Interview: Vibrations of Doom

A band influenced by the likes of the mighty and cult status revered Pan.Thy.Monium? Yes, please... All fucking day long... This Russian band made me a big fan with their "Drunken Tales" album, due to the stoner rock and doom metal influences, complete with the FLUTES, man!! Their newest release continues down the path forged by the left hand of doom, but evolving ever so slightly to bring about an album that has a few new twists to the tried and true sound... This is an interview we have been after for a long time, and of course they're signed to Solitude Productions, so I probably don't need to say much more about this band.

I have your first CD "Escape To The Dreamlands," and it was cool to hear the Lovecraft influences and lyrics on that record. I'm guessing you decided to not go that route lyrically by the time "Drunken Tales" came around?

Yes, "Drunken Tales" has another concept and themes, both in music and lyrics. We left the Lovecraftian themes just after the "Escape...". The lyrics in "Drunken Tales" are some kind of monologues or talks inside the mind of a man. Something like a mid-life crisis in a meditative way, if you know what I mean.

The two records "Escape..." and "Drunken Tales" are quite different stylistically; one could say that "Escape..." has almost a gothic doom/death feel to it, whereas "Drunken Tales" is more of a psychedelic and slightly melodic atmosphere?

Sure, the music is very different in these two albums. We name this our own way of progress... or regress). It depends on your point of view.

So I'm curious if you guys have ever listened to the band Pan.Thy.Monium? Because I absolutely LOVED the "Khaoos And Konfusion" record, and the first album I ever heard from you guys ("Drunken Tales") reminded me SO much of that record, especially with the flute sounds. Of course, it's less chaotic and more, shall I say, "controlled" that Pan.Thy.Monium? Were these guys an influence? Maybe the band name Evoke Thy Lords "evokes" influences from that realm?

Of course, we listened to Pan.Thy.Monium, but as for influences from their realm? I don't think so. Anyway, I need to listen their records again. Thanks, you reminded me about the band.

Your first album came out on Stygian Crypt, and now you're on Solitude Productions. How did that whole deal come about? I know Stygian Crypt is a rather small label and your first album is difficult to find nowadays...

It's not a big problem, we still have some copies of our previous works and "Escape..." as well. So if some good guys want to have this, they can send us email (evokethylords@gmail.com) or order CD's via our bandcamp page.

Well, about labels... Stygian and Solitude work well, we can't say something negative about either of them. And we haven't released "Drunken Tales" via Stygian, just because our music has changed. Solitude specializes in these genres so we have released the record via Solitude. By the way, besides Stygian Crypt and Solitude we have also released our second work - the "Twofaced" EP via a Mexican label called American Line.

As of this writing, I see you have a new album out, with a rather odd title "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms In Your Cellar!" Tell us how different (or how similar) this is to your previous albums?

Maybe it's right to call it a missing link between our other albums. The music has a groove and death metal elements as well. There are some tracks with female voices again and with flute, of course. You can listen to it on our bandcamp page. The album name is an allusion to Ray Bradbury's novel. We think the atmosphere in the story is very similar to that in our album.

Going back to the album "Drunken Tales," there's less of a female vocalist presence than there was on your first album. I did hear some female vocals, but they are scaled back quite a lot and not as operatic. Did people respond well to the operatic styled vocals on the first record?

Yes, the words of people who like that music were quite positive about a female voice on "Escape...". But, as you said, we had some changes in female vocal parts. This type of a female voice is closer to our music and ourselves. It's more live, realistic and emotional, I think.

Tell us a bit about the lyrical themes on "Drunken Tales." I love the picture of an astronaut in what I guess is a space bar? I know Sleep had a similar thing going on with having an astronaut on the moon with a bong hooked into his jetpack; Seems like you normally wouldn't find an astronaut "on the job" either drinking or smoking weed; considering how dangerous his job in space can be!

Your words are so poetic, thanks. It seems, people make suggestions in the light of a visual component, and art is more than lyrics or interviews. As I say, the lyrics on "Drunken Tales" are more about thoughts of a man rather than open space and cosmonauts. The artwork shows an astronaut in a usual bar... I don't know... a wrong man in the wrong place maybe.

Solitude Productions has a TON of great doom bands on their label; they seem to sign so many amazingly talented and quality bands from all around the world! I particularly love The Howling Void, Ea, of course you guys, Mournful Gust, Shattered Hope and quite a few more! Who are some of your favorite artists from that label?

You must listen to Station Dysthymia if you like funeral doom. These guys are our neighbors and they are great. What about other Solitude-released bands, I don't watch them closely. But I remember Heavy Lord from the Netherlands, it's an awesome band.

Are any of you guys a huge fan of stoner rock? I know some people say the genre is a bit oversaturated, but there are some great bands in this genre; such as Kyuss, Dozer, Gate 9, Natas, Acid King and more.

We like a lot of bands in stoner rock and stoner doom metal also. I saw Acid King on Hellfest in 2014 and they were awesome. Same words I can say about other great bands on that stage, for example Clutch and Electric Wizard... Fantastic music and fantastic gigs!

Does Russia have any kind of stoner rock scene at all? I know that black metal and doom metal are probably two of the genres that Russia has an abundance of, but I've never heard of any stoner rock bands coming from here...

Sure, our country has stoner bands too. A short time ago we played with the band Weeduza in Tomsk, Siberian city, and these guys were very good. Their music is strongly influenced by Sleep. And in our city we know To Have Balls band, they play very tasty stoner/southern riffs.

While on the subject, any of you fans of black metal at all? I know most people think of Scandinavia when they think of black metal, especially with the winter landscapes, but I know Russia has probably harsher winter climates and probably just as many vast forests and glacial mountains...

