1. Irden was born recently as a band, however all the members of Irden were present in the band Hayser, at what moment do you feel the need to put an end to Hayser and create Irden? Why did you choose the name Irden? which refers to?
J: Hayser ended because one member left the band, so we decided to start something new with the three remaining members. The Name Irden is an old german word that fits perfectly into the lyrical and aesthetic concept.
M: Finding a bandname that is short, catchy and unique is really tough. For a long time I wanted the play in a band that incorporates German lyrics. So I looked for interesting old German words and found the adjective „irden“ that has the meaning of „made from soil“
A: When Jason left Hayser, we first of all thought about trying to find a new member as exchange for him. But, - as you might know, it’s hard to find someone new, that equally fits; like Jason did. We all were, and still are friends, and that’s what we think is very important for us all. It’s hard to find someone that fits musically, and it’s even harder to get someone on board, that could also be a real friend.
Additionally to that i always wanted to enhance what i musically do - and in this case i got the chance to get fully on the mic, and try myself out in this role. Really cool.
2. "Eins" is the first album that you release under the name Irden, how was the writing and recording process for this album? How has your way of working changed compared to what you did in Hayser?
J:We started the writing process in early 2019 and learned a lot how to create music as a three piece. The writing process was slightly familiar to Hayser.
M: I think the process was indeed very exciting and we all learned a lot. Because the Hayser songs are mostly uptempo and quite different, the process with irden was more like a learning curve in playing proper blackened doom metal shaken up with other styles we love.
A:At first we started to evaluate the real direction in which we wanted to go with IRDEN and built some sort of concept that also incl. three more outputs like the first release. (So hopefully we get productive again in the near future - song writing for the next output has already started). We rearranged amps and speakers, - although we were one person fewer than before, we wanted to build some sort of fat sound with the left three, - and therefore we decided to use two amps for both - guitar and bass, and to add some more effects, to create atmospheric parts. This still could be enhanced. The songwriting process was nearly the same, normally we develop ideas, riffs and such @ home, and bring them to the rehearsal room. In there we start bringing the ideas together and also check how songs could work together in regards to the concept. - What was very different with Hayser was, that, in that times, we did not really focus; - more or less we did not care about stilistic things (Black, Death, Core, whatever) - we built a complete mess (in a good way) in most cases, what made it hard to ‘hear’ Hayser :D.
3. You have incorporated black elements into your sound, however you retain others such as hardcore, doom or sludge that were previously present.Is it very difficult to capture all these styles in the sound of your album or is it something that comes out naturally and fluidly?
J:All these influences comes very naturally and fluidly along with the jamming and writing the songs.
M: I personally listen to many very different music-styles. Therefore I like to experiment with mixing genres. Since the age of 16 years I am really into Black Metal and the atmosphere it creates in a song.
In the end we come up with several ideas and mix and match until we love it as an entire song.
A:This totally comes from the different backgrounds, and history that we three have. I always was into Black & Death Metal, some punk, some crust, some alternative, some new metal. Jens on the other side, is totally into the old school Death Meath / Crust / Punk. Marco has played in a GothRock Band in the far past. So it really comes totally naturaly what we bring out.
4. "Eins" contains four songs, How will you describe the sound of the album? What bands and sounds have had the greatest influence in defining and composing the sound of the album?
J: Our sound is something between doom/slugde and blackmetal, some people will call it Post-Metal. Name it how you like it. We have so many Influences from electronic to black and death metal, it´s hard to mention some bands.
M: I think EINS sounds powerful, atmospherical, dark and dense, yet groovy.
As for the drums I’d say the main inspirations were Satyricon, Amenra and Cult of Luna
A:Bands that i always followed are for example - Paradise Lost, Katatonia, Novembre, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, Emperor; but as Jens already stated - there are so many influences - too many to name them all.
We tried to create some sort of earthen sound, containing slight melodies and atmosphere.
5. Death, decadence and destruction are recurring themes in your lyrics, why do you find these themes attractive? Do you feel more comfortable with a more "social" theme as a reflection of your previous hardcore stage? Why do you choose German for your letters?
J:If you watch the world around us from a negative side then you may find so much inspiration about these themes and can combine them with a little social. We felt more comfortable with these lyrics instead of some fictional stuff. German is our natural language and we think it fits perfect for the music and for us.
