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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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DARKENED
DEATH FROM FRANCE
1. Hello! Since SOUL REJECTED is a quite unknown name for most, a little introduction would be necessary.
Soul rejected was born in 2006, with SAM for the vocals, Greg behind the drums, myself (Nico) at the bass and Aurélien for the guitar. We are torn apart between Nantes, Saumur and Vannes. Our first, 3 tracks demo was released in November 2008.
2. In a way, SOUL REJECTED was born from the ashes of ILL DIVINE. Why did you change name while the previous one sounded well? Maybe because new musicians arrived at the guitar and bass, or because of a style change? This said, are the new musicians composers?
Effectively, Sam and Greg were a part of Ill Divine. With the arrival of Aurel at the guitar, who came from the hardcore scene, the composition have obviously changed, so the name switch shew to be logical and obligatory. It was a way to put an end to Ill Divine and go ahead.
3. In your songs, and especially on the first of the demo, I felt a will to develop an obscure atmosphere, something quite creeping, sometimes almost abstract, that could remind of an obscure vortex turning on itself… It’s a relatively old school feeling for Death metal, because many current bands have a different approach, something more « professional », brutal or fresh… I felt it was a bit lacking! I think the soul and « foundations » of the band lies at this level… Am I right ? Do you see there something spiritual, perhaps occult, or is it before all music with a relaxing aim?
It’s true that today, the bands often sound like each others, with a powerful and massive sound, but also very cold, almost industrial and soulless. Even if we appreciate some of these bands, it’s not the goal of Soul rejected, we appreciated he bands able to develop an atmosphere through their compositions and sound. One shouldn’t see something spiritual or occult, but rather a collective research for a particular atmosphere, kind of the same goal than a movie for example!
4. You should be big fans of IMMOLATION, their influence can be suite strongly felt, at the level of the guitars as well as for the drum playing… But it’s quite surprising in the sense it’s really closer to the first album (And maybe a bit the second one) than anything else… Talks a bit about it. And which other bands would you quote as influences? Have you got a particular way to entitled your music, or does « Death metal » fits well enough ?
I think no
one told us about Immolation yet (Laughs). And so, the answer is
bot yes and no! Samuel, our vocalist, is an enormous Immolation
fan, but it’s not the case of other band members… I think it can
be explained by the fact two of the three songs from the demo are
already quite old and date back to the post Ill Divine epoch.
Today,
each member of the band is involved in the composition and the Immolation
influence should decrease, I think. We all listen to extreme metal
and our tastes are all very varied. To quote some bands we all like,
I’d say : Arcturus, My dying bride, Septic flesh, Keep of kalessin,
Secrets of the moon, Marduk… You’ll notice there’s not a single
Death metal band! We all like Death, but some prefer the technical
side à la Beneath the massacre, while others dig the old school
vein à la Immolation or in the Swedish style.
5. How does the composition occur? I noticed the first track from your demo wasn’t badly made, the different parts flow quite well the ones after another in a quite « liquid » way! I wonder if it takes a lot of time to give this feeling, while finding the guitar part the will follow very well… Or does everything come out as an express ejaculation of inspiration? You might keep the tracks « In work » for quite some time ?
The composition
rarely happens as an ejaculation! It’s rather a long, common work,
as a whole we begin with a guitar riff of Aurel, or even Sam, and
then ideas follow, or not.
Then we think about the structure,
that occurs to change quite often, until it please us all, in the
meantime Sam begins to work his vocal patterns. It’s a very long
process, especially since we rehearse only once a week.
Why does the demo contain only three tracks? Was it a way to show only the best, or the other songs weren’t finished ?
Exactly, from the 7 finished songs we had at the time, those were the 3 most promising. A fourth one was mean to be published as well, but even if it worked well during gigs, it wasn’t totally satisfying, so we didn't include it.
