Interview: SOL SISTERE: "We think this album is going to be the definitive consecration of our sound"

On October 15, the new album by the brutal Chilean Atmospheric/Post-Black Metal band, SOL SISTERE, is scheduled to be released, for this reason we decided to interview them to learn more about them and their new album... This new album will be released by the Cult of Partenophe record label.

First of all, thanks for accepting the interview, we started.

1. SOL SISTERE was born in 2013, tell us a little about your beginnings, how you, Ricardo and Pablo (founding members) decide to create an Atmospheric/Post-Black Metal band, why not another style of Metal.

Ricardo: "In 2013, I decided to compose a couple of songs mixing my classic influences of Melodic Black Metal from the 90's like Dawn, Dissection or Sacramentum with the current atmospheric currents, but I did them more as a compositional exercise than as a lasting proposal. I showed them to Pablo, whom I had known for a short time, because I thought he would like them. Indeed, they were to his liking and, talking about influences, we realized that our Black Metal side was quite related. It was he who came up with the idea of developing that musical concept in a real, stable band and as a totally serious project, which of course I agreed to, since it was a type of music that was quite fulfilling for both of us. Together we continue to develop the musical path that we wanted to tackle, meeting new relevant influences currently on the scene and looking for the chord musicians to finally form the band. Like most groups, the beginning was not easy and involved several musicians, but we released the first EP and since then we have not stopped working.

Why not another style? It was not a calculated choice; it was rather an inevitable impulse due to our musical tastes. Although we had both been in bands of other metal currents before, that point in our lives led us to get fully involved in Black Metal."

2. We know that the name of the band SOL SISTERE, comes from the Latin "solstitium", which means "The Sun stays still." Regardless of the language, for centuries, in various cultures, the summer and winter solstices have been taken as times of festivities and celebrations, since they indicate new beginnings. Why did you choose this name for the band?

Ricardo: "Indeed, "SOL SISTERE" literally means "still sun" and that whole concept means "solstice" in Latin. The sun has always been very significant for many cultures, it can represent immortality (because it is reborn every day), the bearer of light (as in knowledge), the phases of the Earth (or of life itself). In our case, in addition to respecting all these meanings, we want to focus the essential idea on a more humanistic look and think of the sun as the spirit of the human being, the solstice being the highest point that we can reach."

3. For the year of its formation 2013, South America was not well known for having good Atmospheric/Post-Black Metal bands, except for a few, in recent years this trend has changed and there are very good bands from both Atmospheric and Post-Black Metal, what do you think this is due to? What bands of those styles in our continent could you recommend us?

Ricardo: "I feel that in some way, the Latin American scene in general tends to be more conservative and tends to focus on paying tribute to the great classic bands of the 90's. Although I mentioned that it was also our case in the beginning, at this point we have already abandoned those influences of our sound a bit, now that we have undoubtedly found a more own label. As a consequence of the scene as a whole looking strongly to the past, I think it takes a while for innovation and trends to explode in this region. By the early 2010s there were very few Black Metal bands that dared to incorporate subtle and ambient elements into their sound."

Some bands that I like are: Lluvia (Mexico), Urantia (Colombia), Thy Light (Brazil), Sunvher (Chile), Missa Mortvm (Chile), Drimys Winteri (Chile), and although they are not atmospheric current, I cannot stop mentioning Selbst (Venezuela / Chile), Gates of Tyrant (Chile) and Los Males del Mundo (Argentina)."

4. Since their first album, "Unfading Incorporate Vacuum", in 2016, the band quickly gained worldwide followers and with their second album, "Extinguished Cold Light", in 2019 the way to the consecration and final line up of the band was opened. Taking it to participate in prestigious festivals. Did you expect such a success with so little time of formation?

Ricardo: "The truth was surprising to receive the good reviews that Unfading had, and the interest it generated. It is likely that part of that magic was the good moment the Atmospheric Black Metal subgenre was on in 2016. But I guess I can’t leave out that the constant work we do as a band goes far beyond the musical part, management effort that keeps us always active working on how we can enhance our art, our image, our exposure to the media, etc.

The idea is always to try to be more, give more and reach out to more people, I hope we can achieve it."

