaves, for me it's the end of the world. And Reset is revenge! I find myself writing everything and owning the raps. It's a hit, the fanbase grows strongly, we start playing big festivals. And we did the pre-productions for this album right here at Slam Disques!
Hugo Lachance
2015: Playmore.
Paul Henry
Playmore is the consecration! It's one of the albums we're most proud of, a real game changer. Arrival of Maxime Keller who opens doors vocally, album mixed and mastered by Chon (Anthony Chognard). Our common baby.
Hugo Lachance
2017: L33T.
Paul Henry
A completely crazy project! We wonder why Smash Hit Combo wouldn't also exist in English. We do a feat with the American rapper Josh. And we decide to release two versions of the album: one in French, one in English. Twice as many music videos, twice as many recordings! It's the most technical album we've ever composed, very djent. A super experience.
Hugo Lachance
2021: Reboot (EP).
Paul Henry
An EP during the pandemic, with Flo and Charlie. We had time to compose quietly, super good lyrics, songs we still play live.
Hugo Lachance
2024: Terreur Nocturne (single/EP), which announces your new album Deus Ex!
Hugo Lachance
Before moving on to the presentation of your new album, I found the oldest article about you and it's not very flattering! The idea isn't to ridicule you but rather to measure the band's progress, confidence, and tenacity over the years.
July 16, 2007, by UvE for Pavillon 666. There aren't many bands in France who risk doing rap-metal. Why? Simply because there's nothing better to attract people's hatred. Rappers find it too heavy, metalheads too light, in short no one is satisfied. We saw it with Limp Bizkit, we saw it with Pleymo, people don't like this "bastard" genre.
So when Smash Hit Combo arrives with Hardcore Gamer, they are well aware that they risk displeasing. The problem is that to convince the majority to open up a bit, it's better to have a very solid project. And in this case, Hardcore Gamer is a bit shaky. Well, we have to admit, S.H.C has a good groove which moreover blends very well with the punchy rhythms of metal.
But that's not the problem. What's annoying is above all the writing. The lyrics are silly, the rhymes easy and the intonations not necessarily skillful. And since the vocals are omnipresent, they prevent us from appreciating an interesting instrumental. Too bad. However, the article ends with a projection which, in my opinion, has taken on a lot of meaning over the years: "A mixed first draft for Smash Hit Combo, although Hardcore Gamer paves the way for new advancements."
How does it make you feel to hear the content of this article almost 20 years later?
Paul Henry
I think he was fighting with his girlfriend when he wrote that article because he still throws quite a few punches! Afterwards, there's frankness, I love it. I prefer someone telling me it's not good rather than saying "yes but maybe" or telling me to my face that it's good and actually behind my back you hate it. Be frank, right! I agree, my lyrics were silly and lame. Back then, I didn't write well.
Matthieu Willer
No, there were good things, but the vocals have progressed a lot. When I relisten to that, even I say it's OK. We started there, but the lyrics, they aren't the best, clearly. He's not entirely wrong.
Hugo Lachance
I wanted to present it to you because we went through the discography to learn a bit more about your journey. To see the first article I could find, to see where you've gotten to now, it does you great credit.
Hugo Lachance
SEGMENT: Presentation of the Deus Ex Album
Hugo Lachance
Moving on to the album presentation segment. The press release says: "This album is going to crash your brain with a critical error! Deus Ex is not just an album, it's a system failure. Press play, enter the glitch!"
With Deus Ex, Smash Hit Combo delivers much more than an album: they offer a true mental depression simulator plunged into a hyper-digital world. Over 12 tracks, the story unfolds like a corrupted program. It is therefore a concept album. What is the writing context of this album?
Paul Henry
The current world! There's a thing that makes me laugh quite a bit and where I think we're totally legitimate, and I keep repeating it to the band: for 10 years I've been telling everyone "guys, it's going to crash there, tech is moving too fast, we're hyper-connected, it absorbs all our time, we have two lives in parallel." They say the matrix is here. I'm a big fan of Matrix, a lot of people were.
That's it, the matrix is here, in another form. And it's something I'd been repeating for a very long time. Now, when I see what's happening, I tell myself we told you so! If there's one information duty we fulfilled, that was it.
Hugo Lachance
It's a cohesive story that evolves throughout the album.
Paul Henry
Yes, it was framed as a story up to a conclusion. We've always liked not giving a too strict guideline, we like when everyone draws their own conclusions. But yes, there's consistency and a follow-up, plus mental deregulation phases which are the Split songs inside.
They explain inner madness up to visual madness linked to mobile phones or computers. And for once, there's a conclusion with Deadline which says things aren't going well, but there might be hope, which isn't really our usual thing!
Hugo Lachance
Musically, the band pushes its sound further than ever, fusing Nu Metal, Metalcore, Deathcore, Djent, and Drum'n'Bass. Labels are annoying, but you have to put some to guide listeners. What musical label could we stick on Deus Ex?
Paul Henry
We added quite a bit of electro and Drum'n'Bass on this new album, it's really the thing put most forward that we didn't have back then. We play transhumanist rap-core!