And you think we must love black metal because we're from Russia, don't you? So, you're catching the very core - EVERY Russian loves black metal, it's truth. But some of us are uncomfortable to confess to it, as an elephant in the room - you know, for example, all these grandmothers with grandchildren, common people, authorities, society - so, we all just look the other way and put the best face on matters.

So just curious if you know much about the history of Rock Music in Russia. I have a very interesting book I have read about the history; it's interesting to see that the government was actually interested in sponsoring Russian rock music. To hear about bands like Time Machine and the like; it must have been a very interesting and challenging time in Russia for young musicians...

Talking about that, it's necessary to keep in mind that a huge number of bands playing Russian Rock music don't play rock. I guess, it's some kind of substitution, and Russian Rock doesn't mean a Russian version of world rock music. This music has much more in common with guitar poetry than hard rock or something. As for me, in the USSR these bands had more of a social nature than a musical one. And now this genre doesn't relate to any heavy or underground scene and it's a part of show business, maybe with very few exceptions. But I have never heard about government sponsoring of any rock musicians in our country.

We've heard quite a bit awhile back about Vladimir Putin censoring "swear words" and music that reflects these have been on the chopping block as well. What are your thoughts on this; surely this is something that the Russian people could not be happy with? I also learned that Cannibal Corpse albums are not permitted in Russia these days...

I think it's kinds of political games. Most people in Russia have heard nothing about Cannibal Corpse and those bands.

Finally, I always enjoyed the flute in doom metal, but felt it wasn't heard enough. Granted, bands like the aforementioned Pan.Thy.Monium, and also Shape Of Despair and Cathedral's first album, utilized this to great effect, but I rarely ever hear it anymore... Will the use of flutes continue on with Evoke Thy Lords?

The flute is the part of our sound, so don't worry, the flute will continue to play in our music.

Vibrations of Doom

Металлайбрари, свежее интервью

Давно мы не говорили с вами об авангардном, интересном doom metal. Недели две, наверное. Итак, новосибирская формация Evoke Thy Lords на тринадцатый год своего существования выпустила два месяца назад посредством Solitude Productions третий полноформатный альбом "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!". Это, как многие уже знают, совсем не тот простецкий death doom, который мы слышали на дебютной записи "Escape to the Dreamlands", и по утверждению самих музыкантов это немного не то, что мы слышали на успешном "Drunken Tales", продемонстрировавшем перерождение группы и поворот в сторону прогрессивного оригинального doom'а. Ниже вы найдёте стенограмму нашего разговора с Алексеем Козловым, вокалистом и бас-гитаристом Evoke Thy Lords.

Алексей, салют! Каков в настоящий момент статус группы? Чем живут Evoke Thy Lords?

Привет! Мы стабильно репетируем, время от времени выступаем на локальных фестах. И в ближайшее время планируем снова идти в студию для следующей записи.

Предыдущий альбом Evoke Thy Lords "Drunken Tales" был очень хорошо встречен российскими и иностранными слушателями. Каким образом кроме восторженных рецензий это отразилось на вас?

Ну, нам поступило несколько привлекательных предложений сразу от нескольких мэйджор-лэйблов, мы бросили наши работы и теперь планируем жить исключительно за счет гонораров, а крупнейшие мировые фестивали умоляют приехать отыграть на их площадках. Пожалуй, все.

А если конкретнее?

А если конкретнее, то никаким)

Как сами Evoke Thy Lords отнеслись к принятию публикой материала "Drunken Tales"? Было ли ощущение, что всё – нашли себя, можно не напрягаться, вот оно, ура?

Нам нравится "Drunken Tales" даже спустя два года после его выхода, а это хороший признак. Но вряд ли это означает, что все следующие записи будут эксплуатацией идей оттуда. Знаешь, подход к записям у нас примерно такой: альбом это не сборник разрозненных трэков, а что-то цельное, объединенное общей идеей или еще чем-то связанное. Должен быть какой-то, прошу прощения за слово, "месседж", который проходит сквозь музыку, тексты, название альбома и оформление. "Drunken Tales" получился вполне самодостаточным, в конце стоит точка. Новая запись будет строиться уже на немного другой концепции – ведь уже прошло какое-то время, и мы сегодняшние уже немного отличаемся от нас прежних, что неминуемо скажется и на музыке.

Название первого альбома указывает на алкогольные приключения, во втором "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!" фигурируют грибы, и речь идёт навряд ли о грибах из бабушкиного погреба. Насколько большую роль в вашем творчестве играют стимулирующие вещества?

Боюсь, что в этом плане мы довольно скучны – вещества с творчеством у нас как-то слабо пересекаются. Наблюдая за реакцией слушателей, убеждаешься насколько сильно влияние визуального восприятия. После обложки "Drunken Tales" нас сразу записали в космонавты, сейчас вот записывают в грибники. Видимо, нам нужно просто принять это.

Откуда шаманские мотивы в песне "Betrayer. Liar"? Варган, немного горлового пения, ритм ударных да и ещё грибы в названии альбома... Кто-то из группы прочёл Кастанеду?

Нет, грибы – это из Брэдбери. Кастанедой мы не вдохновлялись, но, может что-то в этом и правда есть. Все остальное – наши собственные идеи.

Брэдбери? Давай, напомним нашим читателям, где у Брэдбери растут грибы?

В одноименном небольшом произведении. В одном из русских переводов называется "Ребята! Выращивайте гигантские грибы у себя в подвале!". Пересказывать его, наверное, не стоит – скатимся в спойлеры.



Выше ты говорил о "месседжэ". Каков он на "Drunken Tales"? И чем он отличается от "месседжа" "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!"?

