SLOW talk Dantalion, their thoughts on genres, & MORE!
Atmospheric Doom Metal band SLOW recently released their 6th studio album Dantalion through Code666 Records on November 8th, which has been received very well on many different platforms, given the fact that they’ve been running a muck in the metal scene for over a decade with slow building doom metal (see what I did there?) So in response, I had the chance to talk to Déhà, about some different things regarding the band, how a SLOW live setting would work (given their situation) as well as the type of environment he puts himself through to bring us such heavy doom music.
…And I knew I had the perfect question to start off this important conversation:
“If you could be any cereal box character, who would you be?”
“Frosties' Tiger, of course.”
… okay, I do start with the actual questions…
“So, your band name, I’ve been told, stands for “Silence Lives Out/Over Whirlpool”, can you tell me what that means?”
“It goes back to 2006 when I wanted to create something which was answering to my other band, then created, Yhdarl. S.L.O.W. is all about aquaphobia, and keno phobia. Imagine these fears mixed with night terrors, and you get it. The "out/over" marks were about this whole thing. Weirdly, yes, it was not supposed to be so dark but it was my way to cope with all this.”
“Your music overall has been described as ambient doom metal on the metal archives (in terms of earlier work) yet the music I heard on your most recent album “Dantalion” was more funeral doom. Would you describe your music either way or do you believe it’s something else?”
“Well, people and their "we need to put everything within etiquettes and genres, subgenres and so on", I'm not a fan of that. I would, nevertheless, describe Slow's evolution in three parts : I & II, which are ambient/doom/drone and instrumental, III & IV which are more melodic funeral doom, and from V & VI on, which are definitely atmospheric funeral doom metal, for the most part. Is putting a blastbeat making your song different? I think Evoken would disagree, and so would we. We do, of course, funeral doom metal, that's the basis but are we, then, enclosed in a wall of only slow music? No. Artistic freedom above all.”
“Dantalion dropped a couple weeks ago. When thinking back to the writing and recording process, what was the environment like?”
“Horrible, for me. As the main composer, it was not the best of times for me, juggling between moving back to Belgium, depression and more. Lore really came perfectly to help me out with all this and kept my head straight when I was composing this album. It became clear, fast enough, that this album would be "more" than planned initially. We needed to go stronger. And I, not only as a musician but as a producer, needed to go higher than my producing standards. It was a challenge indeed. Now, and this is no joke, the last time Lore & I were in the studio, both listening to what was the final version of the album, we cried during the end of "Incendiaire", as it was just "done", we put our souls in this. Let it be cliché, but yeah, it was very emotional for us.”
“As a two piece (one of which playing guitar and drums in the recording), how does that arrangement look in a live setting? Have you played live as SLOW before?”
“We do not play live, no. If there would be, I would be kind of a control-freak bitch. At least three guitars. If one day it happens, we know already who would be with us as line up. But that's not planned, nor in our future as we speak.”
“You've created 6 albums in the span of just over 10 years. How long does it take to make a typical SLOW album?”
“We have to divide it, then, because all changed with time. Until "Oceans" I've been alone so it's "easier" and faster, maybe, but not really. Most of the time it takes 2 years. Dantalion took 2 years too, but the work was way much more.”
“Where do you see [your album, band, music] in 10 years from now?”
“I don't forsee the future, I live in the Now and so, right now, I'm pretty happy with the feedback we're getting. It's been amazing!”
SLOW’s Dantalion was released November 8th via Code666 Records. To see my review of the album, click here.
Follow SLOW:
Bandcamp: https://slowdooom.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/slowdooom/
Myspace: https://myspace.com/slowonline
