Masterful Magazine - Death Metal and Black Metal Magazine

Thurisaz

Wywiad przeprowadził - Wouter Roemers

Although being around since 1997, it took Thurisaz until 2003 to come into their own with their acclaimed "Scent Of A Dream" promo. Thanks to the critical praise the promo received, from both press and fans, the band went on to do a number of shows with prominent international headliners. Recently, Thurisaz made their label debut with "Circadian Rhythm" – an album that is sure to establish them as a serious contender in the European, if not, global dark metal scene. We caught up with drummer Pepijn De Raymaecker and bassist/vocalist Lars Vereecke - prior to their short US trek with Chicago doom metal combo Novembers Doom and their performance on the famous Chicago Metal Festival (with the legendary Solitude Aeternus) - to talk about the band's swift ascent out of the underground. Hi! Thanks for taking time out to talk to us. How's everything for the band as of late?

Hi. We're all doing fine. This year is a very special year for us since our second (so not a debut) full album "Circadian Rhythm" is released by Shiver Records this spring and because we are playing together for 10 years now.

Introduce our readers with your band regarding its line-up, when and where you recorded this debut album, its musical direction, the lyrical field and the record company on which it will be released.

We started up as foolish teenagers by playing metal-core just for fun. At that time we consisted of four band members (Pepijn, Peter, Mattias and Lars). A few years later Kobe joined the band because we thought synths could add more atmosphere and melody to our music. That was an excellent decision and ever since, we have been taking our music much more seriously. As our music got more maturity, we evolved to a genre that we still find difficult to describe but the term ‘atmospheric death/black/doom' covers the whole picture more or less.

Congratulations on your stunning label debut "Circadian Rhythm" – it has surely become an amazing record. How long did the writing take for the album?

Well, thanks a lot! Our debut album "Scent Of a Dream" dates from July 2003, so it took us four years to complete "Circadian Rhythm". We haven't had any breaks and we kept on rehearsing weekly. The reason why it took us rather long is most probably because we have become more and more perfectionists. We knew that the quality of our music needed to increase in order to reach a higher level. Every song took us at least a few months to complete and a few songs we were not fully happy about never even made it on the album.

A circadian rhythm is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, including plants, animals, fungi and certain bacteria. The term "circadian" comes from the Latin circa, "around", and dies, "day", meaning literally "about a day." How does this title fit in with the record exactly?

Wow, you got that all right! As you say, the term literally refers to the 24h cycle to which plants and animals adapt. We tend to use the term in a broader sense and refer to physical and emotional cycles and evolutions one can experience during a day, a year or your entire life. It shows how much diversification life can have in 24 hours. Musically, our songs don't describe a nice cycle with returning catchy choruses, but we tend to grab your attention by adding much variation and contrast, resulting in a rather turbulent but elaborated whole.

Who is mostly responsible for the song-writing?

Mostly the guitarists come up with some interesting riffs and melodies, then we all have our influences in the actual composition. So everybody adds his own contribution to each song. Also the lyrics come from all band members.

Give us a few details about "Circadian Rhythm" recordings.

We recorded everything during several recording sessions at CCR Studios in a timeframe of around six months. That gave us the opportunity to reflect upon our music every time we recorded something. We then added extra guitar, synth and vocal lines and balanced everything just the way we liked it. For this we owe a great thanks to the professionalism of Kris from CCR.

The album is graced with an incredible pristine production that is very easy to listen to. I take it you are satisfied with the studios you've worked with to produce and mix this record?

Thank you. We already had lots of good comments on the production of "Scent Of a Dream", which we also recorded in the CCR Studio. But we knew it could still get better, if we had the means to finance more studio time. Now we've spent twice as much time to record and mix everything and that shows in the final result. Again, we must thank Kris for doing an outstanding job. I think everybody was quite relaxed and was feeling very comfortable. The atmosphere was great, and we all connected very well with Kris. It was nothing like working at all, actually it was pure fun.

The feedback "Circadian Rhythm" is getting is all very praiseworthy, our magazine being no exception. What are your hopes for the new album?