Ну, про "месседж" я все же неправильно ляпнул, давай заменим это чудесное слово на что-то вроде "общей идеи альбома". Если кратко в двух словах говорить об этих общих идеях, то в "Boys!..." это субъективное восприятие мира – "иногда совы (или грибы) не то, чем кажутся" и прочее в этом духе. В "Drunken Tales" – это внутренний монолог обычного человека, большую часть смысла можно ухватить из текстов, мы публиковали их в буклете. Если нет диска, то вроде их можно на сканах в сети найти.

Насколько быстро группой была согласована настоящая концепция Evoke Thy Lords – бульдозерное звучание гитар, stoner-кач, брутальный, death metal гроул и при этом изящная флейта, психоделические аранжировки и почти джазовый женский вокал?

Мы тянули соломинки, кому доставалась короткая, тот добавлял свою фишку в музыку. Неудачников не слушали, так что вся процедура уложилась в полчаса.

Ты сказал, что в ближайшее время вы собираетесь в студию для работы с новым материалом. Соломинку уже тянули? Каким будет новый альбом?

До соломинок еще не дошли, но уже близки к этому. Материал будет немного отличаться и от "Drunken Tales", и от "Boys!...", про старые записи, разумеется, не упоминаю. Часть композиций будет быстрее, чем на последних релизах. Женский вокал планируется в одном из трэков. Часть этого материала мы уже какое-то время обкатываем на живых выступлениях.

За последнее время, как мне кажется, неслабо активизировалась сибирская экстремальная doom-сцена. Evoke Thy Lords, Station Dysthimia, недавно выпустившие альбом Below the Sun и Delirium Silence из Якутска. Как так сложилось? Есть ли для этой движухи очевидные причины?

С якутской командой мы не знакомы, но с остальными двумя вместе играли – хорошие коллективы, оба. Не знаю, какие причины могут быть тут очевидными – созрел материал, может?

Раньше был Doom-Art.ru, и с помощью этого сообщества было издано несколько актуальных на тот период сборников активных doom-групп. Как ты оцениваешь сегодня вклад этого ресурса в поддержку сцены? И есть ли сегодня у нас подобное ему сообщество музыкантов?

Этот ресурс давно не подает признаков жизни. По-моему, там уже несколько лет как не было никакого движения. Насчет альтернатив, честно говоря, может что-то и есть, но я такого не знаю. Знаю, что в Москве и Питере тематические сообщества есть, но отсюда нам сложно оценивать результаты их деятельности, Впрочем, мы всегда держались как-то особняком, так что могли что-то и пропустить.

А в международном масштабе? Насколько Evoke Thy Lords контактная группа?

Как-то уже довольно давно сложилось, что большинство наших поклонников живут за пределами нашей страны. Наши трэки выходили на международных сборниках вроде гигантских компиляций от Doommantia и Heavy Planet. Нельзя сказать, что мы специально активно продвигаем себя в каких-то международных или российских сообществах, но отшельниками и затворниками нас тоже не назовешь – мы стараемся отвечать на все адресованные нам сообщения и предложения. В конце концов, ты же берешь у нас интервью).

Тут появилась пара стандартных вопроса на каждое интервью, и вот первый: назови свою любимую книжку из той поры, когда ты учился в школе.

Я тогда читал кучу всего, сейчас даже сложно выделить какие-то отдельные книги. Что-нибудь из зарубежной фантастики, наверняка.

Второй вопрос менее интимный: расскажи подробнее об одной из песен с вашего последнего альбома.

С песнями не знаю, сложно, давай лучше пару моментов с записи альбома расскажу. Там полно было всяких форс-мажоров. Например, в процессе записи у нас сломалась флейта, и пришлось руками мастерить гибрид из нескольких инструментов. А сам материал был записан еще до "Drunken Tales", то есть хронологически это эдакий виток спирали, назад в прошлое. Нас угораздило связаться с одним недобросовестным товарищем-звукоинженером, в результате чего запись нам пришлось восстанавливать буквально по крупицам. Так что, в некотором роде, для нас окончание работы над этой записью большое облегчение.



Положим, что ответ принял, но тогда повернём иначе: есть ли на одном из ваших альбомов песня, которая лучше всего характеризует Evoke Thy Lords на данном этапе?

Музыкальный материал развивается и изменяется одновременно с самой группой. И лучше всего сейчас нас характеризуют наиболее новые сочинения, т.е. как раз те, которые мы только планируем писать. Если же откатиться немного назад, тогда пусть это будет "Drunken Tales" – возможно, "Routine of Life" или "Dregs" – т.е. опять всё то же самое, наиболее поздний по времени сочинения материал. Внутренние изменения, тем не менее, явно присутствуют: уверенно сказать, что вот они мы сегодняшние, слушая "Drunken Tales", уже нельзя.

Кстати, кажется, я видел эту историю с звукоинженером – была выложена у вас на странице. Чем закончилось дело? Вы ему вломили всем составом?

Одна из основных проблем как раз была в том, что он отовсюду пропал и перестал отвечать на звонки. Вкратце, когда терпение лопнуло, предупредили всех, кто захотел прислушаться, о недобросовестном поведении этого товарища. Потом закатали рукава и разгребли все дерьмо, которое после него осталось. Смаковать сейчас подробности и перетряхивать грязное белье желания нет. Могу сказать, что была большая вероятность потерять весь этот материал насовсем.

Надеюсь, что со следующим альбомом такого не случится. Удачи в студии! На сегодня всё. Если только ты не хочешь сказать несколько слов нашим читателям и вашим слушателям – часто это одни и те же люди.

