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  • Poster/Print

    Slowly We Rot #15 / 2020 (Underground, 60 pages, English written, factory printed, black/white, glossy, A4 format)


    Featuring interviews with:

    !T.O.O.H.!
    Abramelin
    Apokalyptic Raids
    Belle Morte
    Blood Chalice
    Broken Trinity
    Burden of Life
    Crest of Darkness
    Cryptobiosis
    Devilish Impressions
    Dismembered Carnage
    Djevel
    Ecatonia
    Einherjer
    Elixir of Distress
    Enshadowed
    Evoken
    Impalement
    Kalmo
    Kirkebrann
    Konvent
    Kostnatění
    Lacktor
    Lacrimas Profundere
    Lucid Conformity
    Marrasmieli
    Melektaus
    Murder Van
    Nyrst
    Profanation
    Putrid
    Pythia
    Repugnant Scum
    Rites to Sedition
    Siren's Rain
    Thy Catafalque
    Unburied
    + reviews
    + free compilation CD!


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about

INTERVIEW:


Hi Rena, how do you cope with the current Covid-19 pandemic? How's the situation in Washington these days? How do you keep the band active these days?
Washington State was the first epicenter of the virus in the States and was taking it seriously before the federal government fully got on board. One of the biggest problems in the States right now is the financial inequality; we do not have universal healthcare or universal financial protections for citizens. Some folks are really hurting. A lot of folks don’t believe that the virus is happening or serious and are staging protests, and defiantly opening up their businesses against the orders, which put everyone in danger. The situation here is being handled in a much laxer way than in Europe, and we’re paying for that in lives.
We vibe off each other a lot while we write, so it is very challenging to write separately. We have been using cloud-based tech to pass song ideas to each other. We were about to go to the studio and then quarantine hit. Each member is taking the time to improve their musicianship, take lessons, and play around with new techniques.

Siren's Rain's music is quite eclectic, not easy to pinpoint to a specific genre, do you agree? How would you describe it to someone who never heard it before?
I do agree with this. I think that in the next album you will hear more of a solidified “sound”. It’s challenging in the States to find folk musicians; our instrumentation has changed album to album. What you’re going to hear going forward is more sustainable. Folk Metal has certain connotations, but within that genre, there’s a variety. Amon Amarth is technically folk metal, as is Cthonic. In my opinion, a lot of it is based off of the lyrical content. I would describe our sound as layered. Going forward, you’re going to hear a very stormy metal sound from Siren’s Rain.

Your lyrics seems to talk more about myths and fairytales, correct? Where from do you take inspiration? What is the ultimate drive for a band to play about this, is there a message it tries to transmit, or simply to disclose certain stories to the listener?
Yes. Being as how we are a band from the Pacific Northwest, we wanted the musical and lyrical landscapes to mirror our climate and topography. I have always lived in haunted houses and have been reading ghost stories since I was a child. A lot of the lyrics are local or US ghost stories that I read about and turn into lyrics. Folk Metal is about storytelling, and we are storytellers. I try to stay away from blatantly political pieces, instead, what I do is I will create a meaning with my lyrics for myself, but it's open to interpretation to the listener. My favorite songwriters do this. I don’t like really obvious, or 2-dimensional meanings. I don’t sing about sex. That’s boring. What’s not boring- a haunting, a betrayal, unfinished business. What does the song mean to you? That’s important. A friend of mine had a relative in the 1700s in Canada who was beheaded for poisoning several husbands. I like to turn stories like that into songs, especially if there’s a personal connection.

Your vocals have a center point in the band's music, at least from an outsider's (like myself) point of view, one could say it's tailored around you. How do you usually compose new tracks, who come with the initial ideas and how are they built afterwards? What makes a Siren's Rain track perfect, ready for showing it to the public, in your point of view?
I do think that was one of the ways that we organize things; around the vocals. I have a very big range from the growls to soprano cleans, and we wanted to highlight that. Originally when we started, we had 8 members, I think that you can hear how the pieces might not be as clear with so many cooks in the kitchen on the first EP. We have since streamlined our songwriting process, which you can hear on the second EP; it’s more polished. We start with the metal “bones”, and then layer from there. Ed usually lays down a riff, and we jam it out from there. I usually come up with melodies and rhythmic growls based off the guitars, and not the other way around. One of the things we like to do is to play the songs live before an audience before we finalize them and record them. We do this because some things work better live in the moment than how you rehearsed them, and oftentimes those ideas are more fun, and pack a punch.

