Her
Enchantment
Her Enchantment is a Dutch
melodic death metal band with many heavy, doom and gothic references. A
while ago they released a great album titled "Darkest" that reveals
a very promising band with lots of potential. Support them, cause they
have much more to offer in the future...
1. HELLO! I READ IN YOUR BIO IF I AM NOT MISTAKEN
THAT YOUR FIRST ALBUM WAS RELEASED BACK IN 1998 UNDER THE TITLE “SAGAS”.
SINCE THEN 8 YEARS HAVE PASSED. WHAT HAS CHANGED IN HER ENCHANTMENT SINCE
THEN?
Well that’s true, the album was recorded in
1998 and the proper release was somewhere early 1999. Ever since that release
a lot of line up changes happened. Her Enchantment replaced 4 members.
Nienke de Jong left de band shortly after the release of Sagas to
join Dutch band Autumn, and she was replaced by the previous female singer.
Then guitar player Jasper followed her to join Autumn as well. He was replaced
by Teun from Mortal Form. Then I joined the band in 2002, due all those
changes the remaining members never were able to write proper songs because
the new members had to learn all the old material. The spirit wasn’t that
good at the time I joined. When I knew all the songs we were able to write
new stuff and do some shows again. But then already almost four years had
passed. In 2003 we recorded the three track single “Lacrimae Mundi” which
we financed our selves. With this single we tried to get a record deal
but after one year we decided to record the new album and finance it our
selves. We did a photo shoot for the album, booked the studio and two weeks
later our female singer decided to leave the band again for the 3rd time!
Another set back, and we had to replace her with a new female singer and
she had to get familiar with the songs too, so not until 2005 we finally
could enter the studio and record the follow up for Sagas. We signed a
deal with Greek label Burning Star and then we could finally release Darkest.
Although it could have been released a lot sooner, but we had some major
set backs and therefore it took some time to get it out.
2. LIKE YOUR PREVIOUS ALBUM, YOUR NEW RELEASE
HAS A ONE WORD TITLE AND IT’S CALLED “DARKNESS”. SO WHAT DOES DARKNESS
MEAN TO YOU?
I have to correct you on this one. The name
of the album isn’t Darkness, but Darkest. And in this case Darkest stands
for the songs on the album. We didn’t paint a pretty picture and it ain’t
a happy album. Therefore it’s the “Darkest” album we could write at that
time. For me Darkness is an everyday influence on my personal life. I had
lots of troubles in the past and I carry the scars from the past with me
every day.
3. MANY PEOPLE CONSIDER THAT A DARK SOUL IS AN
EVIL SOUL. HOWEVER I BELIEVE THAT MANY DREAMERS HAVE A DARK SOUL, BECAUSE
THE GREY REALITY DESTROYS THEIR DREAMS. DO YOU AGREE?
That’s because everything that’s dark is weird
strange, scary or what ever. It’s a short sighted opinion I guess. People
don’t show interest in other people these days and that’s the reason why
they think that people with long hair, wearing black stuff are weird and
worshiping Satan or something. If they would take the time to look further
they would find out that they are completely wrong. And you don’t have
to be a dark soul to be a bad person. I’m a dreamer myself and I don’t
consider my self evil, I think it’s a more romantic approach to life. Darkness
can bring shelter and comfort.
4. LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE LYRICS. WHO
WRITES THEM? WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE? FINALLY, CAN YOU TELL
US IN A FEW WORDS WHICH THE THEME OF EACH SONG INCLUDED ON THIS ALBUM IS?
