- Forests Of Old
- Forests of Old are an American black metal act with a healthy interest in crossing the boundaries of genre and defying the current definitions of the art in their home country. 2009 will see them release their second EP, “Voices from Oblivion”, five tracks of doomy, raw, cacophonous black metal, interspersed with moments of quiet ambient beauty and topped off with a notably extreme vocal performance. I caught up with Bastard Son of God to find out what we can expect from the band in the coming months.
- Hierophant Nox:
We've come together firstly to discuss the Forests of Old EP "Voices from
Oblivion" which has been assaulting my ears for the past few days. Have you
finished working on this EP now? When can our readers expect to see it released?
Bastard: If there are no delays then the EP will be released in February- March '09 by Nokturnal Transmissions Records.
Hierophant Nox: I'm quite captivated first of all by the naming of the title and tracks of this EP; what are the ideas behind "Voices from Oblivion", and what do the songs convey to the listener?
Bastard: Haha, well the lyrics and themes for this particular recording are very personal to me. They are very metaphoric in their meaning. I think all 3 tracks are very open to interpretation by the listener, which was one of my goals with this EP. I guess you could say that the reoccurring theme here is the self-destruction of the human spirit by those whom you trusted, or kept close to you. Again it can be interpreted differently by each individual.
Hierophant Nox: You've stated that Forests of Old find inspiration from nature, and the band name hints at something primordial, powerful and atmospheric. How do you go about capturing such an essence in music? How would you describe the art that you create?
Bastard: Well we first and foremost are mostly inspired by the lives around us, those we associate with, things that have a direct influence on us. I live in an urban setting so it would be quite difficult for me to be inspired by anything nature related. Wulv, however, lives in the wilderness, so I think he is more influenced by his surroundings. We wanted to create an album that you could put on late at night and listen to on headphones with a joint or glass of wine and be taken to the parts of your psyche that you normally don't want to go to but are intrigued by. The music is created by feeling, if it doesn't give me that “terrified” feeling then it doesn't work.
Hierophant Nox: You're quite honest about the fact that the project started out as something influenced by acts such as Darkthrone, when it was named Destruction Ritual, before changing; some bands try to deny their origins. What inspired you to evolve your sound? Was there a particular musical idea that you had, or a particular collaboration with a bandmate?
Bastard: When Wulv joined the band he brought more ideas to the equation, ideas that meshed very well with how I felt the band should sound. We always joke that we literally have to put our heads together to come up with an idea! Haha, but seriously, he gets it, we don't go out of our way to be different, but we wanted to create an album that we wanted to hear. I still love the early black metal bands, but I've become quite bored with all these bands who are afraid to experiment, step outside that which you are comfortable with. So with him joining, he brought different inspirations and ideas that were very similar to mine, so the evolution of the band has been quite natural and unforced.
Hierophant Nox: I believe you are now working as a duo again with Wulv. Are you actively seeking other collaborators or are you happy and stable working as a two-man band?
Bastard: Haha, we've had a lot of unneeded drama with other people when we were trying to make this a full band. Some were trying to change everything about the sound, others didn't contribute for whatever reason, and then you have people whose dedication was severely questioned. We have no time for that bullshit, this EP would have been done a lot sooner if we had just stuck to what we originally planned. We would like to have a full-time drummer, but it would have to be the right person, someone who understood the vision and goals for this band. We want to be that person’s top priority. Until then we'll use a session guy. All of the music and writing is done by me and him and for now, yes we are quite comfortable with it that way. Maybe that will change, but for the foreseeable future I don't see that happening.
Bastard: Holy shit you’re the first person to see that!! Thank you. Yes we are very inspired by doom, both the traditional and funeral genres of the style. I think we had quite a bit more idea-wise for this material but we want to slowly incorporate different styles into the music, so that the listener isn't overwhelmed. I can tell you black metal will always be the core of what we do, there will always be blast beats, screams, and fast riffs. As for boundaries, we see it like this; no line is forbidden to cross, if it sounds good and it helps with the feel of the song and helps us portray what we are trying to do then yes, we will do whatever.
Hierophant Nox: In the past two years or so, we've seen the rise of commentators looking for bands upon which they can pin a 'USBM' tag (rather annoyingly, I think); do you find that your location affects the way you are perceived? Do you believe there is such a thing as 'USBM' or is it a worthless pursuit?
Bastard: I've had people say we sound American? I’m very interested in knowing what this American sound is. Most of the bands here sound very Scandinavian-influenced to me, there are a select few who have pushed the limits of conventional black metal, stepped outside of their safe zone and don't give a fuck what people think. Also a lot of the newer bands here are bringing a lot of non-metal influences into their music, which is both good and bad, the scenesters have branched over into black metal, which pisses me off to no end, ‘cause a year ago these fuckers weren't even into metal at all. So we don't consider ourselves USBM, we want no part of that shit at all, but I’m sure we'll receive that label anyway because we are from here.
Hierophant Nox: How does the song-writing process work for you? Do you start with a sole idea, or do you have the 'feel' of a whole song before you begin?