Although the music is not as aggressive, one can sense some Extreme Metal influences especially in your vocal performance here and there. Are you open to such influences, too? Is there a boundary of aggression you won't ever pass?
As far as extreme metal goes, it is guaranteed to be noticeably heavier and much more aggressive with recruiting our new percussionist, who has been taking advantage of the down time by studying along with practicing unfamiliar techniques utilized by drummers and bands known for the faster and more technical genres of metal. This is something that we had taken into consideration with recruiting a new drummer, we really want that fast, tight, heavy metal sound, which you will hear on the new material. Boundary of Aggression sounds like a badass song title, by the way. I’m going to borrow that from you, if that’s okay. We’re going to be heavier, darker, broodier, and with more group vocals and backing vocals.

The United States population has a lot of roots within the old Europe, and seeing some of the band members in kilts during live shows made me curious if you searched for your own roots and are displaying them within the band, too.
I think that there’s definitely a “metal uniform”, or “metal look” that you expect with folk metal and metal in general, kilts being one of them, camo pants and t’s another, corsets and skirts another. The bassist is for real related to Vlad the Impaler. The rest of us are mostly European in ancestry. What we didn’t want to do is copy the European folk metal sound, and I think that we have accomplished that.

In Europe and I think South America, too, Folk Metal has a ton of support, but how is it in the States? Do you feel supported by the local public? Do you feel you've made a name for yourselves within the scene in Washington? What's the main target for the band, do you want to maybe tour the World at some point?
Folk metal is definitely building up here and especially in Canada. The Canadian metal scene is awesome. They’re friendly, they all support each other, and they have a great scene. It is challenging in the US for metal. A lot of venues will not book metal bands. However, the metal fans are there and they’re loud. When the big folk metal bands come here like Korpiklaani and Arkona, the venues sell out. There is definitely an audience, but they’re not selling out stadiums here like the mainstream metal bands. I think it says something that we’re being called by venues to open for the big folk metal bands when they come through. Although you will see the die-hard folk metal folks come out for these shows, a lot of people are still unfamiliar with the genre and when they hear us live, it may be their first introduction to it. We do have to explain the genre a lot to people, but it is becoming increasingly popular in the states.
We are planning a European tour, however with the virus, who knows when we’re going to be able to do that. Our East Coast tour was canceled this year. Ideally, we would want to be sustainable and have this as our full-time job. If I got that call, I would leave my job, which I love, in a heartbeat. The most important thing is to keep making music, regardless if it’s the day job or not. If a musician stops making music, their soul dies slowly and painfully.
I think that, especially female fronted bands, even though it’s changed a lot here in the last ten years, are more accepted in Europe and I think that we would do better there professionally than in the US. 10 years ago I had a promoter tell me, “Shut up and go home. No one wants a female metal singer”. Well guess what, he was dead ass wrong. There’s a lot more of us now, and in general I think that metal is way friendlier than pop in terms of competition. We support each other.

Speaking in general, do you feel Rock/Metal is getting older and dustier? Is there any new blood capable of refreshing the scene like it is happening for example in Rap, capable of moving masses of kids like it did back in the '80's-'90's?
I asked the guys this question and they feel like metal will NEVER grow old or tired if we as artists step up and challenge ourselves to explore new directions fearlessly. Folk Metal is a nice switch up. As technology advances I think that people are really trying to cling to a sense of identity and discover their roots. I think that’s why bands like Heilung and Wardruna are doing so well right now. I think that if you search the internet, there’s a lot of creativity and novel ideas on there, but what you hear on the radio is going to be a product.


May 2020

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Slowly We Rot Magazine Romania

English written print magazine from Transylvania / Romania covering Traditional and Extreme Metal.

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