For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the solo project?
‘Gyrdleah’ is a one man black metal project from Birmingham, England, conceptualized & formed by myself ‘Flagrum’ in 2005. I self-released my first EP ‘Passage into the night’ in 2012, and was then re-released by Polish label ‘Via Nocturna’ in 2017. It has been an extremely long & tedious journey with many personal distractions in-between to reach the point at where I am now, the release of what will be my debut album ‘Spellbinder’.
You have your first full length coming out in April, musically how does it differ from your previous ep?
I think the concepts & messages remain essentially the same, however musically there is significant growth in my opinion in terms of song structure & sound. The biggest element of this change being the drums, previously a task I undertook myself for ‘Passage into the night’. I also for the first time employed the use of a 7-string guitar combining it with my normal 6-string. This I believe added an extra level of texture & low end menace that really added to the heaviness of the riffs. So not only have I naturally grown & developed as a musician, ‘Spellbinder’ has also been a lesson learned. Both releases were recorded at ‘Foel Studio’ Wales with ‘Chris Fielding’ as producer & engineer; however the recording experience felt totally different. It defiantly displays levels of progression further expanding on all aspects and diversities of Gyrdleah’s dark arts.
Some of your lyrics cover the dark arts and occultism; can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?
From a young age my fascination of the darker side of life has always been prevalent. From so called ‘baddies’ in childhood stories & films to historical figures throughout the ages. This also transcended through music in my late teens, such as ‘Black Sabbath’s’ song, ‘Black Sabbath’, embedded a fascination that has developed over time. Although not actually satanic, the song was enough to ignite my interest in both musical style & subject. I don’t claim to be a Satanist but my personal views and feelings appear to parallel that of a satanic nature in its various forms I have found. I have read books about the occult, also about both theistic and traditional forms of Satanism which all fascinate me intensely. I think as a collective I have learned to channel these energies into different ways to express myself musically. This expression represents both a freedom and opposition, or to be the opposite. On a basic level I think as with ‘the hanged man’ tarot card if you’re familiar with it, is an example of how I like to view the world.
What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects you have explored so far with the music?
Expression of the self as told through stories sighting some historical and mythological references is something I explore to help enhance other ways to describe a feeling or situation. Nature is also an important element and described as if in folklore or a dark tale adding an element of mystery and discovery. Some of the lyrics are also provocative and call both the self and establishments into question. I think most importantly as a collective they describe sections of a hypnotic journey taken by the individual, delving deep into the unholy realms of the mind.
What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Gydleah'?
The name 'Gyrdleah' is taken from the doomsday book written in 972 referring to a small area of modern day 'Yardley', a suburb of Birmingham I lived and grew up in. In old English, it simply means a clearing or a cleared area within woodland. There are other interpretations and slight variations of the name but this is how I view it. Most people can't pronounce it but that's not really important to me, only in that the name is connected to me personally and represents a home. When conceptualizing the band & its first demo's around 2005 this became my escapism, drawing influence from my own surroundings, local history and folklore.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album covers?
The original artwork is a still life of a real human skull painted in oil on canvas by my father, gifted to myself a number of years ago. I believe a human skull is an extremely powerful symbol & holds connotations of both life & death that immediately connects to everyone. The actual painting is small so I presented this to Polish artist & illustrator Maciej Kamuda, his latest work being ‘Blut Aus Nord’ album cover for ‘Disharmonium – Undreamable Abysses’, and he did an incredible job of enhancing & transforming it into what you now see, thus making it a ‘workable’ album cover both for CD & Vinyl. There is a certain fascination regarding the image and when choosing the cover for the album my immediate thoughts were to use it as it just felt right.
The project has been around since 2005 but so far only one ep and full length have been released, can you tell us a little bit more about the long wait in between releases?
Correct, Gyrdleah has been both an ongoing escapism & agony for me over that time. Being in full employment, making time for writing, composing & recording music takes a strong will & single-mindedness. Despite any determination, it’s easy to fall into the trappings of a modern society set on destroying any individuality with its distractions & propaganda. I have fallen both in and out of love with ‘Gyrdleah’ many times, but I always knew it wasn’t just a ‘hobby’ but something that meant much more to me. In the early days I recorded basic four track demos on cassette & eventually garage band, burning my own CD’s, and handing them out to close friends. I was never happy with these initial demos though, either in quality or sound so they were never officially released, ‘Death Perusing the Human Herd’ being one of the first. I think ‘Myspace’ was a far as they reached in terms of the outside world. This however was enough for a time, attracting some basic attention from afar including that of ‘Christophe Szpajdel’ who reached out to me and offered to design my logo based on his interest of the songs. I wasn’t even sure who the guy was until I looked him up on the internet, so that was a shock. So this remained my only output for a while until I decided to record in a professional recording studio and was lucky enough to find ‘Foel studio’ advertised in ‘Terrorizer’ magazine and in turn ‘Chris Fielding’, their in-house engineer & producer at the time. In my unsuccessful attempts to get a drummer for this I purchased an electric drum kit & started to practice for the acoustic kit I’d be playing on at Foel. I also purchased my own snare, pedals and cymbals not knowing if they were correct or would even sound right for the recording. Eventually the songs for ‘Passage into the night’ materialized and they were finally recorded in late December 2011. I didn’t really know what to do with the EP once I’d recorded it, so my immediate thought was to just self-release it on Bandcamp, January 2012. Nothing really happened as you’d expect without any promo or exposure so there it remained undiscovered until ‘Via Nocturna’ contacted me and subsequently released it in 2017. Throughout all of this time however I was still recording riffs, writing parts of songs and lyrics and building up a substantial amount of demo’s. So always with the intension of finally recording an album I thought I was ready and Covid hit. We are all fully aware of the bullshit that ensued so everything was put on the back burner. Unlike most I actually worked over this period so didn’t really get the chance to spend lockdown writing an album. In October 2020 my father suffered a brain hemorrhage and I was told to prepare for the worst, but against all odds he survived and is very much himself again to this day. This situation however put me in a place I’d never imaged and forced me to re-evaluate everything in my life, what was important to me & what I wanted to achieve. After a year of healing and life returning back to normality I took a week off work by myself in November 2021 and recorded the full demo for ‘Spellbinder’. In April 2022 I was back at ‘Foel studio’ with ‘Chris Fielding’ again and this time professional session drummer ‘Alex Micklewright’ to record it. Once the album was recorded and mastered ‘Chris Fielding’ showed it to ‘Chris Naughton’ of ‘Winterfylleth’, also well connected to ‘Foel Studio’ and the home of the majority of their recordings with ‘Chris Fielding’ producing and engineering on. Through this connection we became good friends, his help and advice absolutely invaluable. He asked me many searching questions and gave me a real insight into the industry, thus helping me realize and obtain my full potential for ‘Gyrdleah’. Omitting from this various other unimportant distractions the rest you now know.
With this project you record everything by yourself are you open to working with other musicians or do you prefer to work solo?
The playing and writing of the songs in their creative stages has always been a solo endeavor and probably will remain so. I am however open to working with others on the actual recording process. I’m a self-taught guitar player, nothing special, no idea about theory, only simplicity being my key. Drumming, despite my best efforts is definitely not a strength of mine so there was no question that I needed a professional drummer to play on the album. I was lucky enough to stumble across ‘Alex Micklewright’s YouTube channel some years ago watching him play various metal styles & covers so decided to approach him. I sent him the initial demo for ‘Spellbinder’ giving him only hints as to what I wanted in certain parts, but essentially gave him free reign to come up with what he thought. So I’m not precious about playing all the instruments, I would actually prefer not too, the vocals are my only true calling and this is something I enjoy the most.
On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
Honestly, I’m not completely sure. Looking on the analytics of Instagram & Spotify for example, most of my followers are naturally from the UK, but I also have a healthy mix of European & North American listeners. Providing of course this information can be taken as trustworthy data. All initial direct responses have been positive but I think it’s too early to tell until the album is fully released. I think there is a certain sincerity & openness in the music that will attract many different listeners from all over the world but ultimately it won’t change what I do.
Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician during the future?
The future of ‘Gyrdleah’ is simply more music, the expansion of ideas & expression through dark art. I already have the next album in demo and this will further deepen the spiral of darkness yet to come. Many close to me will also be pleased to hear I’m planning to put a live band together. This is a yet uncharted territory but I believe it necessary for the growth of the band. This will of course add a visual dimension to the music that is yet to be discovered.
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?
Music has always been an important part of my life & my listening styles are varied outside that of metal from classical, electronic, folk, progressive, rock & alternative. Obvious black metal influences though and probably for most people initially being introduced to the genre would be; ‘Burzum’, ‘Mayhem’, ‘Darkthrone’, ‘Gorgoroth’, ‘Enslaved’ & ‘Satyricon’ etc... These bands helped shape my original fascination and led me to the numerous bands connected to the scene. Whether you disagree or not about their importance being cited as second wave, they have all had a direct influence on my music in their own unique way. Right now it’s always changing but currently I’m listening to the latest releases from ‘Abduction’, ‘1914’, ‘Belphegor’, ‘Mork’, ‘Imperium Dekadenz’ & ‘The Suns Journey Through The Night’.
Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
To your followers, go check out the new single ‘VVitch’ and accompanying lyric video now on ‘Black Metal Promotions’ YouTube channel. ‘Spellbinder’ will be released 21st April via ‘Black Lion Records’. Thanks for having me on Occult Black Metal Zine, infernal hails, Flagrum.
Bandcamp: https://gyrdleah.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gyrdleah
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gyrdleah/
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