At the end of this issue I would like to introduce you to a group from Ukraine
Technical Death Metal. Give them time, read what they have to say and listen
to their music and I invite you to their concerts! So let's get started!
1. Welcome to the beginning of the interview, thank you for
it, tell us the story of the band as if you were telling a
fairy tale!
Once upon a time, in Ukraine, in the city of Ternopol local
musicians founded a metal band and... that's the end of the fairy
tale because it was somewhere around 2006 when the Death Metal band
"Orthodox" was founded. Of course, death metal is only a generally
accepted genre that formed a solid basis for our music. The result
of many years of work on the material was the album "Forever Not
Yet" released in 2011. After Andrzej and Bogdan moved to Poland in
2017, the band's name was changed to "Karpathian Relict". The name
of the band was supposed to break with the previous name of the
band, it refers primarily to the current location where the band was
located near the Carpathian Mountains and to the remains of the past
- Relict. The current lineup of the band is: Bogdan - guitar,
Andrzej - drums, as the founders of the band, Adrian - vocals,
joined in 2017, Bartek - guitar, joined in 2018 and Mateusz - bass,
joined in 2023.
2. As I have already checked, your line-up is mixed and the
group comes from Ukraine. Why is it like that and isn't it
related to the current situation?
Andrzej and Bogdan moved to Poland long before the war began. This
was associated with much better opportunities for professional
development and work. Postgraduate education and stabilising the
work situation abroad required a lot of effort and time, there was a
break in rehearsals for about two years, although material for the
second album was slowly being created. Over time, the entire lineup
of the band was completed with people from the Subcarpathian region,
which, by the way, also took time and undoubtedly influenced the
work.
3.You released your last album in '23. Tell us something about
it and when is the next one?
"Never Be After" was created for quite a long time, smoothly,
without stress, giving ourselves time to refine the details and
record all the tracks in such a way that each of us was ultimately
satisfied with the results of the work. The first ideas for the
album appeared shortly after the release of "Beyond The Over", but
the biggest problem we faced was the incomplete line-up. This
resulted in the bass lines being finally recorded by Bogdan, which
also required time due to not only the preparation and recording of
the guitar tracks, but also the bass lines. Finally, the album
containing 8 tracks was released on September 9, 2023, "Never Be
After” of which was preceded by 2 music videos for "Bury In The
Past" and "The Masochist". There are admixtures of technical death
metal, black metal, and progressive music. In several places we can
hear instruments not often found in extreme music.
As for further plans and plans for the next release - work is
ongoing, we are not in a hurry, there is no pressure to release
songs on a mass scale, we want to release something new, as in the
case of the previous 3 albums. Our work will definitely go more
smoothly this time due to the complete line-up and willingness to
work.
Links:
Bury In The Past - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-hmRcgqPhw
The Masochist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhAU35SkSas
4. What are your texts about, where do the inspirations and
ideas come from? Does the past tense have an influence on you
musically, or does it influence today's times?
Lyrics are basically stories and metaphors about how we perceive the
world and all that happens around us. It contains a lot of
sociological, psychological stuff. Life is an inspiration by itself
but of course we sneak a bit of some myths and stories. There are
parts written in English, Polish and Ukrainian language, it's some
kind of mixture of our own backgrounds and it represents our
inspirations well. Nature of course is a big part of our
inspirations, war and current situation in ukraine as well. There is
a poem by Maya Angelou - “When Great Trees Fall…” in our first
single Bury In The Past and Silent Waters both parts are a kind of
description of a wanderers journey in a mythical way but also in a
psychological way. Жach is a poem written by Andrzej and Adrian and
it’s a very original thing, something that we never did before. My
Anthem and The Masochist is a kind of a representation of a battle
that each of us has inside and has to go through, in some moments of
life.
5. Of course, I have to ask - does the current situation in
the east - the war with the Russian invader - have an impact
on your group and what is your opinion about the actual
situation?