Тебе огромное спасибо за интересные вопросы и за проявленный интерес. Читателям больше увлекательного чтива, слушателям – отличной музыки. Ребята, выращивайте гигантские грибы у себя в подвалах!

Источник

AN NCS INTERVIEW: EVOKE THY LORDS

Evoke Thy Lords is a pretty original band from Russian Siberia. The band is located in Novosibirsk and there they play a fantastic mix of sludgy psychedelic doom metal with good, deep growls and mesmerizing flute tunes.

They started in 2002 with more trivial stuff, but everything changed with the Drunken Tales album (2013), and its success was developed further on the third full-length album under the ambitious title Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! (2015).

Don’t waste any time — come discover new dimensions of sound with Alexey Kozlov (bass, vocals). Don’t worship Satan! Raise giant mushrooms!

Hello, Alexey! How are Evoke Thy Lords? What is the band’s news?

Hello! We’re constantly in rehearsals and play at the local gigs sometimes. And we have plans to go to the studio for the new record in the nearest future.

Your previous work Drunken Tales received very positive feedback both from Russian and foreign listeners. How has this fact changed the band’s life besides receiving rave reviews?

Well, we’ve received a number of attractive offers from several major labels. We’ve left our jobs and now we are about to derive our income from music only. The biggest world festivals beseech us to play on their stages. That’s all, I think.

Cool story, bro! Could you tell in more detail?

In more detail, our lives haven’t had any global changes.

What’s your attitude about the listeners’ positive reaction to the music on Drunken Tales? Did you feel like, “We did it! We have found ourselves, so we don’t need to strain anymore”?

We like Drunken Tales, even two years from its release, and this is a healthy sign.

But it hardly means that all our future records will copy those ideas. You know, our recording approach is: an album is not a compilation of different songs but an integral thing with a general idea or something like that. And we think an album must have a “message” (sorry for this word), which goes through the music, lyrics, and art. Drunken Tales is a pretty monolithic one and has a dot at the end. The new record is going to be based on a bit of a different conception, because time is running and now we are not the same. And this fact will surely have an impact on the music.

The name of your previous work points toward alcoholic adventures, and the mushrooms appearing in the next one, Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar! is unlikely to mean the mushrooms from grandmother’s cellar. What role do different exciters and stimuli play in the creation of your music?

I am afraid we are rather dull in this case – these substances and the creation of our music are not related to each other. Watching the reaction of listeners, we see how strong the effect of the visual perception is. After the Drunken Tales cover art we were considered like cosmonauts, and now as mushroom pickers. We seem to accept this.

Where are the shamanic tunes in “Betrayer/Lier” from? Jaw harp, throat singing, the special rhythm of the drums, and, to cap it all, mushrooms in the name of the album… One of the bandmates read Castaneda’s works, didn’t he?

НNo, the mushrooms are from Bradbury. We were not inspired by Castaneda, but there may be something in it. All the rest are our proper ideas.

Bradbury? Let’s remind our readers where Bradbury grows mushrooms.

In the small novel of the same name “Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!”. There’s no point to re-tell it, cause we’ll slip to the spoilers.



As for the above-mentioned “message”: What are the “messages” in Drunken Tales and Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!? And what is the difference between them?

Well, the word “message” was a shoot from the hip. Let’s replace it with “the general thought or idea of the album”, or something like that. In a few words, we can say that in Boys!… there’s the subjective perception of the world. Sometimes the owls (or mushrooms) are not what they seem, if you know what I mean. In Drunken Tales it’s the inner monologue of a usual man –you can catch most of the sense of it from our lyrics. We published it in the booklet. And if you don’t have a CD, the scanned artwork is on the internet.

How long did it take the band to approve today’s conception of Evoke Thy Lords – bulldozer guitar sound, stoned groove, brutal, death metal growl and upon that, graceful flute, psychedelic arrangements, and almost jazzy female vocals?

We pulled the straws, and whoever had a short one could add his vision into the music. We didn’t listen to the losers, so the whole process was finished in thirty minutes.

You said you were going to the studio in the nearest future for the new record. Have you pulled the straws yet? What will the new album be like?

We haven’t got round to it, but we’re about to. The new stuff will have some differences from both Drunken Tales and Boys!…. Some tracks will be faster than the music on our two last releases. We plan to use female vocals in one of the tracks. Nowadays we’re playing some of this stuff at the live gigs.

As I see it, the Siberian extreme doom-metal scene has become strongly active recently. Evoke Thy Lords, Station Dysthymia, Below the Sun with their recent release, and Delirium Silence from Yakutsk. How has it happened? Are there any obvious reasons for this activity?

I don’t know this Yakut band, but we played with the other two – great bands both. I don’t know what reasons could be obvious in this case… The stuff has ripened, maybe?

A few compilations of active doom bands were released with the help of formerly existing Doom-Art.ru. How do you evaluate the contribution of this web-portal to the support of the scene? And is there a musician community like that today?

This resource has shown no sign of life for a long time. In my view, there has been no activity in that place for some years yet. As for alternatives, I personally don’t know whether they exist or not. I know that Moscow and Saint-Petersburg have the thematic communities, but it’s hard to measure the results of their activity from here. However, we always stand apart from this, so we could miss something.

And internationally is Evoke Thy Lords a communicative band?

As an old-established fact, most of our listeners live outside our country. Our tracks were released on international compilations such as the giant compilations of Doommantia and Heavy Planet. One cannot say that we specially and extensively promote ourselves in either international or Russian communities, but on the other hand, we are not recluses. We try to reply to every message or suggestion we receive. You’re interviewing us right now, after all.

We have two typical questions for every interview, and the first one is: tell us what your favorite book was when you were a schoolboy.

