Interviews
Lord of Metal ‘zine
1. Hails! How are things in the Khors-camp?
Hi Roel, hi to all the readers of Lord of Metal ‘zine. We’re recently back from Romania where played on Metal Crush Party festival together with such bands as E-FORCE, NIGHT IN GALES and others. These days we’re working on our new songs for the future album.
2. Once again you’ve crafted a good album with ‘Wisdom Of Centuries’. How has the feedback been up until now?
Thank you for your appreciation. The feedback is good in the whole although it should be noted that not all liked its musical concept with 4 metal tracks and 4 instrumental ones there in. But it was our idea based on lyrical concept and to make such the atmosphere of the album and we liked the result.
3. Although ‘’Wisdom Of Centuries’ isn’t stylistically different from predecessor ‘Return To Abandoned’ in a radical way, I think the material is slightly more uniform and contains a more melancholic mood with slightly less emphasis on synths. This helps to create a solemn and nostalgic mood. What are your thoughts when comparing both albums?
You are right about uniform, melancholic and nostalgic mood. These are the very moods we were trying to lay in this new album and it refers to the lyrics and the whole spirit of the album’s concept.
As for the comparing it with the predecessor “Return To Abandoned” so I think they are quite different albums in structure, and atmosphere fillings. “Return…” is more complex album musically and much saturated while “Wisdom of Centuries” is heartier and has deeper feelings and we can note also our personal feelings when writing the songs for it. And I’m sure the listeners perceive these albums differently.
4. Is there a concept to the album? If so, could you tell us something about it?
Yes, this album has the special concept. It refers to the one of the most important pages of history of our country – the Republic of Holodny Yar. If to try to tell briefly then Kholodny Yar is the UkrainianRepublic (1919 — 1922) which is also called as The Last Cossack Republic. Insurgents of Kholodny Yar protected this last stronghold of UkrainianNationalRepublic from Bolshevism until it finally came to domination in Ukraine and has generated hunger, genocide of Ukrainian people and many others harm.
5. The album really has a fitting sound, with enough clarity and definition, but somewhat raw and organic or natural. How was the recording-process?
The process was not the kind of special but was typical enough for us. The album was recorded during Autumn-Winter of 2011-2012 in such studios as Blacklight (we recorded drums, bass, percussion and guitars there), Nightmare studio (we recorded keyboards tracks there), Oriana Stronghold Forge (lead guitars and vocals). In total the recording process took approximately 15 days for us. The album mixed and mastered in Blacklight Studio.
6. Since this is already your fifth full-length album, how would describe your musical development?
We develop with our every album and it’s really important movement for us first. As for the development I’d like the listeners speak about it but the main achievement I think is the every album and old and new ones have their own fans.
7. How should we interpret the cover artwork? How is it related to the music?
The artwork is chosen refer to the album’s concept and transfer it in full I think. In those pictures outside and inside there are all the feelings of the album: pain and despair, evil, tragedy and wisdom.
8. You are now on Candlelight Records. How is the collaboration so far and how did you come into contact with them?
We are satisfied with our collaboration with Candlelight Records now and I hope the things will go well in future. We contacted with Candlelight during our work on “Wisdom of Centuries”. They offered good conditions and we were glad to become a part of their roster then.
9.really would like to see you perform you live. Are there any plans in this respect?
We would like to visit Holland too but it’s not up on us. We have an offer from Aurora Infernalis festival promoters this year but failed. It’s hard situation for us with the shows in Western Europe in the whole. We are a bit far from there and the transfer is quite expensive so it’s the problem for the promoters out there.
10. What are your plans for the immediate and distant future?
We are working on the new songs now and also making a special set for the upcoming shows in Eastern Europe.
11.Thank you for your time and of course the final words are yours!
Thanks you for the interview and for your interest. Gods bless you! Appreciate you family and your history.