Frostbitten Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?

Well, Frostbitten is just another one-man black metal project, where it allows to me to create some very dark music. Started recording when I was 16, when I received an 8 track recorder for my birthday, I recorded a couple of demo’s (which are terrible) and from there I’ve just made many releases.

2. Your releases have covered alot of different styles of black metal as well as some doom, can you tell us more about your musical sound and what it is that motivates you to change your musical style with each release?

I like to think of my sound as different for each release though some tend to blur a bit, for instance ‘A Famine of the soul’ I was heavily inspired by Wolves In The Throne Room and DSBM bands such as ‘Nocturnal Depression’ so this was reflected in the stripped back, long song lengths. Whilst my latest release ‘Danse! For Macabre Shall Come’ is largely inspired by old Xasthur, his demo ‘A Gate Through Blood Stained Mirrors’ captures the essence of Burzum like no one has. So was my first release with keyboards to get an ambient, but almost haunting sound, except I used the album to add a surge of melody as well, which I think gave the music more depth.

3. Can you tell us a little bit more about the lyrical topics you have covered with the music of Frostbitten?

Lyrical topics that come to mind are largely from ‘We Prayed under the Altar of Luna’ and it’s Sequel ‘We Feared the Wrath Of Lord Lucifer’ it’s largely based upon religious persecution hundreds of years ago. My epic ‘A Pagan Tomb’ describes a once great temple is set fall at the hands of Christians. Whilst the story itself is fictitious it represents how Christianity took over all of Britain’s land. So this ties in with a lot of Anti-Christian lyrical themes.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Frostbitten?

Well when I was 15, I knew I wanted to play Black Metal and instead of trying to find some pretentious name online I gave up took everything back to basics. I saw a term written Frostbitten-Black metal so I questioned if anyone had chosen this obvious name, so I checked encyclopaedia metallum to find a thrash band and a couple of other people, but they were all on hold/broken up projects. So I decided to use it, for me it just encapsulates Black Metal.

5. You have done all of the music of Frostbitten as well as a couple of other musical projects you are involved with solo and have a full death metal band, how would you compare being solo to do working with a full band?

Well I definitely prefer to work alone as I can achieve far more, I find so many people that I’ve worked with unreliable and lazy. They want the finished product, but don’t want to spend hours of work on it, however that may change, as I’ve only managed to work with several friends so far, I have yet to find real musicians and form a band. As many of the friends I’ve worked with do not practise enough and therefore cannot play to a good enough standard.

6. Currently you are unsigned are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

I think unsigned will always be the case to be honest, I like releasing my music for free and that’s never really popular with a label. I’ve received random emails from people saying I should apply to the major labels but I really don’t have time to send out letters or write hundreds of emails, that’s why I’m happy to be unsigned, there’s no responsibility which for me may remove the enjoyment I have of Frostbitten.

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the music of Frostbitten by fans of black and death metal?

I think it’s been very positive; a lot of people have downloaded my albums and every release I do, people put it on blogs/forums to promote it a bit, which makes a huge difference I think a lot of people who like my music have been due to people promoting me on forums. Overall it’s been really positive, I don’t think I’ve heard anything negative.

8. Can you tell us a little bit more about the other musical projects that you are involved with?

Well there are quite a few I play in the Death Metal band ‘Exusia’ with my friends John who provides vocals. I make Goregrind/Grindcore with my project ‘Visceral Hatred’ I do this merely to experiment making other types of metal, I don’t take it as seriously as Frostbitten almost like if I come up with some riffs that wouldn’t suit Frostbitten. ‘Los’ which I recorded some drone albums again merely for experimentation and last of all AFP (Andrew Fuller Project) this is my new solo project I’ve been getting into recently it’s Progressive Metal. It’s a lot softer than my other work, more electronic influence. I just like making a lot of music as you can see, I find it very easy to write and I release it under many names as it doesn’t suit one particular name.

9. What direction do you see the music of Frostbitten heading into on future releases?

I don’t really know, it’s definitely going to be a while before the next Frostbitten release, but it’s going to be big and epic. It’s going to be much better recorded; I want to make a proper full length album but this might take up to a year due to college commitments and other musical projects.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

My biggest influences were at the beginning Isengard and Burzum both are solo projects and inspired me to go that way inclined. But now acts such as Wolves In The Throne Room, Xasthur and most importantly Pensees Nocturnes, this French black metal inspired to be influenced by other genre’s like jazz, classical. These days I don’t listen to nearly as much black metal as I used to, I listen to a lot of Brutal Death Metal and progressive metal. I still listen to a fair few bands that play black metal and several that stand out are Wodensthrone, Panopticon, Deafest and Evergreen Refuge.

11. How would you describe your views on Satanism and Occultism?

Well I have always used these in a more fictitious sense as I’m an atheist, I study a lot of the sciences so I have never been very inclined to believe them, however my lyrical themes are usually describe times when people had these beliefs in religion and a fear of the occult, that’s what builds up the bulk of my concepts for songs/albums.

12. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Studying for college is a big part that takes up a lot of my time. I would say music is my only hobby; I have little time for hanging out with friends as it feels like time wasted.

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Just thanks for your time, and if your reading this thanks for supporting the underground, it’s blogs/webzines like this that are keeping the metal scene alive giving attention to bands without commercial selling points, just passion for the metal genre.

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