Nita Strauss Talks Collaborations on New Album

Ahead of the release of her second solo studio album, The Call of the Void, on July 7, Nita Strauss joined Loudwire Nights to dive into the record's many collaborations on Tuesday night (June 28).

"Everybody was amazing, knocked it out of the park," Strauss told host Chuck Armstrong about the special guests who joined her on The Call of the Void, artists like Chris Motionless, Alice Cooper, Marty Friedman, Lzzy Hale and Dorothy. "It was really cool for me as an artist to step outside what I usually do and invite so many people to step outside of what they usually do and try something new with me."

Among all of the amazing experiences she had making the new album, one of the standout moments was being blown away by Arch Enemy's Alissa White-Gluz contribution to "The Wolf You Feed." White-Gluz is a singer who is well known for her growling and screaming vocals, but as Strauss told Chuck, she delivered "this incredible soaring clean chorus that showcased an entirely different side of her voice. A lot of people didn't even know she could do that."

Another collaboration that stunned Strauss was Lzzy Hale on "Through the Noise." She explained that she never told any of her guests how to sing or what to do; it was very organic. Because of that, Hale pushed herself in ways that might be surprising to some fans.

"We wanted it to be as collaborative as possible," Strauss explained. "When Lzzy sent her vocals back to me, she sent me a text and she was like, 'Hey, I just want to let you know I went a little crazy. I tried some different stuff. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it.' Of course, when you hear the song, she is doing these incredible notes. Toward the end of the song, it's like, I didn't know you could do that."

Working With Dorothy to Send a Message to the Next Generation of Rockers

Strauss surrounded herself with powerhouse special guests on her new album, and just like the artists themselves, the songs are big. "Dead Inside," Strauss's record-setting track with David Draiman, sounds cinematic and gets more and more massive with each listen. She told Chuck that when they heard Draiman cut his vocals in the studio, everyone knew it was special.

Another song with a similar power is Strauss's collaboration with Dorothy on "Victorious."

"I'm a huge fan of what she does, I love her message and I love her voice," she said. "I love her powerful voice and her presence ... [For this song,] we knew we needed someone with a big voice. Dorothy, I think was one of the very first people that we reached out to."

Strauss knew Dorothy would be a good fit somewhere on The Call of the Void, but really wanted to have her be part of "Victorious" because of its hopeful perspective.

"We're in a time of angry art right now," she explained. "Art is always kind of angry and I make a lot of angry songs. I write a lot of aggressive music. I'm sort of known for writing aggressive music more than anything. There's a lot of aggressive songs on the record, there are a lot of darker topics, but I love just having one song that's overwhelmingly positive."

Strauss told Chuck "Victorious" is a "rah-rah cheerleader" song.

"You can do it. We're in this together. We have each other's back and we can be victorious, you know," she said. "That's the message I want to put out there. That's what I want to put out for the next generation. That's what I think will inspire little girls to go pick up a guitar and play. That's what it's really all about at the end of the day."