The band has been active since 2008, what led you to create Grief of Destruction? Why did you choose the name Grief of Destruction and what does it refer to?
Grief Of Destruction (G.O.D.) has been created under others names during the past decade to clearly distinguish a new and forward-looking state of mind as well as declaring the fathomless, cruel circumstances and the occasionally catharsis-driven distraction.
Before G.O.D. was established, the band was named “Hydra” and “Nebelland” for a while. At that time only three of five from our current line-up were part of the band. There were some temporary members - amongst others we had a Keyboardist in this early stage. In 2010 Stefan (Guitar) joined the Band and five years ago our line-up was completed with Markus, who's playing the Bass-Guiter.
Talking about our band-name - let's keep it short: many, many years ago a great musician and tough guy wrote a song called "Eve Of Destruction". As the main-theme is war and extinction and "GOD" is a cynical abbrevation in our opinion, we decided to apply this name for our band.
First of all, it is striking that despite the time you have been together you have only released a couple of albums, the first “Shattering Atmosphere” in 2014, what is the reason for this short number of releases in such a long period of time?
Well, we all understand this as a hobby, some of us have to care about their families and everyone of us has to struggle with every-day-normal live. We work as Engineers, Financial Analysts, Students and just want to bring cool music to the people out there. Sometimes live, sometimes on CD. Basically our approach is not to play a live-show every weekend, but we're eager to play selected live-shows. No matter, where it is. But don't worry: we already set a target for our third album - it should not take longer than the period between our first and second LP :-)
"Shattering Atmosphere" was your first album which you had a lot of time to dedicate to writing and recording, what do you remember about all this process related to this first album? Did you expect a greater repercussion in public and media?
You're right, it took us a long time, but fortunately we're not driven by any other powers than ourselves. We are the ones to decide, when and what we release. But 10, 12 years ago the band consisted of different members than nowadays. Also, that was the time of wild life. We were much younger without any ties and also besides making music we had a lot of fun in our rehearsal room - we celebrated until dawn almost every weekend. Like all the other aspects in life music was "merely" one part of our development, and so we had no bigger expectations in terms of feedback for "Shattering Atmosphere"!
Six years after this first release comes the continuation in the form of "Black Void" an album that mainly shows you as a band that faces their proposal openly. How has the sound evolved with respect to the previous album? composition and recording process for this new album? What brands of instruments did you use to record and compose the album?
Good moment for a big shout-out to M. Kiese, who was our sound-engineer for "Black Void". Great work, good guy :-) The composition was not much different compared to the first LP. One of the major changes is that we don't use Keyboards anymore. Samples are a different but interesting story besides guitars, vocals, bass-guitar and drums... Our lyrics still are the spwan of our singer, our guitar wizard Stefan is responsible for most of the riffs and the rest of the evolution process of each and every song is based on simply performing it together.
Talking about our gear: we use Paiste, Pearl, Mainl, Evans (Drums); Engl-Amps, Line6, B.C. Rich amongst others (Guitars), Ampeg (Bass), HK/t.racks and Sennheiser (Recording/Mic).
A base of black and styles such as thrash, melodic death or metalcore, are found to a greater or lesser extent in your sound. How will you define the sound of your latest album “Black Void” for those who have not yet heard it?
Rough and archetypical. Impulsive and getting reliefed from pain! Feelings from the deepest inner black are mirrored on this album. It's personal. It also reflects our several directions and musical influences, that accompied us during the past two decades.
Regarding influences, with such a variety of genres it is also difficult to opt for a solo. From your point of view, which bands influence your sound? Is it very difficult, in a five-member band, to reach a consensus on as for the final sound of your album?
You put it in a nutshell! – it’s difficult, but not impossible. And we always try to find our style, our way by taking this as a challenge and putting it into our music. Play, listen, try again... Of course, at the end of the day the outcome is a mixture of what we were listening to through the past years – just to name a few: Metallica (of course), Avenged Sevenfold, Bloodbath, Gojira, Iron Maiden, Behemoth, Dimmu Borgir, Secrets Of The Moon, Keep Of Kalessin, Rammstein, Moonspell, Sylosis, Unearth...
Your lyrics, among other topics, deal with death, but what other topics do you deal with in your texts? How can we relate the music and the lyrics? Do you adapt the lyrics to the music or vice versa?
In most of the cases we adapt the story, the lyrics to the music. We always try to balance the aggressive parts of lyrics with heavier parts of the music - no matter, if it's a Blastbeat on the Drums or a crazy guitar line.
