By Bradley Smith
Your debut album Doomscapes is finally upon us. Can you tell me a
bit about the concept of the album and what all went into its recording? How was
the experience in the studio during this process?
Being a new member of Diskord I can't really answer this question too precisely, I'm afraid. However, I have been friends with Chris, Eyvind and Hans Jørgen "since the first demo" (haha) and visited them for a day in the studio to record a solo and some backing vocals. My impression is that they have some mixed feelings from the recording sessions, but are very happy with the result. There were some discussions among the people involved regarding what kind of recording philosphy to use. Secondly, the album had to be remixed after the original mix had been mastered, which led to some delays. On the other hand, the guys booked a relatively long time to work in the studio (around a month), so they had time to experiment with ideas and bring in lots of friends to contribute with vocals etc. As far as the concept of the album goes I can only answer with my own interpretation of the album - I understand the album to present a view into a dystopic potential reality. An exaggeratedly alienated human condition in a future swallowed in black. A chaotic vision of misery. Probably in a time when the planet has seen lots and lots of chemical exposure? Hail Sadus!
I noticed you guys have a lot of musical guests on Doomscapes including vocalists, guitar solos and even a didgeridoo and an accordion. Why so man different outside participants and why include such strange instruments?
Diskord want to experiment, that's why there are some "strange" instruments on the album. I guess the guys realized that they had a lot of friends who could contribute musically, as well. Friends make things more fun.
Man I think it was nearly two years from the time of the recording until the albums release. What happened? Are you guys going to get a new Record label after this experience?
The album was recorded August 2005, remixed spring 2006, and then Diskord waited for the label to release the album for a year. To make a long story very short, the communication with our label was not good. Also, Chris left last year which put the band in an uncertain situation for a while. When I joined the band we wanted to get things going, and then all of a sudden the CDs had been printed without us having heard about it. So then it was just a question of getting the album out to go along with some live dates that we had booked this spring. We will be looking for a new label for the next album.
In the not too distant past you guys released the HDFH 7". I know there was also an extended length time between the recording and the release of it. What happened there and are you pleased with final product? I personally think it is an outstanding product.
Unfortunately I don't know much about the reasons for the delays on this release. If I remember correctly, an Italian label was supposed to release it first and then that took forever before everything fell through. It's a great release, but I personally think it pales in comparison to the album.
I have noticed that you guys have been adorning your albums with some rather Bizarre cover art. Can you tell us a bit about this artist and why you chose him? How do you think packaging plays into the whole presentation of any album?
The artist who made all the paintings for the album cover is called Sindre Skanche. He studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo and his graduation exhibition is showing in Oslo these days. He is friends with the other guys in Diskord and I suppose they simply realized his pictures are awesome and asked to use some of them. We think his images are strong and brutal, but with a psychedelic twist, and that's how we hope our music comes across. Pink is evil. Also, check out Sindre's noise/black metal/industrial band Utarm ( http://www.utarm.net).
I feel you
guys are bringing something different to death metal within the framework of
what is generally acceptable. How do you guys approach writing material and
incorporating ideas that are untraditional for such a rigid musical style? DO
you ever fear you might alienate your audience with any of your ideas?
Apart from the accordion and the didgeridoo (which I consider to be garnish) I don't necessarily agree that Diskord's ideas are that untraditional, but I do think that the guys managed to compose the good old metal components in a fresh and exciting way with Doomscapes. Being a trio we rely a lot more on the bass than most metal bands, and the guitar style is based on a lot of dissonances and not so much on chugga chugga fifth chords. The drumming is relatively free and almost light in a chaotic jazzy way. I think the sound is pretty brown and organic. And the song structures are free flowing with some longer instrumental passages and a lot of angular breakdowns. These are some of the things that we like to think give Diskord an original edge. All three guys (Chris, Eyvind and Hans Jørgen) wrote their own complete songs for Doomscapes, and then you have the danger of making an album that sounds like three different bands. The guys definitely have their own styles of writing songs, but they blend together really well and make the album interesting and dynamic all the way through. Again, I don't really think there is much on the Doomscapes album that Voivod didn't do on Dimension Hatröss or Gorguts didn't do on The Erosion of Sanity as far as musical micro-components go, but they are assembled with a passion and with a personal twist. As far as the A-word goes, we are singing a lot about alienation, so alienation has to be part of the equation! I suppose our audience like that vibe in a masochistic way.