Four of the songs on Darkest are written by
the previous singer Richard Hurkens. The remaining ones are written by
me and I got help from Elwin and Teun on two songs. My inspiration can
vary from daily life, personal experiences to books and movies. A couple
of years ago I suffered from a severe depression. It took me about 6 years
to recover, and it’s till underneath the surface. A better source of inspiration
isn’t around for a metal band’s singer :o)
a. The Long Defeat ,is a dark and romantic
love song, about someone who made the wrong choices in life and relations
and realizes it, when it’s already too late
b. Lakes of Sorrow is a bout the Tristan and
Isolde saga and is also a dark love song
c. Castle of Indolence is a song about my
far away, safe dreamland. It’s beautiful and mystic, but also dark
d. Bless for me is about someone who seeks
salvation and a blessing and got cursed in the end.
e. Darkest is my interpretation of the movie
Donnie Darko. Definitely one of my all time favorite movies. It’s also
mixed with my ideas and thoughts. It made a huge impression on my, because
I really could relate with the main character in the movie
f. Resurrection is about the same titled movie
with Christopher Lambert about a guy who’s building his own Jesus with
body parts, I also blended in some influences about David Koresh, the “Waco
Jesus” That story fascinated me always
g. Lacrimae Mundi is about the King Arthur/Excalibur
saga
h. Cloak of Despair is about the troubled
world of the previous male singer form Her Enchantment who fought against
life and lost the battle.
i. Imposed Disorder is the only track that
was written by all 6 musicians that recorded the album Darkest, the lyrics
are an inside look in my troubled brain
j. Rahasia Spirits is some sort of fairy tail
about an ancient land and magical mysteries
5. YOUR LABEL DESCRIBES YOU MAINLY AS A DOOM METAL
BAND. HOWEVER I BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE MORE MELODIC DEATH AND CLASSIC METAL
ELEMENTS THAN DOOM. DO YOU AGREE? HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE TO
A PERSON THAT HASN’T LISTENED TO YOUR MUSIC SO FAR?
I totally agree with you on that. I’m not
happy with the way our music is described by the label. You definitely
described it right. We’re a melodic Swedish orientated Death Metal band
with roots in heavy, black, and gothic metal. Of course we also have some
doom influences as well but the main direction is melodic death metal,
and that’s the way we describe it. We blend in many styles and we’re not
afraid to use extreme influences, but we’re also not afraid to blend in
70’s hard rock things.
6. I WANT TO STAND A BIT ON THE SONG “LAKES OF
SORROW” WHOSE BEGINNING STRONGLY BROUGHT TO MY MIND OZZY OSBOURNE’S “CRAZY
TRAIN”. DO YOU AGREE? DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE? IS IT A KIND OF A TRIBUTE
TO OZZY?
I see where that comes from, it certainly
has that Crazy Train touch. Although I have to admit it wasn’t done on
purpose. The song was already written before I joined and I always liked
it. So I don’t think it’s a tribute. Those responsible already left the
band :o) I am not an Ozzy fan. I only like the period when Randy Roads
(yes also Crazy Train :op)
7. WHICH ELEMENTS DID YOU FIND IN BURNING STAR
RECORDS THAT MADE YOU SIGN A DEAL WITH THEM? ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED WITH
THE PROMOTION YOU GET?
The reason why we signed is that they promised
us world wide releases of our albu. So far they did what they promised.
Of course there are always things that could be better. We wanted to do
the mix of the album in Holland, but they said they could do it as well
and save some money. That’s the exact reason why our album doesn’t sound
that great and doesn’t have the killer production we wanted. We’re not
happy about it and we never heard anything back until we got the finished
album in our hands. Furthermore it’s a shame that we still haven’t got
a distribution deal in our home country The Netherlands. Therefore the
album is only available via internet. But I have to say that they tried
their best to get a deal for The Netherlands as well, but the market is
too crowded.
8. I BELIEVE THAT BECAUSE OF SO MANY YEARS OF
EXISTENCE YOU HAVE COMPOSED MANY MORE SONGS THAN THOSE INCLUDED ON THIS
ALBUM. SO WHEN SHOULD WE EXPECT YOU TO RELEASE YOUR NEW ALBUM? WILL YOU
RELEASE IT FROM BURNING STAR?
We had some unfinished songs for the album,
but when our female singer quitted we had to let those songs go, to familiarize
the new female singer with the songs we wanted to record. We never got
back to them because we also replaced our drummer before the album was
released. We needed to find a new drummer get him familiar with the songs
and blah blah blah…. On top of that we had to get a new drummer again because
we sacked this one too….Since January this year we have a stable drummer
and he learned the songs very quickly and we already started to write for
the new album. We almost finished two songs. One song starts as a filthy
death metal song and moves to pure black metal and the middle part is very
melodic and heavy/power metal like. I set myself a goal to have a finished
album in the fall of 2007 and hopefully release it before the end of the
same year. We hope to keep this band together as it is now so we can concentrate
on writing songs and be ready writing summer 2007.
