Patrons Of the Rotting Gate Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the musical project for those that have never heard you before?

Currently a (mostly) one man band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. It’s a style of music I’ve wanted to write for a while and it was summer 2013 was when I finally stopped being lazy.

2.How would you describe the musical sound on the album that you recently have recorded?

I guess the simplest label it would fall into is Progressive Black Metal, personally I was paying tribute to a lot of bands/influences, trying to balance interesting instrumental parts and keeping a focus on atmosphere throughout.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explored with the album?

Most of the lyrics deal with existentialism and morality,  with a side dish of misanthropy and anti-theism haha. The lyrics were written pretty quickly and then the vocals were recorded straight afterwards, so sometimes I had to go back a re-record vocals because I realised the lyrics don’t make grammatical sense in any way. I’m happy with how they turned out, although I want to take more time over the concept/lyrics for the next album.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name Patrons Of The Rotting Gate?

It’s a line from one of my favourite bands favourite songs haha - Orgone - Circulated Treason. I’m hugely inspired by Stephen Jarrett’s lyrics, if you’ve read Orgone’s lyrics and mine you might see some similarities. Although in context of their work it might mean something completely different, I’ve come to see “Patrons of the Eotting gate” as a reference to religious figureheads/leaders. I’m not very religious if you haven’t guessed already.

5.On the album most of the stuff was recorded solo, do you plan on adding a line up in the future?

I would love to and I do plan to, I haven’t really mentioned it to him but I’ll get Adam for 2nd guitar as he’s much better than me. Currently I’m super busy trying to get other projects off the ground (mostly also include him) and also going to University/working. It’ll definitely happen, I’m just not sure when yet.

6.The album came out on The Path Less Travelled Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label? 

I just sort of threw the album up for free on bandcamp and posted around some forums, and got a lot of positive feedback which was amazing. Rennie from starkweather (check em’) and Doug from Pyrrhon/Invisible Oranges were definitely big helpers in getting the word out. I’m a big fan of Pyrrhon and Flourishing (both have ties to TPLTR). Sean seemed to dig the stuff and is in the “business” for the right reasons. It seems like a good fit.

7.The project was originally from Northern Ireland but relocated to England what was the decision behind the move?

It’s sort of related to the project as it’s related to music in general, but POTRG wasn’t really a factor in the move. In September 2013 I started a degree in music production in London, so I’ll be here for at least 3 years. 

8.The album had covers of Gorguts and Orgone  songs, what was it that made you want to do covers of these 2 songs?

Both bands are massive influences on me musically, so it was essentially paying tribute to them. Gorguts’ “Obscura”, Orgone’s “The Goliath” and “The Joyless Parson” (Still not officially released, come on labels get on that shit) are some of my favourite albums. Caress of Vines is such a cool track, especially in context of the album so I’ve wanted to learn/cover it pretty much since I first heard it. It also helps that it is the only track on the album that I could pull off on guitar haha. When I first heard Gorguts’“The Battle Of Chamdo” I though it was a really cool piece that breaks up the flow of the album up well. When I first thought of covering it with more traditional metal instrumentation I couldn’t stop listening to it without that in mind, and I was also really inspired by the band Means End’s cover of Eric Whitacre’s “Nox Aurumque”. I knew Whitacre’s original before I heard their version, but now I I can’t listen to it without hearing Robert Luciani’s lead vocal line. I highly recommend checking out Mean’s End’s “The Didact” by the way. They have some really interesting harmonic stuff going on and Luciani is definitely one of my favourite vocalists/lyricists at the minute. Rasmus’s bass playing is another highlight.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?

Everything has been extremely positive so far which I’m totally grateful for, although i’m not sure what black metal purists would really think of it. It’s funny, The Rose Coil was originally supposed to be a lot more straight up black metal, but I guess my listening background of tech death and progressive metal seeped into it a lot. I’m not sure If I could write a good “pure” black metal album if I really tried.

10.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Well at the time of The Rose Coil’s recording I had maybe 60% of the 2nd album already written and a vague concept in mind, I didn’t release that material first because I couldn’t play it properly on guitar. At the minute I think there is only one song left to “first draft” for the second album, it is shaping up to be a lot more technical, and a lot weirder/more dissonant in places. I think the challenge with it will be maintaing an atmosphere throughout the album, like I (personally) think I managed with The Rose Coil. 

I also have a very vague musical/conceptual outline for the 3rd album which consists of 3 long songs to make up the entire album (hopefully around 45-50 minutes). I guess we’ll have to see if I can pull that off haha.

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

There are some more obvious influences which have been mentioned previously like Orgone, Latitudes, Deathspell Omega, Spawn of Possession, Gorguts and Meshuggah. Since moving to London I’ve been listening to a bit of Katatonia, Lost in the Trees, Tori Amos, Sikth, the new Queens Of The Stone Age, some classical stuff like Wagner, Eric Whitacre, Bach. I’ve also been listening to a lot of electronic stuff like BT, Burial, Nedry, The Glitch Mob and Kashiwa Daisuke.

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

I love reading although I’ve been struggling to find the time since I moved. Fitting it into a schedule of work, uni work and drinking has been tough haha. I also love the outdoors and camping, but I haven’t had the chance to do much of that recently either.

