Wreck-Defy is one of the most prolific bands in the modern metal landscape. ‘Dissecting the Leech’ is the sixth album the band around Canadian guitarist Matt Hanchuck has released since 2017, and their second in less than eleven months. And it might only just be the beginning.

“The follow up that’s going to come out after ‘Dissecting the Leech’ is done as well”, Hanchuck says. “It’s been mixed for two years. ‘Dissecting the Leech’ was actually done before ‘Hybridized’ (2025). It was recorded and mixed in 2022. We submitted it to the label in 2023, and it came out when it did. There is a promo sticker on the CD that says ‘the fifth’ album or something like that, but it’s actually our sixth. In defense of Massacre, I’m not even sure they know we put out ‘Hybridized’.

We signed with Massacre back in 2023, and then there was a big restructuring label, after which AFM and Massacre got absorbed into Nuclear Blast, which is now owned by Believe Music. But I was working with some apex, A-list players, and a lot of these guys were doing it for nothing. They were just doing it as a favor to me. So I would ask a guy to come back and play on another record, and he would ask: what about all those other songs we did? When will those come out?

Maybe people were starting to question my sanity. Maybe I should have questioned my own. But we decided to release ‘Hybridized’ first, because there was so much material that was being stockpiled. My biggest fan is my mom, and she got diagnosed with breast cancer. The song ‘Believe’ on ‘Hybridized’ was inspired by that. When you write a song for someone, and you know that they’re terminally ill, you hopefully want them to hear that song before they ultimately perish. That was the motivation behind it.”

Lineage to Loyalty

“It certainly wasn’t out of disrespect for the Massacre people, even though we hadn’t really heard what was going on with Massacre in terms of that absorption with Believe and everything. People I know have opted out of their Massacre deal in the meantime. But I’m an ex-military guy. I’m a retired cop. I have this lineage to loyalty. So I said: I’ll put that record out on my own, but I don’t want to break this deal. I want to stay with Massacre.

Massacre has put out some of the greatest albums that I have in my collection. Some of the Vicious Rumors stuff from the nineties, like ‘Cyberchrist’, or ‘Sit Stand Kneel Pray’ by Whiplash: those are some of my favorite all-time albums. Among a plethora of others. Massacre has been a proven label for decades. Pretty impressive. So I thought I would be a fool to burn a bridge there, and decided to just hold on a little longer.

And here’s the thing: all that did was free me up to write another album, because I still owe that record to Massacre now. So it works out for the better for the fans who want to hear more of it. Every album is a growth process anyway, so I think you’re going to get a better album than what ‘Hybridized’ was, in my opinion at least. And actually, that album is almost done as well, haha! The last thing to be done in the bass lines and some guest solos. Everything else is done.

Speaking of bass lines: Greg Christian didn’t play on ‘Hybridized’, but he did play on ‘Dissecting the Leech’. The music for the song ‘Dissecting the Leech’ is written by Greg. Greg wrote the main riff, and the chorus stuff was my embellishing. Greg had sent me some bass lines, just some scratch tracks with a drum machine, and I wanted to turn that into a Wreck-Defy song. He doesn’t get mentioned in the writing credits, but he should have.”

Dedication to the Craft

Christian is not the only prominent metal veteran to appear on a Wreck-Defy album. Hanchuck has been working with singer Greg Wagner since 2020. “To me, Shatter Messiah’s debut album ‘Never to Play the Servant’ is the best debut album of the last twenty-five years”, Hanchuck says. “It’s a masterpiece. There are fifteen tracks of it, and there’s not one dud. And the album is a roller coaster. It’s not a one-trick pony; it’s like a big coloring book. There’s so much going on there.

That’s the album that inspired me to reach out to Wags to ask him to sing for Wreck-Defy when Aaron Randall stepped away. He was the first guy for me. Luckily he was into it. And the rest is history. Wags and I are working on our fifth record together now.

Wags is so easy to work with. He will try anything that I ask of him. And he will work with anyone of whom I ask: is it okay if I bring this person in for backing vocals? We had Stu Block come in. Some singers might feel overshadowed. But Wags said: Stu Block? Fuck yeah! Bring him on, man! That’s how he is. He’s a team player. He’s all about: let’s make the song better. To work with people like that is a blessing, really.

I craft the music and the lyrics, then I’ll make a demo of the vocal track, and then Wags does it better than I do. And he will do the three-part harmony stuff how he sees it. The inspiration that he’s got there: I can’t conceive of that, because I’m not a singer. I’m a songwriter. So I’ll do the original blueprint for it, and then he just does it better, because he’s better than me.