I read a lot of books that time and now it is not easy to choose some of them. Foreign science fiction, I’m sure.

The second question is less intimate. Could you tell us in more detail about one of your songs from the latest album?

It’s hard to tell about songs, I think. Better, let me tell about some moments from the album recording process. It was full of force-majeure. For example, in the recording process our flute was broken and we had to make a hybrid, combining different instruments. And the stuff had been recorded before Drunken Tales, so chronologically it was kind of a return to the past.

We had the bad luck to get mixed with a careless sound engineer, and as a result we had to restore our record painstakingly. That’s why, to some extent, we felt relief when we finished this record.



Ok, I’ll ask you a bit different question then. Is there a song on one of your releases that describes Evoke Thy Lords most closely at this point?

The music has been developing and transforming along with the band itself. And the most close to us are the brand-new tracks which we are only planning to record. But if we make a step back, then let it be the Drunken Tales stuff – “Routine of Life” or “Dregs”, maybe. So again, the most recently composed tracks. However, the inner changes have obviously happened, and to say for sure that today we are the same as we were in DT is wrong.

Hope the recording problems won’t happen with your next album. Good luck with the studio! That’s it for today, unless you want to say a few more words to our readers and your listeners. Often, they are the same people.

Thanks a lot for your interesting questions and support. I’m gonna wish more cracking fiction for readers and more awesome music for listeners. Boys, raise giant mushrooms in your cellars!

Источник

Русскоязычная версия опроса на Металлайбрари

Полная версия здесь.

Комплексное летнее интервью: новости групп, планы на будущее, религия – чаcть II

В продолжение традиции сезонных опросов ведущих doom-групп со всего мира выкладываем ещё один массивный новостной блок. На этот раз командам были заданы следующие вопросы:

1. Каковы последние новости группы и планы на обозримое будущее?

2. Что вам дал (в самом широком смысле) релиз последнего альбома?

3. Какой самый лучший отзыв о вашей музыке вам довелось слышать?

4. Какую роль церковь (или другие религиозные организации) играют в вашей жизни или в жизни тяжёлой сцены вообще? Есть ли духовная, религиозная или антирелигиозная составляющая в ваших песнях?

5. Как СМИ вашей страны описывают ситуацию на/в Украине? И как вы сами видите эту ситуацию?

Последний вопрос был задан с целью... Наверное, с целью показать разные точки зрения, то, как они могут быть сформированы, то, как манипулируют общественным мнением в той или иной стране. Так или иначе, некоторые ответы были довольно неожиданными. Ни автор этого опроса, ни редакции сайта, за мнение участников опроса ответственности не несут. Сегодня на линии Altar Of Oblivion (Дания), Barabbas (Франция), Matus (бывшие Don Juan Matus, Перу), Eye Of Solitude (Великобритания), Evoke Thy Lords (Россия), Grimpen Mire (Великобритания), KYPCK (Финляндия), Narrow House (Украина) и The Curse of Wendigo (Украина).

Evoke Thy Lords (Россия))

1. Наверное, основное событие и одновременно планы на ближайшее будущее, это наша новая запись. Она уже на подходе, доводим ее до финальной точки в студии.

2. "Drunken Tales" многим пришелся по вкусу, что, конечно, приятно. Считаем, в этом альбоме нам в достаточной мере удалось передать основной посыл музыки. Думаю, это и есть наше основное, связанное с ним, достижение. Мы же об этом говорим, да?

3. "Nice melodies, but depressing. Stop drinking"

4. Пока никакую, будем надеяться, так все и останется. Никаких подобных составляющих в нашей музыке нет, по крайней мере, в традиционном понимании.

5. Честно говоря, большого доверия к традиционным СМИ и так никогда не было. А с учетом того, что вливается в интернет и потом там активно муссируется, боюсь, что весь полезный сигнал был практически полностью вытеснен информационным шумом. Как итог – не думаю, что большинство жителей России, да и Украины вообще реально понимает, что происходит. Все что мы можем на самом деле – это строить догадки на основе обрывочной и искаженной информации. Хочется, конечно, чтобы хаос прекратился как можно скорее, и чтобы жители Украины пострадали при этом как можно меньше..

Небольшой опрос от No Clean Singing

Опубликовано ресурсом No Clean Singing.

DOOM QUIZ PART 3: ALTAR OF OBLIVION, BARABBAS, BONEWORM, DON JUAN MATUS, EVOKE THY LORDS

(Today our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks brings us Part 3 of a four-part series in which he puts the same five questions to doom bands from around the world, and introduces us to their music at the same time.)

Sometimes I use this unpopular “quiz” format because there are too many interesting bands that I would like to bring to light, and in my opinion it’s a good way to spread some news and to get new points of view on a few issues (including even some political questions). The list of questions I put to the bands is below:

1. What is the band’s latest news and what are your plans for the near future?

2. What do we get (in the broadest sense) from the release of your last album?

3. What is the best response that your band has ever received?

4. What role does the church (or any other religious organization) play in your life or (let’s take it wider) in the life of the heavy scene? Is there any spiritual, religious, or antireligious component in your songs?

5. What does the Media in your country tell about the situation in Ukraine? And how do you see that situation? Some people from other countries have asked me strange questions about Russia’s policy, and let me say that I have a few friends in Ukraine and my colleagues have relatives there, and believe me, there’s no media in ANY country that is showing the problem as it really is. We can watch as the Cold War turns into real warfare.

Today, we bring the answers to these questions from Altar Of Oblivion (Denmark), Barabbas (France), Boneworm (USA), Don Juan Matus (Peru), and Evoke Thy Lords (Russia).

