domingo, 15 de septiembre de 2013

OBSIDIAN TONGUE - ENTREVISTA

1. Obsidian Tongue was created in 2009, why he decided to form the band? How were the beginnings of Obsidian Tongue? Why Greg decided to incorporate in the battery?

In the beginning, the intention was just to purge as much negative emotion as possible in a couple of Black Metal style songs, hoping to find a new inner clarity once the emotions were released into a musical vessel. Once these first few songs were written, my imagination for Black Metal increased and the inner clarity achieved became the basis for more songwriting that married the "Shadow World" to a world of beauty. That is the basis of the band now, harmonizing depression and affirmation within bodies of music.

Greg and I became friends in 2009 when we were both playing in prog bands, and our bands played a couple of shows together. He had excellent extreme metal techniques that were not being completely applied in his prog band, so when I told him I had a black metal project and needed a drummer he became interested.
I sent him some demos and he learned the songs, and after we tried jamming them out a couple of times we were happy working together and decided to continue.

2. How would you describe the sound of Obsidian Tongue? What are your main musical influences? What could we tell about other bands in the area?

I would generally describe the band as a Melodic Black Metal band, to keep it simple. We are taking a minimalist & progressive approach on melodic black metal, with a psychedelic aesthetic in mind.

There is a thriving black metal scene in New England. There are a ton of black metal bands and they all have their own thing. You can go to a New England Black Metal show and every band on the bill will be taking their own approach to the genre. You can see a black-thrash band, a progressive black metal band, a black-death band and a blackened doom band all in one night. Likewise there are a lot of death metal and doom metal bands in the area, and they are more than happy to share shows with black metal bands...so you can say extreme metal in general is very united in New England to create a potent live scene.



3. How was the process of writing and recording of "A Nest of Ravens In the Throat of Time"? How has the sound of the band over the years?

The writing of "A Nest..." spanned over quite some time, with the title track actually being 4 years old now! Likewise "My Hands Were Made to Hold the Wind" and "Individuation" are now 3 years old, and all the other songs have been around for almost the same amount of time...so I had quite a lot of time to keep revisiting the songs and consider areas that could be improved.

When it came to recording it, I sent demos of the songs to Greg about 6 months before we recorded. He learned the songs and customized the drum arrangements while I finished writing the lyrics. Then we went to Mystic Valley Studio (a 100% analog studio) and recorded drums over 1 weekend. We recorded quitars and vocals over the following Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then we got together for 2 more days the next week to mix and master. We did everything in that studio, so we left with a 100% analog album!

The sound of the band has changed quite a lot from the first few songs and the 2010 Demo. That demo is very cold, claustrophobic and bleak, with a lot more aggression in a couple of the songs. That was what we needed at that time as individuals and as musicians, and once that demo was completed and released, we no longer had a need to be as cold and bleak as possible. Melody and atmosphere became the highest priorities, as well as incorporating progressive and psychedelic moods into black metal. That is where we are now. We are just getting started.

4. What lyrical themes you use on this latest album? Why is that you treat these issues and have importance for you?

Each song has its own subject matter, although the subject matter is not usually the center of the song itself. The center of the song is a mood, and the lyrics are strategically written to connect to that mood. The lyrics are emotion-based as opposed to intellect-based.

All of the themes were pertinent to my personal state at the time leading up to the album. It takes far too long to explain every song, but I basically aimed to release my personal experiences into poetry that could serve other people and their personal experiences.

5. How are they being the album presentation concert? What does a concert Obsidian Tongue?

Performing the new songs in concert has made the songs complete. It is important for us and others to hear and feel the compositions in person to see the whole picture. It is of course much more cathartic to perform an entire song live than it is to piece it together in the studio over a long period of time. It's almost as if creating the album is just to introduce people to the songs, but to see the songs live is to truly "meet" them and feel them as they should be felt.

6. With what kind of instruments in the studio grabs and tools you use at concerts?

We use the same instruments live that we did in the studio. The record is nothing but electric guitar, drums and vocals. The only song that has synthesizer is the title track, and we do not perform that song live.

7. Five fundamental cds in black metal?

Darkthrone - Transylvanian Hunger
Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
Ildjarn - Forest Poetry
Bathory - Blood Fire Death
Enslaved - Eld

There are so many...but these are the first 5 that come to mind.

8. Who designed the album cover? What is the relationship between the cover and the music of "A Nest of Ravens In the Throat of Time"?

Jake Kobrin designed the album cover. I told him what the album's underlying theme is, and told him the fundamental concept that the album is built on.
He resonated with the ideas deeply, and the cover was his vision that encapsulates that concept.

We see a face that seems to be wearing shamanic face paint and a headdress of feathers. However his face appears to be forlorn...despite the forlorn look his third eye is still projecting an elaborate vision of a symbolic raven flying upwards. The concept was that the raven is the art of a spirit in sorrow. Through acceptance and control over sorrow, the artist spirit can give birth to relics of wisdom that it could not create before. That is the album's concept, the Nest of Ravens is the collective offerings from artistic souls that chose to be born into a world of pain.



9. How did you get started in music, first you bought cds, concerts I attended, etc? Why did you decide to become a musician?

I can speak for both Greg and I when I say, there was a point in our youth when we realized we wanted to be able to leave behind something that could serve other people after we died. Music was that thing for both of us. I think we both started playing our instruments at the same age, 12. We both got so into practicing our instruments that we stopped caring about other stuff. Both of us were athletes in school and gradually left that behind to be the best musicians we could be. Granted we didn't meet until we were out of our teens, our paths were relatively similar leading up to that point.

10. Are you satisfied with the impact it is getting Obsidian Tongue?

It has been pretty excited to watch the band grow, yes. When I think about the origins of the project it is quite bizarre to see how far it is now, getting CD orders and articles written about us from all over the world. The exposure has been nice, but there is so much more music to put out with this band. The rabbit hole goes much deeper, and I can't wait to release more developed and elaborate material.

11. What can fans expect from Obsidian Tongue in the future regarding upcoming releases, concert, etc. ..?

They can expect more elaboration on the progressive, psychedelic and melodic elements of our music. We are going to write a song for a 4-way split release with 3 other New England Black Metal bands, and after that we will do an EP that elaborates on the concepts underlying A Nest of Ravens.

12. Thank you very much for taking the time to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for the followers of Obsidian Tongue, this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.

Thank you for inviting me to speak, and thank you to the readers for caring enough to check this out. It is quite flattering.

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