DARKEST ERA
Interview by Kimberly Brown
Traveling to Wales to record The Last Caress of Light with Chris Fielding proved worth it. DARKEST ERA has achieved the raw, unpolished metal sound they were going for and still pulled off the soft and easy vocals that can carry you on an emotional ride. Mixing black, doom, pagan, Celtic, folk, and traditional metal, DARKEST ERA don’t disappear into the mass of musicians and pull through the ordinary. Even though they haven’t toured the United States yet, with their dynamic new album they’ll be a household metal name soon enough.
Why did the band decide to travel to Wales to work with Chris Fielding?
We had become quite familiar with Chris’ work listening to records by ELECTRIC WIZARD, OLD SEASON, PRIMORDIAL and so on and we really liked the style of production. We were aiming for a natural, warm sound on our album; something that wasn’t too clinical or polished like you might hear from other studios. We heard a lot of good reports about Foel Studio itself and the kind of recording experience you could expect there, so it was our first choice in the end. Looking back on it now, the sessions were both very relaxed but quite intense. We didn’t feel under too much pressure and we had a very enjoyable time putting the album together and building the songs up with Chris. Foel is right in the heart of the Welsh hillside, so there are no distractions whatsoever, you can really get lost in the whole recording process. We had most of the record written well before we went over, but we did write a lot of Poem to the Gael over there, and some of the stronger material on the record was written just days before we started recording.
Your latest release, The Last Caress of Light, what’s the overall concept of the record?
It’s our first full-length album so there is a leap forward in terms of the production from our demos and with it being an album I suppose it’s a more immersive listening experience. Conceptually, the themes on the record broadly speaking are that of inward reflection, the constant battle of strength against weakness; and how we face the changing tides of the world. The lyrics sometimes are written with mythological themes in mind; working allegorically in the context of the song. I like to keep lyrics abstract to a certain level so there is room for interpretation of certain things but generally it’s pretty easy to discern the main things we’re trying to get across in a song.
Signing with the legendary Metal Blade must have been an easy decision to make. How did they first approach DARKEST ERA? How did the signing process go? When did you know it was the right decision to make?
Yes, we had a number of offers on the table actually but it was an easy decision in the end. We came to their attention through PRIMORDIAL front man Alan Averill, who had started doing A&R for MB, around March 2010. We had played some shows with PRIMORDIAL and had been making some waves I guess you could say in the Irish underground and further afield in Europe also. So Alan pitched us to the label along with some other bands and they liked us enough to offer us a deal. We already were very familiar with the metal legacy of MB and we knew it would be a good home for us. You can’t rush into these things and many young bands make bad decisions when their first big offer comes along but we knew it was the right move for us.
DARKEST ERA’S sound has blurs the lines between black, doom, pagan metal, etc… and that makes what your sound so epic. Can you describe the differences between those genres for some fans that aren’t so familiar? Also, do you think those are accurate? If not, how would the band describe their sound?
I guess if you listen to IMMORTAL and MY DYING BRIDE then the differences between black and doom should be fairly obvious; fast, cold and harsh atmosphere versus slow, heavy, depressive melancholy. Pagan metal on the other hand, I don’t know if you could call it a genre in a way, as you will have a lot of bands who are put under this umbrella but that musically sound very different from each other. I suppose pagan metal describes more a kind of aesthetic or something. It’s fair to say we blur the lines between a few sub genres though; listening to our music you can hear a very traditional, epic heavy metal thread running through something that has the melancholy of doom and atmosphere of folk music, with some of the riffing styles of black metal for example.
What is the most unusual show/the most unusual place the band has ever played?
We played in an old medieval dungeon in Germany a couple of years back, which was a pretty cool setting for a metal show. PORTRAIT headlined that night actually, who went on to sign to Metal Blade at the same time as us.
What is the strangest, most outrageous, and bizarre thing a fan has ever done towards the band?
We don’t really get those kinds of fans; no one has ever cut off their own thumb as a gift or anything if that’s what you mean. What would you even do with a thumb, really! Although finding a fan who buys your CD and t-shirt or a ticket to see your show is bizarre enough in today’s climate!!
What have been (or still are) the biggest challenges and sacrifices you make being in a band?
Sacrifices for being in a band include free time, a suntan, healthy liver, a career, a pension, and any form of food that isn’t a ham sandwich. Seriously though, there are sacrifices to be made if you are serious about any kind of artistic endeavor, or even if you take a hobby anyway seriously. These days it’s getting increasingly difficult to make any kind of money from music so you just have try and balance real life with chasing the rock star dream! I did once miss an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm for a gig once though…that was pretty devastating.
How do you think the metal scene changes from country to country?
We haven’t toured the States yet so I can’t comment there, but I suppose one thing we’ve noticed is that Greece in particular has a very open, prevalent metal culture. When we played Athens there were people wearing AUTOPSY, MANILLA ROAD and SLIPKNOT shirts, all at the one gig! The fans there were very passionate and enthusiastic and didn’t have the kind of inter-subgenre snobbery you may find elsewhere. In the European scene you find a lot more people staying into metal in their 30’s and 40’s as well, and lots more women in the scene – certainly compared to Ireland and to an extent the UK. There is a different kind of culture there I suppose and people tend to not drift out of sub cultures as easily.
What are the bands (or albums) that you heard at a young age that made you want to play metal and become a musician?
Hearing AC/DC, AEROSMITH, QUEENSRYCHE, TESLA, ANTHRAX, and more on a film soundtrack when I was 7… after that just getting into hard rock and metal bands from the 70’s and 80’s made me want to play guitar. And when I heard IRON MAIDEN I pretty much wanted to be in a metal band from that moment.
Are there any newer bands on the scene or maybe an opener at one of your shows that really blew you away lately?
I think the current crop of Swedish bands like IN SOLITUDE, PORTRAIT and ENFORCER are really putting out really great records. We actually played with both PORTRAIT and ENFORCER at a festival in Germany a few years back and they were both fantastic.
Looking ahead over the next ten years what does DARKEST ERA hope to accomplish?
We want to release some great metal albums and promote them by touring all over the world, essentially. Being in a band, for us, is about being involved in artistic exploration and expression. If we can keep making the music we want to make and perform it to as many as people as possible then that’s great!
What can we expect from DARKEST ERA in 2012?
We’re about to announce a full UK tour actually, so details of that will be out soon. We will also be playing some select European shows over the spring and summer. I can also reveal that we have started writing for our second album, so details of that will be announced in the springtime also. It’ll be another big year for us I think!