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

Not too much other thanks thanks for the interview! It’s really cool/slightly surreal to get interest for this project. If you are interested, watch the POTRG Facebook page for upcoming Hierophant, Deathspell Omega, and Latitudes covers. They are all fully tracked bar the Latitudes cover, which has very sloppily played guitar parts and no vocals currently. Also hopefully Adam and I’s other projects will be releasing material soon. Cheers!

www.facebook.com/PatronsOfTheRottingGate

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Thanks,

Andrew

Patrons Of The Rotting Gate/The Rose Coil/The Path Less Traveled Records/2013 CD Review

  Patrons  Of  The  Rotting  Gate  are  a  1  man  band  from  Northern  Ireland  that  plays  a  progressive  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  his  2013  album  "The  Rose  Coil"  which  was  released  by  the  Path  Less  Traveled  Records.

  "Tri  Tvare"  which  is  the  intro  for  the  album  opens  up  with  distorted  guitar  riffs  and  is  only  a  minute  and  a  half  long.

  "Tri  Zaveti"  which  is  also  the  first  official  song  on  the  album  begins  with  heavy  and  fast  black  metal  guitar  riffs  and  drums  which  also  utilizes  some  progressive  and  technical  elements  as  well  as  some  melody  and  you  can  also  hear  bass  guitars  in  the  background  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  a  mixture  of  black  metal  screams  and  death  metal  growls  a  few  seconds  later  before  alternating  between  slow  and  fast  parts,  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  guitar  solos  and  leads.

  "Carnassial"  opens  up  with  heavy  guitar riffs  and  drums  and  a  few  seconds  later  the  guitars  start  utilizing  some  melody  as  well  as  deep  growls  kick  in  along  with  black  metal  screams,  halfway  through  the  song   the music  gets  a  lot  faster  along  with  some blast  beats  as  well  as  atmospheric  synths  in  the  background  before  slowing  down  again  which  also  leads  to  a  brief  use  of  guitar  solos and  leads  before  the  end  of  the  song.

  "Secrets  in  The  Soul"  begins with  drum  beats  and  bass guitars  as  well  as  some  clean  guitar  playing  as  well  as  some  synths  and  you  can  also  hear  heavy  melodic  guitar  riffs  in  the  background  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  melodic  vocals.

  "Pride  Of  Descent"  starts  off  with  fast,  raw  and  primitive  sounding  black  metal  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  blast  beats  from the  drums  as  well  as  the  guitar  riffing  utilizing  some  melody  and  a  few  seconds  alter  black  metal  screams  and  guitar  leads  make  their  way  into  the  song  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  the  music  goes  into  a  slower  direction  before  alternating  between  fast  and  slow  parts  as  well  as  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  clean  sections  and  towards  the  end  there  is  a  brief  use  of  death  metal  growls.

  "Chest  Of  Light"  kicks  in  with  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  drums  along  with  technical  and  progressive  elements  as  well  as  the  guitar  riffing  utilizing  melody  and  you  can  also  hear  bass  guitars  before  grim  black  metal  screams  start  to  kick  in,  halfway  through  the  song  you  can  hear  doom  metal  influences  and  deep  death  metal  growls.

  "Clandestine  Fractures"  comes  in  with  heavy  and  melodic  sounding  guitar  riffs  and  drums  before  going  into  a  faster  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  which  also  leads  to  black  metal  screams  kicking  in  which  also  leads  to  the  music  alternating  between  slow  and  fast  parts  as  well  as  bringing  in  death  metal  growls  and  halfway  through  the  song  there  is  a  brief  use  of  clean  singing.

  "A  Perfect  Suicide"  brings  its  way  in  with  psychedelic  synths  and  experimental sounds  before  adding  in  drums,  bass  and  melodic  guitar  leads  and  a  few  seconds  alter  melodic  clean  singing  vocals  kick  in  before  evolving  into  black  metal  screams  and  you  can  hear  acoustic  guitars  in  the  background  before  going  into  a  more  fast  and  heavy  direction  as  well  as  utilizing  blast  beats  and  then  the  song  starts  alternating  between  slow  and  fast  parts  which  also  leads  to  a  small  amount  of  guitar  solos  and  leads,  halfway  through  the  song  death  metal  growls  and  melodic  guitar  riffing  are  added  in.

  "His  Crimson  Painting"  which  is  also  and  instrumental  opens  up  with  soft  synth  playing  and  is  under  2  minutes.

  "Off  All  Eyes"  another  instrumental  kicks  in  with  distorted  synths  and  sound  effects  and  is  also  under  2  minutes.

  "The  Battle  Of  Chamdo"  which  is  also  a  Gorguts  cover  begins  with  heavy  and  technical  sounding  guitar  riffs  and  drums  along  with  the  guitar  riffing  utilizing  some  melody  and  a  few  seconds  alter  bass,  heavy  guitar  riffs  and  blast  beats  also  kick  in  for  a  few  seconds  and  then  going  into  a  slower  direction  as  well  as  adding in  synths  which  also  leads  to  guitar  leads  as  well  as  the  song  alternating  between  fast  and  slow  parts.

  "Caress  Of  Vines"  which  is  also  the  last  song  on  the  album  as  well  as  an  Orgone  cover  opens  up  with  soft  synth  playing  and  a  minute  later  drums,  bass  and  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  riffs  kick  in  which  also  leads  up  to  high  pitched  depressive  black  metal  screams.

  Song  lyrics  cover  dark  and  depressive  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  where  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording  as  well  as  some  of  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  Patrons  Of  The  Rotting  Gate"  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  black  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Tri  Zaveti"  "Pride  Of  Descent"  "Clandestine  Fractures"  and  "A  Perfect  Suicide".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

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