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úterý 5. září 2017

Home » » Interview - SAMSARA - I try to put something to people´s hearts – the slow, tiring, ferocious tones which awakes the dark atmosphere and the variety of feelings in people.

Interview - SAMSARA - I try to put something to people´s hearts – the slow, tiring, ferocious tones which awakes the dark atmosphere and the variety of feelings in people.


Interview with doom metal band from Slovakia - SAMSARA.

Answered Tibor.

Translated by Markéta, thank you!

Recenze/review - SAMSARA - When The Soul Leaves The Body (2017)

Ave SAMSARA! I have not found any interview in Czech with you. So I would like to ask you if you could introduce your band to the fans who do not know it. You can start from the beginning and carry us through the whole history.

Hello to you and to the readers of Deadly Storm. Our band was founded in 2009 from the black death metal band MORS OMNIA SOLVIT which you can listen to on BANDZONE. It was founded by me and the guitar player Martin. We like the slower style which was played by many Scandinavian funeral bands so we decided to create SAMSARA. I wanted to find a suitable name for the band and I read a book about reincarnation and there was a mention about samsara. Immediately, I knew that this is the best name for our band. “Samsara” –the cycle of birth and death and this describes the music we play. At the beginning, we played in two people – my and Martin. Then we asked Peťo to play the drums and he joined us. We started to compose and play concerts. People were very excited about our work, they liked the music so we decided to record something so we did. But after we finished recording in 2015 our band split up. The guitar player Martin left and also the drummer Peťo. But I wanted to continue with the band because the band was nicely rocking the music so I found another members with who I work now. In 2017 we released an album and the songs were recorded with the previous members. The songs were composed between 2012 and 2015. We did not manage to release it before so we did it now because of some complications. The album was released under SMA (Slovak Metal Army).


Since May our album “When the Soul Leaves the Body” is out. How do you feel about it now? What about fans and critics?

I have to say that the feedback surprised me. The reaction on this album are so positive that I did not expected it. Well, this music is on the edge of the dark underground so I think people do not hear it often. But still I am so glad that it has its fans. I am also glad that this album happened because a lot of people can listen to it in here or abroad and that can help us to get abroad to play concerts or festivals and so on…the important thing is that a fan has his/her favourite band at home. I have not meet any music critic yet. I just play what I enjoy and what I want and I do not push anyone to listen to it if they do not like to do so. We know how it is – many people, many tastes and you cannot satisfy everyone. I am happy, the reviews are positive.

I am just listening to your new album and I feel like I am locked in a cell with a record and I am waiting for death. The album has a great cold sound. Where did you record and are you happy with the result? Were you able to have any comments about the final sound?

The album was created gradually. It was formed in Juraj Kankul´s studio in Partizánsky and I am happy with the result. Juraj is my good friend and a great musician. The cooperation with him was on a high level. He likes to give advice, help. I told him how I want it to sound like and he fulfil my wishes. Of course, I was very annoying for him at some times, haha. But first, you yourself have to know what you want when you go to a studio to record. We knew what we wanted and it was a heavy sound. We always found the best way and agreed on everything.




How did you compose new material for “When the Soul Leaves the Body”? How SAMSARA compose?

We were a trio – me, Martin on the guitar and Peťo on the drums. We all agreed as the band was set up but during time we knew that there is always something you can make better. The most important thing is the music, guitars, drums and then we add a sample which was done by our friend Paľo and I also did some. We picked up what was good and the rest we threw away. Then I phrased the growl and that was the composing process. Then we just put everything together with the bass and we slowly worked on other instruments or vocal, melodies and so on. And that is basically how we compose even now.

Who is the author of the lyrics on “When the Soul Leaves the Body”? And what are the lyrics about? Where do you find inspiration?

The lyrics were done by our ex-guitar player Martin and I just growled it. So this question is more on him. The lyrics were about his feelings and emotions, but he found the inspiration in his every-day life, he had his own ideas.



