We worked long and hard on the album. In 2017 we started writing new songs, revising old ones and thinking about how we would record the stuff, what sound we would like to have etc. When the song writing was finished and we knew which songs we would like on the album we have come to the conclusion, that we want the complete recordings to be as natural as possible. So it was up to us to see how we got the whole thing baked and everything that goes with it, especially when it came to record the drums and the guitars.
I think it's good that small bands now have the opportunity to record everything digitally, which often saves a lot of work. However, it often makes the sound too artificial and too smooth, and that's exactly what we didn't want. So we recorded everything with microphones. All you hear are real instruments and apart from the intro, midtro and a few highlights, we left the sound very true to the original.
We recorded in our drummers "Grandur" home studio, on which the mixing and mastering was also done. In order to achieve the sound that we had planned in advance, we took as much time as necessary for the recordings as well as the mixing and mastering. We also worked intensively on the layout of the single and the upcoming album. In our opinion it is important not to rush these phases just to be able to release as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, he had to leave the band for private reasons in the meantime. But we already have a worthy successor, "Myrmeleon" who is also an excellent musician.
With the release of our single we noticed that some people noticed us. We have the impression that the single release is very well received by the fans. In autumn we would like to release our album “Void Universe” on which we are really looking forward to and of course play a number of gigs. We hope that the current situation, which hits many organizers and musicians hard, does not slow us down too much.
2.Recently you have released a new single, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
In our opinion, not much has changed from the basic style. But from the point of view of the musicians who make the music themselves it's always difficult to say such things haha. In my opinion, however, a lot has changed if you look at the sound itself. While the older releases were very raw and the vocals were more often edited, the current sound is much clearer, while the vocals are pretty natural. Another difference is that we have prepared ourselves more intensively and professionally for the recordings. And I think we have more catchy and groovy riffs.
3.This is also your first release in 7 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Quite a lot has gone up in the past 7 years. We lost our former rehearsal room and rehearsed in many different rooms from befriended bands and tried to write new songs which limited us quite a bit because it just didn't fit in terms of time and atmosphere. After some shifts within the band, we also had to part with "Geyst" (guitar 2010 - 2015) and "Jazariel" (bass 2007 - 2016). During this time, Rahl came in the band, with whom I had previously played in a band, on the guitar. We are very satisfied with the current line-up.
Despite the loss of our rehearsal room, we weren't completely idle in the 7 years and were able to play some great gigs with great bands like 1349 or Possessed and in the meantime wrote really great songs, which I think is also noticeable on the single. Every year of the band's existence has affected on the style of "The Comsic Breakdown" and "Void Universe" somewhere. All in all, the past 7 years have been a great time, even if we would have liked the release earlier.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with the music?
Clearly, the lyrical topics have always been very critical of society. The dimensions are very different, but mostly drift into theories of existence, subversion or misanthropy. However, the texts also deal with subject areas such as philosophy, physics, sociology or even religious subjects like the apocalypse. Ideas from authors such as Aldous Huxley, Charles Bukowski, Friedrich Nietzsche or Franz Kafka sometimes mix with the topics, but you can say that the lyrics are often very hateful, which I think it harmonizes very well with the music.
On “Void Universe” and therefore also on our single release we have a recurring theme: It should raise the question of what would happen if society could start all over again. Because I believe that even if all of humanity were annihilated and could start anew, it would still perish itself. It is a preprogrammed collapse of civilizations and appears to be an irrefutable law of nature.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Blood Torrent'?
Blood has always been considered as the medium of life force in human history. The observation of how the powers of a man bleed to death or the slaughter of a slaughtered animal led to the conclusion that the blood was a primal substance of life. You could also say that blood is life.
In many mythologies, man was created through the blood of the gods. This understanding of blood as the secret to the origin of life explains the special meaning of blood and the color red as a symbol of life and fertility.
In contrast, in the many other symbols, for example on flags, red often symbolizes the blood of the fallen or generally stands for death or sacrifice.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the single cover?
The layout was designed by the artist Moy-A and is a mixture of various works by Gustave Doré and modern art. The flash of light within the empty space is intended to illustrate „The Cosmic Breakdown“. You can see our new logo on the front cover. As already explained in the last section, the band name is a symbol of life and death for us, which is always a change. A dagger can be seen in the drop of blood in our logo. The dagger is also a symbol for change and for the upheavals of societies and cultures such as at the time of the enlightenment regarding the peasant uprisings. That is exactly what a cosmic breakdown does. It ensures cleaning and order.
On the back you can see Doré's picture of the story of Cain and Abel, which can also be an aphorism for the upheaval of the existing order.
Charles Baudelaire for example wrote the anarchist poem Abel et Caïn in 1857 as part of his cycle of poems „Les Fleurs du Mal“, in which Cain, as the forefather of all outcasts, the damned and especially the rag proletariat, is called upon to storm the sky and to throw God to the ground what he once did with Lucifer - thus overturning any existing rule of power. Just as is the case with a „Cosmic Breakdown“.
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
This is actually difficult to say because we had a lot of fun at almost all of our gigs. But I would say our release party 2012 with Creature, Krater, DarkSoul and Xes was definitely a very good performance and at the Maniacs of Rock Festival 2011. Our performance with Whiskey Ritual last year or our last performance with Narvik in March was also great.
As I said, however, we are passionate about all live performances. It is a lot of fun for us to perform live and I think the energy we feel when we make the music also appeals to the audience. So I would almost say that we have never played badly without wanting to be pretentious haha. There is always a lot of movement on stage with us and I think the people in front of the stage always feeled that power. However, we also regularly think about how we can continue to design our shows, especially now before the album release we are thinking about a suitable appearance on stage etc.
8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Yes, we are unsigned at the moment. But we want to release our upcoming album with a label. At the moment we are still in negotiations with several labels. Therefore, I can not say much about it yet, but we like to keep you and our fan base up to date via our social media channels.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
I have the impression that our music is very well received worldwide. I also think that the style of our music is not that common. Many probably like that. At least I haven't heard anything bad about our art.
Most fans of our music probably come from our surroundings, of course. But many people who listen to our music also come from abroad. Many of these foreign fans are from the South American continent.
10. When can we expect a full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
The release of our full length album "Void Universe" is planned for autumn. As I said, we are passionate about music, like performing live and want to bring our art closer to people. And we want to do that a lot more in the future.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
So our music started with a strong influence of the progressive black metal bands in the late 90s / early 2000s like Satyricon, Dödheimsgard, Darkthrone or 1349. But we were always enthusiastic about heavy metal and hard rock and are Diehard fans of the 70s, 80s and the Pioneer and 1st Wave Black Metal bands like Celtic Frost, Venom or Bathory. Not much has changed since then, the repertoire has only increased. I personally still hear a lot of Black Metal, mostly BM bands with punk and groove influences like Carpathian Forest, Midnight or Scum. But when we sit together, we run 80% hard rock. It always goes and for the music of many other bands from earlier days that we like to hear, it represents a "common root".
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
No, but we would like to thank “Occult Black Metal Zine” for the interview and the interesting questions. We look forward to release our album and continuing to share our music with interesting people which are interested in art like you.
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