Many people say that culture, music or sport should not be mixed
with politics and war - we absolutely disagree with this. When it
comes to russia's current war with Ukraine, We believe that we
should demonstrate our position regarding the terrorist state in
every possible way. Among other things, we carry this message in the
lyrics of the new album. The world should unite and fight this
cancer disease. You have to attack them from all sides, you have to
isolate them from everything. Unfortunately, many people do not
realise this, do not know, or are afraid. And the main criminal
deserves more than death. In our new musical material, we will
present this fury in an even more impressive way.
6. You play Death Metal, you have stories with other groups. What
was your path to this day, what were your beginnings like when you
first heard the word - Metal Music?
None of us remembers how it started, although each of us has in our
head the first song that sucked you to the world of Metal Music.
None of us remembers the beginnings of playing the instrument, the
first attempts at screaming or growling, because it was a series of
small successes and huge failures only to try for yourself what it's
like to hear, play and sing what a given artist does in this song.
Contact with people who have a similar perception of music and
extend your horizons, “maybe you've heard this”, “maybe that”,
“listen to this”, “check this and tell me what you think”. You could
say that every little detail had an impact on what you listen to
now, what you like and will like, and the way you create music.
7. Do you play live and where can you be seen and where can fans buy
your music?
Yes, of course we play live shows. First of all, apart from the
band, each of us has our own job - we play when we are available and
we have the opportunity. Our music is available via well known
streaming platforms and for now of course from our label Musico Eye
and Bandcamp page. Over time, we plan to expand our availability,
because now - with a complete band in place, we have opportunities
that we didn’t have before, such as social media management, merch
management, video and audio production, better work organisation.
Bandcamp - https://karpathianrelict.bandcamp.com/
8. I leave the end to you - give a shout out to the fans with
such a strong claw! Horns Up.
Thanks again for the interview, it was a pleasure for us.
First of all, thanks go to you! You who support our band with your
presence at concerts, listen to our music, watch the videos and
movies we share, your activity on social media, you who support the
band from those who have been there from the beginning to those who
haven't heard about us yet. There are more and more of us, which
gives us even more energy to work - You Are The Best! Horns Up!
Links:
1. Hello, thank you for accepting the interview. I have to admit that you are the first group from Hungary with whom I have the pleasure to talk in Blood Circle. Can you tell us the story of your creation?
​
Zoltán: Greetings everybody. It is an honour to be the first Hungarian band included in Blood Circle. Frozen Wreath dates back in 2019, when I asked Roland, if he would like to join me in a new formation, built on the ruins of my previous band. I already had couple of songs and after he listened to them, he agreed to join forces. We decided at the very beginning that I would be responsible for the music, the production, while Roland would write the lyrics and bring the vocals. As I was the main songwriter in my previous project, on that part not much changed. I continued writing songs in my style, which could be most easily described as atmospheric black metal. After two albums I can say, that we can work together very well, we managed to give Frozen Wreath a unique personality, which comes together from my rather melancholic approach to black metal and Roland’s meaningful, soul-touching lyrics. These are the reasons that we started describe Frozen Wreath as Profound Black Metal.
​
2. So we already know whom we are talking to, tell us about your music, what the words on the albums say and where and how you are inspired?
​
Zoltán: As I said before, our music is kind of melancholic black metal, a mixture of the 90’s Scandinavian black metal and the quiet, peaceful parts, like mixing together two of my favourite bands, Burzum and Tiamat. I think I can say, though I have my influences, I manage to write unique songs, I do not think you could say that we are a copy band. That is very important to me. Through the years I developed my own style and by now I pretty much know what I am good at, what is my strength when it comes to songwriting. I am not a technical player, I never was, but I have a certain talent to layer the songs, creating harmonies upon harmonies. I think this is my biggest strength, the memorable melodies.
