When Slint re-formed in 2005 for a string of live performances, fans of the seminal Louisville, Ky., post-rock band might’ve anticipated a possible new album. Plans were indeed made for recording—except those plans had very little to do with Slint and its ponderous avant-rock sound. Slint guitarist David Pajo, along with touring members Todd Cook (bass) and Michael McMahan (guitar) decided to renew their lifelong interest in heavy metal via Dead Child, their new group with singer Dahm and drummer Tony Bailey. Attack, Dead Child’s full-length debut, will be released April 8 on Quarterstick. The album is both a throwback to metal’s classic form (hard-wired riffs and tight live drumming propel Dahm’s Ozzy-meets-Jello Biafra sneer) and a powerful new spin on the genre (standout tracks “The Coldest Hands” and “Wasp Riot” offer shifting walls of guitars). For the members of Dead Child, though, the band is the fulfillment of old dreams and long-held impulses.

When was Dead Child, um, born? Did it stem from the Slint reunion, or was it percolating before that?

Dahm: It’s something that has been waiting to happen for years, but the time was never quite right until recently. It did come to surface though with Dave, Michael and Todd during the Slint reunion.

Pajo: Michael, Todd and I lightheartedly discussed continuing to play together after the Slint tour. Weeks later, Todd took off his headphones, turned to me in the van and, with a stoned look on his face said, “Do you know what a good name for a metal band is? Dead Child.”

There’s an interesting line in your bio that mentions the band members tiring of searching for fresh sounds and turning back to metal roots—stuff you grew up with in the ’70s and ’80s. Can you talk more about that? Why did it feel right to revisit this style of music?

Dahm: It’s very natural for us to play this music. It seems there is something in the air these days that can only be answered with heavy music. It’s where the light is.

Pajo: The best music is usually born out of frustration. In my case, I was sick to death of vulnerable, pompous music. I wanted to go back to the kind of art-less, chops-oriented music that got me jumping off the walls when I was a kid. Music should be about stripping away the layers of bullshit on it. In another world, Delta blues and folk music were the purest forms of music. But the modern folk and blues scenes are so pretentious and twee that no one can stand being next to it. In our time, metal has replaced folk music as the voice of the common man.

McMahan: Many times it is necessary for a musician to explore sound, attitude and style for many years to see how dynamic they are. When you come to the end of one vein of exploration, the fun dies. When that happens, hopefully you have somewhere to go that will musically accept you or is at least fun for you. I think for all of us heavy metal is just unfinished business.

You’ve done some shows and recently finished recording Attack. What’s it felt like to return to playing heavy metal, both live and in the studio?

Dahm: It has felt perfect, like exorcising demons.

Pajo: I feel like Satan’s prodigal son, finally returning home.

McMahan: Fun as hell. We are just blasting off right now.

Heavy metal in 2008—looking around, what does Dead Child bring to the table? Was there a void there you thought needed to be filled?

Dahm: Serious heavy assault. This is not a joke. The only void that needed to be filled was the one in our own lives.

Pajo: I only listen to heavy metal these days, much to everyone’s displeasure. There is such a wide variety of great music in the genre that I have also wondered what we contribute. All I know is that we’re coming at from a different angle and experience than most metalheads. The five of us have a unique sound that’s not very typical of a band these days. Our personal musical histories are so varied and off-the-radar that it can only suffuse and vivify our songs.

McMahan: To me, the music we create spans the life of heavy metal and, like all good music, it uses influences from an infinite amount of other sources. I hear current metal that I like but not much I love. This is what Dead Child is for me: the dream metal band.

You worked with Brad Wood, who’s not traditionally known as a metal guy. (He’s recorded albums for Liz Phair, Sunny Day Real Estate and Ben Lee.) Did you find that he shared a similar history/knowledge for the type of music you’re doing? Any musical guests on the record?

Dahm: We found while working on the record that he loved so much of the same stuff as us. It made working together a breeze.

McMahan: Being the producer of Attack, Brad Wood is definitely the musical guest.

Pajo: Like most people, Brad was a rocker growing up. He still gets excited describing AC/DC on the Highway To Hell tour. In fact, Highway To Hell became the model we were shooting for. We also listened to quite a few contemporary metal bands for reference. But we don’t really want to make records that sound like that. I dig all the bands, but for Dead Child we need to hear more depth and space in the instruments. We need syncopation and natural tempo fluctuations. The rhythm guitars have to reflect the player’s personalities. We don’t want clicky, programmed, sound-replaced drums with layers of amp-modeled guitar overdubs and pitch-shifted cookie-monster vocals on top. No musical guests, but we thought long and hard about getting the homeless flautist busking outside the studio to lay down some tracks in exchange for a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20.