9. I WILL NAME SOME BANDS AND I WANT YOU TO TELL
ME YOUR OPINION ABOUT THEM. SO HERE WE GO: DARK TRANQUILLITY, IN FLAMES,
BLACK SABBATH, MY DYING BRIDE, CANDLEMASS AND THE GATHERING…
I love Dark Tranquillity and In Flames!! In
fact we all do in Her Enchantment. That’s the main cause we write the music
we do, we’re very influenced by the Swedish Gothenburg scene. Both bands
you mentioned are class acts that seem to reinvent themselves at every
new album. I have a great deal of respect for that. Black Sabbath is great
too of course the first album is very dark and absolutely unique. They
are the godfathers of heavy metal. But I have to say that I prefer Black
Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio and Tony Martin above Ozzy. My Dying Bride
is an absolute unique band. I love the atmosphere of their music and “The
angel and the dark river” is my absolute favorite of MDB. Candlemass…what
can I say…I have seen Candlemass for the first time at the Dynamo open
air festival in 1988, they stole my heart back then! Although I lost track
of them after tales from creation. But I got the album from last year.
The Gathering….Dutch….sigh…. Well, they released Always and for that time
it was an ok album. Everybody claimed that they set a trend but I totally
disagree .They copied Paradise Lost’ Gothic, and when you listen to the
album now it’s badly produced and quite simple. I prefer the 2nd album
Almost a Dance above the first. When Anneke joined them I lost interest
in them. Nowadays they make some sort of weird pop music and to be honest
I can’t imagine you can change that much from your original course .
10. WILL YOU SHOOT A VIDEO CLIP FOR YOUR NEW ALBUM?
IF YES WHICH SONG WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
I don’t know to be honest. Cloak of Despair
would make a nice live video I guess others could be set at location. I
hope we can release a video but that the problem would be that we should
finance it ourselves. Or we should work with students from the film academy
or something. The ideas are there, yes, but if it will be for this album?
I’m afraid not. Unless Burning Star finances it but I doubt that.
11. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A DREAM THAT INSPIRED YOU
TO WRITE MUSIC OR LYRICS ABOUT? IF YES, CAN YOU TELL US WHICH SONG OF YOURS
IS BASED ON YOUR DREAMS?
None of the songs is based upon a dream. I
can imagine writing about things that happened in a dream, but the fact
is that I hardly remember dreams at all back in the day when I was depressed
I learned my self to block everything to get the rest I needed. Therefore
there are hardly any dreams I remember.
12. I BELIEVE THAT YOUR FIRST ALBUM “SAGAS” IS
VERY HARD TO FIND. DO YOU PLAN TO RE-RELEASE IT? WILL YOU ADD ANY BONUS
MATERIAL?
True, the album is hard to find. The company
who released it went bankrupt and never had proper distribution channels.
We had the thought to offer the album for free on our new website.(the
current is offline due to provider problems) I have to talk with Burning
Star if they have any plans to re-release it. We could add some pre- Her
Enchantment material as well, but I think it makes no sense at all. The
thing is that there are four different musicians in the new Her Enchantment
line up compared to Sagas. I cannot support a product which I’m not a part
of. Maybe if we could re-record it with the current line up, I would agree,
but I also have to talk with Burning Star about this if they want to financially
support us with this.
13. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO
THE READERS OF BEHIND THE VEIL WEBZINE…
I’m very thankful from the support we get
from the fans and media in Greece, I will especially thank the label for
the never ending support and I hope we will be able to come over to Greece
to do some shows. We have done a short promotion tour in November last
year and we experienced a warm welcome. Keep an eye on our website, which
is unfortunately unavailable, but in the meantime take a look and listen
to the free mp3s at www.burning-star.net
Nick “William_Kidd”
Parastatidis
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