1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
SDG – Sorcier Des Glaces is a duo so we have no rush doing everything else quickly. When inspiration for new songs will come in my head, I will know it’s time! “Un Monde de Glace et de Sang” has just been released not long ago, so we are taking a little break now. We recorded other songs in that studio session though, so you might a surprise for 2021 J I run Hell Studio here in Québec, so I’m working (mixing/mastering) on some other bands at the moment. I’m also continuing the writing and recording of the final Moonlyght album we are working on since two years now, Progressive Darkness pt. II.
2.Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
SDG – I would say it’s like the perfect storm, with elements of all our past albums. The aggressiveness & old-schoolness of “The Puressence of Primitive Forest”, the atmospheric and dark melancholic melodies of “Ritual of the End” but also a more natural and rawness from “Snowland”. We wrote the part two of “L’Éternelle Majesté des Montagnes”, I think it is a “real” follow-up from that old song on our first album, it’s like the continuity of it.
3.You refer to your music as being ‘cold primitive metal’, can you tell us a little bit more about this term?
SDG – I never considered Sorcier Des Glaces “black metal” even if it sounds like that. I feel that I don’t have the right to call it that way. Black Metal for me is so much more than a musical style. It was an underground movement, a way of thinking that belongs to the late 80’s, early to mid ‘90s. Satanism, corpse paint, the church burnings, murders, etc. That is Black Metal to me. Sorcier Des Glaces has a primitive, ancient vibe in its music and I am strongly influenced by many bands from that era. I think the term “Cold Primitive Metal” fits perfectly our music.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer release and also how would you describe your progress as songwriters over the years?
SDG – I could compare the universe of Sorcier Des Glaces like a post-apocalyptic world. The last remaining humans are tracked by dark forces, and nature has regained its due over mankind. We talk about ancient times, where the Earth was pure and free from today’s reality. The frozen nature from the north… we are from Quebec in Canada so winters are very rude here, it gives me a lot of inspiration. I started SDG 23 years ago, so let’s say that I’ve grown a lot since our debut album Snowland as a songwriter, and also the fact that I explored other musical genres with Moonlyght (progressive music, death metal) and with Passage (doom metal) I think it brought me a lot of experience when composing songs.
5.You write lyrics in both French and English, which language do you prefer to write in?
SDG – Both! In Quebec we speak mainly French and I am very proud to write songs in my native language. I also like very much the lyrics sung in English as most people on Earth know that language and it is more easy for people to understand.
6.The band also has a history that goes back to the mid 90’s, what is it that motivates you to continue writing and creating music after 2 decades?
SDG - As long as I think I’m getting inspiration for writing “good” songs for Sorcier Des Glaces, I’ll continue. I’m 41 now and I still have the (black) flame in me for that! The day I feel that I’m writing crap, I will stop. I have to first be convinced about new songs I’m writing. The fact that we are a duo and not a 5-members band who has many opposite ideas, often arguing about everything, riffs, etc. (you know what I mean) help us having a great relationship together. We are not rushing everything.
7.In some of your early photos the band was wearing corpse paint but in the more recent years most of the pictures have you looking more normal, what was the decision behind going into this direction?
SDG – We were teenagers around that time (1996/1997) and of course we wanted to do like many black metal bands that were our main influences. I think corpse paint in 2020 looks more like a joke, haha. I mean, I understand that bands still want to associate themselves with the black metal movement, but it just doesn’t works for us at all.
8.The band from the start has only been 2 members, have you ever thought of expanding the line up and adding in other members?
SDG – No, not at all. I’m a very selfish person when it comes to our sound, riffs, atmosphere. Like I said, we are free from all that arguing bands who have many bandmates may have. I’m free doing what I want, Luc is following me in all this adventure since the beginning. His drumming is essential. We know each others since high school, and the chemistry between us is phenomenal. But you know, I like having guests in our albums. Thierry’s voice on the title song on our new album, I feel he did a great performance.
9.On the new album you also done a ‘Necromantia’ cover, what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?
SDG – We did a lot of cover songs since 2011, some of my fave bands that were very important in my developpment as a musician, as a songwritter. I remember hearing “Crossing the Fiery Path” from Necromantia in my youth. It was sounding… well very strange for my ears back then! I was used to American and Swedish death metal sound around that time when I discovered that album, and a couple of years later “Scarlet Evil, Witching Black” that was also fantastic. That album is very important for me, so I decided to make a Sorcier Des Glaces cover.