As for the lyrics… Roland writes and sings them in Hungarian and that will stay like that. Our native language is important to us; he can describe his feelings easier in Hungarian, which is a very sophisticated language. Nevertheless, we always also include the lyrics in English in the booklets or you can find them on our Bandcamp page. On our first album ‘Memento Mori’ the lyrics were about the finality of human life, that one day we will all die. On our second album ‘Mea Culpa’ all lyrics were about suicide, telling stories of different people and how they came to this irreversible decision. As you can see, our lyrics are personal, very human, this band is not about Satan or religions, but to discover the darkness in our souls, which is more frightening then any demon.
How are we inspired? As you might get it by now, life inspires us, people we know or knew in the past, the sadness of human existence, experiences, memories, things we went through in life.
3. Your scene is quite unknown to us, can you tell us more about it, maybe you play in other groups or maybe you help someone or recommend us to get to know other music?
​
Zoltán: The Hungarian black metal scene is as big, as in other countries, I guess. Many bands creating different kind of black metal. I am sure you know at least one name, Csihar Attila. He is the singer of Tormentor, a very old Hungarian black metal band, but he is also the singer of Mayhem. The other better-known band is Thy Catafalque, or there is Sear Bliss, a 30-year old atmospheric black metal band, which is famous from using trombone in their music. However, in the underground there are many bands, but I do not want to name any, just to be fair. These days you can find them easily on the internet.
I do not have any other project, but I mention here two bands, in which Roland is included. One is WitcheR, which is a very good, atmospheric black metal band, rooting deeply in folklore and old traditions. Dominated by wonderful keyboard melodies, mainly slow, dreamlike music with heavy guitars and black metal vocals. Highly recommended. The other one is Roland’s one-man band, Vrag. This is very traditional, very old school black metal, mainly inspired by Burzum. This black metal against the world, as he describes it himself. Raw, but melodic stuff, also highly recommended.
​
4. After listening to your last album: MEA CULPA, I have the impression of listening to these albums of the 2000s, quite a specific style of Eastern Europe, I mean that it is not a style from the north or south of Latin America or different from the Polish scene. My question is, how did you develop such a style? Is it in you yourselves or have you worked on it?
​
Zoltán: I partly already answered to this question before. It is hard to see the difference for me; I do not hear my music as you do, obviously. I think there is a Hungarian kind of melancholy, comes from our history, it is in our blood. It is not a positive thing, but comes handy in songwriting, if you know what I mean. As I see, most of the bands stick to old school black metal, they are somewhat raw, but on the other hand, very melodic. I do not mean it in a negative way, but Hungarian bands are quite amateurish, in promotion and/or in production, but it has its own charm. One thing is certain, that somehow we cannot produce an internationally well-known band, as for example Behemoth or Mgla.
5. Do you play concerts, if so, what is the response of your fans? And if not, what is the interest of your listeners?
​
Zoltán: As it is a two-man band, we do not play live. Not just because of that, we also do not have the time for that. We have jobs, Roland has two other bands, plus he manages his own record company, Filosofem Records, which is responsible for Frozen Wreath, WitcheR and Vrag. Sad to say, but the interest in underground gigs is very low now. Putting so much effort to play in front of 10 people. Just not worth it, in my opinion. Frozen Wreath stays as it was, a studio project, but at least we can do that with full enthusiasm.
​
6. Geopolitical question - you don't have to answer it, but what is your opinion about the whole situation in the east and other hot countries, where I have some influence on everyone, even on music?
​
Zoltán: Frozen Wreath stays out of any kind of political influences. Personally, I really hate when a band starts stating political issues. It really divides its fanbase and it really should be all about the music. If you wish, write lyrics about your political views, but stop preaching about them. Musicians are not politicians and many times they can say nonsense things.
