Interview with death metal band from Ireland - GRAVE SERMON.
Answered David Hynes (vocals), thank you!
Recenze/review - GRAVE SERMON - Liturgical Perversions (2024):
Ave GRAVE SERMON! Greetings to Ireland. I hope everything is all right with you. I was really looking forward to your new release "Liturgical Perversions", I enjoyed the previous EP "Whitewashed Tomb" and I love coming back to it. How did the new album come about and why did it take you so long to release it?
Greetings Jakub, and cheers for giving us this interview!
It’s a boring old story but we’ve all just had a lot of different circumstances to deal with, and on top of that there are typical work and family commitments, and I think the delay just reflects that. But the next release will come around much quicker.
I have to say that I was literally blown away by the sound of the new release. It's dense, massive, dark and at the same time cold as a dead man's hand. That's exactly how I like it! The mix is signed by HK at Vamacara Studio. Did you record there directly or just mix the album? With what feelings did you go into the studio and how did you manage to achieve such killer material?
We are really happy with the sound of the release, its how we want to present our music. Not too polished, not too raw, everything audible, while trying to capture our urgency and passion, its not easy to do that, but we think we came as close to it as possible.
The recording was process was staggered, we recorded the drums first over several days in Leader Sound Productions in Cavan, then a few weeks later the rest of us went to Trackmix Studios in Dublin and laid down guitars, bass and vocals over 3 days. We had a sound in mind, so we set about finding the place that would get that for us, eventually our drummer Jason found Vamacara Studios and it was perfect for us, the producer HK came back to us with a monstrous mix that we just loved. So the sound was a combination of time, effort and a bit of good luck!
I always take the recordings as a whole and you didn't just underestimate the sound but also the cover. The artwork and layout by Gav Doyle at Symmetry Industry Studiosis great. How did you guys get together and how did the cover art come about? Who is the author of the theme? Did you have any requirements or did you choose from already prepared images? And how did the collaboration work.
We’ve worked with Gavin on every release and piece of artwork we have, he gets what we’re about, he’s easy to work with, and most importantly he always produces great work! Generally, I’ll have an image that I send to him, a loose idea about layout, and he then elevates it beyond that. He really helped with the layout of the EP too, from disc design, to lyric/photo placement, font etc.
We’ve had a sort of consistency when it comes to our artwork so far, we try to use archival pictures and old paintings, they most accurately represent the subjects we are dealing with, as they are of the time, rather than looking back with our way of thinking. For example in our first EP we dealt with the barbarity of Magdaline Laundries in Ireland, so we used an archival picture of one, as it was more harrowing and impactful than anything we could have dreamed up. Similarly for this ep I wanted the art to represent the themes of our songs, eventually I came across a painting from about 1620 by Jacob van Swanenberg. Within the painting there is so much of what the EP deals with lyrically. It's one of those things, when you find what’s right you just know, you don’t need to think too much about it, its just there.
The lyrics are also an integral part of the album. You are quoted as dealing with death and anti-Christianity. So classic death metal themes. What are the lyrics on "Liturgical Perversions" about, who is their author? Where did you get the inspiration for them?
On this EP, as with our other releases, I tried to focus on old Christian oddities, old rituals, dogma, hubris and stories of horror or interest that are rooted in a kind of deluded devotion to faith. They range from ideas on predestination, the church’s neglect and disdain of the poor, warped fanaticism, a rogue saint etc.. These songs often come about from a scrap of an idea or some piece of information that piques my interest and then I usually go down a rabbit hole and try to learn as much as possible about the topic.
What about concerts? How are they in Ireland at the moment? Are the clubs working? Do fans go to gigs or do they just sit in front of the internet anymore? I need a club, beer, girls!
There are no shortage of concerts particularly in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast. There are always a lot of touring acts coming to Ireland, bands like Nile, Dying Fetus, Vader, Left to Die, Obituary, Abbath etc. have all played Dublin in the last year or so, and there are countless gigs coming up. Promoters like the Distortion Project in Belfast, Dublin Metal Events and Bad Reputation in Limerick are constantly bringing touring bands to Ireland, and often work together so bands can play multiple dates here.
Bad Reputation run a festival called the Siege of Limerick twice a year, its the highlight of the calendar for most, and great platform for bands to show what they’re about. We also have a few other cool festivals every year, including Templemore Metal Fest in Tipperary and Whiplash in Sligo. There are plenty of gigs in other towns and cities around the country in places like Cavan, Waterford, Kilkenny, Wexford etc. that’s just off the top of my head, I’m sure I’m forgetting some places and promoters as well. So, I think for the size of Ireland, and the size of the scene we’re really lucky to have what we have.
What about the underground scene in general? Is it alive in Ireland (I really like VIRCOLAC from Dublin)? Are you from Kildare, it's a small town, do you meet somewhere for death metal? If I visited the town, where should I go to a gig? What about the fans? Do they support the bands?
