1. When did you decide to create the band? Why did you choose the name Opprobre and what does it refer to?
I formed the band with Vincent L. in the middle of 2015. Quickly Clément R. joins the band and we’ve begun to work on our first songs. The name Opprobre deals with the idea of bringing shame on someone, letting him alone. When we wrote the first lyrics for the band, we found that this name fits really well with the introspective aspects of the texts and we’ve kept it.
2. How was the composition and recording process for your new album? How is your way of working on the new songs? What brands of instruments do you use to compose and make the recordings?
For “Fragments de Destinées”, I composed most of songs shortly after the release of our first album “Le Naufrage”. However, we took our time to slowly shape the definitive forms of the tracks. For exemple, “Cendres”, the final track of the album was slightly shorter and I’ve created the intro piano part several months after that. When I compose, I’m alone most of the time to capture a certain introspective feeling with a guitar or a piano.
For the recording process, we recorded the guitars, synths and bass in our home studios and we booked some studio sessions for the drums and for the vocals. For the drum, we’ve worked with Brett Caldas-Lima (Tower Studio) and we’re really satisfied with the results ! He also did the mastering of the album.
3. Elements related to post-metal and also shoegaze are present in the sound of “Fragments de destinées”, what bands and styles have helped shape the sound of this album? What influences can the listener recognize in the sound? How would you describe the sound of the album for those who have not heard yet?
The sound of this album was inspired by some post-metal and post-rock recordings such as “Sunbather” by Deafheaven, “Ecailles de Lune” by Alcest, some old Ride or Slowdive albums, “F#A infinite” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor and some Opeth’s albums like “Blackwater Park” and “Ghost Reveries”. We really love the contrasts between the different atmospheres, between the brightest and softest parts and on the contrary the most tortured and aggressive parts. Every of these albums have a particular way to express it and, with Opprobre, we want to express it on our own way.
4. Being a group of five members, I suppose that the influences of each member of the band will be different, is it very difficult to reach a consensus when it comes to shaping and shaping the sound of Opprobre? of sight and influences affects a greater richness of sound for the band? How do you consider that the sound of the band has evolved between your two albums?
In reality, even if some influences differ between all of us, we can easily agree on a main direction. We are all very big fans of black, prog and that links us on the same path. For example, we are all fans of Opeth, Alcest etc. The small differences between us come sometimes from the way we bring a little influence on the played parts, especially when we prepare the songs live. Between the two albums, I would say that the progressive aspect of the music was more emphasized. there are many more complex parts, interweaving between the guitars, the different layers of pianos and orchestral arrangements, the walls of voices etc.
5. Vincent Lievre and Olivier Dufresnoy are in charge of writing the texts of your songs, texts that are somehow inspired by writers such as Victor Hugo. How is it done and how are these texts related to your music and in what way? Can you make them fit?
For “Fragments de Destinées”, the text and the vocal parts were the last elements we’ve crafted during the composition process. In general, We prefer to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere of the pieces and to let us impregnate by these nuances before writing texts.We wrote the texts in a permanent dialogue in order to find the best ways to formulate the ideas we wanted to evoke.The majority of the texts of the songs have one or more quotations from romantic authors (Poe, Hugo etc.) which serve as a backbone and guideline to the themes of the songs.From these quotations, we write our texts by letting us guide by the atmosphere and we work and refine them then as the stage of composition progresses. Some texts as the one of “Cendres” have been completely rewritten during this phase compared to the first drafts to better stick to the solemn atmosphere of the songs.
6. Who was in charge of the album cover design, what does it represent and how does it relate to the content of the album?
The cover was made by the Austrian illustrator Irrwisch.When we got in touch with him, he asked us to send him the lyrics of our songs (which we had to translate entirely into English for the occasion) so he could get into our themes. From there, he proposed a figurative approach. Since the album deals with themes such as the collapse of civilizations through the experiences of two individuals. These experiences mix their doubts, their hopes, their expectations and their mistakes which can be symbolically represented by fragments of broken glass that show all the complexity of the paths of life.
7. Most of you come from Montpellier, what can you tell us about the black metal scene in your place of origin and how does a band like yours fit into the French scene with a sound that has more to do with it? with Alcest's proposal that, for example, the groups of the black legions of the nineties?
In France, we’ve got a really diversified Black metal scene. It’s really changing since a few years already, between the development of bands with a blackgaze tendency directly inherited from Alcest's sound, Amesoeurs, Les Discrets... Some more experimental bands closer to the sounds of Deathspell Omega, others more anchored in medievalist influences like Darkenhold. There are really a lot of different microcosms of influences and approaches!
