Obsidian Shell

This interview with the Hungarian gothic metal band was made for their latest release "Evershade". I diden t know that there were massive line up changes and there is a new ep recorded with the new members. So Csato Henrik leader of the band give us more details about everything.

For those who haven’t heard about Obsidian Shell  before can you tell us shortly about the band history?
I formed Obsidian Shell in 2008 with Urbán Alexandra and Kiss Gergő (notice that in Hungary we have last name first and family name last) after the three of us left the previous band Restart due to personal reasons and the lack of time as I started working. I've been the songwriter since always, and settled that they only have to sing and play my stuff if they like it as they have no experience or interest in composing.

This went until the release of Evershade, July 2011 when the two of them quit without telling me first they have problem with it, or me. I had to look for another singer but that turned out well: Sophie joined as the main singer and Kleó as backup singer. That's where we currently are.

What was the source of inspiration behind the creation of  Evershade album?
Evershade supposed to be the second, "darker" part of Angelic Asylum. In fact originally we planned to release them as a double album but we figured out it's better for everyone if we made a seperate release. Otherwise, the inspiration came constantly but separately from one song to another.

How happy are yourself with the final album, does it come up to your expectations and have you noticed any improvements in your sound with your new album,  that you  wanted to make?
I was pretty satisfied with it that time we released the album. Of course there are a few things already that I would make otherwise, like the guitar amps but I'm pretty satisfied with the overall sound. It sounds pretty professional and I practically mixed it in my bedroom.

Are there certain songs on the album you want to mention or tell something about?
Every song has its own story. Just to mention a few:

The lyrics of Mirror was written by Kleó (remember, our new backup singer) of her own pain in a really bad relationship. She was with a guy who her really loved but wasn't loved back; still, the guy was living with her nevertheless and wouldn't move out until the very end. That's what the chorus "just go away" refers to.

Tormentedis and old song of ours, Gergő wrote a pretty messed up poem (considering messed up in a good way for metal) and I started to make some riffs for it. He sat next to me and told his opinions like "try something slower here" or "make a slap bass riff there". That was his contribution in our music and he did that well - sadly as time passed he wanted to be treated as an equal partner in songwriting disregarding the fact that he didn't even know the names of the notes on his guitar.

Vertigowas another song made this way, little experimental and heavily up-tempo. It started as a manifestation of my new love for analogue synths and finally made it so that it ended up as a song.

Misanthropia 3as the name reflects is the last part of a trilogy. Misanthropia is pretty much the musical form of our pain that makes us want to hide from people. This one is pretty clearly about domestic violence which I sadly experienced pretty much during my childhood.

Who is responsible for writing the songs and the lyrics ?  Where do you get your inspiration from? What would you say are the main themes in your lyrics.
Well, the songwriting and composing was 99 percent my work - Gergő and Alexandra only said rough suggestions like "let's put something with piano here" or "make the flute a bit more quiet". Alexandra also helped some of her background vocals too and wrote half of the lyrics of "Hidden". Gergő was more of a poet than a musician as he had really good poems but those never had a musical rythm and sometimes the didn't even rhyme. But they could make it into any modern poem collection I guess.

How did you reach the decision to make an album without the support of a label?
I won't make a secret of that I download music too. Maybe I wanted to give the community back what I got from the music scene. As it's practically the only way of giving away music for free or really cheap if we skip the labels - at least here in Hungary - and we're not available for tours and gigs it seemed to be the best choice. And it works though we didn't really make any significant amount of money of it apart from the kind donations of our fans.

How has the media treated this album?Are third party opinions (press, fans, etc.) on your music important to you?
We're still pretty much underground regarding this question. As we don't do live gigs and don't have a label it's almost impossible to advertise ourselves. We only depend on our fans and underground blogs and news sites but it's not going bad. There are some pretty enthusiastic fans of ours who love our music whatsoever and that's what really counts.

Anyway, the feedback is really positive. We got great ratings on Jamendo and the few reviews I've seen was absolutely heart warming. I basicially write my music for myself but when it makes it to other people and reaches their ears or even better, their souls it's most likely another step towards the main goal of my life.

Is there any sort of promotions going on at the moment?
Leaving of Alexandra and Gergő practically made Evershade purposeless. As we had a totally different lineup a week later and I still have cramps in my stomach as I hear Alexandra's voice it was pretty much doomed to oblivion. Almost all promotion it got was the fans uploading songs from it to Youtube, sharing them and talking about the album. 

What represent the fact of being on stage for you?Did you miss that feeling?
It's funny because we're not on stage anymore. We're active, writing music and planning on a daily basis but currently there's not a way we could get on stage. Anway, we had really good time with Restart back then and I loved the role of lead guitarist there. I miss it but as I have to work absolutely in unpredictable schedule, even on weekends and holidays it's really hard to make it.

What are the best and worst things about being in a band?
As we're technically not a band - I prefer the term "formation" it's another hard question. It's good because I'm with people I can count on, those, who help me making my music better. The worst thing? The way those two left, all of a sudden with grudge and hatred and without giving me the chance of understand their problem first and maybe do something to make it better for them it's hard to live like that couldn't happen again. But currently everything seems okay with Sophie and Kleó and I already got much more creative work from them than from the old members.

Speak us a little about the Hungarian scene? Can you suggest some other promisin bands?
You should absolutely check out Ideas who play great gothic metal (like the old Nightwish), Nova Prospect, a fairly new female fronted band with great potential and if you like folk, absolutely try The Moon And The Nightspirit. Fabulous and enchanting folk music that always gives me the chills.

Would you like to add anything?
Just one day away from the release of our new EP "Renaissance" we all are really excited about how our fans will react and handle the new singers. I hope the next time we're giving an interview they could participate as well and you'll have the chance to get to know them better too. We wish everyone a happy new year!
 

Kostas Sotiriou