Bastard: A little of both, actually. I come up with a concept or rough song title and Wulv will write riffs from that idea, other times he'll send me riffs and I'll arrange them together and throw atmosphere ideas into the songs. All of these songs came together very quickly, but very naturally, which I think shows how well Wulv and I work together. A lot of the full-length we are working on was already laid out before we even started writing it. I can tell you it is gonna be a lot weirder than the EP, but also more aggressive and pissed off.
Hierophant Nox: One aspect that is certain to draw comment is the vocal style you adopt on the EP- wow! Do you see your voice as an integral instrument in the Forests of Old set-up? What has drawn you to the more unsettling and experimental style?
Bastard: Thank you for that. I am a huge fan of vocalists who experiment with their voices, a lot of what you heard was REAL raw emotion!! My biggest influence as a vocalist isn't a metal vocalist at all. I adore Mike Patton's use of sound and the anguish and anger he portrays in his vocals. I’m also a huge Attila fan. I guess from all points of view we are trying to not follow the herd and we strive to do something unique, my vocals actually came out that way, I never intended to do something so different or strange, I just went with the emotions I felt from the lyrics, it was very real pain and suffering: I feel I did them justice.
Hierophant Nox: Does "Voices from Oblivion" represent a determined period of creativity with the aim of making an EP, or have the songs been in existence for a longer time? Did inspiration flow easily when writing them, or did you encounter difficulties during the process?
Bastard: Well the three songs on the EP have been finished since May '08 but bullshit with labels, other members, money problems led us to not be able to finish is till now. We did have a spurt there for a while, we already have four songs written for the full-length, some would have fit with the songs on the EP, but we wanted to work on them a bit more and we really wanted to get this EP out there for people to hear. Yes, inspiration was very strong during composition, when we got together the songs changed even more due to my vocals being present, and it also set the tone for writing new songs; now we have more of a solid idea of what the next release will sound like.
Bastard: We have two songs totally done except for vocals, and two that are finished but still need drums and vocals. We are planning on writing about eight or nine songs for it so maybe ten or eleven altogether as we love doing just atmospheric tracks so expect a few of those in there as well. Yeah we are still looking for a label to release it. We don't want to make a lateral move with it, we would like to step up a bit as far as labels go. We want a label that will promote us, get our records available to metalheads everywhere. We are quite comfortable recording the way we do, so having a huge budget to go to some studio with some guy we don't know is not important to us. We just want label that will stand behind us and do good for us.
Hierophant Nox: The artwork for "Voices from Oblivion" and surrounding the band generally is of an exceptionally high quality. Who is your artist? Do you feel they have captured the essence of the band?
Bastard: Yes it is, and we are very proud of it. The album artwork was done by Niels of Depraved Designs. He is an outstanding artist who really brought the nightmares of the music to life. He nailed it!!! We will definitely be using him for the next release. Our layout on our Myspace page was done by Paradisus Callim Sanctitus. Again, an outstanding young artist that more people need to know about. He too nailed our vision of what Forests of Old is about.
Hierophant Nox: Is it still your intention to eventually take Forests of Old into the live arena? Do you think your music will impact differently in that setting?
Bastard: Yes for sure we would love to perform these songs in a live setting, of course it would have to be in the proper environment. We are both working family men with a lot of responsibilities, so long bouts of touring more than likely will never happen, plus we would need to find the proper session people to perform the music properly, which around here is very difficult. But if something was offered to us and it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up, then I’m sure we would strongly consider it.
Hierophant Nox: It is clear that Forests of Old prefer to function outside of the established 'scene', but have there been any extreme music releases in 2008 that have really impressed you? And other artists whom you respect for their independent ways?
Bastard: Yes, we both enjoyed the new Enslaved album immensely, what a great record it is. They were the band that laid the groundwork for bands like us, I think subconsciously we are greatly inspired by them. Also the new Nachtmystium album was really good too; Blake is a good friend and he really doesn't give a fuck about scenes and lets his influences show brightly and I respect him greatly for that. Other than that it was a pretty uneventful release year for me, I think 2009 will be better. Ohh and the new Virus album “The Black Flux” was pretty good, but that isn't really metal. I don't know what the fuck you call that?? How about genius.
Hierophant Nox: What are your plans for 2009 and beyond? Are there any particular goals you have set for yourselves?
Bastard: We hope to be able to start recording the full-length by Summer, and if we are successful in finding a sufficient label then hopefully a fall release. And maybe our first ever live shows. This all of course depends on us finding a drummer to do the album, I think this will be a holdup, but all we can do is hope for the best one way or another we will get it fucking done hopefully without all of the holdups we had this time. We definitely learned from our past mistakes for sure.
Hierophant Nox: Thank you very much for giving up your time, and we wish you all the best for the EPs release. If you have any further messages for the world, please go ahead:
Bastard: Thank you for the great interview, I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for your support. Keep the flames burning and support free-thinking metal, fuck scenesters and HAIL FUCKING DARKNESS!!!!
