| INTERVIEWS |
From Scream zine MOURNING BELOVETH 1. Congratulations with the new album, I think it’s great! I haven’t heard the band before, could you explain if this is very different from your previous albums? Yeah. The previous album, Dust, now available from Sentinel Records (Ire) with some extra material, was our first step up in the recording stakes and we used some older material along with some new songs. The material on Dust for want of a better explanation builds its atmosphere on the emptiness of the riffs and the crunching heaviness. The new songs on “The Sullen Sulcus” are still very heavy, slow, epic and torturous but the riffs are a lot more “in your face” they attack you from all corners and the atmosphere is built on the suffocating feelings created by the riffs. There is a lot more anger in this album than previous recordings and there is just a general feel of more METAL. Obviously with some recording experience behind us it was also easier in the studio this time cause we had a better feel for what we could get out of the sessions and we had written the songs with this in mind.
We have been together for about ten years now. We recorded our debut demo without Adrian on bass (although he was the engineer for the demo), Adrian then joined and we have had the same line up for about 7 years now. We recorded our second demo “Autumnal Fires” in 1998 to underground acclaim and managed to get rid of 1200 demos ( even receiving demo of the issue in the acclaimed Moondance Magazine). In 2000 we recorded our first full length album in Academy Studios. Entitled Dust and self released, this album brought us some recognition in the doom underworld and we supported the likes of Cradle of Filth and Cathedral before that. The original pressing of Dust is now sold out and this is where Sentinel Records stepped in and earlier this year they re-released Dust with an old song , a new song and some revised artwork. We then recorded some rough versions of the new material and sent it to a few labels. This is where we got in contact with haavard and Aftermath having been previously speaking to him about Dust. In April 2002 we again headed to Academy Studios to record our second album “The Sullen Sulcus” in two weeks. Having passed some promo copies around to labels we got some replies but having been in contact with Haavard and we decided to sign to Aftermath for a one album deal and the partnership seems to be working out very well and Haavard is a genuine and helpful guy 3. How did you end up on Aftermath Music? Answered above…we had been in touch with Haavard since Dust and we had sent him some rough versions of our new album recorded in rehearsals. He said he was interested so when we came back from recording we quickly sent him a promo and within a few months we were an Aftermath band
Yes the MDB question, almost inevitable now but here goes. We play slow doom/death metal very much in the vein of the very early MDB stuff but we also have our own identity. It is fair to say there are a lot of similarities and I would be a foll to deny it but I think we are more on the death edge of things staying away from all that gothic splendour and stuff. I love MDB, but I and the band like a very wide variety of bands such as Anathema, Gamma Ray, Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus, Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Bethlehem and many more. I think the MDB tag is sometimes lumped on us by lazy journalists who don’t really listen to what we are doing and I am sure over time that this tag will disappear the further we advance as a band, but for now we just have to grin and bare it, I guess it is not a bad thing to be compared to a band that released such albums as Turn Loose the Swans and The Trash of Naked Limbs.
Sorry again answered above.. but there is such a variety in the band form At the Gates, Bethlehem, WASP< Iron Maiden, Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Portishead, Nick Cave, Anathema, Paradise Lost the list is almost endless, variety being the spice and all
We have played quite a few gigs now in our homeland, along with two in the UK. We have played with the mighty Cathedral and Cradle of Filth. The Cradle gigs were a great experience, playing in front of 600 people both nights. Our plans for the future are very interesting. From Feb 7-21 2003 we will be playing what has been dubbed The Doomination of Europe with fellow doomsters Morgion (USA) and The Prophecy (UK) and we will be hitting Ireland,UK,France,Holland,Belgium,Portugal,Italy,Germany and many more.We were supposed to hit Norway and the Northern bounds but it is out of our reach this time Check out www.doominationofeurope.com. This was all brought about through doom-metal.com and e-mail. Heiko from the doom forum interviewd myself and Adrian a few months back and happened to mention that Morgion were alive again and looking to tour Europe and it went form there. Heiko is our tour manager and he is the one organising venues etc so an interesting time ahead.
The lyrics for the new album deal a lot with emotional torture and torment
they deal with feelings of depression, loss, misery, anger, all of the
negative emotions we all go through at one time or another. The lyrics
are written very openly with a lot of strange imagery to conjure up feelings
of confusion and loss, a loss of innocence and a confusion that torments
our thoughts. The title of the album “The Sullen Sulcus” is
basically an image that came to my mind when thinking about the lyrics.
The feelings we have each day and the experiences we live through make
an impression on our brains, like deep channels or furrows, engraining
themselves forever on the subconscious. The word sullen is obvious I think,
it deals with all these negative emotions that we store. 8. What do you think about the death metal scene of today? I don’t have too much interest in the death metal of today, it
is too polished and clinical. I would rather listen to some early Death,
Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Deicide etc- I grew up on the tampa sound. Although
I still love the later Death albums I long for those days past. ( I sound
old haha) 9. The Irish metal scene is quite good, with bands like Abaddon Incarnate, Cruachan, Primordial and so on? That is true. I think the main difference between the metal scene in
Ireland now and ten years ago is the quality of the bands. A lot of people
laugh and say Ireland can’t produce Metal. Ireland can produce metal
that will stand up to any band. The latest Primordial release is one of
the best albums I have heard in along time. AI are making a name for themselves
in the death/grind scene and there is a wealth of talent still to be uncovered
with bands like Lunar Gate, Old Season and many more. The thing about
Ireland is that for such a small country there is so much variety and
no two bands sounds the same. We have death metal, grind, doom, pagan…all
we are missing is a Power band (no thanks). So I think you should expect
an Irish Metakl invasion in the coming years with some quality bands.
Ireland even now has its own printed professional magazine, Metalworks
Magazine of which I am part responsible. It is aimed at promoting Irish
bands on the international market by potting them alongside more internationally
recognisable bands such as Slayer, Motorhead etc. It is bi-monthly and
pro written and printed so keep an eye out for it. Or visit www.metalworksmagazine.com 10. Thanks for doing the interview, looking forward to seeing you in Norway (maybe, he-he)
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