Concerning us, I would say that we are at the crossroads of several atmospheric inspirations linked to the blackgaze movement but also including more inspirations close to the prog' scene. The inspiration of bands like Opeth is integrated in our music with others more classical for a black metal band. In Montpellier, I don't know many other bands in our style in recent years. It's either in a more classical movement, or more occult in terms of black metal.
8. For a band like Opprobre, used to offering concerts, I suppose the period of restrictions due to Covid-19 will have negatively affected them in this regard. How did a band, during this time, how did they deal with this situation with the recording of a album in between? How did you keep in touch with your followers?
The period of lockdown and shutdown caused a delay of about a year in the release of our album compared to what we had originally planned. It also completely scrapped the idea of a tour following the release of the album... But it also gave us time to evolve our approach and to create other projects and other compositions. The first confinement has allowed us to create what will probably be the keystone of our next album and has given us more time to think and renew our musical proposal! It also allowed us to take a step back on the live show and on how we wanted to do it in the future. We have a lot of projects at this level with notably a desire to develop the immersive aspect and to play even more on the contrasts. Maintaining a link was not necessarily obvious but fortunately the few opportunities of rehearsals during these periods when we were not fully confined and the period of promotion of the album were the occasion to maintain a certain link with the listeners in order to wait until the return to a more normal state.
9. The Klonosphère record label has been commissioned to carry out the physical format edition of “Fragments de destinées”. How is contact with Klonosphère to carry out the album edition? Are you satisfied with the editing and promotion work carried out by Klonosphère?
The contact with the Klonosphere is going very well, we are very happy with the promotion and distribution campaign they have done with us for this album. They gave us precious advices, recommendations and we worked together in order to promote the album during a period where it was complicated because of the lack of concerts. They also allowed us to speak with a lot of webzines and specialized journalists in order to develop the approach of our music on this album, always with extremely sympathetic and motivating people for a young band like ours. We are really glad about this collaboration!
10. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts you attend, first albums you buy? What did you do in your life that made you want to be a musician?
Since I was a little kid, I've been very interested in the arts (especially drawing) and in depicting the inner worlds that were going through my head. I spent a lot of time discovering music at the same time as I was drawing. The very first album I bought was Iron Maiden's Brave New World, an album that has always touched me because of its epic power and at the same time its atmosphere that depicts deserts as well as oceans (in my mind). The large instrumental parts on this album have always made me imagine great journeys and this feeling is what I want to recreate, I guess, in the most atmospheric moments of our songs... Later on, I discovered bands like Pain of Salvation which have marked me even more on this " whole " artistic immersion, the link between images, texts and music.
The very first concert I did was in 2010 when Motorhead came to Toulouse, it was a real blast. Discovering the world of the live shows with this synergy between the music delivered by the musicians and the energy of the public was something really powerful in terms of feelings. It really impacted me and gradually contributed to forge my desire to practice music and express something through it.
11. Which album represents for you the essence of black metal? What last albums have you bought?
One of the albums that represents the most black metal for me is the album “In the Nightside Eclipse” by Emperor. I find that it delivers a really deep atmosphere, as much rage as introspective with extremely visceral, tortured riffs and at the same time with a very significant musicality. His successor is also really astonishing, it's hard for me to choose one without mentioning the other. Moreover, for me another band that represents the polymorphic approach of black metal is Ulver with its will to distill its universe without being constrained to expected and heard codes. A good example of that for me is "The marriage of heaven & hell" with its hybridization which leans towards the trip-hop : To sound Black Metal, it also means play with the expected codes and not fear to evolve your sound.
The last black metal album I bought was "To Lay Like Old Ashes" by Austere, I took the opportunity of the vinyl reissue to acquire this monument of depressive black metal. I warmly recommend it to all those who like dark, skin-deep atmospheres and glimpses of hope in the middle of an ocean of opaque darkness!
12. What future plans do you have for Opprobre regarding upcoming releases, concerts or reissues?
We are currently working on new material for an upcoming album, the demos are taking shape and we are extremely excited to get back in the studio to bring these new songs to life! We are also working for our return on stage with a new line up and a new setlist. We are extremely excited to finally be able to play the tracks from "fragments de destinées" on stage!
13. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Opprobre fans, this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.
Thank you a lot for these questions! It was a great pleasure to take the time to develop a bit more our approach on "Fragments de destinées" and we are extremely excited to perform it on stage.
Olivier
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