Hugo Lachance
Regarding the sound, I found an article written on July 28, 2026, by Sébastien Dupuis for Radiometal.com where Baptiste Ory explains: "Once the tracks are demoed, we send everything to Simon Muller, our sound engineer who records us at FH Studio. Then it goes to Anthony Chognard, Chon, our former guitarist who mixed L33T and Reboot. He really has his own vision, he allows himself to add soundscapes, to do sound design. When he sends us V1 mixes, it's rare that there's a V2 and almost never a V3."
How do you compose a song at Smash Hit Combo and how did you manage to create this sonic universe?
Matthieu Willer
It's teamwork. Generally, I'm at home in front of my computer and I manage to catch inspirations. I start creating the track and that's when Baptiste steps in to homogenize the structure. Once we have something solid, we bring in the vocals and we shape the music relative to the vocals' needs. We give ourselves a reflection time of a month or two before validating the final structure.
Paul Henry
And for the sound, Chon brings the little sugar on top, the salt that helps bind everything together!
Hugo Lachance
The sound is really particular, very compressed, very dense. It truly shows the oppression sought after in relation to the lyrics and current hyper-connection.
Hugo Lachance
CHAPTER: Album Credits
Moving on to the album credits. Title: Deus Ex (you can think of me with my two exes!). Release date: May 28 or 29, 2026. Record labels: Slam Disques in Quebec and Darktunes in Europe. Studio: FH Studio. Mixing: Anthony Chognard, and Simon Muller for the two Split tracks. Mastering: Chris Kremmett.
Recording period: spread over a year and a half to two years (2025-2026), in blocks of three songs. Cover design: Elisa from Undercover Design, who had already created the cover for Resolve. The cover is magnificent!
Hugo Lachance
SEGMENT: One Song After Another
Since we're a bit tight on time, we chose to talk about five main songs. We start with "Tyler".
Hugo Lachance
Tyler
"I'm from Project Chaos, from Tyler Durden's team. The bruises on my face prove that I'm transforming. I think I've got the profile of this ticking time bomb. I'm waiting for the timer's countdown, and its ticking is like a shrill scream. No more time to pretend, just owning what we are. Choose to cut the red wire or cut the green wire. We're going to end up six feet under. I try to read between all the lines, I try to follow, I know, I'm drifting... because I'm trying to live."
Paul Henry
Fight Club is one of my bedside films from the MTV generation. I wanted to talk about Project Chaos and destroying capitalism to start over on healthy foundations. But this text completely has a second reading that few people know! Every couplet, every stanza describes a state of self-dysregulation, a layer of irritation during a spat that builds up to the final explosion.
Hugo Lachance
It's brilliant to have this double meaning! Musically, there's a very effective hardcore side, and your drummer James does incredible shadow work.
Hugo Lachance
Moving on to "MCP". It's my favorite song on the album!
Paul Henry
It's a song initially composed by our drummer James on guitar! The lyrics talk about AI, Skynet, transhumanism and reference the Renaissance Part 1 and 2 episodes of Animatrix. And there's a stray bullet sent to Star Trek because I'm Team Star Wars!
Hugo Lachance
Playhistoire
We continue with "Playhistoire".
"First visual contact, it's on an MSX. Basic computer, on keyboards with big keys. We're talking 8-bit, programs, cartridge slots. I wanted an Amstrad, an Atari, a Commodore. This new passion devours me... it will become even worse."
Paul Henry
I must have made 10 versions of this text! It's my most personal song. I wanted to talk about authentic retrogaming, the kind where consoles are plugged into the living room to play Mario Kart 64 together, not to stay locked in display cases. It explains where my passion comes from and the legitimacy of our geek universe in Smash Hit Combo.
Hugo Lachance
Terreur Nocturne
We listen to "Terreur Nocturne".
Paul Henry
With Baptiste, the guitarist, we have a big insomnia problem. The song deals with sleep difficulties, that moment when the brain refuses to switch to "off" mode, and childhood fears resurfacing in adulthood.
Hugo Lachance
Deadline
We wrap up the selection with "Deadline".
"Failing isn't really allowed. So I redouble my efforts to try to reach my limits. I don't look for excuses to explain my failures. Hard on myself, that's why I hate myself."
Paul Henry
Deadline is the reset button! You wipe the memory card and start everything over. It's also honesty toward oneself and the real pressure we had to turn the lyrics in on time for the album. It's one of the most technical flows on the album.
Hugo Lachance
Split (Part 1 & Part 2)
A word on the two Split tracks?
Paul Henry
It's the breaking point! A very violent 1-minute-10 format where everything gets thrown in your face. These are hinge stages of mental and visual failure in the album's progression.
Hugo Lachance
CHAPTER: Conclusion and Future Projects
What's coming up for Smash Hit Combo after this Quebec tour?
Paul Henry
We have concerts in Strasbourg, and we're relaunching our MFK (Metal For Kids) project, which is a concert adapted to young audiences with a host named Benoît who presents the show in a funny and playful way. It allows metalhead parents to share their passion with their kids. And lots of surprises are coming for 2027!
Hugo Lachance
Huge thanks to Paul and Matthieu from Smash Hit Combo! Thanks to Hopera microbrewery, thanks to Véronique Lambert from Salle des Tortues. Don't forget to subscribe and see you soon for another episode of L'Album Podcast!