Interview with death metal band from Lithuania - CRYPTS OF DESPAIR.
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Recenze/review - CRYPTS OF DESPAIR - The Stench Of The Earth (2017)
Ave CRYPTS OF DESPAIR! Greetings to Lithuania. About a week ago I got your new album "All Light Swallowed" for review and I listen to it over and over again. I like it the most when there is ugly weather outside, it's raining and I'm going for a walk around the cemetery. Then I feel like I hear the cries of the undead. The new album is really good, compared to the previous album, It seems to be darker, maybe more complicated, colder? What do you think?
Greetings Deadly Storm Zine! That’s one of the propers ways to listen to this record, thank you! For us personally death metal in its essence is a dark,cold and evil genre of music, so we think its natural progression for us. We love to manifest and compliment the darkness within ourselves and use this music as a catalyst for those feelings.
When we did a short interview together in 2017, which is used to introduce the band, I had no idea that I would hear about you again. You composed the new material for four long years. It is far from us to Lithuania, but I still had no new information. What did you do? Did you perform? How long did it actually take you to compose the new material?
When we released the album we played various gigs across Germany, Poland, Estonia, England, Lithuania and did a 10 gig tour in Mexico! Well to be honest, some songs and riffs were 6-7 years old. It was always like that: I start to compose new music before the new album is released. So some songs were already created before the “The Stench Of The Earth “ came out. It just took a good few years to get this new album released.
Listening to the new album "All Light Swallowed", I feel like I'm sinking into a deep bloody swamp. The excellent cool and dark sound contributes a lot. How and where did you record? Who produced and, mixed album?
The process of recording was exactly the same as before. We prepare pre-production, rehearse on our own and together a little bit and then we hit the studio. We recorded our album once again in Kaunas, Lapės Records studio. Everything was produced by us, mixed by the russian grindcore artist/sound engineer Alexander Sarychev and mastered by the great Arthur Rizk in the USA.
The motif of the cover can be explained in various ways. I see it as the coming of the undead to the ground. Absorption of light and goodness. Only negation remains. Who created the cover and how do you perceive the drawing? Did you send your music to the author in advance for inspiration?
Nestor Avalos was the one who did magnificent work on the artwork. Death is the ultimate force and we wanted to express this worship into our cover art and at the same time to leave him his artistic freedom. When I choose people to work with I always ask to emrbace the music, find what it evokes in you and then put it all into whatever they do, so we gave him the album to listen, lyrics to read, described our vision and let him make his craft. Result speaks for itself and we are very satisfied.
Death metal and lyrics, this is a topic for a long discussion. Some only take them just as a supplement, others want to pass on a message with them. Tell me something about the lyrics on "All Light Swallowed". Who is their author and where did he get his inspiration for?
Lyrics were written by Me and S.J. on this album. Inspiration comes from various feelings known as hatred, darkness, misanthropy , nihilism, inner turmoil etc. You name it.
I listened to the whole first album "The Stench of the Earth" very often. The novelty is more sophisticated, but also less accessible. I think that the listeners should give it time and to let it mature, new and only then will the individual nuances stand out. Was the new album created in different way? How do CRYPTS OF DESPAIR create new songs? I'm interested in the process itself.
Nothing changes in this place. I create everything in a similar way. It is very primal and instinctive. I can’t tell myself “ Okay, now I am going to make a new song” because it never ever works that way. Inspiration usually strikes unexpectedly at any time and everything just flows in the moment. Nothing is structured. After that stream of inspiration is over, I take a little pause and then look at the structure, details and make adjustments if needed. I record immediately everything into my computer, mix it and then listen.
Why did you choose death metal as the music genre you will play? What do you like about it? Blackness? Cold? Energy? Who was your role model when you started playing and where did you get your inspiration and information from?
I chose death metal because it's the darkest, most evil and sickest genre that exists. You got everything here - from raw primitive stuff, to the atmosphere, grimness,coldness to technical insanely fast and brutal stuff. My first initial inspiration came from the 90s old-school death metal scene from all over the world ( but closest to my heart was american scene). So from Sadistic Intent,Morbid Angel, Immolation, Mortician to Entombed, Dismember, Bolt Thrower, At The Gates, Dissection and the list goes on and on. But when I actually started Crypts Of Despair, I was more into nowadays stuff, because I am a music nerd and I always look for new bands that push boundaries or renew sound. Also, its important to mention that me and my bandmates we listen to huge variety of music from death metal, to hardcore punk/grindcore/rap/trap/electronic music, pop and so on. We are very open minded and darkness can be found everywhere!
What are CRYPTS OF DESPAIR planning in the coming months? Can we look forward to some tour for supporting new record? Or maybe some video?
Having this fucking pandemic shit its impossible to plan anything regards to playing live. We would love to go on tour and I think when its going to be possible we will, but the future is unknown at the moment. One thing - we are going to release a video of one of our tracks from “All Light Swallowed” before official album release!
Thank you so much for the interview. I'm going out again in the afternoon; and it's raining outside. I will take your new album "All Light Swallowed" with me. It's really great! I wish it will sell well. Good luck in your personal lives.
Thank you for your good words and interesting interview! Follow us on our social media and labels pages. Long live Deadly Storm Zine!
HAIL DEATH!
about CRYPTS OF DESPAIR on DEADLY STORM ZINE:
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