Interview with doom death metal band from Poland - MARTYRDOOM.
Answered Greg (guitars), thank you!
Recenze/review - MARTYRDOOM - As Torment Prevails (2023):
Ave MARTYRDOOM! Greetings to the underground. I hope everything is fine with you. It should be because this year you have released a second long-play full-length album in your band's career. I have to admit it has literally blown my mind. It is dark, energic and as if it cuts by the sharp edge of the knife. I can hear from the record you did a really good job and you added a big portion of the talent, too. How do you perceive the new album in comparison to the previous one? Where did you want to move and in what are these two records different?
Greg: Hailz! Thanks for the kind words about the new record and thanks for having us do this! I know that it’s a cliché, but for us, the second album is certainly more mature and more thought-out. It’s certainly more coherent than Grievous Psychosis, it doesn’t have re-recorded tracks and only like two have been written more than a couple of years ago. So it’s still fairly fresh for us. Also, I’d say that it’s more angry and mournful.
„As Torment Prevails“ includes all attributes of good death and doom metal. For me personally, it represents the record, which I really like to listen to. How did you produce it? How look the writing process of new material in the case of MARTYRDOOM?
Greg: So, some of the tracks were kinda old (Garden of Flesh, Festering Existence), but majority of the new record was written in 2021 and 2022. From the outside perspective it seems like we were writing a new album for 6 years, but between lineup change, pandemic and a time for just playing some live gigs - for us it’s closer to 2 years. Once we’re focused, basically every other week, someone has a draft for a new track. And this is how we wrote the material - someone brings a draft version of a track, and we process it together. Even though “As Torment Prevails” has just been released, we already have started writing new material.
Who is signed for recording and mastering? I have to confirm that the sound literally kills. It keeps making me turn up the volume on the hi-fi tower. You have a sound that's harsh, raw and dark and animalistic at the same time. How was it working with you? What studio did you record in and how did it all work?
Greg: Thanks! I’m really glad it turned out that way, because we were pretty feisty about it during the mixing process. We recorded the majority of the album in Chróst Studio, which was pretty known for all major pop and rock stars in the 2000s. The owner, Winicjusz Chróst - guitarist of legendary polish band Breakout, unfortunately passed away in 2020. The family decided that his legendary studio shouldn’t stay closed, and allowed Sociak to be a resident engineer there. This allowed us to record the album using fully analog and tube gear, which translates to the sound.
An important part and a kind of extra bonus for fans today is the physical CD. You released the new album at CD in label Memento mori, and it comes with a demonic cover art. The author is Ryszard Wojtynsky. How did you choose the motif and how does it relate to the music at the record?
Greg: We worked with Ryszard Wojtyński when we were releasing “Grievous Psychosis” and we knew that we wanted his artwork for “As Torment Prevails”. After he agreed, we sent him a rough mix of new tracks, along with the lyrics. We had a brief talk about the themes on the album (grief, mourning, violence) and our favourite album covers and he created an oil painting based on that. He sent us a draft painting with an explanation of what he’s going to do further, we added some notes on what we like or see there. Next was the unveiling, and to be honest we were shocked at what he did. He basically exceeded our expectations for the cover, to the point that every band member has the copy of the painting framed at home.
I have been wandering the underground for over thirty years and I still go to Poland for music with certainty. I think we have a similar nature and taste when it comes to metal. I like your bands a lot and I monitor your scene carefully. Maybe I envy you a little, because we only have a few death metal bands that are worth it. How do you explain that death metal are doing so well in your country? How do you perceive your scene, fans, labels?
Greg: Honestly, from my perspective, the majority of “bigger”, or rather recognisable bands are playing either black metal, or something combined with it. Or another variation of 2000s era Behemoth. Of course, we have some great underground bands and labels, but I’d say they mostly get overlooked in the sea of mediocre black metal acts that are another deviation of what Mgła or Furia are currently doing. I certainly envy your scene, especially the festivals! Been to Brutal Assault like 4 or 5 times, and of course let’s not forget a mecca for every extreme music maniac - Obscene Extreme! Been there like 5 or 6 times and it always feels like coming home.
You play doom death metal influenced by, among other things, the old school. Today, the band can't avoid comparisons, but I would like to know how the idea to start MARTYRDOOM was born, who was and is your metal idol? Where do you want to move your band? Are you attracted to large foreign festivals, for example, are you willing to go on tour with a more famous band?
