– Hello, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to?

We’re currently putting a lot of our time and effort in promoting our new album as much as possible. The best way to do this is playing the new songs live. So the main part of our time is rehearsing and trying to bring the new songs as good as possible.

– First of all, could you please make some history of THURISAZ?

We started in 1997 with only four musicians. After a while the fifth member joined our band with his keyboards and we took our music more serious. After a few try-outs with some small demo-releases we recorded our first full-length album: Scent Of A Dream. The reactions and critics were fantastic and a few years later we released Circadian Rhythm. That album put us more on the international market and we did a few international tours. This year we released our third album: The Cimmerian Years.

 

– You started being MODILIUM, how and why did you change to THURISAZ?

We started 14 years ago as Modilium. We were pretty young in those days and we never pictured we would still be playing in a band 14 years later with three full album releases. At the time we played some kind of metal-core but after a while we changed our style into a more pre-Thurisaz sound, so this came with a namechange. We introduced keyboards and our style became more melodic and atmospheric.

 

– And what are the band’s main musical influences? As is really tough to tag your style into a concrete genre.

It is indeed very hard to put a label on our music. Some hear mostly doom, others hear death/black metal influences. The five members in our band have different taste in music and we try to make music where everyone of us are pleased with. So that’s a whole spectrum of musical genres we get our inspiration from. From black/death to doom metal and even non-metal music.

 

– Due to this and being difficult to label your sound; how could you describe it?

When we write music we don’t want to sound like this or that band, we mostly pay attention on how the atmosphere in a song feels. So maybeatmospheric metal? But actually we don’t really care in labelling our music and style, we let the music speak for itself.

 

– Considering you don’t use to release new albums quite often (in fact have been 4 years since «Circadian Rhythm»). How was and when did it start the songwriting for your new «The Cimmerian Years»?

After Circadian Rhythm and the tours after that release we kind of fell into a black hole. It was a really difficult time for us. We had to replace our bassplayer. That was the first time we had a line-up change in our history. And we had some kind of writer’s block. With the new bassplayer we found some new inspiration. New songs were written but we kept every detail in careful consideration. We didn’t want to rush anything so every second and every note is there for a reason. That’s a long process but in the end we are very pleased with the result.

 

– How’s going feedback for the album so far?

So far, reactions have been really good. It’s always a nerve-wrecking moment when we release a new album. you always wonder what the reactions will be because you put a lot of time, effort and money in the project but it came out pretty good. We sold quite some records and we start to get some demands for some concerts we’re exited about.

 

– How could you describe the album’s sound to all those who haven’t heard it yet?

For this album we returned once again to the CCR studio in Zulte, Belgium. Kris has become a good friend throughout the years and we love working in his studio. It’s really professional but also quite relaxed. Also Kris brings on some good ideas soundwise. In comparison with the first two albums I think we’ve grown immensely soundwise. With every album we’ve put more and more time into the recordings and into the mix. On our first album the sound didn’t quite match with the music entirely. On this album we’ve been able to put the dark atmosphere that our music deserves into the sound. I think Kris did a marvellous job!

 

– I could say (though you have always been influenced by Doom), this time those Doom influences play a bigger role. Was there any concrete reason behind this?

We were introduced into the doom scene when we went on tours with bands like Saturnus, Mar De Grises and Novembers Doom. That opened our eyes to the atmosphere they brought in those concerts. It doesn’t always had to be up-tempo and blastbeats to touch an audience. But we didn’t want to loose our roots, so unconsciously we mixed those two worlds together.

 

– «The Cimmerian Years» featured guesst appearances by artists as Paul Kuhr, Thomas A.G. and Els Blieck. Would you please

mind elaborating a bit? How did you come up with the idea, why did you choose them, what have they brought with their cooperation…

We are very grateful and honoured to have them as guestsingers on our album. Els plays in an other band of Peter and she has an amazing voice. In the song she did on our album we needed a particular female voice, so we just asked her to improvise on our tunes and she nailed it from the first take. Absolutely amazing. Thomas from Saturnus and Paul Kuhr from Novembers Doom we know from our tours and are almost legends in the scene, and have maybe the best voices in the genre. Thomas fits perfectly in ‘A Glance Of Misperception’ and Paul brings ‘No Regrets’ to the next level with his powerful voice.

 

– What could you comment on the production process? Where, who…

As I said, we recorded and produced the album in the same studio as our previous albums. Kris lets us work on our own tempo and he brings the sound we want. We also had a lot of help from Nik, who takes care of the sound when we play live.

 

– And what about the cover artwork? I mean both the artist and its creation and meaning.

Our designer was Geert Van Mook from Holland. He did some artwork for Astor Voltaires and Shattered Hope. We saw his work on the internet and were very much appealed to it. He has the quality to project the right atmosphere of our music into his artwork. The cover for The Cimmerian Years is truely amazing and is the best design we had so far. As for it’s meaning, the main thing we try to do is put an atmosphere into every cover we make. This time it had to be an image of a dark atmosphere but with a glimmer of hope. I think Geert nailed it pretty right away.

 

– This is your first album with Sleaszy Rider Records. How’s everything working with them so far? Are you having a good distribution?

Well we don’t really have an insight on how the distribution is going, to be honest. But from what I heard, the sells aren’t too bad. We hope we can build up a good coöperation.

 

– And this also is your first album without Lars Vereecke; what made him leave?

We won’t go into detail because we have tons of respect for Lars. Let’s just say we had to make decisions for the sake of the band.

 

– He has been replaced by Hannes Leroy; how did you hook up with them? And has he brought something new to THURISAZ?

He also lives in our hometown and has amazing musical skills. H has been a friend for years and brought a whole new light and perspective on the songwriting with his ideas. It puts us in a higher gear and ‘The Cimmerian Years’ wouldn’t have been written without him entering our band.

 

– There are (or have been) really interesting bands in Belgium such as OCEANS OF SADNESS for instance but, how’s the Metal scene like in your country?

Unfortunately, that band you named, has decided to end their musical endeavours but there are plenty of other promising bands rising. Names that come to mind are Lemuria, In-Quest, Herfst, Dyscordia, … But Belgium is a small country and if we compare to our neighbour countries like The Netherlands and Germany, we always get the feeling we have to push ourselves a little more.

 

– And finally, what are your near-future plans?

Playings as much gigs as possible and spreading the word of Thurisaz. So if you’re a promotor, get in touch!

Sergio Fernández

sergio@queensofsteel.com

 

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