CLAIRVOYANCE (EN)
– Hello and, first of all, thanks for taking your time to answer to our questions. How are you holding up with the current situation? Even though it seems to be getting better.
Hi. Thanks a lot for having us. To be honest, it wasn’t that serious here in Poland, to begin with. Rather inconvenient due to the lockdown and so on. But it’s getting better.
– How was CLAIRVOYANCE born? What was the purpose behind forming a band like this, firmly rooted in the arly 90’s sound?
Denis (guitars) and Maciek (vocals) started playing together in early 2019 just to have some fun, not necessarily with a purpose to stick to OSDM or metal at all. But after Adrian (drums) and Jasiek (bass) had joined the band, we realized that we probably should decide on the direction we’d moving on, and death metal was that exact thing we all have in common.
– And what’s the music background of the members involved in CLAIRVOYANCE? Where do you come from?
All of us except Maciek played in some local hardcore and metal bands in Poland and Ukraine, but it never was on the same level of attention as Clairvoyance.
– You’ve previously been in bands that had nothing to do with Death Metal. How do these other bands affect what you are doing now with CLAIRVOYANCE? What do you bring here from that experience? Not just in sound terms, but in terms of experience as musicians and songwriters.
Having played in other bands that were not related to OSDM probably allows us to stay open-minded and not just ripping off our favorite death metal bands.But that’s probably it. With Clairvoyance, we started off with a clean slate, leaving past experiences behind.
– Musically, what are your main influences?
That’s a tough one because we all love different kinds of death metal and metal in general. Maciek likes modern death and death/doom bands like Tomb Mold, Spectral Voice, Outer Heaven. Denis is mostly in Finnish death metal from the 90’s (Convulse, Rippikoulu, Abhorrence, to name a few). For Jasiek it’s 90’s metal with bands like Type O Negative, Tiamat, or Paradise Lost. Adrian loves 80’s thrash and 90’s USA death metal. But in fact, you never know where the inspiration will come from the next time. Sometimes it’s not even metal or rock music at all.
– Last month you released your debut demo. What are your feelings on the final outcome now that it’s been unleashed upon the world for a while? How does it feel to have your first recording out? What does it mean to you?
Honestly, at first we just wanted to quickly record a few songs before we started playing live shows. But then there was this lockdown, so we eventually decided to put a little bit more effort into the demo. We didn’t expect such a warm welcome, so it was a pleasant surprise for us.
– Your music has something mysterious. Do your lyrics match this? What do they deal with?
This may sound a bit pretentious, but we’d rather not go into details on our lyrics. It’s some personal shit on death and inner struggles with a touch of cosmic themes. Definitely a good match with the music we play.
– Does Death Metal nowadays have some else to say than just gory stories and gnarly images?
Yeah, probably. Modern bands often have some cool themes in their lyrics, even if it’s just Bloodborne.
– The sound on the demo is really heavy, filthy and organic. Did you have clear what kind of sound did you want for this opus? How did you work on this aspect of the release?
That was the easiest part. Just crank up the gain knob on 5150, do the same on bass. Make the drums and vocals sound as if they were in a basement. Then add some reverb. A lot of reverb, actually. That said, we’re still looking for our own sound.
– The cassette tape version of the demo will be released by none else than Caligari Records, pretty much a guarantee when it comes to Death Metal. How did you hook up with them?
Ignacio from Caligari reached us literally a few hours after we had uploaded the demo to Bandcamp. Still don’t know how exactly he found us. He’s a cool dude, and we were really stoked to work with him on this release.
– The cover is really putrid. Who’s the artist and how did you work on it?
The artwork was done by Sarcofagore. The dude has style. We contacted him sending some drafts drawn by Maciek, which he then brought to life. We hope we’ll work with him again on future releases.
– You managed to build a sick and digusting overall ambience. What does inspire this? It can be trips, art, books, moments…
We’d say it’s anything that makes you feel defenseless in the face of inevitable things like death, loneliness, or fear of the unknown. Life is full of such moments.
– And what do you want to project with your ambience? What kind of images do you want to paint into your listeners’ mind?
We want the listener to be disgusted and crushed by this atmosphere.
– All this about your demo being said; how would you describe it in just 3 words?
Madness, disgust, pain.
– Your style is just OSDM, from the cover to the sound and approach. What’s to you the most important in an opus of the genre? The overall feeling? The filthy sound? Or is it a mix of different elements?
The overall feeling for sure. But there’s also this primal thing, primitiveness, for the lack of a better word, that is often missing in modern metal.
– In your opinion, what would you say differentiates you from other bands into the style? Or what’s the ingredient a band into the genre needs to pass the test of time?
We’re not into comparing us to other OSDM bands, we just do what we like. As for the second part of the question, it’s definitely good songwriting.
– There’s now an obvious resurrection of old school Death Metal. Is it easier to get out there due to the growing interest or the fact that there are a lot of bands doing this makes it harder? What newer bands from your country would you recommend? As there aren’t that many Polish bands playing your brand of Death Metal nowadays.
With all this OSDM revival going on for the past few years, we’d imagine it would be hard to break through and get some recognition in the USA. But not in Europe, because there aren’t that many good bands around, especially in Poland. Definitely check out Mental Casket, really good take on super old school death metal. But yeah, Poland is better known for its black metal scene.
– And before we wrap this interview up, what does future have in store for CLAIRVOYANCE? What are now your near-future plans? You also have the CD version of the demo coming out later this month.
The CD version will be released soon via Putrid Cult, but we also have a few more surprises that are yet to be announced. Other than that, we’re now working on a new EP, as well as some live shows.
– That’s all from our side, thank you once more for answering to our interview. If you’d like to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thanks for all the questions and stay safe.