7. The last album was released in 2023, is there a chance for another one this year or will you focus on other groups?
​
Zoltán: Our latest album ‘Mea Culpa’ was just released last September, so in this year definitely will not come any new album out. In fact, our 3rd album is set to be released some time in 2026. As I mentioned, Roland has two other bands, he will release first a new Vrag and next year a new WitcheR album, and then comes Frozen Wreath again. I already started writing the new material. Actually, the music sheets are all done, I will start recording soon, then I will mix the record, then I send the whole album to Roland, he starts writing the lyrics and later on records the vocals. When the record is done, comes the cover artwork and all additional promotion stuff. All these take tremendous time, so 2026 is a fair prediction for a new album release.
​
8. On The End this interview with the last word to your fans and tell your fans where they can find you or buy your albums. The last words are yours and I thank you again!
​
Zoltán: I would like to thank everybody who supported us in any way. I hope in the future many more new fans can we welcome in our little family.
You can find us at the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frozenwreath
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frozenwreath/
Bandcamp: https://frozenwreath.bandcamp.com/
Metal Archives: https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Frozen_Wreath/3540476964
1.Welcome to the introduction, thank you for the interview. Introduce yourself at the beginning so that we know who we are talking to?
​
Hello, I’m glad, you’ve found me and invited me to this interview, and a big hello is going also to your readers! To introduce myself: I’m Janos, I’m Hungarian, I’m near 50 years old, I listen to metal music for aprox 40 yeras. I run a one-man-record-label namely METAL ÖR DIE RECORDS since 2002, which is dedicated to undergeround and semi-underground music activities of Hungary and not only Hungary. I think, I do my job to a good standard, but of course it always depends on my financian situation. In the very early years I released very amateur releases (cheap & crappy CD-Rs), but in the last 20 years I have improved a lot, espeially financially, so I can invest more in to my releases and I can reach more people worldwide. I have about 50-60 releases behind me, during this time I built good relationships, friendships and contacts worldwide. I like very much this kind of music and activity.
​
2.What was your path to metal and why did you join metal and not other music, what attracted you to metal, maybe tell me what groups were at the beginning and what are important to you today?
​
I personally listen to metal music since 1986. I have got a dubbed tape from a classmate to my 11th birthday. On the tape were recorded the following bands: ANTHRAX, MANOWAR, IRON MAIDEN. It was my first meeting with so called „heavy metal”, but for the first listening I enjoyed very much the energies, which came from the music of these bands. To be honest, I was familiar a bit earlier, in the first half of the 80s with the distorted guitar sound, becuase I met the songs of some old school Hungarian hard rock bands from the TV, such as P. Box, P. Mobil, Edda, Omega etc. which ones were also fine for my taste, but I wouldn’t call these bands „metal”. I asked my father to record me some whole TV-broadcasts to tapes, where they played also hard rock bands, and I listenet a lot to these tapes. Later, at the end of the primary school I met with many other foreign and Hungarian metal bands’ music, as e.g. Ossian, Pokolgep, Stress, Rotor, to mention only the biggest native ones, or Helloween, Scorpions, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Sodom, Bathory, Accept, Kreator, Metallica, Sepultura, Venom, Slayer... You know, the most important basic bands… In the years of my high school times me and my best friends used to pick up every kind of hard/raw/harsh sound, which was possible to find here. We listened mainly to the Polish bootleg tapes, such as ALF, MG, TAKT… And you should know, on these labels it was possible to find really everithing to the cheapest prices. Or we used to records full albums from the public radio, becuase there was a good radio broadcast titled „For the fans of heavy metal”, and they used to play there full albums. Later I get know hardcore punk music, too, and also other radical genres from the widest focus, e.g. black metal, grindcore, death metal, deathgrind, skinhead music, crustcore etc., so I have my favorites in every kind of so called HARD music.
…and what’s about today? Well, now I mostly listening to my big evergreen favorites, which I have got known in the 80s and 90s. Of course I follow also young bands and fresh music, but the really biggest favorites of mine are the same, as I was 18.
3.Tell me what you do in your production and what kind of groups are they, whether only from your country or from other countries?
