sábado, 29 de enero de 2022

BOHEMYST - INTERVIEW



1. Although the creation of Bohemyst dates back to 2017, the band in one way or another comes from Avenger who had been active since 1992; What led you to create the band? Why did you choose the name Bohemyts and what does it refer to?

Correct. We decided to restart our band in 2018. We celebrated Avenger´s 25 anniversary and let the beast sleep afterwards. We had many reasons for quitting Avenger and creating Bohemyst… personal, line-up change, practical (it was still harder to be visible with name Avenger – messing with other bands of that name, movie, fighting aeroplane etc etc.… internet is full of “avenger” crap and it has been kinda hard to find our band at all..). We the new line-up we also developed writting process and suddenly it simply felt like we have a new band… more then continuation of Avenger. We decided to create a word that will have the only meaning – name of our band. We combined two words – Bohemia (old name for part of Czech Republic where we live) and Mystery (standing for our ever-since dark / obscure aestetics). 


2. Although “Čerň a smrt” is your first album with Bohemyst, with Avenger you had released about six albums, how do you face this new stage of the band? Where do you get the energy and inspiration to continue offering new music despite of the passing of the years?

We are grown dudes obviously (all of us between 36 – 49) so we cannot talk about youth enthusiasm anymore. Our band is driven by our stubborn love of metal music, by pure joy of playing our instruments, by good times spent together. In our past my(our) band has been more personal and emotional, I sometimes used it even as an alternative language and way of auto-therapy for some of my psychical problems. Bohemyst is much more relaxed, more entertaining, yet also more traditional extreme metal, brutal to the bone. We simply love it!


3. How has the process of composing and recording your album “Čerň a smrt” been? What differences can the listener find with respect to the sound of Avenger? What brands of instruments have you used for the composition and recording of the album?

Well if you wanna dissect it you may find differences here and there…. Avenger had kinda old school attitude, focused on real sound, no keyboards, no fancy arrangements etc. Also its was maybe a bit narrow-visioned as I have been the only author of vast majority of both music and lyrics thoughout the years. Avenger never had stable line-up (it has been always so hard to find good players + sustainable real metal maniacs in the country where we live…) so it all was mostly about me and my brother Ramus. When we almost split-up in 2013, basically loosing all band members except two of us (again!), something strange happened, though. One by one, we managed to build a new 5-men band again and were shocked by the input the new guys have brought. Suddenly, literally all band became creative and very initiative! This blew in a fresh air in the band and we decided to explore new ways of creating music too. Bohemyst has some orchestral arrangements, some choirs etc etc.… Also, the band has a new frontman now. Our vocalist Radek wrote all lyrics, which is very big change. To summarize it….. Avenger and Bohemyst are very bonded…. Like the children of the same parents. We still love (and always will love) the dark brutal death black metal art…. Also Im still major music author… even now in Bohemyst..  and I kinda have my signature riffing. But Bohemyst is more varied and the new members brought some new ways of thinking about music which is cool I think.



4. There is something inherent in the sound of Czech extreme metal bands that is also present in the sound of Master's Hammer or Panychida for example, in the sense of knowing how to find the right balance between the black sound and rock and pagan elements, as well like an important dose of darkness, how would you describe the sound of the album for those who haven't heard it yet and how important and inspiring are the influences of czech bands as a scene in shaping your sound?

Czech bands / metal traditions have enormous influence on our own material. Thats why we wanted to have part of “Bohemia” word in our name. We highly praise the old cults like Masters Hammer, Root, Torr, Krabathor, Debustrol, Cales…. Czech metal in 80´s / 90´s was very unique and it has marked us for eternity. Besides that, we love basically any worldwide extreme musick that is dark. Bohemyst is mostly black / death metal paced, but we have some doom elements too… or even thrashy fragments…. But it always has this gloomy foggy mysterious aura… find us on bandcamp and listen for a while…. Better than 100 descriptions :-).


5. The lyrics of your songs are written in Czech, a great success on your part, who is in charge of writing the lyrics of the songs? What themes do you deal with in them and why do you consider them important? Does the music adapt to the letters or vice versa?

I answered already (sorry)… we have new singer and he brought totally new aproach to writting his lyrics… He is a fan of horor-like movie-like atmosphere somewhere around 1800´s…. He is basically writting a small horror story for each song. Cern a Smrt (our debut album) has unified aestetics. Music and words have been carefully picked and sewn into one solid entity. Yet for next album, we plan really a 100% concept album where music will be written onto lyrics…. We have some fragments already and these sound damn promising! 


