sábado, 25 de octubre de 2014

DAWN OF RUIN - INTERVIEW


1 The origins of the band go back to 2003, at that time you were doing call Ekhidna, how were these early days of the band? Sometime you editareis the demo "Queen of the Graveyard" belonging to this period of the band?
S: Those were exciting times for me (I'm the only one left from those early days). By then, I had already made numerous attempts at getting a band together with friends/acquaintances/total strangers, and it sometimes felt as if it just wasn't meant to be. But as soon as the first few tracks were written, then-vocalist Vena Hemiazygos and I were pretty charged up with the whole concept. At the time, we played quite simple, classic-sounding black metal. Unfortunately, "Queen of the Graveyard" is not a proper representation of our sound at the time, it came out flawed in a number of ways and we decided not to distribute it. I believe it can still be downloaded for free in the Portugal Underground blog, but that's pretty much it. It's a shame, since I'm fond of that period and would like to have a decent recording of our sound at the time. So to answer your question, no, we're not planning to release that demo.

2 In 2006, after some changes in the formation of the band's name changed to tetraplegic God, how did this change for the band? There was a change in name, but also style and influences?
S: By 2006, we had managed to find a more stable line-up, which included current drummer Nazgul and former bassist Koja. Their creative input was instrumental for the development of our sound and the inclusion of other styles and influences. However, the first name change actually came about before Koja had joined, since we had become aware of a band in Portugal whose name was almost identical to ours. We then chose to call ourselves Tetraplegic God, the name of one of our songs. It wasn't prompted by stylistic reasons, but it ended up coinciding with the aforementioned changes in the band's sound.

3 And finally since 2007 and after other changes in forming the group renamed Dawn of Ruin, why did you choose this name for the band because it refers? Dawn of Ruin finally found stability to necessary?
S: When Vena left due to musical differences, we chose to carry on with the band. We took the time to select a name that really represented the emptiness and melancholy in the band's music. Our very first gig (2008) was played under the current moniker, with Conde Satan as our vocalist. But Dawn of Ruin only found that much-needed stability in 2010-11, when Prometheus and Carpathian Wolf, who had already played with Nazgul in Obscvrii Lvnae, joined the band as guitarist and vocalist, respectively. Shortly after, Niggurath occupied the bass slot, which had been empty ever since Koja had left the band, right after the 2008 gig. Only with this full line-up have we been able to move the band forward at an acceptable pace - recording this demo and playing live.

4. and take a few years as Dawn of Ruin has been released this year when you have your first demo, how was the process of writing and recording the demo and why I have taken so long to get it ready?
S: With this stable line-up featuring two guitarists, it made sense to revisit some of the old songs and work on new arrangements, whenever we felt it was adequate. It took a while, as you can imagine. Plus, as soon as we had rehearsed the early material and everyone was feeling comfortable with it, we played a number of gigs throughout 2012 and 2013, since we were anxious to play live with the new members. This didn’t help matters concerning the delay in the recording. Regarding composition, only one of the tracks in the demo –Morte Vermelha - was actually written by the recording line-up. The song writing process was more fluid than before, since many of the riffs already existed. We only took a bit longer handling the arrangements and additional guitar lines. The lyrics were also the first to be written by our current vocalist. With all of this in mind, we decided it was important to record a song that had been written together with the new members, even thought it might sound somewhat out of place in the demo, especially since the other songs are quite old, they had actually been previously recorded for “Queen of the Graveyard”. As for the recording process, it did take quite long, too long in our opinion, but the point is we wanted to record with our own – limited – know-how and resources. We recorded everything in our own rehearsal place, using medium-to-low quality equipment and no sampling whatsoever. Since we wanted to keep it as analog as possible, and as we came to learn a lot of techniques just as we were working on it, the process became lengthier. We plan to keep on recording like this, at least until we can split expenses with some label – should this ever happen, of course.

5 The demo consists of eight topics, how you define the sound of the demo for someone who has not heard it yet and why the inclusion at the end of two themes of God Ekhidna and tetraplegic and two live?
S: The tracks we recorded for "Poço da Infâmia" may be generally described as black metal, with some quite audible influences from other styles. It's bleak and melancholic, with outbursts of fury from time to time, and some slower, moody segments. It’s certainly not ultra-fast or raw-as-hell BM. We’ve been told it hearkens back to the late 90s BM sound, which may be due to a number of factors, such as musical structures, production or even our penchant for guitar/bass harmonies.
Since we played live in a number of Portuguese venues during the recording process, we thought it'd be a good idea to add a few bonus live tracks to the demo. Since we had recently recorded a gig, it made sense to show the listeners a bit of the band’s live dynamics. We’re actually talking about four live tracks, two of which are also in the first part of the demo: Ekhidna and Morte Vermelha. The other two - Tetraplegic God and Wretched Abyss – have never been properly recorded before and will feature in the band’s next release. This way, we could also include some songs we haven't recorded yet, and which showcase the more complex, varied style the band has evolved into. Such is the case with "Wretched Abyss".

