Get ready for some face-melting solos, wild drum beats, and ripping bass lines because Intervals is BACK! The progressive metal band is ready to release a brand-new studio album and have already released the teaser track “Mnemonic” from the new album — which you should totally check out.

As if we weren’t already excited for the new music, we were lucky enough to score an interview with Intervals bassist and all-around nice guy Jacob Umansky, courtesy of Darkglass Electronics. We ask him all about Intervals, how he writes music, his time at Berklee, and why he plays a “space surfboard.”

Just watch your face — this man slaps!

The new Intervals album

Umansky has been a regular part of the Intervals touring and studio lineup since 2017. While working on their previous studio album, Circadian, back in 2020, Umansky had to do all his recording remotely in the U.S., as the rest of the band was based in Canada. It was the height of the COVID pandemic, and he couldn’t cross the border to record in-studio with the band.

In the interview, he told us stories about how the band would record during the day and he’d listen to the tracks at night. He’d lay down his bass parts from a friend’s studio in the U.S. and send it back to the band. They’d review it the next day, rinse and repeat, until the album was finished.

Because of the back-and-forth nature of the recording, Umansky said it was sometimes hard to collaborate. He wasn’t as confident providing input or as many of his own ideas because he knew it would take at least a day for the band to review and get back to him about it.

However, with this new album, Umansky was able to record in the studio with the band. With the real-time collaboration, he could introduce more ideas, making the bass parts that much better. According to him, this new album release is the most excited he’s been for a body of work — and we can’t wait to hear it!

Closeup of a Darkglass DG112NE 1x12 Bass Cabinet

Jacob Umansky’s bass gear

Jacob Umansky has been a fan of Darkglass gear for a long time. They’re usually famous for their distorted tones, but he loves to use Darkglass for their super-bright and super-warm clean sound, too. When he plays live, Umansky uses the clean setting on his Darkglass amp. That’s all he needs for his amazing tone!

Here’s a sneak preview of Umansky’s amazing Darkglass rig (if you like what you hear in the interview video):

And his six-string, multi-scale, triple pickup “space surfboard” Dingwall Z3 bass, of course!

In the studio, Umansky also uses the Darkglass Ultra plugin from Neural DSP as his go-to for clean studio tones, the Parallax plugin for distorted tones, and an 1176 plugin for some compression on the way in.

The War of Being tour

Intervals will soon (probably right now) hit the road and tour all over North America with fellow prog-rockers Alluvial and TesseracT — which Umansky says is one of his favorite bands. TesseracT just released their latest album War of Being, and they’re joining up with Intervals to spread insane prog-metal tunes all over the continent.

Keep up with Intervals tour dates to catch these amazing bands on the road. They might be coming to a city near you, and you definitely don’t want to miss this lineup. Plus, Intervals will be playing their new song “Mnemonic” first in the set!

Other projects

In addition to his incredible work with Intervals, Umansky is keeping busy with plenty of side projects that he told us all about when he visited the AMS studios.

His favorite side project going on right now is JIA — a supergroup of his own forming with fellow virtuosos Ivan Chopik on guitar and Alan Hankers on keys. Umansky said his goal was to find the most ridiculous musicians around, stick them all together, and see what happens. The group has already released a single called “Drift”, but the new EP will be coming out very soon!

Have you heard about the new Twisted Metal TV series streaming on Peacock? Well, Jacob Umansky played the bass parts you hear in the background while all the cars race around and explode! He talked to us about his love of working on TV shows and video games and how they’re different from playing with a band.

He also told us about the time he got to sit in the pit for a Broadway musical and how he hopes to get more into playing in theater pits once touring and his other projects slow down a bit.

Not to mention all the time he puts in teaching bass lessons…

To say the man is busy is an understatement!

Check out the latest work from Jacob Umansky and Intervals

There’s a lot coming down the pike in the progressive metal world, and Intervals along with Jacob Umansky are leading the charge. Intervals’ new single “Mnemonic” is out right now, and the new album is well on the way!

And you definitely don’t want to miss Jacob Umansky and Intervals on tour with TesseracT from now until May 2024.

From all of us at AMS, we’d like to thank Jacob Umansky and Darkglass Electronics for popping by the studio and blowing our minds for a little while. We always love to talk music and gear with such an incredible musician and all-around nice guy. Good luck on the road and be sure to melt plenty of faces!