​
As a record label I dont have preferences, if native or foreign bands… I allready worked with bands from the several parts of the world. But, if somebody takes a look to my label’s catalogue, he will find 85% Hungarian bands. Maybe it’s easier for me to work to help rather to our native bands? Yes, it’s true. Or maybe foreign bands find me not so easily? Yes, it’s also true.
Btw. I like also the releases, which have a special conception, for example splits or retrospective stuffs (repress of old demos etc.)
If we focus to the musical genres of my releases, you will find several ones (inside of metal, of course): thrash, heavy/speed, raw black, atmospheric black, deathgrind, grindcore, grind/punk, avantgarde death, black/thrash, old school death etc etc etc…
What I do in my productions process? I manage the cover desinging process, I manage the manufacturing procedures (of all physical formats), I produce merchandising (hoodies, shirts, patches etc.), I run also a bandcamp site for digital formats of albums… and what is very-very important for me: distributing of my label’s releases through my distro worldwide. I’m very motivated to bring the physical releases to the listeners and collectors. Maybe I’m wrong, but I still belive in the physical records. Of course I know the modern tendencies of today, but nevermid, I belive in my work.
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4.What is the interest in your products and what would you do to improve the interest of the listeners? How to attract more of them in today's fast times of life?
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Well, here, inside of Hungary my label is wellknown in the UG, but also in the mainstream metal life, so there is a good interest for my releases here.
Outside of Hungary? Im very motivated to trade my stuffs to every countries. so you can find my releases in many distros worldwide. I trade a lot with other UG activists. Every months I go from my city to Budapest to be there in the biggest independent record fair, to promote my stuffs and to reach the fans.
About promotion? I try to spread my news by Facebook and Bandcamp, e-mails and trades, but I don’t invest too much money to RP Agencies. Maybe I’m wrong, but I didn’t make good experiences with them…
Circulation? Well, I let press nowadays 500 examples of the CDs, and within few years I can sell them out or trade them with my partners. Some years before I made 1000 copies of some releases, these products aslo sold well, but temporally the market became smaller…
5.Which publications are the most popular and which are in your opinion very important but not noticed?
​
The most popular bands, which are in my label:
ATOMIC (HUN - classic, old school thrash since 1983)
DENEVÉR (HUN - old school black metal in the good old Hungarian way as Tormentor)
MUTILATION CASE (HUN – unique avantgarde death metal)
JACK (HUN – grindpunk oldschoolers since 1996)
VORKUTA (HUN – harsh old school black metal)
…and the retrospecive releases by the following bands:
ANGEL REAPER (HUN – black thrash, death metal from the 80s and the eraly 90s)
FANTOM (HUN – black/thrash from the 80s)
ANTICHRIST (HUN – black/thrash from the 80s)
ANUBIS (HUN – death metal from the early 90s)
INTENSE AGONIZING (HUN – deathgrind from the mid of 90s)
SUBJECT (HUN – deathgrind from the mid of the 90s)
DETONATOR (HUN – black/thrash from the end of the 80s)
…but I produced in the last 22 years many-many releases, so maybe I have forgotten to mention not a few…
I worked in the last years with many bands, who left my label meanwhile, but I’m proud of them still today, for example:
FROST (HUN – atmospheric black metal since 1996)
WITCHER (HUN - atmospheric black metal since 2010)
VRAG (HUN - atmospheric black metal since 2010)
Temporally I belive very much in the following releases of mine:
FROST: „Consecratus ad mortem” CD
ANTICHRIST: „Dark age in the very beginning” CD
all ATOMIC releases, exspecially the one titled „Hate transplant” CD
ANGERSEED’s new album, which will come out this year.
…and I want to focus your interest to one of my label’s band FANATIC ATTACK, whose third album (titled „Withstand the storm” 2021) is a great one in my view, but unfortunately they don’t play live too often, and their second album was not that kind of good, and many listeneres turned away from them.
6.Do you see the bands you give out at concerts and if so, how do you perceive it?
