'Thy Kingdoom Come' was released in 2004, now some six years later on you are ready with your second album. Why did it take so long for you to complete this album? Doomshine - There's no main reason for that, let's blame it on life itself. The songs were written very close after the release of our debut and we also finished the recordings very quickly. But we had no pressure from anywhere... Hmm... and maybe we are just lazy bastards, haha. What kind of hopes and expectations do you have for 'The Piper at the Gates of Doom'? Doomshine - We hope that people recognize "The Piper" as a doom metal album which is not overcharged with boring stereotype. I think it's no easy album but that's the way we try to keep our music exciting for the listeners and for us. How does the final result compare to the idea you had going into the studio? Doomshine - Difficult to answer. As we wrote the songs we felt that they have to sound more basic and rough on the recordings someday. I don't know if the result fits 100% to the vision of Carsten but whatever became out of the studio: we really like it! Because it's very close to our sound in our rehearsal room. Carsten Fisch has once more done the production and mix, do you feel more comfortable doing it all yourselves rather than having an outside producer? Doomshine - Yes, definitely. It surely takes more time, but why should we hurry? It's part of Doomshine to fulfil our own creation. And Carsten did a fantastic job again. We all know productions of bigger bands which are sounding terrible, don't we? I don't want to eliminate the idea of working with an outside producer someday but I think we'll handle it on the next album as we did it until now. You've entitled the album The Piper at the Gates of Doom', a spin-off of Pink Floyd's debut album (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn), intentionally... Doomshine - Yes, of course. I can't deny that, haha. Can you give us a brief introduction on the lyrical concept behind 'The Piper at the Gates of Doom'? Doomshine – The main theme of the lyrics is about what mankind became so far. If you sit down and think of that you probably realize that this is no funny stuff. This is what you see on the cover artwork as well. The piper shows the way. Doomshine - any deeper meaning behind your name? Doomshine - Do you know the album "Laughing on Judgement Day" by Thunder? That title comes in my mind when I think of our band name. That's how we try to say that not all hope is gone. It's just like sunshine on doomsday. Think positive! You are releasing this album on the Massacre Records label, one of Germany's leading labels - how did you hook up with them and do you see this as an advantage? Doomshine - After Iron Glory Records quit at the end of 2004 Jorg of Iron Glory made the contact with Massacre Records. Iron Glory and Massacre worked together for a while and as you can see on our debut Massacre was involved for doing the distribution on that album. I think it's very comfortable for Doomshine to cooperate with Massacre. They do a great job for heavy metal in general for nearly 20 years. So it surely will be good for us. What does the word doom metal mean to you? Doomshine - Gerrit of Dawn of Winter sings "doom is the soul of metal". Yes, I think that's it. Doomshine surely isn't not that pure kind of doom metal but that wasn't the question, haha. Doom metal is magic, soothing, exciting. It makes you sad or happy, doom can anything, and it's up to you. Anyway, doom metal is not just another variation in metal, it is something deep going. Join the Doom Shall Rise Festival and you know what I mean. Name five doom metal albums that have made a big impact on today's scene and you personally... Doomshine - First of all I have to mention the debut album of Black Sabbath. The title track is THE blueprint of perfect doom. Probably the best song of all time. To me personally the Dawn of Winter debut EP "Celebrate the Agony" was very important, it opened the door to doom metal for me. Then Candlemass' "Epicus Doomicus Metallicus"... although the albums with Messiah were awesome, "Epicus" is a milestone in doom metal. I could mention every album of Solitude Aeturnus but I'd choose "Through the Darkest Hour". This one is just perfect. And finally Trouble's "Trouble" from 1990. Maybe too fast for doom but too good to ignore it here. In case I misunderstood the question, here 5 fantastic rather new releases: Rituals of the Oak "Hour of Judgement", Nomad Son "First light", Forsaken "After the Fall", While Heaven Wept "Vast Oceans Lachrymose" and Mirror of Deception "Shards". Thank you very much for answering my questions. Do you have any last rants for our readers? Doomshine - Open your mind; feed your head, love, peace and harmony. Shine on, sisters and brothers!
Interviewed by Kenn Jensen
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