While Heaven Wept: The H.o.S. Interview
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Uncle Dan: First off, I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to do this interview, Tom. I know you're in the middle of doing some studio work right now, so the sacrifice is not lost on me.
Tom Phillips: No worries my friend, I certainly understand the time sensitive nature of publishing, and I knew you'd have some intriguing questions. Fortunately I have a day off to do this!
UD: Your newest release, Of Empires Forlorn, is a brilliant album. Are you pleased with the response it has received, thus far?
TP: So far the response has been nothing short of overwhelmingly positive, and that is definitely a relief, considering we did not know how people would react to our evolution. We worked really hard on this album, so for people all over the world to hail it as "the best doom album of 2003," "one of the top 5 doom albums of all time," or even "one of the best albums of all time," is EXTREMELY gratifying. I'm glad that we didn't let anyone down, including ourselves (laughs).
UD: With the Of Empires Forlorn album, While Heaven Wept have pushed the boundaries of epic doom as far as one could and still have the music be metal. Was there ever any point during the process of creation you thought you might've pushed things too far?
TP: Towards the end of the recording process, when we were overdubbing the keyboards, guitar solos, and vocals, we knew the album had evolved quite a bit from what we had initially envisioned. It really took on a life of its own, and we just let it be. We would hear things that we thought should be in there, and took the time to realize every last detail. I think around the time the vocals were being tracked there was a bit of trepidation in the studio because no one, including myself expected them to turn out the way that they did. The keys, vocals, and guitar harmonies transformed this album into something that defied description; I mean we were cracking up when Jim said "man this sounds like a cross between Celtic Frost and Styx," but sure enough that description wasn't too far off. I think there were some concerns within the band like "this doesn't sound like the WHW I know anymore," but the fact of the matter is this is what we sound like now, and after years of development, our signature sound is indeed established. I think we pushed things just far enough to give us more options in the future, without forsaking our foundations. In essence Empires is everything I set out to do with While Heaven Wept from the beginning in terms of production as well as both musically and lyrically.
UD: One could say there is a lot of "commercial viability" in the Of Empires Forlorn material. Does it concern you that the fact this music is tailor made for a wider audience might cause some in the doom metal community to claim they feel "alienated" by WHW, especially as insincere and wishy-washy as many within the "scene" have grown over the last couple of years?
TP: While I agree that there are some "more accessible" songs on this album, I don't think I would go so far as to say Empires is "commercially viable;" I mean it's still an Epic Doom Metal album when all is said and done, albeit far more progressive than your average release coming from this genre, but still not "safe" enough for mainstream audiences. I don't see any reason why a band cannot perform extremely heavy music with equally catchy melodies; a quality song is still paramount in my opinion, regardless of the genre of music it is from. Admittedly, I was a bit concerned that we'd upset our core audience and the die-hard doom fanatics, but that was swiftly quelled with the first few reviews and reactions. No one expected Empires to be what it is, however it has been embraced as a fine addition to the legacy of Epic Doom Metal. A few people have suggested that the parts reminiscent of Journey were a bit much for them, but that's just how they came out (shrugs); hell, I did not expect that either, but they are an influence admittedly. I just did not ever foresee that influence coming out in the music of WHW. Anyway, the way I see the album is a cross between Candlemass, early Fates Warning, Viking-era Bathory, Styx, and Bach; extremely Epic and emotional, progressive music. And it is heavier than anything we've done in the past, so its not like we've wimped out here. I don't think we can go back to all slow doom in the future, as that would be both regressive and redundant, but the heavy Epic vibe will remain throughout the existence of WHW. Not that I am turning my back on doom in any way; it's just that now WHW really can only be described as playing "While Heaven Wept music."
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