Greg: It was born like any other band made by 17 year olds. We started as Deathlust in 2010, as a group of friends that wanted to play metal. We started by playing covers of Metallica, Sepultura, Nunslaughter and Hellhammer, and when we began to write our own material it leaned more into the side of death metal. Our music evolves with us, and with what we are or were listening - we found ourselves in death/doom, and it stayed. I’d say that the major inspiration (that is not as obvious as the typical death metal inspirations you can hear) for all of Martyrdoom is anything that Tom Warrior did. We love his approach to music, that puts emotions first and that even the simplest sounds can create a sonic mayhem. In terms of the future, who can say? We already started writing some new material, and from what we can tell at this moment - it will be more downtuned, and less schematic. We are trying to leave the scheme of tracks laid as ABABC, and trying to experiment a little. Of course it doesn’t mean that we want to go progressive way, more like we want to leave writing “songs”.
When I started my website six years ago, I had a vision that I would try to support bands that are not so much popular, or they are lost in underground. To let the world knows about them. I think I'm doing quite well, at least according to the responses. How do you approach the promotion of your music? Do you rely upon the label or do you send the CDs for various reviews by yourself? For example, I buy albums that I really enjoy. What about you? Are you also fans who often support your colleagues? Do you go to concerts?
Greg: I think that you are doing a tremendous job man! We are doing a bit of promotion by ourselves, but we’re not that really into social media. The “market” is oversaturated and (at least for us) it’s really tiresome to break through the thousands of new releases every month. As for doing our part in supporting the scene, we are of course going to various gigs (maybe not as much as we’d like, but hey, that’s life) and buying merch from our colleagues. We know that they are doing this from passion, just as we do.
On the one hand, today the new band has a lot of opportunities to make themselves more known, but on the other hand, there are a huge number of groups and the fans are getting lost in this big metal sea. A lot of people just download mp3s from the internet and instead of to visit the concert they prefer to spit poisonous saliva on Facebook. How do modern technologies affect you as MARTYRDOOM? What do you think about downloading music, google metalists, streaming music, etc.?
Greg: As I said in the previous question, we’re not really fans of social media. In the case of streaming services, I treat them as convenience. Or rather as a necessary evil. If you don’t have a presence in streaming services, you don’t exist. If you think about it, it’s kinda bullshit that you have to pay different companies (that are owned by the streaming services) for the “privilege” to put your music out there. Meanwhile mega-labels are getting promoted by Spotify (or any streaming), so the line can go up. Bunch of bullshit if you ask me. But hey, at least our music has a chance to reach a broader audience. On the other hand, I’m from the generation that started discovering music by downloading MP3s and reading online zines and blogs. But of course, as I grew, I started just buying music and merch from the artists I wanted to support. And this continues to this day - I’m using streaming services, but I’ll always try to support artists that I want. Be it by going to the gig, or buying their stuff directly from them, not from the label. I might be delusional, but I think that extreme metal fans are always supportive of the music they love.
I like to ask the musicians what death metal means to them. How would they define it, whether it is more the philosophy and lifestyle thing for them or "just" relaxation? What does it mean for you? How do you perceive and experience it?
Greg: I often joke that death metal is the single greatest thing that ever happened to me, haha. For me, the essence of death metal are the raw, unbound emotions that come with the music. Even with “mid” death metal, you still have the aggression that you don’t have with any other genre. I don’t know about philosophy and lifestyle, but I guess it also plays a huge part in my life, since it has been embedded within me for so many years. I can certainly tell that I love, that death metal scene is so chill.
Finally, a classic but important question. What is MARTYRDOOM planning in the upcoming months? Where can we see you at the stage and when will you visit Czech republic?
Greg: Writing some new material so the fans don’t have to wait another 6 years for a new album, haha. On the serious note, we’re probably going to promote As Torment Prevails in the upcoming year, do some merch and maybe try to put it out on vinyl. We don’t have any concrete plans yet.
Man, we never played abroad - if someone wants us to come, then we’re open for invites. And we’re cheap! We’ll play for gas, grass and booze.
Thank you so much for the interview. I wish a lot of success to the new album and let the number of your fans expand as much as possible. I will look forward to seeing you somewhere live again. I wish you a lot of success both musically and personally. I'm going to push „As Torment Prevails“ into my head again!
Greg: Thanks man! It was great talking to you. Keep supporting death metal!
Recenze/review - MARTYRDOOM - As Torment Prevails (2023):
Recenze/review - MARTYRDOOM - Grievous Psychosis (2017):
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