Greg Puciato's Solo LP Features Converge, Poison the Well Members

Former Dillinger Escape Plan vocalist Greg Puciato played everything on his upcoming solo album Child Soldier: Creator of God except for drums and some programming. But that still left plenty of room for assistance from a group of seasoned metal musicians, as Puciato recently illustrated to Kerrang.

Listeners in the know have already heard "Fire for Water," the first single from the effort. That tune features the percussion talents of The Dillinger Escape Plan's first drummer, Chris Pennie. But kit-bashers Ben Koller (Converge, etc.) and Chris Hornbrook (Poison the Well) also contributed to the album.

"I've known Chris Hornbrook since we were 23," Puciato said. "He knows how to hit a drum. For a lot of the songs on this record, I knew he was the guy. And then Ben Koller — who drums in Killer Be Killed, Converge and All Pigs Must Die — is on a track. Chris Pennie, the original Dillinger drummer, is on a track, too."

Killer Be Killed, of course, is Puciato's heavy metal supergroup alongside Koller, Soulfly's Max Cavalera and Mastodon's Troy Sanders. But the one-time Dillinger Escape Plan frontman said he knew the songs that ended up his solo album didn't fit with that act, nor with his other outfit, The Black Queen.

"Last March or so I sat down to write what I thought was going to be the next Black Queen record," Puciato explained. "And then, when I was writing, I realized it wasn't The Black Queen. … It wouldn't have fit in Dillinger Escape Plan, it doesn't fit in The Black Queen, it doesn't fit in Killer Be Killed."

That's how Child Soldier became the first studio album earmarked under Puciato's own name, a situation that initially made him slightly uncomfortable. Interestingly, the musician revealed that Alice in Chains guitarist and fellow solo artist Jerry Cantrell helped him understand "owning" his path as a solitary artist.

"As I get older," Puciato added, "[it's] like, 'Yeah, that is what it is.' It's a solo record. It's my fucking name. Why wouldn't I want to say proudly, like, 'Hey, this is mine'?"

Child Soldier: Creator of God is due out later this year.

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