Who did the cover of your new album “When the Soul Leaves the Body”? I really like this person´s work. How did you chose the motive for this cover?

In the inside there are our photos in frames. I came up with this idea. The main cover is the idea of your graphic designer and designer Gogo Melone. She also did other cover for other famous bands. I saw her website and there was a motive of a crying mermaid who had tears of blood. It was so interesting that Juraj from SMA asked her and she agreed with doing our CD with this mermaid. I think we will use her amazing work next time too.

I think that “When the Soul Leaves the Body” would be great on vinyl. Have you thought about it? How do you feel about vinyl and its sound? Are you a collector?

Well, you surprised me a little bit. I have to say that I have not thought about it yet. I am not a collector and I cannot compare their sound. We will see what the future brings but we say “never say never”, heh.




A lot of musician do not listen to the style you play. How about you. Are there any doom metal albums which you would recommend? For me the great bands are GRAVEYARD DIRT, MOURNING BEVOLETH, INVERLOCH, OCTOBER TIDE.

I really like doom and that is why I play it. I like to listen to it and my favourite bands are (in case of style) MY DYING BRIDE, older ANATHEMA and THEATRE OF TRAGEDY, SINS OF THY BELOVETH, SWALOW THE SUN, SATURNUS, DRACONIAN, THE FORESHADOWING, older work of LACRIMAS PROFUNDERE. From the more funeral music ATARAXIE, AHA, ESOTERIC, SHAPE OF DESPAIR, COMATOSE VIGIL. There is a lot of bands either more or less famous. I could recommend a lot of them but it would be a really long list.


How is it to play doom metal in Slovakia? Do people go on concerts? Do fans support you and buy CDs? When you have an event how many people would come?

There is not a lot of bands in Slovakia who play doom but we went the way we like. There is more popular black or death but we do not care because everyone should play what they want. There are people coming on concerts, they want to have fun and listen to music. There are different areas in Slovakia and it depends on where you play a concert. So if you want to have more people on your concert you should mix the styles that is when more people come. On our event were almost hundreds of people. It was in a club but it depends. Sometimes there are 300-400 people. Celestial Help Fest and Flesh Party are really famous in here. Currently, we have released the new album which has a lot of fans and they also buy T-Shirts. Yes, people do supports us through them buying our merch.



Let´s look at the beginning of your band again…What was the first impulse to create a band? Why doom metal? It is not the style which would bring you “fame”.

Since I was a boy I really enjoyed music and I wanted to play. It was my dream and it happened. I decided to play doom because I liked the heavy guitars and deep voice, growl. We do not need any fame, we play what we like and we express our feelings thanks to the emotive style of doom metal. I know that it is more an edgy style and there is not a lot of people who find this attractive. But we do not care, haha. We have our fan base. In life you have to do what you like and we do it. I had some other small projects which were in different style so I am not mad, haha.



We are getting closer to the end of this interview and I want to ask you one more philosophical question. How would you define the doom metal style? What is this music for you and why did you chose this one?

This style was chosen because we can nicely express our emotions. Of course, playing and creating in doom metal is beautiful and it is not only about sadness and depressions. You can express many emotions, for example anger. This music fulfil me when it is played in a great way, when it has the parts it should have. I try to put something to people´s hearts – the slow, tiring, ferocious tones which awakes the dark atmosphere and the variety of feelings in people.

Finally, I have a mandatory but important question. What are SAMSARA´s plans for the next few months? What concerts are you playing?

The nearest event is in Barrocko fest in Třinec, then Gothoom open air and then we will see. In the future, we want to create new songs, I already have some ideas so I need to transform them into the reality.




Thank you so much for this interview and I wish you hundreds of enthusiastic fans, tons of sold CDs and sold out concerts. I wish you luck in your personal life and I am looking forward to see you on a doom concert.

We also thank you for the space. Greetings to all fans and people who support the scene. Bye, Tibor.

Recenze/review - SAMSARA - When The Soul Leaves The Body (2017)


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