Eddy Helvete
The Noctambulant
I've been doing really well. Work has picked up, so I don't have to worry about paying rent for the time being.
There are two parts to that answer. First, playing music is all I feel I'm actually good at. I've been a musician, in one form or another my whole life, and it's all I know. Secondly, we take all possible precautions and do our best to be safe while we play. I understand there is a risk, but we do our best.
Luckily I live in Florida, so the restrictions have been lifted for public gatherings. So in that regard we are lucky. And as I said, we take precautions as best we can.
When the pandemic started I, like most people, became quite disheartened at the prospect of not playing live. But after a while I decided to channel that and create music, even if it was for my own sake. That's how Hellrazor was written.
Non Serviam has been a label I've followed for some time, even since they signed my friends band Zornheym. As for expectations, we want to be valuable partner and help each other grow. It's an honour to be on such a respected label, and we want to perform admirably.
Originally we released Hellrazor digitally as we were no longer on a record label. To our surprise, it received critical acclaim and requests for Physical copies. We approached Non Serviam , and made that a reality.
What we wanted to do with Hellrazor was make music that was more authentic to who we were. When we were on tour in Europe, we were asked what made us different? How did being from Florida, home of Death Metal and Baptists, affect us. After reflection, we decided to shift away from the typical Scandinavian Black Metal aesthetic and tone to a motif more fitting. Swamps instead of mountains. Oppressive heat instead of Oppressive cold. And the ever present tyranny of the Traditional Southern Baptist Church. We were raised in the swamps and with the Folklore of the region.
Melody is incredibly important to me personally. To me, aggression is made sharper with melody. Melody aims the music and gives it soul to the aggressions body.
It helped me focus on the atmosphere and flow of songwriting. With previous albums it was focused on riffs, which is great, but I want the listener to feel the music, and adding atmosphere and hooks is how I do that.
I recorded Hellrazor in my home, sitting in my bedroom with a laptop, while Darin (drums) did the same from his home. That process really helped me understand how sound is shaped, recorded, layered and how it all interacts. Not to mention, since at the time we were a 3 piece, I had to record all of the guitar solos, which had not been my strong suite (except for the guest solo by Mr. Damage), so I really had to practice and work on improving my skills
Since Darin and I do most of the recording, it felt very much like collaborating with someone overseas. We would record riffs or ideas and email them to each other. And from that we built the album. The main challenge was waiting for the new emails, whereas before, we would record in person with each other in the room.
We wanted to give the listener of the Hellrazor CD a few tracks that were authentic to how we sound live. So we recorded from front of house, and cleaned up the recording. But it was the first show with Jon on lead guitar, and it was a lot of fun hearing his interpretation.
We wanted to show a brief history of The Noctambulant with the covers. The Bathory and Covenant covers were from very early in our career, but no matter what we did, my love for Goth Rock was always there. So when we had some downtime, we recorded the Sisters of Mercy cover.
Sisters of Mercy have always been one of my favourite bands, and I wanted the cover to be respectful of the original, but our own. I knew I wanted to have the clean singing in the middle, and I knew I wanted it to be heavy and groovy while remaining melodic and dark. I personally was very happy with the result and plan on doing more Goth Rock covers in the future.
Darin came up with the main riff and I loved it, but I knew it needed a middle section to contrast the aggression of the first part, so I sat down and came up with the bridge and solo parts. Your kind words are definitely appreciated!
As for Kjell, I've been a fan of his since he joined Chrome Division, and I'd followed him on social media for years. I reached out and he was incredibly gracious and absolutely CRUSHED the solos at the beginning and end. He really sets the tone for whole track.
We really want to get back to Europe and play the festival circuit. I feel that we have a unique take on Black Metal that a wide spectrum of Metal fans can find appealing. My life goal is to play Wacken and the Midgardsblot, as they are amazing festivals, and though I've played them in the past, it was as a hired musician and not with my own music.
We have a tour being booked now in May with a Swedish Black Metal band, and hopefully we can get on more festivals. We love playing, and definitely want to get in front of more people.
Thank you for the questions, and I hope we get the chance to speak again.
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