He has never complained about my lyrics. Sometimes they’re really offensive, but we don’t take ourselves seriously. It’s tongue-in-cheek. It’s a joke. He doesn’t agree with all the lyrics sometimes, but he doesn’t fret about singing it. He doesn’t mind, because he knows it’s my project, and he does it out of respect.

He’s fast too! When I send him a scratch track, he will usually send me back a demo with three-layered vocals on it within a week. And the guy’s working full-time! He’s got a job. So that’s commitment, his dedication to his craft.”

Limber and Ready to Go

“My solos used to be too spontaneous, haha! They would be really shitty, really sloppy. That’s what I improved upon the most with Wreck-Defy: my playing has gotten so much better from ‘Fragments of Anger’ (2017) until now. I think a lot of that had to do with having guys like Chris Poland play on records with you. You can’t play with guys that are the best at their craft and not improve yourself.

I learned to discipline myself more. Looking back on a few songs from past records: it’s not that they suck, but I settled for takes when I shouldn’t have. Whereas now, certain songs I really prep for, because I have ideas for leads when I’m writing it. But then, there’s other songs where it’s total spontaneity, and all I want to know is what key I’m playing in. Then I’ll just kind of do noodle soup based on the grid, and where the changes are, and do a dozen of takes.

But prior to that, you’ve got to go in there really prepared. Your warm-up is done. You’re limber and you’re ready to go. Every take should be worthy. It’s just a matter of the one that’s the best. And sometimes, it’s not the most technical one, or it’s not the most ripping one. It may be the one with the least amount of notes that fits the song best.

In fact, when I was tracking for the new album that we’re finishing, some of the stuff that was really furious rhythmically just sounded more cohesive when the solo backed off. And over open chords, it was better to do the sweeps and all that, so that it was more impactful, and it wasn’t like the riff and the solo were fighting for space. It was nice to shift the dynamics.”

More Things to Improve Upon

“That’s the beauty of writing these albums. Every time I write a song, I learn something new. When you write a record, and you live with it, and you move on to another record, you learn how to write a song better. You learn more things to improve upon, because you can critique your stuff better than anyone. Especially if you’re honest with yourself.

I can guarantee that the second record that we’ve done, ‘Remnants of Pain’ (2019), should not be heard by anyone. It sucks, haha! If I’m being honest, it’s a six our of ten. It’s misguided, and it was a time when there were some issues in the band. It almost didn’t get made. Dave Benedict from Default saved that record. If it wasn’t for him, that album would not have gotten made, because Juan would have never received his vocal tracks from the studio.

Dave is a Juno Award-winning musician. For all intents and purposes, he’s a rock star here in Canada. That guy did not have to do what he did for me. He went out of his way, drove halfway across Metro Vancouver, and resolved it for me. Otherwise, that album would not have gotten the vocal tracks that it did.

I don’t want to make excuses for what it turned into. Maybe I shouldn’t even have released that album. But you know, I’ve got to be honest, we have that shitty record. The rest of our stuff I think is pretty listenable. We have advanced and excelled so far from there.”

A Crazy Melee of Stuff

“My proudest achievement as a songwriter is Gutter Creek’s ‘Fangs to the Face’ (2023). Lyrically and musically, I think that record showcases my ability as a songwriter. Every song is about the song. That was the first time I ever did that approach. It wasn’t selfish. Because there are a few guitar parts on ‘Dissecting the Leech’, like the one breakdown in ‘I Don’t Care’, it’s like a crazy melee of stuff. And then ‘The Haunting Past’… I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play that riff again.

Some of that stuff was technical for the sake of it, and we were having so much fun doing it, just creating music by seeing how far we can push this. But for the Gutter Creek record, if it was something that I thought made you think for a minute, I got rid of it. I kept it so simple, and the songs sounded huge. We were able to make it all about the song. The vocal melodies were much easier to craft.

I just learned a lot doing that record. And again: blessed to be working with someone like Søren Adamsen as a vocalist. He is back in Gutter Creek, by the way. The fourth Gutter Creek album will once again feature Søren on vocals.”

A Razor Sharpness to It

All but one of Wreck-Defy’s albums have been mixed by thrash metal sound engineer extraordinaire Juan Urteaga. “I have recorded a couple of records with Juan, and I do have a home studio”, Hanchuck explains. “Also, I have a friend that has a studio here as well. His name is Dustin Jones, and he runs Mission Control Studios. He’s probably the best in this region for any sort of production, mixing and engineering for all kinds of music. Everything from country and pop to what I do.

If you’re in this are, he’s the guy. So I started tracking with him, mostly out of convenience, because he’s got everything set up there. I’m working on just a laptop, and he’s got everything. He’s got the board, the room, the vocal chamber: everything. It’s just a little easier to get a better-quality demo done there. If I’m just doing scratch tracks for myself crafting a song, I’ll do it from home. But when I’m ready to track to send it to Juan, I’ll go to Dustin.

