1. Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the solo project since the recording and release of the new album?
Not that much, to be honest. Mainly writing new material, looking for inspiration and ideas for new riffs, and deciding what the next stage of this story should look like from a narrative perspective. On a day-to-day basis, aside from this project, I work at two jobs, so it’s really the music that has to find a place in my schedule, not the other way around.
2. Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
It’s certainly more polished from a technical standpoint. My mixing skills have definitely improved, though I also decided to work with a professional producer on the mastering to make the material sound as good as possible on a limited budget. Compared to the first album, I also feel that this material is more complex and experimental—“Dawn Of A New Age” was written in four months and released almost immediately after it was completed. This time, I gave myself more time both to gather my ideas and to execute them properly. I started working on the material in the fall of 2024, recorded the album in late 2025, but it wasn’t until now that I was able to put the finishing touches on everything.
3. You also have another solo project that is in more of a doom/death metal direction, how would you compare the atmospheric blackened doom metal style of 'Divine Sovereign' to your other project?
“It Doesn't Get Better” is, for me, a sort of “practice run” when it comes to producing music. That material was created during a difficult period in my life—the end of college, the associated Sisyphean task known as job hunting (which I feel has become particularly difficult following the pandemic), and the breakdown of several important relationships in my life marked the period from 2022 to 2024. This also explains why the material sounds the way it does—I didn’t know much about music production back then, and you can sense a certain “demo-like” quality to the material, along with technical shortcomings. At the same time, however, this project served as a way for me to vent some of the issues that were tormenting me and to express emotions that were difficult to articulate normally. Hence the greater rawness of those recordings. The project also helped me develop my musical skills—while the first album is very slow and fairly simple to play, the third one presents a greater challenge—you can sense that I was moving in a more technical direction.
However, the fundamental difference between It Doesn’t and Divine Sovereign lies in their form of expression—the former is heavy and brutal, while the latter is full of hope, triumph, and heroism. I’d also say that Divine Sovereign presents a broader emotional palette than my original project. That’s why I don’t know when—or if—I’ll ever return to it. But I’m not closing that door on myself.
4. The lyrics on both of the releases cover the world known as 'Autaxia', can you tell us a little bit more about the world you have created with your songwriting?
Well, if you touch on topics that are controversial to people—whether it’s politics, religion, worldview issues, or even reproductive rights—it’s hard to avoid extreme reactions from others. And I think that’s mainly why I decided to create a world set in a sci-fi setting. I’ve always believed that books, movies, or even video games set in alternative universes have greater “licencia poetica” when it comes to presenting difficult or controversial topics. Personally, I’m an agnostic, so it was never my intention to portray faith as good or bad. Besides, I consider such dualism to be an extreme oversimplification and a flattening of the phenomenon. Every complex social construct is multidimensional—whether we’re talking about ideology, religion, or a legal system. In each, we’ll find some positives, but also issues that need improvement. Not to mention that certain aspects of these phenomena may also interact with human nature in ways that are either positive or negative. Therefore, I wanted to create a universe that would not only allow me to showcase the complexity of the phenomenon of faith without provoking anyone, but would also enable me to experiment with the concept itself. Having the opportunity to shape from the ground up certain attitudes or ideas that guide the characters in this story allows me to better present selected aspects of the phenomenon I’m exploring.
That’s precisely why the first book was able to portray faith as a force that unites people, only to take a sharp turn in the second installment of this story and present it as the central axis of a civil war. Incidentally, I can draw on the histories of various nations as inspiration for the stories I create, since I’m not limited by a history textbook. And the ability to incorporate supernatural phenomena into the story is just an added bonus.
5. You have also taken some inspiration from Religion and History and added it into the fictional universe, which aspects of non-fiction have influenced your songwriting?
In short—there were many. For the first album, major sources of inspiration included the Spartacus rebellion in ancient Rome, the Thirty Years’ War, and Poland’s recent history (religion was a powerful force that united people during the anti-communist resistance). As for the themes of the second album, a major source of inspiration was events such as the French Revolution (particularly the Jacobin period and the attempt to build a “secularized” church), the schisms within the Christian church (both the Eastern schism and the one caused by the Reformation), and, looking at recent history, stories of religious persecution in countries such as North Korea, China, and Iran. The fundamental observation from which the concept for the second album emerged, however, was the realization that nearly every major religion has experienced some form of schism or, at the very least, the emergence of distinct schools of thought. In Europe, conflicts between emperors and popes divided a faith that had existed as a unified entity for a thousand years; Muslims began to split into Shiites and Sunnis shortly after Muhammad’s death; and Buddhists from India differ from those in Tibet or, say, Vietnam.
6. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Divine Sovereign'?
I'm terrible at coming up with proper nouns. The only one I came up with that was completely original was “Autaxia”, which is the name of the planet where the story takes place. The project name, on the other hand, is borrowed from the game “Stellaris”—I’m a fan of grand strategy games, and it just so happens that this is the name of a civic and an event for empires based on psionics. It’s also easy to guess why I gave the characters in this story those particular powers.
7. Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The cover refers to the third track on the album—“Pledge.” This is the climax of the story—following a rebellion sparked by the bloody policies of the king and the priestly elite, the high priest, who heads the church founded by the story’s protagonists, seizes power over the planet. Desiring to maintain his questionable power and increase his control over the planet’s inhabitants to prevent similar events from occurring in the future, he decides to perform a ritual to the old deities—the very same ones who abandoned the inhabitants of Autaxia, as described on the first album. Since the protagonists have lost the powers they gained in the first installment, the leader is willing to turn to the beings his people once cursed, solely to gain control over them. As part of the ritual, he must make a sacrifice—hence the severed finger—though the true sacrifice to the ancient deities will not be the maiming of a single man, but the punishment of the people who rejected them in the past, as described in the fourth track.
8. With both of your projects you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?
I prefer working solo. On the one hand, I don’t feel the pressure that I’m wasting time in the studio I’m paying for, which gives me more time to experiment and make adjustments. On the other hand, I can develop my mixing skills. Of course, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t collaborate with someone—most likely a drummer. The only catch is that such a service usually costs money, and as I mentioned, I’m working on a fairly limited budget. On top of that, I live in a small town where only a handful of people listen to music similar to mine, and among them there’s only one other musician (a guitarist, a role I happen to fill myself). But I’m not ruling anything out—we’ll see what the future brings.
9. On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of atmospheric black and doom metal?
I received a few messages offering congratulations and expressing keen interest. For example, I came across Jon from Experitone, who helped me with the mastering, and a few journalists whose questions I answered. I wouldn’t say, however, that it was some phenomenal success—I operate in the deep underground, I don’t produce a fully professional sound, and I regularly encounter people who are rather critical of my music (for example, I was recently mocked by a DJ from a U.S. radio station who claimed that the project’s name is grammatically incorrect—which is actually untrue; on top of that, he didn’t say a word about what he was listening to, so I can only say that it is what it is).
However, I want to see how people will react to the second album—a higher production quality and a concept I’ve thought through more carefully might lead to a more positive reception among fans.
10. Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?
Probably still experimenting in the comfort of my own home. In that regard, I share a similar mindset with Dan Swano from Edge Of Sanity and Witherscape. He’s often mentioned in interviews that he isn’t the biggest fan of live performances and that he gets much more joy out of creating something in the studio, where he can redo takes as many times as necessary until he achieves a satisfying result. He attributed this to perfectionism, which I can understand. Again—it’s not that I’m completely ruling out the possibility of performing on stage, but the chances of me actually doing so are rather slim. I only know a handful of musicians, which would make it difficult for me to put together a lineup; I have more fun experimenting in a digital audio workstation; and on top of that, I’m a homebody who juggles two jobs. So the current balance between being a musician and an employee suits me very well.
11. What are some of the bands or musical styles you are currently listening to nowadays?
Right now, I’m going through what you might call a “traditional heavy metal phase.” I’m listening to tons of old stuff from this subgenre—Manilla Road, Liege Lord, Brocas Helm, Angel Which, Scanner, Stormwitch, Trojan—just to name a few. However, I regularly try to find heavier stuff, since I’ve always been a huge fan of death, speed, and black metal—from these subgenres, I’ve recently been listening a lot to bands like Yellow Eyes, Lamp of Murmuur, Worm, Blood Incantation, Cruel Force, Hellripper, Vulture, and Blut Aus Nord.
12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for your questions and for the opportunity to share a few “behind-the-scenes” tidbits. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to check out my work and for the feedback I receive from time to time. It’s nice to hear that what I do is met with a positive response, and I hope I’ll be able to continue raising the bar with my work so that I can give people the best possible experience. I hope I’ll be able to give more interviews like this as new installments of the “Autaxia saga” are released over the coming years.
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