​
As I see, in the Hungarian underground, the personal relations are very important, when a label wants to work with a band on a release. As you all, Dear Readers, may know, our land is a small one, we are here only aprox. 9 millions people, so the underground movement is also very small, but there are here too many underground activists, who run labels. Not all existing labels use to work so actively, than me, for example they publish a release in every two’n a half years, or they press every year five ultralimited tape releases in cca. 17 or 32 copies or so… May you know what I mean… There is a wise sentence in Hungarian language: „There are too many eskimos, but few fish.” So therefor there is a kind of competition between the labels in a strange form.
How I get to know the music of a band usually? How I contact them?
Well, I’m allways looking for new bands in the Internet, or some friends suggest me new bands, and then later I contact them by phone or e-mail or by Messenger. …and when a band wants to work with me, I’m glad. When not? Not a problem… But when a band doesn’t answer me, not even a short sentence? What should I think, when I greet a mate of an UG band on an live show, and he doesn’t greet me back? Haha! Ok, no problem from my side, I acknowladge it, but in these cases I only think, personal contast are first.
About visiting of concerts to get known new music? No, I don’t visit too often live gigs because of my private life, only 3-4-5 times a year, and mostly the gigs of the band I used to work with.
7.Geopolitical question - does the situation in the east and other regions help or rather hinder the promotion of music from your production?
​
Well, I dont’t see the temporally situation in my homeland so wrong, when I talk about the financial situation of the fans. I think, the most of the Hungarian people are living in good conditions, if we check their everydays life, so if a fan is interested to buy physical releases, he can buy. Of course, everyone has their preferences, but when somebody wants to buy a record, he can, I’m sure. It depends not on money, it depends on preferences. Of course, some people are too lazy to go to record shops or order from a distro, and they rather pay for streaming or downloads, and they say, it’s cheaper for them or there isn’t enough place in their house for records etc etc etc… But that’s just a side talk… Everything depends on attitude and habits. There is still supply and demand… I don’t know, what will bring us the future, but this is the situation right now.
When you understand under „geopolitical” conditions the war between Ukraine and Russia: I lost all of my trade partners in Ukraine and in a strange way also a few in Russia, but you know, I’m in this „business” for 22 years, when I lost some partners, I can make new ones. I acknowladge and move on… As I know, in Czech Republic the situation of UG activists got worse, as they can’t receive parcels from Russia because of the embargo, but we, Hungarians can, and I use to help to my kind Czech friends from my heart, if they want to receive Russian parcels... Hungary is really a free land, you know… You should never belive, what some newspapers spread about us!
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8.The last word is yours, hit as much as you want, wolf howl, promotion all over where can I find you and how to buy CDs?
​
I only write here my contacts, ok?
Thank you for attention! Goodbye!
Devon Atmospheric Black Metal
1. Hello, at the beginning of the interview, thank you for your acceptance. You have been playing together for 4 years, although two of you are from the same band. Tell us something about it and the reason for the creation of Cistvaen?
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(Lee): Cistvaen was actually formed in 2016 with myself, Mark Sanders, James Mardon and 2 others. After a few line up changes, and Mark having to leave the country, our line up was completed with the addition of Guy Taylor on vocals, Ed Wilcox on drums and Chris Finch on guitars. This is the line up that recorded both the debut EP “Under the Silent Meadow Skies” and the debut album “At Light’s Demise”. It remained this line up from 2018 until Chris Finch left the band in 2023, and Mark Sanders rejoined, taking his place on guitars.
I first conjured the idea for Cistvaen when I heard Alcest’s song “Ouiseaux de proie”, particularly the outro of the song, and I thought it sounded so beautiful and yet fairly simplistic. I was not confident in my technical guitar-playing ability, but I felt I had a knack for songwriting, and so I decided I wanted to write music that sounded like this. The single “Kistvaen” was the first track I wrote, and I’m sure you can hear the similarities between this song and the outro of “Ouiseax de proie”.
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2. You recorded your first big album in 2024. What are your lyrics about, what is your music and what inspires you, any special places in Devon?
