PILGRIM (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with PILGRIM?
Hi! I’m sitting on the curb at SxSW festival in Austin TX. We’re on tour with Spirit Caravan! Everything’s going well, it’s been a week since we’ve departed. We’ve played some sold out shows and met a bunch of really awesome people, we’re having a wonderful time.
– First off, why did you pick «Pilgrim» as the band’s name?
I’ve always enjoyed the idea of a pilgrimage, a journey, from one place to another, a quest of great importance. That’s what our band feels like to me. For us, this band is our pilgrimage through life to the place we want to be. That’s why we’re PILGRIM. Of course, I think the original idea for the name came from the OM record «Pilgrimage»
– And what could you say have been the most influential bands for the PILGRIM’s sound?
Electric Wizard, Reverend Bizarre, Sleep, Darkthrone, Burzum, and Black Sabbath just to name our main influences! Our band is all about mixing our love of fantasy with the music that we love.
– You have just released your new album, entitled «II: Void Worship». What are your expectations on it considering the great success your debut album got?
It will be out April 1st. We’re hoping it people really like it. We sure like it. A lot. It came out EXACTLY how we wanted it. We’re so proud of it. The production quality is much higher this time and the songwriting has progressed a lot since we were younger. Considering that the songs are much more 
interesting and cohesive this time around, we think people will dig it way more than Misery Wizard.
– Your sounds are still really oppressive, with suffocation yet hypnotizing atmospheres full of despair. Where do you draw inspiraton from to create such compositions?
Most of our songs are about real things and feelings that I’ve experienced in real life, but I like to write the lyrics through the veil of dark fantasy. I feel like I can truly express what I want to say that way. Most of the imagery comes from the fantasy video games and books I read as a child. It’s boring to just describe events normally. It’s all been done before. Through a different lens however, it comes off more interestingly!
– In fact I think the main difference between this new opus and your previous record is that the general songwriting feels more mature, also showing a new level of quality in execution too. Could you say this is just a natural evolution for any artist or rather something you focused on?
I smartened up about our song writing for sure. When the first record came out, I had a much more «fuck you» attitude. I didn’t care if the listener had to suffer through 8 minutes of repetitive feed back induced riffs, it didn’t matter. Now however, that style just started to get a bit boring, so now I focus on just writing really solid songs with good riffs. As a result, the record is much more interesting to listen to, without being too approachable.
– I suppose it might be quite hard avoiding monotony, specially considering your sound isn’t easy-listening at all, and most Doom Metal fans aren’t really looking for innovation. On «II: Void Worship» you have managed to keep the same basis, the same essence, yet giving a unique touch. How easy is to don’t get experimental nor doing the same over and over again?
It comes pretty easily for me. I have a mind full of song ideas, for me it’s just the process of writing a song that fits the concept I’ve come up with. I let the song idea shape the melodies. Then I let the melodies shape the vocals. Even though it’s «simple» music, I still think we did quite a bit of experimenting on this record. We played with new tones, new pedals and equipment, and new musical styles. Like, we have chugging riffs now that 2 years ago we would have never ever used.
– This new release has more songs than your previous album, but is shorter in length. Were you specially looking for shorter tracks?
Sort of. Like I mentioned already, we didn’t want anyone to get bored listening to this record. We didn’t shorten the songs on purpose, but there’s less clutter on this record so it just worked out that way.
– The cover artwork realy attracts attention. Would you mind to elaborate a bit on it? What does it represent?
It’s an illustration of the first track on the record, «Master’s Chamber». The characters on the cover are The Wizard and Krolg. It was done by Adam Burke, a really amazing artist. We found him after seeing his work with Ice Dragon.
– This about «II: Void Worship» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Heavy, dark, mystical
– Last 2013 we could see you guys in Spain with WINDHAND. What are your memories of that tour?
We had the time of our lives! Windhand are really good friends of ours. I’ll never forget that your as long as I’ll live. I got to pee on the Eiffel Tower. Mission accomplished.
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
After we finish this tour we’re going to start working on some new material and try to get back on the road as quickly as possible. Not touring sucks!
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Shoot drugs, not people. Hail ASTAROTH