Evoke Thy Lords (Novosibirsk, Russia)

1. Maybe, our new record is both the main thing and our plans for the close future. It’s on the final straight, we’re bringing it to the final point in the studio.

2. Drunken Tales got good opinions and, of course, it’s great. We believe, in this work, that we succeeded in passing a main message of this music. We can consider it to be our main achievement with our latest release. We’re talking about these things, aren’t we?

3. Nice melodies, but depressing. Stop drinking.

4. As far as I’m concerned, these institutions don’t have any impact on us and other Siberian heavy bands. I hope the situation won’t change. Our music doesn’t include such kinds of elements, at least in a traditional way.

5. Frankly speaking, I’ve never trusted mass media, and taking into consideration all the infoglut that is on the internet I think it’s not possible to know the truth. I think, in media, any useful signal is almost completely lost through misinformation and infoglut. I don’t think the great bulk of people in Russia or Ukraine really understand what’s going on. All we can do is to guess using sketchy information. We all wish, of course, that the chaos will vanish as soon as possible, and that the people in Ukraine won’t suffer any more.

Англоязычная версия новогоднего опроса

Опубликовано ресурсом No Clean Singing. Русскоязычный вариант здесь.

NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS FROM 14 BANDS

(Our Russian correspondent Comrade Aleks put 3 year-end questions to 14 bands, many of whom may be new names to NCS readers. In this 3-part post, he shares their answers and their music. Today, the featured bands are A Young Man’s Funeral, Decay of Reality, Ennui, Ethereal Riffian, and Evoke Thy Lords.)

This publication is the last thing I could do before I fell into drunken slumber after horrible celebration of the New Year then coming and now here. Men from a few euphonious bands of Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia were asked three similar questions, and soon, answers were given. What did I ask them to share with our readers in these gloomy winter days? Oh, I guess here they are…

1. What is the band’s latest news? And what are your plans for 2014?

2. For what events do you remember 2013? Events from the world of music, political stuff, personal stuff, or even that bad weather – that damned winter without snow?

3. And the last one – what would you like to wish for our readers and your listeners?

Here we go, to spread the Word of Doom, Death, and Damnation (as well as Goodness and Virtue). Happy New Year!

Evoke Thy Lords (Novosibirsk, Russia)

1. We’re still searching for a regular drummer, but nevertheless we have some plans. In a few words, we’re planning to release some stuff, but we don’t want to disclose details. Hope that everything will be great.

2. First of all, of course, the expiring year sticks in our memory with the release of our last work – Drunken Tales. We received very positive responses and the album will spread all over the world. This is due in large measure to our label Solitude Productions (thanks, guys). And this year we also had the good luck to become a part of a giant international compilation via the awesome Doom Metal portal Doommantia. Politics or weather themes are not our things.

3. We hope this year was good and that next year will be much better for you, friends. Thank you for the interest and support. Perfect holidays, good luck, and more awesome music for us all!

Интервью шведам

What is the name of your band? Hello, we’re Evoke Thy Lords band.

What does the name "Evoke Thy Lords" stand for?/ What made you call the band "Evoke Thy Lords"? The band’s name means appeal to awake your own gods. It was originally taken as reference to the Lovecraft works, but since that time the meaning has some changes and there is no unique sense at this moment. Everyone who see our name take out his own sense.  Everyone has his/her own gods and music is always one of communication channels with them. I didn’t remember the naming process in detail.

How was the band formed? Story of our forming is very trivial – once one guy went to the rehearsal of four other guys searching for vocalist. By the next rehearsal the line-up was decreased to three members. The second guitar and the flute have appeared later, but become essential parts of our sound for a long time.

Where are all bandmembers from?/Who does what in the band? Now there are four of us in the band. We got a new guitar player Vladimir and now we’re in search for a regular drummer. Since recording of Drunken Tales there have been three former members so far – our other guitar player Sergey, Irina - flute and Alexey (it’s me) - bass and vocals. We’re all from Novosibirsk, the city in Siberia, Russia.

What was the ambitions of the band when you started? We didn’t have any big ambitions, we just wanted to create and play music we like. Since that time nothing has changed.

Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you? It’s hard to explain, really, cause our music changes radically from time to time. So if we speak about our latest release Drunken Tales, let’s try to describe this stuff something like "Groovy, trippy, hypnotic and deeply thoughtful".

Who writes your songs?/ who writes the music who writes lyrics? It’s hardly to call our stuff "songs". It means we don’t have any verses or choruses and our music contains rare vocal parts. Anyway the creation of music is a united process for all members of the band. As for lyrics and vocal parts, they’re up to the vocalist. In practice it turns out that everyone is engaged in his/her part.

Who has the best sense of humor in the band? Merry fellows, everyone. Total circus.

What genre do you feel you are?  I’m not sure about genre… kind of groovy music may be? Some of the reviews labeled us as Psychedelic Stoner Doom/Sludge band. May be they‘re right. Partly, probably and at present.

Do you write your own material or mainly covers? With some exceptions for the live gigs we play our own stuff. Playing covers is boring for us.

Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they? We’ve released two longplays and split EP so far. You can hear them on our bandcamp profile: evokethylords.bandcamp.com

Do you have any clips on YouTube? Yes, we have some lives and some fans’ uploadings. Here, for example,www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRmUumYmi54

What year was the band started? We’ve been playing since 2002, having started as a melodic Doom/Death band.

How old were you the first time you saw a liveband play? In school age as far as I remember.

How old were you at your first gig?/Best/worst gig you've played? About twenty. It was in 2004. There are both positive and negative moments at all fests, it’s hard to choose the first and the last among the awesome gigs and among the bad ones too. So, generally, we do a bad impression of a gig because of weak organization and technical problems.