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(Lee): I was living in Devon in south west England at the time I formed Cistvaen. I was looking to the local countryside and wilderness to draw inspiration for the imagery and themes of the band. Dartmoor National Park is a bleak, yet beautiful landscape in the heart of the county. It flows for as far as the eyes can see in every direction, and is still and silent. There are no trees, no people, no birds, no cars… it was truly a calming, and yet lonely experience. I felt the beauty of the place, but also the potential danger of being lost out there. The contrast of these 2 feelings matched the ideas I had for the sound of the music. The beautiful, melancholic melodies contrasted against the harsh vocals,distorted guitars and black metal blast beats. So I decided to name the band “Cistvaen”, which is a type of ancient grave or burial chamber that can be found scattered across Dartmoor.
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3. Another difficult question: the music scene in Devon. Does metal exist at all in this part of England, because it's hard for me to find anything here. What is your experience?
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(Lee) We recently played down in Plymouth at Doom Over Plymouth, The Junction in March and the event was sold out and people turned up early to see us. It was great to see the scene so full and vibrant for an event like this. Not many bands make the journey into the depths of the Devonian Countryside to perform live, so when they do, the people of the area come out in droves to support it. The efforts of Ascendancy Productions and Nytys Promotions have kept the scene alive and thriving over the years in Devon, bringing in a slew of bands such as Winterfylleth, Fen, Arkona, Hate, Baest, Conan, Wayfarer, Akercocke, Exumer, Hirax, A Forest of Stars between them.
Touring bands often overlook the southwest and we are lucky to get a show in Bristol at the O2 Academy, but there is certainly a healthy and hungry scene in Devon that wants for more shows!
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4. Do you play live concerts and do you have plans for the near future and do you plan to play outside the UK?
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(Lee) Yes, we have been playing live together since 2018 where our first gig was opening for Fen in Plymouth at The Junction, put on by Nytys Promotions. We’ve played up and down the country including Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester, Bristol, Cardiff and Bridgwater.
The success of the debut album certainly warrants some shows overseas. Hopefully, with the right contacts, we could sort out some shows in Germany and Romania.
5. Let's go back to the past - Covid / what were the restrictions and did it affect you personally and band ?
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Covid had a huge impact on us. We were due to go on our first ever UK tour with Deadwood Lake in April 2020 with dates in London, Birmingham, Plymouth, Cardiff and more. But as you know, all events were shut down in March 2020 when the pandemic hit. Deadwood Lake have since ceased to play live, so the tour never came to be.
The isolation we all felt during covid also helped to fuel our writing processes for the debut album. “Cessation of Hope” was written during the pandemic and encapsulates the feeling that we all had back then of there being no end to the pandemic and when we would be able to see loved ones again.
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6. Geopolitical question of the moment - War in the East, problems in the Middle East, change of government in the UK and economic problems, upcoming problems with Taiwan and then a possible attack on Europe. What do you think about the world we live in now?
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Prefer not to answer
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7. Coming back to music, tell us where your fans can buy your CDs or T-shirts - how will you encourage them to listen to you?
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You can head over to our bandcamp page cistvaen.bandcamp.com. We have CDs, Vinyls, logo patches and t-shirts available (CDs are close to selling out, and most of the t-shirts have sold out too!)
If you can’t support us by buying merch at this time, then please listen to the album on Spotify, or on the Black Metal Promotions Youtube Channel!
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8. Thank you for your time - finally, tell us which path we should take to travel safely with your music as with the waves of the River Exe.
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To best experience the music of Cistvaen, I recommend listening with no other distractions to fully absorb and appreciate the record’s sorrowful and melancholic melodies, intricate basslines and heart felt lyrics. Make sure to use your best headphones or speakers because the production on the album is also something to be admired (thanks to Josh Gallop of Stage 2 Studios in Bath).
If you let the music in, you will feel something whilst listening that will connect your suffering with the suffering of others and you will feel a little less alone than before.