M: German as our mother tongue is obviously easier for us to write in and also has a very special and somewhat harsh sound to it. Plus: All of my former bands wrote in English. So I really pushed us trying something different.
A:You can believe it, - when we recorded the vocals early 2020, I really felt some sort of uncomfortable with the things going around with the virus. You could name ‘eins’ as the first chapter of a soundtrack to the world pandemic. It fits so scary to what happened in feb/march 2020 that i thought about canceling the vocals. - but we did it, and that was a good decision I think.
Regarding the german language that we use - we started to write the lyrics in english at first, but directly saw, that with those topics that we speak about, and with the audience that we will reach, it really would make more sense, and possibly would be easier, to directly switch to german language. - And that’s what we did.
Of course we already “were liked” by communities from which you don’t want to have a ‘like’ - it was clear that this would happen, with these lyrics, with this band name, and with german language, but i hope that they already understood that we’re not supporting them with the statements that we published.
6. Who was in charge of the design of the cover? What do you intend to reflect with it and how does it relate to the musical content of the album?
J:The Cover is a photo we decided to choose and we think it reflects the sound and the lyrical themes in a perfect way.
M: I was in charge of the cover. I wanted to create an artwork that shows earth/nature but also has a dark vibe to it. So I chose that subtle rock/tree/moss-macro image. Fun fact: If you rotate the cover 90° clockwise, the holes in the rock/moss look a little like a skull
A:Yeah - funny - it’s only a stock image, - but it perfectly fits the music and what it’s about.
7. You have always maintained an almost total independence when editing your work, do you feel more comfortable maintaining control over your music thanks to desktop publishing? Was there no interest on the part of any record label to edit your music? What is the practically total absence of physical format in your editions?
J:We want all control in our Hands so we decided to go the total independent way.
Maybe if some label is interested in our work we will discuss this.
Meanwhile there is a Vinyl LP release of EINS available @ our bandcamp site.
M: There was no actual benefit in going for a record deal in 2020. Plus we like to have the control over deciding what and what NOT to do.
A:With a label you not only get services - what i suggest that you also might get are duties that you have to deal with. With the way we walked so far, in more or less full independence, we can do what we want. We’re no studied musicians, and do not have ambitions to earn our bread with the music. It’s more or less a hobby. It’s great to get a release out every 2-3 years and play some gigs in between. At some point in time it would also be great to play some sort of bigger open air, like the partysan in germany (where , what i think, we would perfectly fit).
And - i’m really proud about the sound that we created - independently, i think a label is not really needed.
8. How has your old fans been caught up in the new band? In a city like Osnabrück, is there a place for an extreme metal scene? How do you fit into the German extreme metal scene?
J:The general reactions where very positive, from our old fans and from the music scene here in Osnabrück. Our City has a slightly good music scene with bands from all genres and many bands that play heavy guitar music from hardcore over doom and grind to black and deathmetal. Dont know if we fit in some scene here in Germany, for me personally i feel we fit more into the Sludge/Hardcore Scene but we will see how it comes.
M: EINS was received very positively in our hometown. Traditionally Osnabrück has a rather flourishing rock and metal scene and some quite well known bands. Such as Secrets Of The Moon.
A:Feedback so far was just great. Because of the pandemic, we’ve not had a chance to bring out IRDEN on stage. So - the real first IRDEN gig is still to come.
9. Hayser had come to give concerts, are there chances, once the health alert for Covid has passed, that you take Irden live?
J:Yes Irden will defitly play live if the Covid-19 pandemic has passed. We see us as a live band.
M: Can‘t wait for bringing EINS finally to stage
A:Of course. We definitely want to get on stage as soon as possible.
10. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts that you attend, first albums that you buy? What happened in your lives made you decide to be musicians?
J:The first concerts that impressed me very much where Kreator with Hate Squad and Obituary with Pitchshifter and Carcass here in Osnabrück. First Albums were Metallicas Kill Em All, Sodoms Agent Orange, Maidens Number of the
Beast and Entombeds Left Hand Path around when i were 14 – 15 Years old.
At age of 17 i want to play an instrument and for no reason i take the bass guitar and loved it.
M: My first concert was Bad Religion in Bielefeld at PC69. The first metal concert was in Osnabrück. In Flames, Dark Tranquility, Children of Bodom and Arch Enemy played a show together at a Club called Works. That was so awesome.