10.You have also been a apart of splits with ‘Monarque’ and ‘Ende’, what are your thoughts on the other bands that had participated on the recordings?
SDG – Monarque is a great friend of mine and he is like me in many, many ways. He is a fantastic songwritter, I support him in all his projects and I’ve produced at Hell Studio many of his albums from Monarque and Sanctuaire. I’ve been introduced to Ende in 2015 I think, they are labelmates and I honestly don’t remember how we decided to do a split album together, but they are great people, a duo like us, and we both speak french so we easily set up something!
11.Your last few releases have been on ‘Obscure Abhorrence Records’, how would you compare working with them to your older label ‘Mankind’s Demise Records’?
SDG – Well I know Rémi who was running Mankind’s Demise since a long time. He did end his label activities many years ago, after we released “The Puressence of Primitive Forests” album (he has now formed the label Evil Tentacles Records, who focus on releasing Québécois Black Metal on vinyl exclusively). He is a great guy and he released our debut album “Snowland” on vinyl in 2020. As for Obscure Abhorrence, I think that our relationship together is absolutely great, Andi is believing in us since 2012 (we released the split with Monarque and Ritual of the End some years after). It’s a great label and they make quality releases. I would add also Miguel from Dread Records in the USA, he is releasing all our releases in cassette version. Great guy to work with also.
12.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
SDG – This artwork suits this album 100% I think. It reflects perfectly the atmosphere created in this album. It represents our dark world. It is no surprise that Mayhem “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” is a very big influence in our sound, I thought it would be great to have something like a dark castle or a dark cathedral on the album cover this time, and not having again some snowy forests, haha. But you know, the forest pictures that are on the cover of Snowland and North albums were taken at the same time, by myself, somewhere in 1995 or 1996. At first it might appear like generic pictures found on the web, but they are not at all and for me they are very important. I took those pictures myself in the forest near my parents home where I was living at the time, something like 25 years ago. And for the Snowland picture, they did put a fucking grocery store and new houses there. It was a field and a small forest before that, when I was young and when I took the picture. Sad!
13.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your newer music by fans of black metal?
SDG – Fantastic! And I’m so happy with the result. I mean, I put so many hours in mixing it, I was not happy with it at first. I need to be 200% satisfied first and That’s why this album sucked my energy a lot, haha. I think I’ve listened to it 300 times, making adjustments for many weeks prior to sending it to the label. People seem to like it a lot, and I’m so satisfied as it means they are embarking with us on our journey.
14.What is going on with ‘Moonlyght’ and ‘Passage’ these days which also share the same members?
SDG – I want to release one final album with Moonlyght, to end this band the way it deserves as I formed myself that band in 1995. It’s going slowly, but all is composed. It will be a one-song album (same kind of formula as the self-titled Sorcier Des Glaces album from 2018) called Progressive Darkness part II, based on the song from the same name on Moonlyght’s debut album. As for Passage, I wrote a third album, but honestly I lost interest in it. I’m still unsure if I will record it one day. Top priority is Sorcier Des Glaces.
15.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
SDG – That’s a big question! The metal world, especially in “black metal”, is a very conservative one. I could not, and I’m not interested at all, in adding for example electronic influences or rock influences in our sound. I feel that Sorcier Des Glaces needs to sound a certain way and preserve this kind of old-school, ancient vibe. However, I cannot write the same album again, it would become kind of flat and uninspiring. As I listen to many musical genres, I’m very open-minded and sometimes other kind of music bring me new ideas. I would like to record an acoustic/instrumental album for Sorcier Des Glaces, but it would have to sound and feel 100% like Sorcier Des Glaces. Ancient, obscure, atmospheric, cold… I would really love to do it one day.
16.WHat are you currently listening to nowadays?
SDG – I’m listening to a lot of movies soundtrack music lately. Strangely, I’m not listening to any newer black metal bands and stuff except for the bands I’m producing in my studio now. I’m also listening to some death metal like the new album from Skeletal Remains, killer stuff! Of course old progressive stuff like Genesis often play here.
17.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
SDG – Music is a great passion. It’s an important part of me and as long as I have this fire inside I will continue to write music. Please support underground bands! They are putting their heart into their music. Thanks for this interview!
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