RISING
Interview with Jacob Krogholt (Guitar)
By Metal Mike
Danish sludge band RISING is one of those bands that knows how to play fast, uncompromising, and unique heavy metal and does it well. Having just released their first full-length album, To Solemn Ash, these guys have shown that they’re here to stay and gain a foothold in the metal scene. Mixing elements of both classic and contemporary heavy metal bands, RISING delivers an impressive attack packed down into ten brutal tracks. I caught up with the axeman behind the band, Jacob Krogholt, and asked him about the new album, the brutality behind the live shows, and what the band hopes to accomplish in the New Year.
RISING has risen to become quite prominent since forming just over three years ago, with the release of your first full length, To Solemn Ash, how is 2012 looking for you guys?
First and foremost, we’re going to play live. We have an upcoming European tour in March/April. We aim to play some summer festivals and dates in the fall as well. We don’t have any US dates planned, as we speak, but we’re definitely looking into that, it would be awesome to play the states. Besides that, we’re gonna write new material and smoke cigarettes and drink lots of coffee in the process.
How has the response been to the new opus from both fans and the media?
In general, people are digging it. I’ve heard from more than one, that they had to give the album several listens before they got into it. The album isn’t an easy one. It’s dark, epic and it’s long, so you’ll have to be patient, I guess. The media has been predominantly positive. Actually we’ve had writers hating it, loving it and everything in between – the whole scale. I tend to focus on the ones where you can sense that people have actually been listening to it and write a serious review, that being positive or negative. Besides that, you can’t really care too much about other people’s opinion.
And for this album, how was the recording process, you guys really seemed to go for a wall of sound.
We had good, hard working time. We rented and borrowed a bunch of gear and set up a mobile studio in my summerhouse in the countryside. It was totally DYI. Our aim was to record as much as possible live as a three piece, and I guess we did half of the tracks that way before overdubbing. We did go for a huge sound as that seem to fit the songs, but then again it‘s always been our aim, cause that’s how we sound.
What were some of the lyrical and musical inspirations behind the songs?
Lyrically, Rising has always been about the primal, the driving forces of the universe and the way they are inherit in our bodies and minds. That’s also the underlying theme on To Solemn Ash, although they function on a more subtle, existential level this time around. To Solemn Ash basically deals with physical and mental connections between the living and the dead, and further how we deal with life coming to terms with death.
Musically, we have a broad spectrum of artists we love. We’re all music fans and with metal; it’s basically the classics, man: Purple, Sabbath, Lizzy, Priest, Metallica, etc. They’re just a part of our musical DNA, and we can’t help drawing on that, even though it’s unintentionally and not a goal in itself. I myself also love classic death and black metal and some of the newer more experimental metal acts are great as well. You become what you dig, I guess…
RISING is doomy, sludgy, excellent metal; and it’s hard to tell that you guys are only a three- piece band, are people usually blown away by the sheer force of the band when they see you live?
I would like to believe that! People seem to be enjoying themselves at our shows, so I guess we’re doing something right. When recording, for us it’s always a question of carrying the live sound to the studio with some extra textures and additional ideas, so live the sound are true to the recordings and the other way around. I hope that blows people ears and minds away. We definitely aim for that crushing effect both live and on record, that’s what we wanted from the beginning of the band.
Musically, you guys are continuing the traditional music of bands such as BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN, and MERCYFUL FATE. Is this just the kind of music the Dutch are listening to nowadays or are you guys just insane fans of the doom and gloom?
It’s the music we as individuals love. I grew up with those bands, and as said before, their music is a part of me as a musician. Even though we love the classics, we don’t have any wish to be retro or a part of a scene as such. We want to combine something old and new within our own approach and hopefully create something fresh and exciting. I can’t speak for other Dutch, but it seems that also younger metal fans are opening their eyes for the greatness of the old ones. And also we have new bands rejecting that whole clinical, computerized sound, which has been infesting metal for years now. That’s a good thing!
With 2012 just beginning, what do you guys hope to accomplish throughout the year?
To get the album to the people who can appreciate it. To play an extensive string of great shows. To get to the US and rip. To write a bunch of new killer tunes to record in 2013. Become monsters. Be good people. Rock out!
uh oh! RISING interview is up!