Not only death, but also strange behavior of humanity in every aspect of life are part of the lyrics as well as tales and analogies, that are thought-provoking.
The nucleus in terms of the band's line-up has remained quite solid throughout the years that you have been active, what is your secret to stay together? In all these years, how have you seen the evolution of the music scene? extreme metal of a city like Nuremberg?
Short answer: friendship and the common grasp, that we all see this as our (favorite) hobby. We don’t need to stress out, because it’s simply not a must. We have fun together, while we’re pursuing our music.
The evolution of the scene is immense, because there are so many bands that spring up like mushrooms. Nowadays it’s easy to reach a big fan base with all these platforms out there. The good thing is, that you may become popular or at least reach a bigger listenership – even if you come from a smaller town called Nuremberg. The bad thing: it’s not that easy to gain much gig opportunities right around the corner, because either the venues want to get paid (bad for smaller groups) or they don’t want to have “extreme” music like ours or we’re simply to old 😊 Basically if you’re willed to drive a little longer and don’t want to earn money (we’re always ok with getting beer and a travelling allowance) you’ll always have the chance to play in the Southern-Germany area.
For the edition of your two albums you have opted for self-publishing, why do you opt for desktop publishing, is it a way of maintaining greater control over your work? Has there been no interest on the part of any record label for the edition of the albums?
Yep, on the one hand there were simply no offers and on the other hand this freedom and independence comes along with a lot of advantages: we are the rulers in terms of text content, song-writing, time-lines and layout/design of our albums; and at the end of the day no excuses are necessary.
Who is in charge of designing the album cover? What do you intend to convey to the listener with this art-work and in what way is it related to music?
Our latest design was created by an US-designer. Originally, we wanted to have a completely individual designed layout. After the first ideas were put on paper we realized, that it’s easier and faster to buy something from the open market.
The front covers atmosphere visualizes what our music is all about: treading a dark path.
In the past you have taken the Grief Of Destruction proposal to live, an aspect that due to the situation experienced during the confinement has not been possible with the new album, what has not been able to offer concerts and lose some contact with fans? Has this period of confinement helped you to explore other fields when composing?
We all had to suffer from the confinements, beyond question. Talking about our band-related restrictions: we were not able to rehearse together for more than 7 months – what a pity! However, we took this as an opportunity to have a break. No one of us sat down and wrote new songs, we only had some Online-meetings, were drinking and talking was more appreciated than creating new sounds. So, it was kind of an creative break. Some weeks ago, when we met again, it sounded like we never had break. And by the way: in October 2020 we had our last gig. A very special one, because the audience was placed on chairs, masks were already required, registration necessary… Hopefully at least in 2022 this shit won’t be mandatory anymore and we’re looking forward to catch up a gig which originally was planned for April 2020. Guess, what the show-stooper was!
Which album defines for you the essence of black metal? What last albums have you bought?
I think, one is even to less to describe the essence, but the first one, which came to my mind: “In The Nightside Eclipse” by Emperor.
The last three albums I bought: “Endorphin” by Infected Rain, “Memoirs” by Caliban and “Fortitude” by Gojira.
How were your beginnings in music: first albums you bought, first concerts you attended, etc. What did you do in your life, did you decide to start playing an instrument?
Nirvana, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Korn, System Of A Down, Pantera, Maiden… The first concert I personnally attended was a festival: Rock im Park, as it’s directly located in Nuremberg. When listening to all this great music, after attending a few more concerts and later finding a guitar from a former band-mates dad – we just sat together around the bonfire and had our first outdoor rehearsal. After a few weeks the first equipment was bought and the musical path was sketched.
What more immediate future plans do you have for the band, in terms of upcoming releases, concerts, reissues, etc?
At the moment we’re about to put some older stuff into a new vest. There’s really some cool stuff we started years ago. Some things were not finished, for some songs the recording quality is brutally bad. This may be released next year – or later, if another “higher power” thwarts us again…
And we think about to cover some older stuff; maybe something completely different just to expand our personal borders.
As soon as live concerts are allowed without any restrictions for everybody we sure will be back on stage.
Thank you very much for the time dedicated to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Grief of Destruction the place. I hope the questions have been to your liking
Thanks for having us and giving us the opportunity for such a detailled interview! Our job is not to make recommendations – as already mentioned: we only wish to be back on stage soon and have a good time with the people who like our music. To go postal, celebrating the music together and to forget about every day normal life for a while. We’ll be back – soon! Live and the day will come we release a new album. And maybe this interview will give us the chance to get a greater spanish fan-base :-)
¡Gracias!
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Nevoa – The Absence Of Void 13,99 €
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