I would say that the underground scene is definitely alive, its not massive or anything but Ireland is a small place! In my experience, fans are really good about picking up merch or physical copies of music, especiallly at gigs. There are a handful of people that really go the extra mile to ensure the metal scene stays alive, you mentioned Vircolac, their vocalist Darragh is the man behind Invictus Productions which is the biggest underground label in Ireland, then you have other labels like Sentinel which has been really important for so many bands over the years, and newer labels like Cursed Monk thart are doing great work, and the promoters I’ve already mentioned. There‘s also the media end of things, podcasts, radio shows, reviewers and archivists who keep our bands names in peoples minds,and document the whole thing, like John & The Irish Metal Archive, Richie & The Metal Cell Podcast, Phil & Burning Metal, Adrian & Conjurings from the Hellfire club etc. These guys give up a lot of time and effort for the scene, and it wouldn’t function nearly as well without them.
Do you have any dreams for the band? Do you have a good name in the underground but want to move up? I mean, are you tempted to maybe tour with a big name, play a big festival, release another record on a well-known label? What dreams and vision does GRAVE SERMON have?
Of course, we want to do as much as we can with this. Everything you mentioned in the question would be great!! I can only speak for myself here, but I want to continue to put out music, play shows and festivals wherever we can and eventually find a spot on some tours. I don’t have extravagant ambitions, but being able to play to new audiences and travel and share those moments as a band has always been a driving force in playing for me. Beer, busses and blastbeats, what could be better!
What does death metal mean to you? Why did you choose this style? How did you get into it and what musicians were your role models when you started? Do you see death metal "just" as music or is it also a lifestyle for you? Feel free to look at this page philosophically.
I think when it comes to playing Death Metal, at least in my case, it was a very natural and gradual thing, and at this stage I can’t imagine playing anyother kind of music. When I was starting out playing, I looked to the other bands in the Irish scene at the time; Abaddon Incarnate, Coldwar, Mourning Beloveth, Morphosis, Primordial, Slave Zero etc. All of them for different reasons, Abaddon Incarnate were the most insane, chaotic band I had ever heard, dripping with hatred and malice, no one could (still no one can!) touch them for speed and aggression. Coldwar had the heaviest live sound, their drummer just seemed to hit harder than everyone else and their bass tone was unmatched, they were like a tank. Mourning Beloveth had a mix of Death and Doom with beautiful guitar work and two of the best vocalists I’ve ever heard, and along with Primordial, they showed how far an Irish could actually go on the international stage. Primordial were so big in my mind, that they might as well have been Iron Maiden. Morphosis were long established as ‘the’ Irish death metal band I by the time I started playing in bands, straight up brutality, caustic vocals, and riffs for days, they were incredible! Slave Zero were a band I always loved from the fist time I saw them, and they were mixing death metal with other extreme genres and were an amazing reference point for me, dynamic, with killer riffs and they sounded so vital. I can still revisit all those bands and the records from those days and get the same feeling.
Of course there were the big bands too, the usual suspects, from growing up on Pantera, Sepultura and Machine Head, to discovering Immolation, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death etc. but really as a teenager becoming involved with a real underground scene, nothing was a bigger influence than watching other bands there already doing things on their own terms!
Do you have a band in your area that you would recommend. What do you go to see in clubs in Ireland?
We recently had our EP launch gig and shared the stage with 3 unbelievable bands; Strangle Wire (Belfast) who are a machine, brutal death metal, sick vocals, groovy riffs, precise, years of experience and it shows! Fraught (Dublin) who play a mix of Death, Sludge, Doom and Black metal, just insanely heavy and varied, Blood Soaked (Kildare) are stalwarts of the Irish scene, they originally broke up in 1993, but they’re back now and just laying down thrashy, groovy death metal that’s as powerful as ever!
As i mentioned earlier, Ireland is a pretty small place, and the beauty of the scene its variety, so I can recommend you a few Irish bands that come to mind, apart from the ones who I've already mentioned; The Crawling, The Blessing Way, Zealot Cult, Bodydrinkers, The Grief, Ten Ton Slug, Old Season, Insidious Void etc. all really high calibre bands that are doing something different and well worth checking out!
What can we look forward to from GRAVE SERMON in the coming months? Aren't you going to release "Liturgical Perversions" on vinyl as well?
We’ve just launched the ep with our gig in Dublin on September 14th, so we are working on getting the physical release out there. I think we want to build on this and keep going if we can, play some killer gigs and do our little bit to spread Irish Death Metal as far and wide as we can! Its always an ambition to have a record out, especially for older heads like us, we would love the chance to put this record out on vinyl. I think the artwork would look great too!
Thank you very much for the interview. I'm going to listen to the new "Liturgical Perversions" again. It's great! Good luck and I hope to meet you at a concert somewhere soon and have a beer together!
Thanks a million, Jakub, I’ll hold you to that! See you down the road!
Recenze/review - GRAVE SERMON - Liturgical Perversions (2024):
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