What places will you be playing in the immediate future? Nowhere. Now we’re in process of working with our new members so we decided to delay live shows for some time.

What are the plans for this year? We’re still searching for the regular drummer but nevertheless we have some plans. In a few words we’re planning to release some stuff but we don’t want to disclose details. Hope that everything will be great.

How do you get psyched up for a gig? We do nothing. We always get psyched up.

What are your goals with your music? To create the most awesome music we’ve ever heard with strong effect and deep message to the listener. We’re in kind of search of absolute music, I think.

Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern? I can’t say that we are inspired by music only. Anyway there are both old and modern bands that are awesome.

What are your sources of inspiration? Music, ideas taken from books and movies, experience and contemplations.

How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums? According to us we don’t concern the ways fans get our music. If somebody listens to our track one more time we’ll be glad. A commercial element of our band’s activity is always approaching zero.

Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to? A lot of. Tagging genres is not easy, as always. Let alone that recently so many bands, for which there is no term to definite their genre, have appeared. So now all musical-genre terminology doesn’t make clear the situation. After all, if I answered your question, I would name Doom Metal, Stoner, Sludge, Ambient and the last bands in my headphones were Arctic ambient from Netherworld and excellent Doom from American band Windhand.

What would be your greatest fears for the future? Meaninglessness of existence.

When you are on stage, what do you fear most then? Problems with the equipment on stage or that the sound engineer is doing something strange with the sound in the hall.

Have you been part of any other projects? As far as I know, noone of us has played in any other projects or bands.

Have you been in any other bands? Yes, we all played in other bands in the past.  The most worth reporting bands are Collapse (Doom/Death Metal with strong progressive influences, collapsetoall.bandcamp.com) and  Emberland (Deathcore/Death Metal, emberland.bandcamp.com).

What do you work with outside of the band and the music? We have a nuclear physicist, builder, economist and IT pro playing in our band. We all have regular jobs and don’t make money on our music.

How important are your fans? It depends on what we’re talking about. We won’t change anything in our music only to please the fans. On the other hand, we haven’t ever met the Evoke Thy Lords fan with who we would refuse to drink a jug of beer.

What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? Most of our fans live far from our city and country. So, I don’t remember when a fan’s done for us something like that – a huge distance. May be after this interview we’ll see the burst of activity and different crazy things from our fans all over the world, who knows.)

How often do you rehearse? Once a week, cause we have jobs and we live not too close to each other.

Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment? I always like the latest stuff, so these two songs are very new and still untitled. From our released tracks let it be ‘Routine of Life’ and ‘Dregs’.

What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? There are a lot of reasons can be. Our main reason – the wish to create awesome music and express our thoughts in it.

Do you have any webpages? Here’s Evoke Thy Lords official webpage: www.evokethylords.com. And you can listen to our music at the bandcamp: evokethylords.bandcamp.com or Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/evokethylords. Also we have Facebook profile: www.facebook.com/evokethylords.

Would you like to add anything else? Thank you for your support and interest in our band. And sorry for delay with the answers.

Describe your show, visually and musically Hypnotic groovy flow.

Оригинал здесь.

Новогодний соцопрос

Буквально накануне нового года поучаствовали в опросе в компании с такими бэндами как A Young Man's Funeral, Decay Of Reality, Ennui, Halter, Montezuma's Revenge, Odradek Room, Psilocybe Larvae, Station Dysthymia, Stoned Jesus, The Grand Astoria, Vin De Mia Trix, Who Dies In Siberian Slush и Without God. Правда, почему-то мы отмечены там как шведы, но не суть.

Новогодний опрос: пламенные поздравления от уверенных лидеров постсоветской метал-сцены

Впопыхах, со стаканом гремучего шампанского в руках и бенгальскими огнями в другой суровое мужичьё из лучших тяжмет (да, ладно, как обычно – doom) групп по принуждению делится своими выводами из уходящего года и пожеланиями на следующий! Мужчины терпеливо ответили на три животрепещущих вопроса.

Evoke Thy Lords (Швеция)

Чего нового у группы? Какие планы на 2014 год?

 Мы все еще в поисках постоянного драммера, но, тем не менее, планы есть. Если в общих чертах – планируем релиз, но пока не хочется раскрывать детали и подробности. Будем надеяться, что все получится.

Чем запомнился 2013-ый? Событиями в мире музыки, политики, в личной жизни, опять же – снега как не было, так и нет, чем же?!

Прежде всего, конечно, год запомнился выходом нашего последнего альбома – "Drunken Tales". Он довольно тепло был принят слушателями и широко разошелся по всему миру, в чем немалая заслуга выпускающего лэйбла – Solitude Productions, за что им большое спасибо. Также в этом году нам повезло поучаствовать в международном сборнике-гиганте от очень крутого дум-портала Doommantia. Политика и погода это не очень про нас.

Третьим пунктам идёт пожелания преданным слушателям.

Друзья, надеемся, что уходящий год стоил того, чтобы его прожить и что следующий будет, как минимум, не хуже. Спасибо за интерес и поддержку, отличных праздников и выходных, удачи и побольше крутой музыки всем нам!

Ясное дело, что лучший подарок от музыканта на Новый Год – это не деньги (их у него нет – отняли пираты), это не сувенир (ими торгуют барыги у метро) и это не книга... Хотя почему же... Лучший подарок от музыканта – это какая-нибудь моднейшая тематическая песня собственного исполнения. Ограничимся youtube-треками. От себя скажу: спасибо за то, что были с нами в этом году, успехов и удач в следующем!