Since ‘Dissecting the Leech’, I’ve been using the Kemper, and I’ve had the same tone on the last three albums that we recorded. Prior to that, it was kind of all over the map. I have always been chasing the perfect tone, and I don’t know that I’ll ever acquire it. I know I didn’t have it on the first couple of records for sure. But this record, it’s got a razor sharpness to it. I’m really satisfied with the tone on this record.

It’s a combination of an EVH head and an Engl Fireball through the Kemper. I’m using EMG pickups exclusively when I play live. But in the studio, I do use the Seymour Duncan JB’s. I like them for the rhythm parts. Then when I do the leads, I’ll try to stick to the EMG’s for the higher impedance, the higher output. But I actually like using the passive JB’s for the rhythms. The EMG’s have their own little pre-amps in them, and sometimes it’s a little much. Sometimes less is more.”

A Thunderous Sound

“Live, I exclusively play EVH heads now. I have a couple of EVH 5150 heads. Also, I was endorsed with Arachnid Cabinets for a while. They built me two custom cabinets, and I run Eminence speakers and Greenbacks in both of them, in an X configuration. The significance of them is having 10-ply Baltic birch, and the way they are grooved, the return on them for the right-hand picking that I do, I don’t miss a note. I hear everything so clean.

I never had that, really. I don’t want to shit on other brands, because every brand is awesome, really. But just for what I’m doing, it’s better than everything else I have ever had. So I got rid of all my other cabs, and saved up all my pennies. That and the EVH is the tone I use live. And I don’t use any pedals except for a noise gate and a delay. But no overdrive. I just use the third channel on that EVH head. That’s it. Straight in.

You know who taught me that? It was Rich Ward from Fozzy and Stuck Mojo. I talked to him at a show, and he had a thunderous sound. A punch in your face. You could feel that guitar. And as a guitar nerd, I asked him: what are you playing through? And he says: straight in, man! He’s playing a ‘57 Classic pickup through a Les Paul, straight into his head, a Marshall that somebody modded to make it a little edgier.

Some guys have got a Cadillac of pedalboards. But all I need is something for a little texture to make my leads stand out. For me, it’s a little bit of delay. There’s nothing wrong with anyone’s set-up configuration, but I like to keep it simple. Because if you can sound good on one night, it’s pretty easy to stay consistent when you don’t have all this expectation of digitized sounds to support your tone. I can show up at a barbecue and just plug in your amp. That’s the goal, right?”

An Ambitious Request

A handful of guitar solos on ‘Dissecting the Leech’ have been recorded by prominent metal guitarists, such as former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland on ‘Revolt’, Flotsam and Jetsam’s Michael Gilbert on the title track and Steve Smyth – formerly of Nevermore, Forbidden and Vicious Rumors – on ‘Apocalypse’ of hope. “The rhythm part for ‘Revolt’ is really technical”, Hanchuck says. “And I couldn’t come up with a solo that I felt was adequate for it. So my thought was: I’m going to reach out to someone I revere as one of the best in my world, from my inspirations and my taste. That was Chris.

I didn’t know Chris in 2022. Social media, but I hadn’t met him or anything. But I reached out to him and I asked him: would you be interested in doing a guest solo? He wanted to hear the song, so I sent him the song and he said yeah. Carlos (Cruz), the drummer from the band Warbringer, is Chris’ engineer. So anytime Chris records anything in LA, Carlos is the one who records him. Very talented guy. So I sent him the tracks, and a couple weeks later, he sends me these awesome tracks.

Fast forward, the following year, I went to NAMM, and I met Chris. He was there the whole time, so we hung out for four days, and we became friends. So when I was recording ‘Hybridized’, I just reached out to him, I had his phone number now, and it was different. Because he’s such a grounded, humble, down-to-earth guy. He made me feel worthy as a player, really promoted my stuff, and made me feel good.

So I had enough confidence, and I reached out to him and asked: this may be kind of an ambitious request, but would you be interested in splitting all the solos on this record with me, like you did with Dave (Mustaine) on ‘Peace Sells’ and all that? He didn’t even asked to hear the songs, he just said: yeah!”

A Desecration to the Song

“Chris goes in there unprepared in the sense that everything is ad-libbed. He’s very spontaneous. He brings this warm, creamy kind of tone to the sound, whereas my guitar is more like a razor kind of chalkboard, getting under your skin. His is kind of hugging you. Chris was so helpful in making ‘Hybridized’ sound the way it did. And at that point, my playing jumped up tremendously, and it really shows on that album.

