Interview with death metal band from Finland - BARON.
Recenze/review - BARON - Beneath the Blazing Abyss (2024):
Ave BARON! Greetings to the underground. I hope everything is fine with you. It should be because this year you have released a first 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 first EP? Where did you want to move and in what are these two records different?
"Hello JAKUB & DEADLY STORM ZINE, greetings from Finland! We're glad that you're digging the album, lots of hard work was poured into that one. The new LP is basically an expansion on the sound that was found on our 2021 demo/EP ‘Hellspawn’. We definitely wanted to bring more elements of death/funeral doom and make the overall sound of the record more cohesive. Much more thought was put in the LP composition-wise while the demo was a bit rushed. The new LP is also the first time that you can hear synthesizers on our tracks."
„Beneath the Blazing Abyss“ 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 BARON?
"The earliest material that ended up on the album was actually written way back in 2018. Majority of the album however was composed during the covid lockdowns in 2020-2022 via writing sessions that were held online between our guitar players JERRY and TEEMU. The writing process basically starts and ends on JERRY's shitty laptop computer where he hosts all the songwriting sessions. He composed with TEEMU online these demo versions of the songs with programmed drums. Then in 2022 when the lockdowns were pretty much abandoned we gathered at our rehearsal space and well, rehearsed the material. Some final tweaks to the songs were also made at those rehearsals."
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?
"The record was engineered, mixed and mastered by our long time collaborator and friend JUSSI RIIKONEN. We’re glad that we put our trust in him because we agree that he nailed the production job! The drums and vocals were also recorded by him at ‘JussiMagia Studios’ in two locations, here in Helsinki, Finland and also in Tallinn, Estonia. That trip to Tallinn would end up taking quite a big chunk of our budget because, well, reasons… so we had to get creative with the recording of the stringed instruments. Guitar and bass were recorded in a different session with TIMI JETSU, who's a legendary drummer here in the Finnish underground. Some call him the best drummer in the whole scene… he also owns his own studio, literally called ‘Timi’s’ that he was happy to rent to us for very affordable pricing, which was fortunate after that costly adventure in Tallinn. Then JERRY with the assistance of TIMI recorded all the guitars and bass parts that are heard on the album by himself. TIMI has this awesome collection of old school amps way back from the 80’s and 90’s that were used in the recordings.”
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 Transcending Obscurity Records, and it comes with a demonic cover art. The author is Misha Mono. How did you choose the motif and how does it relate to the music at the record?
“Yeah we couldn’t be any happier with the cover art. The idea of these boiling humans in a sea of flames was originally meant for the ‘Hellspawn’ demo but the idea was so good that we felt like it should be saved for the LP, so we went with a different cover art for the demo. It might have been Twitter where we first came across MISHA’s art. We really liked his style as it felt fairly unique but recognizable, and decided to contact him. He was really easy to work with and we couldn’t recommend him enough when it comes to killer cover artwork. We feel like the lyrics and the actual music very much mirror the infernal nature of the cover.”
I have been wandering the underground for over thirty years and I still go to Finland 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?
“Well the death metal scene is in a very healthy place currently here in Finland mostly because a lot of kids are into it. It almost seems like every week there’s a new band formed by a group of 15-16 year olds who live and breathe death metal. There are also a couple of venues that can host all ages gigs that all the youngsters can attend to, which is very important. If some old geezers are the only people involved in your scene it certainly isn’t a healthy sign… every summer there’s also Helsinki Deathfest that brings some of the bigger bands here from around the world. Our favorite local label is definitely IRON CORPSE, who actually released our demo cassette back in 2021. One of the few cases where you can buy any release blind from the label and there’s like a 99% chance that it rules.”
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 BARON 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?
“BARON was born back in 2015 during a drunken celebration of our bass player TONI’s 18th birthday. Time sure does fly, doesn’t feel at all like we’ve been a band for nearly 10 years… We know it’s basic but honestly METALLICA was very important for all of us growing up and we probably could spend hours and hours just talking about them if we wanted to. People can talk shit about them all they like but the magic of those first four albums can’t ever be denied. But of course nowadays our taste in music is much more diverse than just METALLICA, ha-ha… currently we worship bands such as MORBID ANGEL, MY DYING BRIDE, KATATONIA, DISEMBOWELMENT, MORPHEUS DESCENDS, UNHOLY and SEPTIC FLESH (couple first releases only!) to keep things brief. Our goal is to improve with every release we do and not get stuck doing the same thing over and over again. As for festivals and touring, sure we’d love to play in some but realistically our personal life schedules are keeping us pretty busy currently, so don’t expect a six continent world tour anytime soon. Of course if MORBID ANGEL asks us to support them on a tour we are quitting our day jobs immediately and announce that we are fucking going there!!! Ha-ha…”
When I started my website seven 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?
“We feel like the constant promotion grind is one of the worst aspects of being a band in the modern age, we fucking hate it… bands enjoy making music and playing shows, not being soulless content machines and Tiktokers. We just do the basic social media things and once we get those physical CD’s we’ll most likely send some of them to reviewers and magazines and that’s it. These interviews are probably the only type of promotion that we really enjoy doing! The label has been very helpful with the promotion stuff to be fair, so shout outs to KUNAL from TRANSCENDING OBSCURITY RECORDS!!! Even though streaming has taken over the music world we still very much appreciate physical media for sure. All of us attend local concerts here in Finland regularly and like to support bands by buying their music or merchandise, because we as band members know how much it means to support other bands as well.”
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 BARON? What do you think about downloading music, google metalists, streaming music, etc.?
“Well we touched on this a bit already in our previous answer, but there are pros and cons to it. Growing up during the late 90’s and early 00’s sometimes you tend to yearn back to those days of early internet for sure. There was something special about borrowing every metal album you could from the library and copying them to Media Player, and of course actually buying CD’s with the little money you had. But we’d be lying if streaming music wasn’t convenient as hell most of the time. Also discovering new music has been made easier than ever if you know where to look. For example, there are great users on sites such as RATE YOUR MUSIC with amazing in depth lists and dedicated Instagram pages to hook you up with new (and old but maybe forgotten) bands. The so-called ‘amazing’ Spotify algorithm might be the biggest myth ever though, sure if you like listening to the same 10 or so albums that get pushed on your home page then it’s amazing!”
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?
“As musicians but more importantly as fans of the genre first and foremost, death metal and metal overall affects more or less every aspect of our everyday lives. If you view metal as ‘just another genre of music’ you just will never get it, sorry. The places that death metal has taken us and the people it has introduced us to, how it has shaped our view of the world, that clearly means that it’s much more than just cheap entertainment.”
Finally, a classic but important question. What is BARON planning in the upcoming months? Where can we see you at the stage?
“Our short term plan is to write some new songs for a mini release, maybe a split or just an EP and release it before the end of this year. As for gigs, it’s been quieter on that front than maybe we would’ve liked, but there are a couple of shows planned for the summer here in Finland that haven’t been announced yet. So keep an eye out for them, I’m sure they’ll be announced soon enough.”
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 „Beneath the Blazing Abyss“ into my head again!
“Thank you so much man, we really enjoyed the questions. Our debut LP ‘Beneath the Blazing Abyss’ comes out on April 26th 2024 and it’s released by TRANSCENDING OBSCURITY RECORDS, hope you all like it! Cheers!”
Recenze/review - BARON - Beneath the Blazing Abyss (2024):
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