Indeed, the first reviews are very praising! So, we are very excited. We hope we can reach as much people as we can and gain some international support. We hope this album can be a stepping stone and may lead us to new opportunities. We all enjoy playing live very much, so we hope to play our new and old material on as much stages as possible.

Is there a particular song that you prefer that you feel really stands out on the new album?

Well, actually… We all have our own opinion about that. Some prefer ‘Point Of No Return' while others prefer ‘Circadian Rhythm'. Let's just say we think every song rocks big time!

Tell us in a few sentences about the lyrical themes and concepts you treat in "Circadian Rhythm".

The lyrics cover a wide range of themes, going from pure emotions like losing a loved one to more politically inspired lyrics. We really feel that, together with the music, also the lyrics have become more mature.

What do you feel you can offer to the worldwide audience with "Circadian Rhythm"?

We think the album breaths lots of energy, contrasting melodic parts with pure aggression. This variation holds people's attention, so the songs stay interesting from beginning till end.

How has the label, Shiver Records, been accommodating the band's needs?

We are very glad that eventually Shiver Records took us under their wings. This immediately resulted in a first European tour, so things have been going very well ever since. They have connection to promote our music abroad and arrange interesting performances for us, so it's a very positive interaction.

In my review I described your new album as atmospheric dark metal, taking cues from death -, doom – and symphonic metal genres. Do you feel this comparison does the material justice?

We find it ourselves quite difficult to describe the music. We all have a rather broad musical interest and that is reflected in the variation of the music. As a result, people hear all different genres in our songs. We don't fit in the real black metal scene, but neither do we in the death metal scene.

Could you provide us with some hints of how the new album compares to your previous effort, the independent release "Scent Of A Dream"?

Basically, the genre we play hasn't really changed; but we feel that the music has definitely gained more maturity. Also, we put much more energy in mixing and mastering, we hope you will all appreciate that.

What's your take on the album now that it is completed and released? Anything specific that you guys picked up in retrospect and are using to put together and improve the new material?

Although, we are very pleased with the result, we will always have the feeling that some details could have been better - but I think that's a healthy attitude. There will always be room for further improvement, but there has to be a time that you stop working on a song and you start with new material. Otherwise, you might end up like Axl Rose spending 12 years on an album.

I think you've succeed in giving the music an identity, an individual sound and style that people will recognize as Thurisaz. Not only that, you're also sounding quite unique considering your Belgian roots. Do you feel you've found the right style and image for the band?

We never really cared about our image, nor do we try to copycat another band. But indeed, during the years, we have developed an own sound and style that we are pleased with.

Can you tell us something about how you go about writing these complex and mind-boggling 4 way vocal harmonies? This is definitely something that sets you apart from many of your peers.

We usually have good comments on the vocal harmonies and we are lucky to have three very good singers. It is something that distinguishes us from most other metal bands and it certainly adds lots of value to the music. Mostly, we start with an idea of the vocal harmonies, so we start with one leading line, afterwards we add other vocal layers. This is, of course, pure studio fun.

Couple of months ago you toured Europe with Chicago doom veterans Novembers Doom. That must have been an interesting experience, tell us something about that.

Well, it was definitely a mind-blowing experience from which we all learned a great deal. Luckily, we hooked up very well with all the other bands. We didn't really knew their music very well at the start of the tour, but as time went on we all became true Agalloch, Saturnus and Novembers Doom fans. Band you really must all check out!

Do you have any live activities scheduled for the coming months in support of this incredible new album?

Well, during our European tour we got to know Rob who was the roadie of Novembers Doom. He happened to be one of the organizers of ‘Chicago Powerfest'. During the tour he got more and more convinced that we should be on the bill in Chicago the 22nd of April. We were all very excited about that, of course. Together with Paul of ND, we worked out a four-gig tour in the States with our brothers in metal Novembers Doom and the magnificent Saturnus. We will be playing in Chicago, Cleveland, West-Springfield and New York city!!! So we are very excited and looking forward to that.

Thanks a lot for your time. The closing comment is up to you...

Be sure to check us out on www.myspace.com/thurisaz_music or www.thurisaz.be

Site: www.thurisaz.be
Info/booking: info@thurisaz.be

Thurisaz

Wywiad przeprowadził - Wouter Roemers

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