I’m not suggesting I held my own to Chris or anything, but my playing got so much better, because I was forced to better myself on the prior album having him come aboard, and Steve Smyth, and Michael Gilbert, and Freddy DeMarco, who is in Wags other band, and he plays a short little twenty-second solo on ‘Another Day’.

There’s so much talent on ‘Dissecting the Leech’. All I did was write the songs. Those people came in and brought the performances that create them, as far as I’m concerned. You can take a great song, and if you don’t have a great performance quality, it’s kind of a desecration to the song. But it also reflects where the song ends up, and it doesn’t get regarded or revered like it should. I think everybody brought their A-game on this record.”

A Little Magic Dust

“The vocals on this record I think were astronomical. Genervieve Rodda from Temtris is my favorite female singer outside Amanda Kiernan and Lzzy Hale. Genevieve’s got more of this clean, power metal sheen, almost like Michael Kiske from Helloween or something. When I reached out to her, and asked her if she would do that duet with Wags, she wasn’t apprehensive. I believe she did want to hear the track, but she immediately said: yeah, I’ll come on board for that!

That’s probably my favorite track on the album, because of her performance with Wags together. And then in the background once in a while, the highest notes in the song, that’s Stu, haha! Stu is on every track on that record. On ‘The Path’, he sings the opening verse, and that’s the only thing he does independently. Everything else on the album, he’s doing backing vocals. He just does a couple of screams, a couple of harmonies…

And again, ego aside: we have our singer, but what can we do to make this better? What can you bring to this? That was all it took. A little magic dust from Stu, to make it better.”

A Logistical Nightmare

“I’ll be honest with you: the only shows we have played, it’s been a logistical nightmare. Because this music is not easy to play. Even when you come prepared, it’s hard to lock in sometimes. It takes two or three days to lock in sometimes, and that’s showing up knowing your parts. My other band Gutter Creek, we can show up a day or two before a show and rehearse, and we’ll be good for the show. I dare not even consider that with Wreck-Defy. We have to have three to five days of jam sessions before they are even considered rehearsals with the band.

Logistically, things are difficult because of where everyone is located. Everyone’s in a different state, and I’m in Canada. I’m in a different country. Not to make this political, but Trump is making it really difficult to go and get a visa to do these things right now for Canadian citizens. It’s just a lot of politics affecting everybody. Something as trivial as trying to entertain, playing shows, it can’t be done without the mental anguish of having to deal with all the paperwork, the red tape, and the cost to get your visa to play a few shows.

I’ll tell you another thing: with this new tariff implementation they have imposed, they have basically killed my ability to sell merchandise to the US. I’ve got to fill out all this paperwork online, and then that person finds out that they’re going to have to pay 35, 40 dollars of tariffs on something that I’m selling for 30, so they just say: don’t worry about it, I’m not going to buy anything. And I don’t blame them for that. It’s very tedious.”

Doesn’t Sound Like Riff Soup

The following two Wreck-Defy albums are either finished or very nearly done. “The one that’s going to come out next I think is going to be called ‘Rise of the Vigilante’”, Hanchuck says. “It’s a concept album, and it’s really ambitious lyrically, but it was also very cathartic to me. Basically, it’s about a disgruntled police officer who doesn’t like the political direction of the law enforcement agency, and then he starts seeing corruption occurring, and he calls it out, and then his career starts being affected for being the good guy.

It’s not about me. I wanted to create a fictional character based on some of the real things that I experienced with regards to corruption and stuff. So that was the premise for the idea, and then the guy gets attacked, he gets assaulted, he gets victimized, and then like in the Charles Bronson movie ‘Death Wish’, he becomes the predator. And towards the end, he ends up getting ambushed by his fellow officers. But you’ll have to wait to hear how it plays out, haha!

There’s eight tracks, but there’s one song on there that’s nine minutes, and another song that’s ten or eleven minutes. They’re really epic songs. One of them has like seventeen different riffs on it. And it didn’t sound like riff soup. It actually flows, like it has a reason behind the structure. I took some inspiration for the writing from Robb Flynn from Machine Head and some of the ten-minute tracks that he wrote: how can you keep me enthralled for ten minutes? Because he does! He does it every time with these long, mammoth songs. Or Iron Maiden. ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’: love that song!

This next record that’s almost done, ‘Unleashing the Beast’, is by far the most technical record we have done. Guitar-wise, it’s really difficult stuff to play. But it’s the same thing that I’ve always concocted that you’re going to spit on him in the verse, and then you’re going to caress him in the chorus. Or vice versa. There’s always going to be a hook or a melody in a Wreck-Defy song. The goal has never been to rewrite ‘Angel of Death’. You can’t do it better, so why even go touch that? Just do your own thing.”