I've also been watching over I Hate Records releases, this Swedish label doesn't produce many records but all of them are jewels or excellent materials. A little Doom Metal band hooked me as they really found their way, their own identity reminding some of the best Doom Metal combos. This band is ISOLE from Sweden, and they've yet recorded two full-lenghts "Forevermore" and "Throne Of Void". I got a chat with Bryntse (guitar and vocals) about his combo and many other Metal related topics. Read on his very humble answers. | |
Hail,
how are you today ? What is the fresh news from ISOLE ? Good evening ! I'm fine today. Just a bit tired (as always) after a hard days work. The perfect moment to relax with this interview. Fresh news, you ask ? Oh well.. not much really. We recently recorded a bonus track for the second pressing of our debut "Forevermore". The song is a slightly reworked heavier version of the old demo-track "Tears of Loss". Besides that we've taken a short hiatus lasting over the recent holidays. Let's start the interview introducing
ISOLE to readers, you began the band in 2004 through a promo tape, didn't
you ? What is the musical background of members ? And is there any meaning
behind the band name, excepted the obvious dictionary one ? The band began with Forlorn as band
name, why did you switch it for ISOLE ? Was it because of the Norwegian
band ? |
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How did you get
into Doom Metal ? How old were you when you discovered this range of Metal
? Did you immediately started with Heavy/Doom Metal bands as teenager ?
Hmm... hard to say exactly since it's been for so long. I've been listening to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal since the early 80's. I guess my real passion for Doom and similar genres begin to grow with Bathory's epic viking albums, Paradise Lost's debut and a few other somewhat similar albums of that era. Candlemass got me with "Mirror, Mirror". How would you describe a perfect Doom
Metal composition ? According to you what are the key elements for a milestone
tune in this genre ? What are your 5 favourites Doom hymns ? How did you end on I Hate Records for
your two first records ? I think this label is very dedicated to bands
they sign, and even though their financial means are limited they try
to promoted them the better they can…. According to you, what are the main evolution between "Forevermore"
and "Throne Of Void" as there only one year between each release
? I know that it's my job to review albums and compare them, but this
time I'd like to get your feeling… |
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Would
you explain the cover of "Throne Of Void" ? What is this female
taking in her arms the holy cross ? Does it mean that the religion links
her to her own reality ? There is no real story. We needed a cover quickly and Henka just happen to have this picture that "looked doomy enough". But I find it interesting that you find so much meaning. Makes me think that we should choose the cover art more carefully in the future. There's a song of your album called
"Insomnia". I'd like you to explain the content of the lyrics
? Do you suffer from insomnia ? Life could turn into nightmare when you
can't properly sleep, so what is your relation to this illness as I would
called it illness ? Furthermore it was a mean of torture during many wars
to get information from prisoners… Let's
keep on this topic, what is your feeling on religion such as Christianity
that are more or less rather inactive in Europe now and on fanatic religions
such as Islamism ? |
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I'm
not sure I perfectly understood the message behind "Bleak" tune,
but I feel like this song sums up human life like "I'm listenin
g to my heart" which could be the
very first living minutes, "I'm opening my eyes" that could
be the early adult time in which you're starting to discover the reality,
through "Time is my curse everything fades" that could be the
ending life days….
Once again, I have to leave this to Crister. Crister: You don't have to understand the message behind "Bleak correctly. I like your interpretation of the lyrics. Actually "Bleak" is to me about a man that is reborn as an vampire. Imagine how it would be to live forever and never see the sun again. I often write lyrics in some kind of abstract way so everyone who reads the lyrics can make their own conception. Doom lyrics meanly deal with the human
curse and the very dark side of mankind, so would you consider yourself
as a bleak lad, or sad guy ? As Doom
Metal is always an introspection of the inner self, I'd like to know how
you perceive your own life ? Do you feel wiser with passing time and what
are the previous experiences that changed your mind and view of the world
? |
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This
question is more to Bryntse : I really like the way you sing especially
on song such as "Autumn Leaves". Your vocals are both a kind of
scolding and morning at the same time that according to me perfectly fit
to ISOLE's music. I'd like to know how long did you work to reach this quality
with your voice and who are the singers that influenced you ? This answer is going to be cliché... I've been singing all my life, more or less, but it's not until recently (well... the last 10 years or so) that I've felt at least SOME kind of confidence with my singing. Now I'm beginning to find what's right for ISOLE. Instead I may have forgotten some other quality in my voice. Influences : well, just about anybody with a good voice, be it operatic, growling, screaming or whatever. I just have to do with what I've got and always try to push myself just a tad further every time. Let's keep on the vocal department
questions, in my "Throne Of Void" review I mentioned a connection
between your vocals and the one from Solitude Aeternus's Robert Lower
do you agree with me ? By the way, what is your view on their new release
"Alone" ? How does
it happen that all the tunes from "Throne Of Void" are downloadable
on your web site as MP3 ? I think that really sucks as everyone can get
your full album without buying it, while Metal scene also needs financial
support, don't you think so ? Has I Hate Records agreed with this fact
? |
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I sometimes feel
like that Doom Metal is such a strange part of Metal that it hardly belongs
to the Metal "history". I mean not many Metalheads are into Doom
stuffs, and excepted for Black Sabbath, Cathedral and Candlemass, most of
Metal fans hardly know any Doom Metal bands that is a shame, do you feel
the same ? That's true, of course. I remember that back in the 80's many
Thrash and Speed Metal fans considered Doom Metal music as a sleeping
music. They were searching for ultra fast and straight in the head riffs
with bands such as Whiplash, Kreator, Dark Angel, Possessed while Doom
Metal has always delivered slow tempo compositions. I myself were much
more into speed tempo releases than mid tempo albums, was it the same
with you and other band members ? Furthermore, I felt that Doom Metal
was the rising scene than never reached the front lights in Metal fanzines
and magazines, don't you think so ? I'd like to know if you are only into
Doom Metal music or if you listen to faster Metal releases ? You come
from Sweden that has/had a very active and powerful Black and Death Metal
scene through bands such as Dissection (rip), Bathory (rip), Watain, Nifelheim,
Entombed, Dismember and so on, what is your regard on these two scenes
? Are there any favourite extreme bands you praise their releases ? A part of the Black Metal scene is
divided into what is labelled as "Funeral Doom Metal" consisting
of playing a kind of very depressing and slow tempo Black Metal with most
of the time tortured vocals (i.e. Shining, Forgotten Tomb, Bethlehem –more
dark Metal, Onskapt…) are into this scene too ? |
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Let's speak a bit about
future, when will you record your new album and do you think that it'll
be signed through I Hate Records once more and how will it sound ? Do
you have future plans excepted for new songs ? Hehe.. It just happened. Couldn't find any good pictures, so we took the bad ones. Thanks for answering
these questions, I guess you finished your 16 beer pack during the interview,
so end it as you wish….
Franang zine 20/01/07 |