The very first record I bought with my own money was an Elvis Presley bootleg I bought at our local grocery store. The first metal record I bought was Rammstein - Sehnsucht. The first more extreme record was Cradle of Filth - Cruelty and the beast.
I started at the age of 10 learning to play keyboards, which honestly completely sucks, but helped a lot later on writing own songs. Later at the age of 15 I started playing the drums. That was the moment I joined our school band which became my first punk band and a hardcore band in the end. After that I played the drums in some semi-successful bands (Hayser, Spirit Corpse and Rozencrantz) for several years, the albums can all be streamed via Spotify ;-).
I also did vocals for a couple of bands but playing drums is my real passion.
A:My first concert was Sodom in the Hyde Park in Osnabrück. I really good place for concerts in these times.
The first album as LP as Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast. Later i bought Sodom - Tapping the Vain and Paradise Lost - Shades of God. For Maiden, i lost the trail at some point in time, not really sure why. I still like all three very much. Buying and Hearing music was my greatest hobby for a long time in my teenage years.
As Jens stated, at the age of about 17, Jens and myself decided that it no longer is enough to just hear music .. - no - we needed to make music on our own, and just bought instruments. First of all real cheap stuff, but it was a start. We searched for a drummer, and started to get some songs together - in these times we called it ‘punk rock’ - but, as we never had lessons, it wasn’t something that you want to put out or on stage :D .
Later on, after some years of practice, we found a new drummer and founded the first real band - ‘Bitter Orange’ (a combination between punk and stoner, later also some hardcore, could also be found on bandcamp, i think). We played many years and many gigs with that band in the past and still do for special events in our hometown (also a real friendship with all members).
While some of the BO members started studies in other cities, rehearsal sessions got very few and we’Re hard to get scheduled. So we decided to cancel Bitter Orange. Jens and myself then started to search for new persons and found the first drummer of Hayser in these times and started that project also with three persons. Hayser got more personal, and again less personal and a Drummer Change (Marco joinded) - and we recorded two albums with it. The rest is history and where we are now … :D IRDEN
11. Which album represents the essence of black metal for you? What albums have you recently bought?
J: I am the guy with least black metal background in the band but back in the days i liked Immortals Pure Holocaust, Impaled Nazarens Tol compt norz norz norz and Emperors in the Nightside Eclipse a lot. The last three LP´s i bought were Carnage Dark Recollections Re-Issue, Zeal&Ardor Stranger Fruit and The Ocean - Phanerozoic II: Mesozoic and the Nasum Blasting shit to bits DVD.
M: Tough question. BM albums I regularly listen to are:
Satyricon - Rebel Extravaganza, Carpathian Forest - Fuck you all,
MGLA - Exercises in Futility, Dark Fortress - Eidolon, Gaahls Wyrd - Gastir
Since I only streaming via Apple Music: The latest BM album I added to my library was Uada - Djinn
A:OMG - you want me to name ‘one’ album that represents the essence of black metal. I suggest this is not really possible. I like diverse stuff in the black metal genre, from the more comercial things (like Cradle of Filth) to things that are more or less underground (like Heretoir).
Latest Albums are: Benediction - Scriptures (they still can do it :D), Ulver - Flowers of Evil, Dritte Wahl - 3D
12. What immediate future plans do you have for the band, in terms of new releases, editions, concerts, etc?
J: Causing the lack of live action due to covid-19 we started to wrtite new material and planning some merch bits and rehearse for hopefully incoming live gigs.
M: Gigging asap. Writing material for ZWEI.
A: As stated already, - we want to get into the rehearsal room to get ‘Zwei’ done, - first ideas have been proposed and are valuable already. But no finished songs yet and no plans for the next recording by now.
Covid needs to get finished now - and then we want to get on stage.
13. Thank you very much for the time dedicated to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Irden fans this is the place. I hope the questions have been to your liking.
J: Much thanks for your interest in our work, buy our album or listen to it on bandcamp. support all the little bands and organisations and venues in your hometown through
Covid-19 and stay healthy.
M: Thanks a lot. Stay safe and healthy
A:What Jens says :D !! Stay healthy !!
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Azziard / Nirnaeth – Azziard / Nirnaeth (7” Limited to 100 numbered copies on white vinyl) 17,99 €
Limited to 100 numbered copies on white vinyl.
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