After we finished recording the album we had some problems with getting a scan of the painting which we used as an album cover so the release date was delayed a bit. We have just been rehearsing the album since then and we are hoping to get some gigs abroad after the release.
2. In February you have your first full length coming out, musically how does it differ from your previous ep's, demos and the stuff you recorded as 'Cemetery Fog'?
When the band was formed in 2012 our intention was to play stuff like early Katatonia but because we were young and inexperienced, we didn’t know how to write songs like that. The band has developed a lot in these 7 years. Cemetery Fog demos were crude and primitive death doom with some black metal influences. “Towards the Gates” was a step towards our current sound but the song writing is still quite primitive on it when you listen to it now. On the first release under Asphodelus name, “Dying Beauty & the Silent Sky” EP we had still some fast death metal parts in our songs but it was never really our thing and didn’t work so naturally so we stopped writing songs like that. With the new material on “The Veil Between the Worlds” and “Stygian Dreams” we have achieved our own style and sound in my opinion.
3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
JV: The lyrics I usually write are inspired by mythologies and folklore, literature, poetry, my own experiences etc. I have written lyrics only to one song on the album, Stygian Dreaming, but I’m going to write more material for the band in the future.
JF: Most of the lyrics on our debut album has been inspired by different feelings in life, like depression, stupidity of living creatures, delusions and paranoia. I try to add metaphors and from mythologies and literature.. One theme that you can also see on our album is time, in many ways.
4. I know that the band’s name comes from Greek Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
JV: I have been interested in Greek mythology since I saw a documentary of King Minos of Crete and Minotaur when I was a kid. I find it as one of the most interesting mythologies with a lot of gods, deities, heroes and the underworld etc. The mythology also fits well to our music style in my opinion. There’s also some influence from the Roman mythology in our lyrics like on “Scent of Venus”. The main gods of them were basically the same as Greek with changed names.
JF: My brother has a big collection of Greek and Roman mythology books and I started to browsing them at a young age.
5. Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover
The painting is Les Océanides (Les Naiades de la mer) by Gustave Doré. Here’s a description from the site of The Leicester Galleries who kindly scanned the painting for us.
“Les Oceanides is a haunting interpretation of a scene from Prometheus Bound, a play by Aeschylus, written between 460 and 450 BC. The water nymphs, daughters of the Titan deities Oceanus and Thetis, cling to the rock where Prometheus is chained. His fate was a punishment from Zeus for both stealing back a spark of fire from the Gods and restoring it to man and for holding the secret of the Oracle's prophecy: how the Oceanides mother, Thetis, would bear a child greater and more powerful than Zeus himself. As further punishment, Zeus ordered the creation of Pandora, the first woman, who released from her box all the evils of the world.
Dramatically lit, Les Oceanides, swept by the sea's current onto Prometheus's rock, reveal not only Dore's understanding of chiaroscuro, a talent which can be traced back to his prolific work as an engraver and illustrator, but also the artist's restless meditation on mythology and its relationship to life and death. Dore's oeuvre is a crucial link between French Romanticism and European Symbolism. “
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
JV: Some gigs in our East European tour last year with Kuilu were great like in Budapest (Hungary), Zemun (Serbia) and Tuzla (Bosnia & Herzegovina) where the venues had big stages etc. Too bad the Bosnian venue which was otherwise great had only squat toilets which were quite unpleasant to us westeners haha... The tour was interesting experience overall.
Our stage clothes are influenced by a British band Sabbat a bit. We have had candles and lanterns on stage in some of our shows. We are probably going to improve our stage performance a bit for the future shows if we get some good ideas.
JF: One of our best shows have been in Lepakkomies, Helsinki and Finnish Death Metal Maniacs fest in Pori. Also we played good shows in Tuzla, Bosnia and Budapest, Hungary.
On the stage I try to express and spread the same feeling to the audience which I get from playing our music.
7. Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
We don’t have anything confirmed yet but we are probably going to play some gigs or do a tour abroad.
8. On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of doom and death metal?
There have been a lot of people who have liked and praised our music and I hope that we will reach new people with our full-length. It would be great to play in the US some day for example.
9. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We are trying to progress and get better with our instruments and composing on every release. We can't say for sure yet if the music is going to change in the future. We are getting more and more influences from other genres than metal for our melodies for example but the main roots will stay the same I guess.
10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
JV: The riffs and melodies I have wrote have been mostly influenced by Greek black metal bands like Varathron and Rotting Christ etc. I listen to a lot of different genres and bands/artists, mostly metal, rock and punk though.
JF: I have been influenced by the mighty HELLENIC METAL as well, and My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Black Sabbath, Anathema etc. has been the biggest influence to our music. My musical taste nowadays is very wide. One of my favorite artists ever is Kate Bush.
11. What are some of your non musical interests?
JV: Movies and reading. I have a collection of about 500 DVD/Blu-ray films, mostly horror. I read mostly classic novels, horror, history and mythology & folklore books etc. I also work at a library. I'm also interested in other countries and their culture and would like to visit many places I haven't been yet.
JF: I love watching movies and I have a large collection too. But otherwise my life is almost only around music and especially playing it.
12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks to everyone who read the interview. Go listen to our new album "Stygian Dreams" and support the label & us by buying it if you liked what you heard. And thanks for the interview!
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