6 Your music is complex in terms of influences and feelings conveyed, what are your main musical inspirations to compose and write lyrics Dawn of Ruin?
S: It's not that easy to know where it all comes from, musically speaking. I guess the common ground between the band members is Black Metal, but there're really lots of other styles we're fond of. Between ourselves, we have a pretty wide range of musical tastes.
I've written most of the music since the birth of the band, but with the latest songs we've used a much more interactive process, which has become our own song writing method, so to speak. Since I've created most of the riffs thus far, I can say that many of them aren't really directly inspired by black metal, or even metal as such. They often come into by mind with completely different arrangements, sometimes even as vocal parts for a text I might have on my head at the time. I'll just play them on the guitar, try them out and, if I deem them worthy, show them to the rest of the band. They eventually come out with a metal/black metal sound, so I guess the influences from bands similar in style to Dawn of Ruin manifest themselves in the arrangements and structure, but not really in the original ideas themselves.
CW: My inspiration for the lyrics is the burden of existence, but I try not to be too straightforward about it. I get most of my ideas from books and movies and I try to pick certain details or concepts and then expand them as much as I can in the lyrics. In a way, it becomes a story inside a story, although there's always a central idea in everything I write for this band: Everything is chaos.

7 The Portuguese black metal scene is more interesting, what band would you choose to do a split and why?
S: It's funny you should ask, since we're actually planning to release a split, but it’s actually an interesting topic. It's not easy at all to find similar-sounding bands in Portugal. There are lots of black metal bands, but many of them play raw black metal, while our own music is perhaps of a darker, melodic strain. This can be an issue not just for split releases, but also when playing live. We’re often left with the feeling that Dawn Of Ruin are somewhat out of place in the line-up. As for the split itself, we cannot as of yet let you know who the other bands are, but it’s safe to say they’re friends of ours, bands with whom we’ve shared the stage a few times. The idea came from one of those bands – they felt it was good for us to join forces for this release and some live dates. We’re hoping to get the split-CD out there next year.

8 Satisfied with the impact that you are reaching with your first demo? Being how is the response from the crowd at concerts?
S: We've had a few reviews and interviews in the past few months, and the feedback has been mostly positive. I always try not to get my hopes up for pretty much anything in life, so it has been a pleasant surprise!
We haven't played live since early 2014, but the crowds – not everyone, of course, but the most attentive - seem interested in our music. We're not a hugely interactive band, but there's certainly a nice vibe to the shows, and I believe the general atmosphere surrounding the band is decently reproduced in a live setting.

9 How did you get started in music, first concert, cds, etc. ..? Why did you decide to be a musician?
S: As a kid, I was mostly into ambient and classical music, as well as some prog/symphonic rock. When I was about 14, I became really interested in metal, including its "extreme" subgenres.
Among other albums that made a real impact on me during my teens, I can recall the following: Amorphis - Tales from the Thousand Lakes; Rick Wakeman - Journey to the Centre of the Earth; Edge of Sanity - Purgatory Afterglow; and Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse.
I remember attending a couple of Moonspell gigs in those early days, and they were pretty inspiring as well.
All of a sudden, I was following a lot of bands, reading zines and whatnot, so it was pretty natural for me to start creating music of my own. At age 17, I picked up the guitar and have been playing/writing music ever since. I guess I'll be doing it for as long as the passion's still there.

10 Who designed the album cover and how it relates to the content of the album?
S: The cover features a photo by Will Glenn (Earth Hart Images) We came upon it on his deviantART page (http://earthhart.deviantart.com) and felt it was a very good option for our cover. It's claustrophobic in nature, pretty dark and mysterious. The entrance depicted seems like a possible pathway into the well ("Poço") in the title, but not too obvious in visual terms.

11 Was not there any record label interested in editing the demo?
S: We talked about it and decided we'd prefer to release this demo ourselves, so we haven't really sent the music to any labels before the demo came out. If a good opportunity comes around in the future, we might change this course. Otherwise, it's DIY all the way.

12 What future plans do you have for Dawn of Ruin of upcoming launches, concerts, etc?
S: Right now, we're working hard to prepare the recording process for all of our back catalogue (about 8 songs). We've been rehearsing them for ages now, and have played them live at various occasions, so it's high time they're properly released. Some of those songs will most likely feature in the split we mentioned earlier in the interview.
Our priority right now is the recording of those tracks, but we will get back on stage when it's all done, with freshly released material under our belts, as well as some new tracks we're working on at the same time.

13 Thank you very much for your time, talking to Black Metal Spirit. If you want to add something to the followers of Dawn of Ruin, now is the time. Were the questions I hope to your liking. 
S: Thanks so much for interviewing us and reviewing our demo! Should your readers be interested in hearing/seeing some more of Dawn of Ruin's music, they can visit our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DawnOfRuinPT) , Bandcamp (http://dawnofruin.bandcamp.com/releases) and Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/DawnOfRuinPT) pages, purchase our demo or get in touch with us via dawnofruin.pt@gmail.com. All the best for Black Metal Spirit!

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