Since Diskord's last interview with Nocturnal Cult do you see any change in the Norwegian death metal scene? Do you think the quality of the bands is improving? There are lots of really good death metal bands in my eyes coming out of Norway right now like Obliteration, Grotesque Hysterectomy, and so on.
Only 5 months into the year, and 2007 has definitely been the biggest year for Norwegian death metal ever, if you ask me. First of all there is the fact that Diskord, Obliteration and Execration all released their debut albums this spring. And for once there seems to be an actual small "scene" devoted to death metal, revolving around the bands and gigs in Oslo. Black metal has been the dominant thing for metal heads in Norway since what seems like forever, so the few bands that actually stuck with death metal were somewhat left in the shadow (of the horns!), or they simply sucked. It was interesting to observe that most of the death metal that came from Norway for a few years was made by ex-black metal guys who wanted to show that they had technical abilities - which without in most cases resulted in really really boring, anemic and ungroovy death metal. What we are seeing now is that there are Norwegian bands who want to make death metal for the sake of death metal - groove and passion. I am very happy to see this development, I'd love to see more Norwegian death metal classics to go along with Soulside Journey and Necrosis.
Diskord labels its music as progressive Old School death metal. Firstly what is the importance of the roots of death and don't you think that on the outside the terms progressive and Old school are sort of in opposition to each other? How do you unify those two opposing themes?
I mentioned some of this earlier, but I suppose that if you apply the term "Old School" to an attitude, a sonic ideal, a passion, a certain groovy-ness and an atmosphere, then you are still free to make music that is neither regressive nor sentimental. If you use "progressive" in a similar manner, for instance to describe an adventurous use of structures and harmony, then you are still free to make music that is raw and unpolished. So the terms don't necessarily contradict each other the way we see it. But yeah, we do realize that "Progressive" and "Old School" are used a lot as rigid genre definitions rather than descriptions of an approach. But we are taking them back, we are reclaiming them! UH! Progressive Old School Forever! Forward-thinking post-post-modernists from Norway!
Norway is a country
renowned for its beautiful nature and scenery but I want to know what its cities
are like and what you guys do for fun? I mean it has to be similar to pretty
much every other culture's cities, so what do you think makes Norway different
in that regards?
Most cities in Norway are pretty small and can hardly be called cities. We have only a couple of cities with a population of a few hundred thousand (Oslo and Bergen are the biggest). Most towns are small and cozy to look at, but there is a lot of xenophobia and "smålighet", so freaks and outsiders often move to the bigger towns to avoid being scrutinized in the smaller communities. I guess all cities have their own stereotypes. The men in Trondheim all have big mustaches and drink a lot of karsk (moonshine with coffee). The metal heads in Bergen are all total boneheads whose mental development stopped at the age of 11. People in Kristiansand are all very religious. Etc. For fun we play in Diskord and listen to music, take trips in the forest, drink beer, go to concerts, download movies off the internet, run our record labels, hang out with our girl friends, etc etc. Very normal activities I suppose. I don't really know if Norway is different...
How does someone achieve the status of being a nobody in a world of somebody's? I read in an interview that you viewed yourself as such and I thought that was a curious statement but it would be cool to explore that concept.
I think Chris is the brain behind this statement, and I have no idea as to how to explain it. Sorry.
What upcoming efforts from Diskord can we expect? It has been a long time since Doomscapes was recorded. How close to a new album are you guys?
We just played some shows in the eastern part of Norway. Hopefully there will be more shows this year. We are just now starting to write material for the new album. For me personally this will be very interesting, since I am the new guy in the band and haven't written Diskord music before. But I am looking forward to it, hopefully Eyvind and Hans Jørgen will think my ideas are really Diskord music... We are being ambitious and hoping to record the album late this year. If things go well (which they never do) we will find a label which isn't completely lost and have an album out spring 2008.
Any final words regarding this Inane Existence?
Thanks a lot for an interesting interview. Your 'Zine rules, I have been reading it for quite a while, and please keep it going!