6. The album has been produced at Hellsound Studios, say that the sound obtained is perfect in terms of achieving a classic effect, somewhat removed from more modern elements, why did you decide on Hellsound Studios to carry out this album? process? Are you satisfied with the end result?

We have simple reason for using Hellsound studio. I own and operate it, its my job since 2003 :-). So the choice was very obvious. Yes. Im very proud of this production. It took us 2 years from scratch to final master but I couldnt be more happy. Im generally a fan of loud, metallic, proud, legible productions yet I tend to avoid plastic features that are often used in many studios these days… so no triggering, no faking. Real metal. We sound diffferent I think.


7. Who took care of the design of the album cover? What do you want to represent in it and how does it relate to the content of the album?

We are again within a home rank of our band. Our vocalist is a proffesional graphician (he has clients both inside and outside metal world). So it was very obvious again to let him envision his lyrics. He has had our full trust and the outcome is breathtaking. The album has really gotten distinct vibration. We are very self-made band haha...


8. The period of restrictions derived from Covid-19 has been a difficult stage for many bands, especially if we think about the impossibility of being able to offer concerts, how have you been affected by these circumstances as a band?

Yes and no. We played less concerts but we still managed to play minitour supporting hungarians Sear Bliss, we toured Cze – Germany – Holland for one week. We focus on writting new material now (probably similar to any band in the world these days :-). Covid is all a strange case. The band is not in full agreement when it comes to appoach to the pandemic, vaccination (is it more about health or about politics/business ?) etc.… World has been becoming kinda hostile place during the last two years and who knows what awaits us in the future…. But we simply focus on our art as total priority…. And this mind-set is fully satisfyinf for each of us. 


9. With almost thirty years in the extreme metal scene in a country like the Czech Republic, how do you think the scene in your country has evolved over the years? Why do you think that in some way the sound of extreme metal bands Czech black has elements that make it unique compared to other countries?

What to say here…. Its kinda hard to see and say when you sit inside this all…. Many bands split-up, many go on…. New genres are now metal too (all that “core” “nu” “post” infected garbage)…. Im growing old but somehow remaining still the same kid who loves the best acts of 80´s / 90´s. These are still the best for me. Im not following new music that much, to be honest. My Hellsound studio is mostly hired by young/ UG bands for demos and  thats mostly “oh yeah I heard these riffs already”. When having days off I usually dont rape my ears with more extreme music. I grow to love classical music a lot. Or silence is sometimes the very best music.



10. The physical editions of the album are in charge of the Dutch label Petrichor, why did you decide to collaborate with them for the edition of the album? Are you satisfied with the final result?

Very happy. The guys offered us decent conditions, very broad circulation (2600 copies first press) and made a solid promo for the album, we have never had so decent sales and so much overall positive feedback. Superb!


11. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts you attend, first albums you buy? What happened in your lives pushed you to want to be musicians?

My first attended gig was Debustrol in Volyne at my age of 12. But I was already playing drums for 1 year at that time :-)) My brother Ramus is 7 years older and he made me choose drums and play with him….. Dude it feels like Im doing music since ever…. Almost dont remember any time of my life before metal….


12. What album represents for you the essence of black metal? What recent albums have you bought?

Black metal means purity/realness, grimness, coldness, negative content to me. I will tell truth….. I haven´t  bought any music for ages… Im not the best music fan :-). Im way more into producing… rather than just consuming...


13. What future plans do you have for Bohemyst in terms of upcoming releases, concerts or reissues?

We would like to write and record new album this year. We plan to play as many gigs as possible. We plan to entertain ourselves and our fans…. Easy as that.


14. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Bohemyst fans, this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.

I would like tto thank you for interesting questions and giving us space by your side. Appreciated. I believe we have said it all… I would like to thank to the readers / fans…  and yeah... last thing. Finding us is as simple as google “Bohemyst”…. If you still read these lines, give us a chance… We are passionate about our dark metal way… maybe you will like it too. Die hard!!


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beasts Of Torah, Krowos, Cold From Beyond ‎– In Tenebris Flamma Trinitas Vol.II 1,99 €



Limited to 100 hand-numbered copies.





No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario