Bereft Interview

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

Well, we’re a band from Wisconsin, and we began our musical journey in 2011.


2.You have a new album coming out in November, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?

It’s always hard to give a completely accurate description of our music, but I would call us a Post-Metal band with elements of Doom and Black Metal.  We really like to blend those three genres together to create something that we hope is a little fresh, and different. We really try and make it as atmospheric and emotional as we can. Obviously there are numerous bands out there that fuse these types of music together, but it really isn’t something we intentionally do. Our interests as far as what we listen to all play a role in our music style, to some extent I suppose.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Zach and I write the lyrics, and most of them center around our views on religion/politics/personal subjects.  Our central theme for our first album is about how organized religion as an institution has played a central role in halting the advancement of mankind. Whether it is technical advancement, human progress through the way we treat one another, or anything else.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Bereft'?

When Zach and I are started this band, we wanted a name that was significant to both the music and our lyrics.  We both had an idea of how we wanted the band to sound, Bereft just fit, and felt right as far as our music goes.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think one of my favorite shows we played, was with Agalloch this past summer. It was one of our first shows playing with a bigger national act, and Agalloch is a band I truly like; it was very cool to play with such an awesome band.
I guess I would describe our stage performance as one that we put ourselves into 100%. Personally for me, I get bored watching bands that seem like they don’t want to be there, or don’t seem to appear to put much emotion behind their live performance.  Playing music live is something that I truly love; the music, lyrics, and live performance are very important to me.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

We are planning on getting out there as much as we can once the album is released.

7.Currently the band is signed to Silent Pendulum Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Absolutely. Silent Pendulum Records is a vinyl label based out of New York that releases music in the Black, Experimental, and Post-Metal genres. Michael Kadnar (Black Table, Downfall of Gaia) runs it, and we met him when we played with his bands last year in Madison. We kept in contact with him, then approached him with our album, and he’s going to help us release it on vinyl on November 18th of this year. He’s a fantastic guy, and really puts a lot into his new label.

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

So far it seems to be going well, we have released one song on our Bandcamp page, which has seemed to be well received thus far. We’re super excited to get the rest of the record released this November!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Well we really like to experiment with our sound, so I’m not completely sure to be perfectly honest.  With time I’ve noticed our song writing ability has improved, and that’s very important to me.

10.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?

Well I grew up listening to bands like Pantera, Slayer, Black Sabbath, etc.  When I was in high school I really got into a lot of punk/hardcore, which I think dictates a lot of our ethics as a band. Recently though, as far as metal goes and new albums from this year; the new Thou album is incredible, Alraune, Pall Bearer, Forn, and Bastard Sapling, just to name a few. I like to listen to things in every genre, and the rest of the guys in the band all listen to different types of music. I definitely think it adds to our influences to be multidimensional in that respect.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

I love to read, I’m an HBO Series fanatic, hanging out with my family, being in school, and work take up about all of time.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

I’d just like to thank you for the interview and thank you for your time. I’d also like to let people know that our new album ‘Lost Ages’ will be available via our Bandcamp page on vinyl, cd, and digitally on November 18th of this year. Thanks again!

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Bereft/Lost Ages/Silent Pendulum Records/2014 Vinyl Review

  Bereft  are  a  band  from  Wisconsin  that  plays  an  atmospheric  mixture  of  post  black  metal  and  doom  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Lost  Ages"  which  will  be  released  by  Silent  Pendulum  Records.

  A  very  dark  and  atmospheric  ambient  sound  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  the  music  starts  to  get  a  lot  more  heavy  and  goes  for  more  of  a  doom  metal  sound  before  going  into  a  very  fast  and  raw  black  metal  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  high  pitched  screams  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  There  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  throughout  the  recording  along  with  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  after  awhile  more  post  metal  elements  can  be  heard  in  the  bands  musical  sound  and  that  influence  has  a  very  dominant  presence  in  the  leads  that  band  utilizes  and    clean  playing  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  On  some  of  the  tracks  there  are  some  sections  where  clean  singing  vocals  are  utilized  and  the  slower  sections  have  more  of  a  dominant  doom  metal  feeling  to  them  and  the  band  also  brings  in  elements  of  sludge  into  the  vocals  and  mixes  it  in  with  the  black  metal  screams  and  as  the  album  progresses  the  ambient  sounds  make  a  return  and  there  are  also  a  small  amount  of  spoken  word  parts  are  added  into  the  music  before  making  a  return  back  to  a  heavier  direction  on  the  following  track  while  also  adding  in  a  small  amount  of  synths.

  Bereft  takes  the  rawness  and  aggression  of  black  metal  with  the  fast  parts,  the  heaviness  and  darkness  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  in  the  slower  sections  and  the  melody  of  post  metal  along  with  some  elements  of  ambient  music  to  create  a  sound  their  own,  the  production  has  a  very  dark  and  raw  sound  while  the  lyrics  cover  religion,  politics,  social  injustice  and  the  human  condition.

  In  my  opinion  Bereft  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  post  black  metal  and  doom  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lost  Ages"  and  "Lost".  8  OUT  OF  10.

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