Funeral doom metal from Denmark... A project coming out from the darkness of the occult realm. Let's try to enter the metaphysical being of a beast which can breathe death.
Greetings from the dimensions of our trivial existence!
Three years passed from your self-released album to the official release of your debut. Since the middle of 2010 we are waiting for your sophomore album. Does time fly slowly in funeral doom metal?
You have noooo idea hehe. I will have to say yes to that one. Our hearts beat equally very slow, but also very hard for our music.
In the history of the band we can read about the depression of D. Woe. However I do not believe that something so creative could be a result only from depression. How do you create your songs?
No, but it was the seed for the creation of Woebegone Obscured. With time, patience and our musical skills (or maybe lack of haha), we made a record that we felt was something that we wanted to buy ourselves. We are not really interested in making 2-4 mediocre tracks at every rehearsal and just record it. A track is not done before we are completely satisfied and it feels right.
Some of the inspirations announced could be found in your music. But some are rather surprising for me. At what level DEAD CAN DANCE and DEEP PURPLE are your inspirations? Would you share how the bands you like influence on your music?
The great achievements of atmospheres and feelings in DEAD CAN DANCE can’t be denied. Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard are just two extremely musically gifted singers and musicians that have the rare ability to touch your heart if you listen carefully. DEEP PURPLE was the first band that I really liked and made me dedicate my soul to music when I was a kid, so obviously they have had an inspirational impact. The first time I heard Fireball from my dad’s old vinyl collection back then, I knew that this was it for me. Today I’m just a fan of music in general, no matter the genre. If it makes me feel something I can relate to, I don’t care if it’s classic Broadway or Brazilian black metal. But we are not trying to sound like or copy any artists, if that’s what you mean. It is fun nonetheless to read the reviews that state that we are obviously inspired by "some band", as it often seems to be "some band" I’ve never heard of before. Who ever heard of a band called Candlemass haha.
How do you see your place at the metal scene? Have you got a vision and a concept for the funeral doom metal? Are you a part of this scene?
I guess we belong in the metal scene, as we draw a lot of darkness from metal, but we try to push the limits beyond just metal or funeral doom. We have a vision and concept for Woebegone Obscured. The basics are funeral doom, I guess, but that is just something that just happened, as we find it easier to make things more sincerely hateful when playing in a sluggish tempo. That way it also comes forward in a more intense wake up call, when the tempo increases. That adds to a more dynamic listening experience, which makes it slightly more interesting, I think. The droning funeral doom metal is cool for what it is, in a hypnotic way, but it just doesn't express the dynamics we are trying to reach. We want the music to feel more like an adventure through variating soundscapes, that you want to go back to. Therefore we incorporate things from a lot of different genres, death, black, progressive, jazz, whatever. Sometimes less is more though, and we are fully very aware of that.
“I, Voidhanger” indeed has set an effective cover artwork of “Deathstination”, too effective I could say. The cover of your self-release is more direct and darker. Which one do you prefer? What will be the cover artwork of your second album?
Well, I like both. Our own first edition was very dark with a front-picture of a forestpainting that I got from an old acquaintance, who got the painting from a friend who had passed away, and it just spoke to me. It looked really eerie in a way that fitted the music, so we decided to use it. As for the re-released version, I, VOIDHANGER, thought that we should try out a slightly different approach, and the result was really good. This time a beautiful painting by Thomas Cole was used for the front-cover, and I think it fits the title and lyrical concept just perfect. I heard some people say that its a crappy Lord of the Rings rip-off, but that is just ridiculous, since it was painted in 1828. Some of his other works has been used on some classic Candlemass records.
The new artwork will be a painting reflecting the lyrics, hopefully made by a guy K Woe knows, called Simon Fellah, who is a very experienced and talented painter that has worked with Alan Lee (LotR) and other prominent art developers. He has some incredible designs and original ideas and has been doing this professionally for many years, which shows. Check him out.
Do you play live? How would you present your messages on scene?
No. Maybe in the future. But none of us have the time to put a project of this proportion on the stage right now, unfortunately.
Is there any new material for the new album? Is there anything new for WOEBEGONE OBSCURED in it?
Yes, but I’m guessing you mean the second album, so I will focus on that. We have recorded all drums, rhythm and lead guitars for 80 minutes of music ca, so there's some solo's, vocals and fretless bass left. Then there's the sound production, which will be made in cooperation with our friend Q (aka Aries from Horned Almighty/Black Dementia), with who we also recorded drums and rhythm guitars. He knows us, has the right amount of equipment-know-how and is a great guy to work with. He knows what he is doing, and understand that we aren’t looking for that factory produced trigger-sound that many bands tends have. Instead we will try to make it as personal as possible, without compromising the powerful sound.
The music is a natural continuance of "Deathstination", and one of the "new" tracks is actually from that writing session, it just didn't get recorded for some reason. A killer track nonetheless, we think, so we wanted to put it on this one. The new album will be even more dynamic than "Deathstination", but still with our "trademark"-leads'n'sounds. I want to experiment more with my voice, so that will probably engender some personal opinions from the reviewers hehe. I just want it to be a bit more diverse this time, and give it a more extreme expression that way. We have put an effort to incorporate fretless bass on this album, to give it a heavier and full sound. It just adds a whole new dimension.
The lyrics this time are my thought channeled via metaphors of natures elements such as the sky, earth, the universe, omni- and multi-verses, forests and, and of course the vastness of the ocean obviously, as I’m a hobby diver, and get a lot of inspiration when floating around weightless below the surface of the sea.
If you have to make some cover songs which band you will blacken first?
We have made our own version of arrangements for a cover of a DEAD CAN DANCE-track.
Is there any movement (in the frames of the necessary…) in your line up?
We have expanded with M Woe from Sol, who is a permanent member on the guitar now, and has also been a creative force on the upcoming album. The Fretless bass is session-performed on this record by Kim Jensen (Sol). Actually it was through a collaboration K Woe and myself had with Emil (the guy behind Sol), where we helped him out on some of his projects, that we met.
Thanks for your time!
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