Friday, June 14, 2013

Interview to the Dormant Ordeal!

Hi guys,
here you are this interesting interview with the Polish death metal band Dormant Ordeal. My interlocutors are Maciej Nieścioruk and Radek Kowal, respectively guitarist and drummer of the band.

ENJOY THE FUCKIN' READ!
1) Hi guys, how are you? Do you want to present you to the readers of Timpani allo Spiedo?

M: Hello, thank you for the opportunity to introduce our band to readers of your website, we appreciate it. We're death metal band from Poland and just few months ago we've released our debut album 'It Rains, It Pours'.

R: Hello, there is a big plausibility that our name says nothing to the most of the readers so let me invite all of them to enter our BandCamp and start listening to the debut album while reading this interview. Once again thank you for your interest, and it’s a great pleasure to come into being on Timpani allo Spiedo webzine. 

2) How was recording your debut album? Did you learned something from these sessions?
 M: Recording went smooth and fast, except for the delay between individual sessions due to our personal obligations. Actually whole process took about two weeks in a two month-long period. Our friend, Lech Leśniewski, managed it very well, turning our rehearsal room into a temporary studio. Few months later, album went straight to Progresja Studio in Warsaw where Paweł "Janos" Grabowski handled mixing and mastering duties. I may only speak for myself, but actually I don't think I learned that much. I mean I was well prepared and most guitar parts were recorded in 3 takes tops. This way we could capture the wild intensity of those riffs that I believe are pretty essential for this album.
R: In my case it was a little bit different. According to my experience I can say that each recording session, whether it’s a recording of a demo, promo or professional full-length album, is a great lesson of lowliness. The IRIP recording session gave me a lot of kicks straight into my ass and teached all of the points I should be focused on during preparation and recording. It’s all about gaining experience and there is always something you should be working on. The recording session will point it with no mercy.
3) I must say that, according to your look, I expected a melodic death metal album; instead, you destroys like few ones shooting also an excellent inventiveness. What's the thing that push you to search always the surprise factor in every song?
 M: We're not the kind of band that care much about this so-called metal look. You may try really hard to be the most evil looking band on Earth, but in the end it's all about music. I don't really need to have long hair and tattoos for you to notice I'm a metalhead, just listen to our music and figure it out for yourself. As a main composer of this album, I'm trying to extract this fury I'm struggling inside and turn it into the best song possible. Surprise factor, as you called it, is important, but all those hooks weren't put there on purpose. It's more of a natural approach when I compose new music.
4) I perceived that the album is divided between two very distinct parts: the first one is very violent, while the second half is more reasoned, blacker and with longer songs. Did you composed them in two different periods? Do you think to follow the directives of the last songs for the future productions?
M: It's kind of a funny story because it's not the first time someone notices it. Honestly, that wasn't our intention at all. We were discussing tracklist details with utmost attention, but only to give the listener the best listening experience. All songs that ended up on the record were written in the last five years in an order completely unrelated to final tracklist. Now as you mentioned the future, it's true that second part of this album, last three songs in particular, sets the direction in which we're drifting towards.
5) Do you want to describe your lyrical themes, maybe mentioning the possible inspirations (philosophers, movies, books etc)?
 M: In general, lyrics on "It Rains, It Pours" deal with problems of a modern human and society he lives in. Those aren't positive conclusions, there's a lot of nonsense going on these days. We like to write from the perspective of a distant observer who's being hurt by those actions and whose reaction might redefine the mankind in a blink of an eye. We don't have to put satanic imagery into our songs only to meet some non-written death metal regulations, there's not much left to say on that field.

R: What Maciek says is in fact the general meaning of our lyrics, but we don’t want to be literal. When you are reading our lyrics you can find a lot of parables and tropes to the world of animals and nature itself.  Yes, there is an observer, whom Maciek mention about, and also an energy, a primal and savage fury that people to play with the way an unconscious child plays with a rat.

6) You seems to be very pessimist about the future of the Earth. Is it so really? Why, in case of affirmative answer? Do you think that its degeneration process is now irreversible?
 M: Well, sometimes I do think mankind is the worst thing that has ever happened to this planet. We have our moments, but they're mostly linked to repairing things we broke in the first place. There are so many places in the world where it's hard to survive another day just because someone misinterpreted his own religion. So many people have so many problems about what other people think it's just absurd. I actually gave up reading news 'cause I've noticed it's practically the same old story every single day. 100 killed here, 200 killed there, only numbers change. I don't think process can be reverted, maybe it's just a matter of media coverage when it comes to presenting mostly negative material, but in my opinion it won't get any better.

R: In my case it’s not about the pessimism. I am trying to keep myself on distance from all of these, but being fully conscious at the same time. I do not want to take a part in this madness and I do not want to repeat someone else’s mistakes. Only this way I can guide my life in optimal direction regardless of any tendencies and expectations of the others. When I am planning my own future I feel safe because all is in my own hands. Those fools around are the great teachers for us.

Dormant Ordeal - Photo
7) Now, it's better to talk about happier arguments! Hence, ultimately I am exciting about the extreme Polish metal because for me it is very creative and vital. But, from inside, how is the metallic situation of your country?
 M: I can't say it in terms of overall friendship between bands, but musically Polish scene is really strong and creative. It came to the point you may actually recognize a band from our country without knowing a single thing about them. Perhaps it's a matter of inspiration from such bands like Vader, for example, but people here are really feeling death metal music. Besides obvious titans like Behemoth, Decapitated or Hate, we have many smaller bands that are less known only due to less exposure who truly deserve wider attention.
R: I think it’s all about the latitude…
8) Are you searching for a label for your future productions?

R: I think, yes. There is a limit that we can reach doing everything by ourselves. Actually, according to the opportunities we had just after recording of the debut album, we are sure that our decision was adequate. The good label, theoretically, gives you a better way of distribution, some kind of a brand which is based on its activity and assurance that there is someone else who really cares about your band because of the economical reasons. There is also a question about the artistic impendency and copyrights. I am sure that in case of the next release we’re going to check carefully all of our opportunities and make the best decision for the band.

9) What are your next targets now?
 M: At the moment we're promoting our debut record, released in March this year. Despite obvious daily job obligations, we try to play as many live gigs as possible. In the meantime, we're starting to think about new songs, discussing potential song themes, writing new riffs, but album promotion issues have top priority right now.

R: There is also an additional idea to attract an attention into our release, but there is too early to talk about this widely. Maybe it’s time to add some more image and refine the face of “It Rains, It Pours”? We will see.

10) Okay, the interview is finishing, so now you can conclude it as you want.

M: Thank you for this interview and thanks to all who support our music. And to those who don't know our band yet - look for our debut album "It Rains, It Pours" on the web, it's a free download, give it a spin or two and decide for yourself. Take care!

R: Thank you very much for your support.