6. I find the production of this demo fits quite well your style. It’s a quite round sound, with quite a lot of low frequencies, it sounds natural and not overproduced. Is it an home-made recording or did you visit a studio? You might have chosen to record on « old » hardwares to get this sound that definitely sounds quite 90’s ?
We have recorded in our rehearsal place, in Saumur, there we have all the necessary material to be able to make decent recordings for each instrument. It was studio conditions, but it wasn’t a studio! The hardwares we used are the most up to date. Concerning the low frequencies, it was a volunteer choice, too few bands pay attention to the bass that often is inaudible. So we wanted to put it in the forefront, without hiding any other instruments, and we’ll keep on doing that in the future.
7. This demo is now few months old… How are the feedbacks? Did you receive a lot of reviews? Are you satisfied with the amount of sales through myspace, or are you searching for other ways to spread more (And how many did you spread as a whole, between promos, sales, gifts… If it’s not too intrusive).
We do not have a lot of feedbacks for now, we mostly have the aim to use this demo as a promotional support during gigs, but we didn’t play a lot as of now. The few feedbacks we got were rather good. The demo is now available through the site of Epiphora production.
8. What does Death metal means for you? Are you a part of those who think the golden age of the style occurred between the 80’s and first half of the 90’s and who have a bit of problems with the current brutal death or « plastic » death releases? Or did you always find quite a lot of things that kick your ass ? (I think there were always ass-kickers, but it’s needed to search… Sometimes with insistence lol)
I agree with you, there were always good releases, today the problem lies in the astronomical quantity of bands, and so you need to be patient to find the golden jewel. Death metal has evolved and became ultra (Too) technical, I liked it for a while but now I prefer originality over technicality.
9. What’s your opinion about the current French scene? We often read there are a lot of bands with a good level on an international point of view, that they are more and more professional, up to date… But when you pay a closer attention, in matters of relatively old school Death metal the quantity rapidly shows to be less impressive… French Death metal immediately sounds a bit more like Cannibal corpse influenced « Brutal death », or something modern and cleaner… Do you like this style, or do you feel closer to foreign scenes such as Sweden for example ?
I feel close to no scene in particular. There are very good things in France, I love Benighted, Kronos, or also Yrkkoon. But I also love Nile, Behemoth or Cannibal corpse. I never pay attention to the band’s country.
10. Right now, how is the local scene around Nantes and Saumur ? Are there few nice bands, or is it quite hard to organize gigs ? Speaking about it, how do you gigs occur, is there something special on a visual (or other) point of view ? OR do you concentrate on the express explosion of feeling ?
The scene is quite active around Nantes, few concert-places remain and resist, and since two years with the arrival of the « Ferailleux » we’ve got the benefits of a beautiful place where you can play in good conditions. On a general point of view, North west of France is quite wealthy metally speaking, towns such as Rennes, Nantes, Angers or even Brest are quite active.
10. Do you read metal webzines? Which ones are your fave ? Do you visit only French sites, or maybe you hope to find a more realistic information as browsing sites from different countries ? (Doing the sum of opinions and thoughts from different origins, you might have a more realistic result ?). And the paper zines?
I regularly visit Vs webzine, I also know Spirit of metal and Imm3moria on which we were reviewed.
11. What are you current bedtime albums ?
Ouch, I bought the last Trepalium that’s very good, the last Phazm also is (Two French band, huh), but also: The vision bleak, Behemoth, Amon amarth, Wardruna, Opeth…
13. If SOUL REJECTED was a tree, which kind would you choose?
A powerful and massive, several centuries old big oak.
14. Tell us more about the plans and ambitions of the band, as well as the merchandising.
As of now, we want to play gigs to promote the demo, a second one should see the light later. This demo is available against a simple mail on our myspace page, during our gigs, and now on Epiphora productions. T-shirts are also available.
The interview is over, so you can conclude…
Thanks for this interview, it’s our first one, hope it’s not the last ! See you soon on stage!
Webpage: http://www.myspace.com/soulrejected
