Black Wreath
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Sometime ago Danish act Black Wreath debuted splendidly with "A Pyre Of Lost Dreams" – a moody funeral doom metal record that matches the early pioneers in sheer intensity and emotional heaviness. Coming through the Norwegian label Voices Of Wonder, who famously handled distribution for Euronymous of Mayhem's Deathlike Silence Productions, this record was a welcome change between all the death – and black metal violence. Masterful Magazine was able to interview Black Wreath vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kim Larsen. While some of his answers weren't as detailed or as in-depth as more of his contemporaries, it nevertheless gives an insight into one of the genre's more promising acts.Hello Kim! Thanks for taking the time to answer our interview. How's everything in Copenhagen, Denmark these days? I guess you are answering many email and phone interviews to push "A Pyre Of Lost Dreams" upon the market?
Well, things are rather busy for me at the moment. A lot of shows with Of The Wand & The Moon coming up, as well as a lot of other activities. The interviews for Black Wreath is mainly taken care of by Peter [Mesnickow, vocals/drums]. I am grateful for that.
You have a long history in doom metal as you were involved with the prestigious Saturnus, earlier with The Loveless and before that with the more folk-oriented Of the Wand and Of the Moon. When did you decide to get together with the people of Blazing Eternity to form this new, all the more epic sounding doom band Black Wreath?
I had these ideas for songs that I put away all the way back from just after the first Saturnus album, but then I wanted the direction for the next works of Saturnus to be in another direction. So these few ideas were put to rest. It wasn't until this new revival of doom or drone, with bands such as Sunno))), Earth etc. that I began to get a taste for this genre again. Peter (ex-Blazing Eternity) and Dave (Chasing Eudaimonia) were good friends and we began to talk about doing this very slow doom. I began to dig out these old ideas and come up with some new stuff.
What was it that Saturnus, The Loveless and Blazing Eternity couldn't offer to the three of you that forming Black Wreath became necessary? Are there any events you experienced with former bands that you hope not to go through with this new band?
I left Saturnus some 10 years ago, The Loveless was split up a long time ago, leaving me as the only member. The Loveless was also a more gothic metal band and Blazing Eternity also split up a long time ago, so....
"A Pyre Of Lost Dreams" comes to us by way of Head Not Found, a Norwegian label with a storied history in capitalising on the pioneering second wave of black metal originating in Scandinavia, how did you end up signing with them?
We had some offers from other labels, but finally decided to choose something closer to home. I released the three first Of The Wand & The Moon albums, the three first releases with Saturnus, the Star Rover album with The Loveless on Voices Media and Entertainment (back then Voices of Wonder).
Black Wreath never formally demoed, instead you debuted on an established label with "A Pyre Of Lost Dreams"; Tell us a bit about the early days of the band; how it was writing, rehearsing and eventually doing the first recording sessions for this new musical entity...
Basically, I wrote the riffs and sent demos to the other guys. I was living a long way from Copenhagen at that time, so we didn't have a lot of chances to rehearse. Peter and I would then write some lyrics for the songs. We had a few rehearsals here and there when I was in Copenhagen or when they visited me. But not that many really.
The album was recorded at Soundscape Studios with producer/engineer Louise Nipper. I'm not really familiar with this studio or the producer. Has he done any work in the extreme metal scene that we should be aware of? What made his facilities and expertise ideal for Black Wreath?
Louise Nipper has worked with me on all my Of The Wand & The Moon albums plus the first Saturnus album, so we go a long way back, and we know each other and work very well together.
The drum credits for this record are shared between yourself and Peter Mesnickow. Do you both drum in the rehearsal space or do the string instruments take a priority there for you? Who did the majority of the drum sessions in the recording studio for "A Pyre Of Lost Dreams"?
I programmed the drums on my keyboard and in the studio we dubbed it with real drums, made some fills etc. to make the sound more alive. Peter did most of the drumming in the studio. At the few rehearsals we had, we used a backing of a hard disk recorder, so no one actually played drums.
"A Pyre Of Lost Dreams" comes with breathtaking artwork that is formidable in its simplicity. The logo font reminds me slightly of Opeth. Who was responsible for creating both the artwork and the band's logo?
The logo was decided upon all in the band, which is basically just a font, though the 'K' in Black was edited by Kim and Trine Design Studio as well as the layout. They also did work for Ulver, Darkthrone, Mayhem etc.The other photos were taken by Iver Ask Overgaard from My Beloved and who is also my live guitarist in Of The Wand & The Moon.
Denmark is primarily known for its death – and black metal scene; bands like Corpus Mortale, Enslavement Of Beauty, Horned Almighty, Illdisposed, Illnath, Iniquity and Konkhra have all made a dent on the international metal scene in one degree or another. Is there much of a doom scene in Denmark, would you say?
I'm really not up to date with what is going on the Danish doom scene or metal for that matters, though I have seen some acts here and there on the web. Of course, there is Nortt which should ring a bell with someone.
I can imagine that booking agents and club promoters aren't fond to book a band with songs clocking +10 minutes per track. Is it easy finding gigs in the notoriously niche genre that is doom metal, or are gigs more secondary and not that important to the band?
This project was mostly thought of as a studio project, but offers to play live has been made. If the right one pops up I guess we might give it a go. Maybe next year. We will see.
Alright, that sums it up, I think. If there's anything I forgot to mention or you want to share; here's space. Congratulations on a fantastic debut and DOOM on!
"Sin tu amor la vida no vale la pena, Pequeño Nube". Thank you too Wouter.
Info/booking: www.myspace.com/blackwreath