Полностью, включая ответы других команд, можно прочесть здесь. Большая благодарность товарищу Lightbringerу, который все это организовал.

Интервью Pavillion 666

English version:

1. Hello EVOKE THY LORDS, please could you introduce yourself to the French who are reading ?

Hello, guys! «We’re band with drunken cosmonaut on the cover», something like that.

2. Since your last opus, you changed your own style. Now you play some kind of Stoner/Doom on « Drunken Tales ». Can you explain this mutation ?

The explanation is rather straightforward: our key points and musical values had changed. By the moment of our debut album release we already had some new groovy stuff. So, we recorded our unreleased Doom/Death material for «Twofaced» EP and closed this theme. When the EP was out, we completely turned away from the sound represented on the record and turned to the groove.

3. I can see a cosmonaut on the artwork, do you think that you do some kind of cosmic music ?

It's not that obvious, our music is more about «inner cosmos». The artwork reflects both: the album name and the whole music concept on «Drunken Tales». As for «cosmic music»... well, we tried to make our music meditative, hypnotic, groovy and trippy... But if by «cosmic music» you mean music about spaceships and asteroids, it's not like that.

4. You are signed by Solitude Productions which is a Russian Doom label. Is there a big Russian Doom community ? I mean, is the Doom well represented in your country ?

If you mean Traditional Doom Metal, Stoner Doom and Sludge Doom – over the last years, in our country appeared some new bands playing this kind of music. From our point of view, the Russian Doom Metal community is not that big, but, at least, it exists.

5. Are you professional musicians or do you have another job ?

All of us have non-musical jobs. We don’t make money with our music.

6. « Drunken Tales » is out so are you going on tour ? Are there gigs programmed in France ?

We bounded by our jobs and families, so, «going on tours» becomes quite a problem. Recently, we changed our drummer and one of the guitar players, and now we have just become ready for gigs again. We will perform soon here, in Siberia, if we find appropriate place. As for gigs in France – we certainly will consider this, if we receive an invitation, but at this moment we don’t have any invitations from your country.

7. Do you have new ideas for another record ? Will you do another record ?

Now we’re mixing or rather remixing some records. The thing is, «Drunken Tales» was released prior to some older stuff, which we couldn't release because of some problems with our ex-sound engineer. Now we are trying to get those records into shape. Also, we are permanently writing new stuff, and, at some point, we will go to the studio again.

8. Thank you for your answers, do you have a last word for our readers ?

Thank you for your questions and interest in our band. Be waiting for our next releases! And more awesome music stuff to all of us!

French version:

1. Bonjour EVOKE THY LORDS, pourriez-vous vous présenter aux lecteurs français ?

Salut les gars ! « On est le groupe avec un cosmonaute bourré sur la pochette du disque ! », dans ces eaux-là.

2. Votre style a changé depuis votre dernier album. Vous semblez être passés au stoner / doom, ou au drunken tales. Expliquez-nous cette transformation.

L’explication est facile : nos valeurs musicales ont changé et nous avons mis de l’ordre dans nos priorités. D’ailleurs, quand notre premier album est sorti, notre groove avait déjà évolué. On a donc enregistré un titre de doom / death pour le maxi Two-Faced mais il n’est pas sorti, et on a tourné la page. Après ce disque, on a complètement laissé tomber ce style.

3. On voit un cosmonaute sur la pochette ; considérez-vous faire une musique cosmique ?

Ce n’est pas aussi évident ; disons qu’il s’agit de « cosmos intérieur ». La pochette reflète à la fois le nom de l’album et le concept musical de Drunken Tales. Quant à parler de « cosmique »... on essaie effectivement de faire une musique méditative, hypnotique, groovy et barrée... Par contre, si vous faites allusion à des vaisseaux spatiaux ou des astéroïdes, la réponse est non !

4. Vous avez signé chez Solitude Productions, un label russe de doom. La communauté russe de doom est-elle si importante ? Le doom est-il bien représenté dans votre pays ?

Si vous parlez de doom metal traditionnel, de stone doom et de sludge doom, plusieurs groupes sont effectivement apparus dans notre pays ces dernières années. Nous dirions plutôt que cette communauté n’est pas très importante, mais au moins elle existe.

5. Êtes-vous des musiciens professionnels ou exercez-vous une profession en parallèle ?

Nous avons tous un boulot extra-musical. Notre musique ne nous rapporte pas de quoi vivre.

6. Avec la sortie de « Drunken Tales », allez-vous partir en tournée ? Avez-vous prévu des concerts en France ?

Nous sommes liés par nos emplois et nos familles, et « partir en tournée » n’est pas si facile. On a récemment changé de batteur et un de nos deux guitaristes, mais nous sommes prêts pour de nouveaux shows. On se produit bientôt ici, en Sibérie, dès que l’on trouve la bonne salle. Quant à des concerts en France, oui nous y pensons, mais nous n’avons à ce jour reçu aucune invitation.

7. Avez-vous des idées, déjà, pour un prochain album ? Est-il déjà prévu ?

Nous sommes actuellement occupés à remixer certaines chansons. Le truc, c’est que Drunken Tales est sorti avant des morceaux plus anciens ; on n’avait pas pu les sortir à cause de dissensions avec notre ancien ingé-son. Nous essayons actuellement de donner forme à ces bandes. Et puis nous passons notre temps à composer de nouveaux titres, on va bien finir par retourner en studio !

8. Merci de nous avoir consacré du temps. Peut-être avez-vous un dernier mot à dire à nos lecteurs ?

Nous vous remercions de l’intérêt que vous portez à notre groupe. Attendez notre prochain disque, avec une musique du tonnerre pour chacun de vous !