Cover-art: "Unfading Incorporate Vacuum".

5. Their previous album "Extinguished Cold Light", is more direct than its predecessor, that we can expect the followers of the band of this new album which is eponymous, and why they decide to name it.

Ricardo: "From an artistic point of view, We think this album is going to be the definitive consecration of our sound. That is, in the first album we established our musical proposal, in the second we elaborated it a little more, and now for our self-titled album we are sure that we have composed a more mature work that fully expresses who we are and what our characteristic sound is. This might seem like the reason for naming the album after the band, but the truth is that we didn't think about it too much, it was quite natural for us to feel that this new work is very representative of our personality.

Considering our career, it is a bit difficult to know in advance what the reaction of the public and the media will be. If we look at the scene from a competitive environment, we are in a period where there are many bands around the world and the current level of Black Metal is very good. If we also consider that recording today is much more accessible than it was a couple of decades ago -and therefore many albums come out every year-, I think it is difficult to stand out on the global scene. However, we can only trust that we create a work that fully satisfies us and keep working to spread it as much as we can. And this energy to continue growing is part of what defines us as a band, regardless of whether we will continue to be a small band or if the doors of Olympus open to us after this release."

Cover-art: "Extinguished Cold Light".

6. This new album will be their 3rd record production, and the band repeats with the German artist Chris Kiesling of MISANTHROPIC-ART for the elaboration of the cover, because they decide to work with him again.

Ricardo: "The truth is that it is easy to justify this choice because we are very satisfied with the previous works. This time we wanted to take advantage of his talent with line illustrations rather than his ability to paint on canvas. Personally, this is my favorite cover of the three, I loved the illustration of the tree with human figures and Chris was able to fully develop the concept we gave him to work with."

New album: cover-art

7. We know that on this new album the guitarist Carlos Fuentes makes his debut with the band, who also recorded the instruments in his studies, Sonido Origen, and was also in charge of mixing and mastering with the collaboration of the other members of the band. band. The other newcomer is Pedro Chávez, how did Carlos and Pedro arrive at SOL SISTERE?

Ricardo: "We have known each other with Carlos from the beginning, and the truth is that the relationship between Pablo, Carlos, Pedro and C (our original vocalist) goes back to before the formation of Sol Sistere, since all four participated at one point in the band Animus Mortis, which currently continues with another lineup alongside its only founding member. The funny thing is, each one played a different instrument in that band: Carlos played drums, Pedro guitar and Pablo bass. Perhaps things did not happen so that they could be there from the beginning for different reasons, but when we needed a new guitarist, Carlos was available and eager to participate. On the other hand, when we needed a bass player it was also easy to think of Pedro, and luckily he was fully available. As you will see, we did not have to meet new people for this stage of the band, we already have a relationship for years and we know how to work together.

It would be strange to say otherwise, but believe me I mean it with complete sincerity that this is the best line-up we have ever had, both musically and personally."

                                           Carlos Fuentes                    Pedro Chavez

8. What does the band seek to convey with this new album and its music?

Answer: "We wanted to go back a bit to our roots in terms of the kind of atmosphere our debut had and always keep the melancholy in our chords and melodies. In this sense, it is our main intention to transport the listener to an introspective state - which sometimes fluctuates between the emotional and the taciturn - and to involve him in a journey with as many energetic as ethereal passages.

As I mentioned before, I believe that this album is the consecration of our own sound and we want it to speak for us to define who we are and show listeners what to expect when they think of SOL SISTERE."

9. How was the process of composition and recording of the songs for this new album, taking into account the restrictions due to Covid-19.

Ricardo: "If I'm not mistaken, the first songs were composed in the second half of 2019 and we ended the mixing and mastering process in May 2021. It was a process of almost 2 years, but the truth is that it could have been shorter, as we had to postpone filming due to the pandemic. We finally started the recordings in October 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, we could hardly coordinate according to local laws, since currently only two members live in the same city. Until recently when we did a photo session, we had not been able to meet all of us since March, when we arrived in Chile to enter quarantine from Colombia, where we did a tour with Mgła in 3 cities. Originally Mgła would continue her tour in other countries, but they were forced to cancel it for reasons that we all know by now, but that is already a separate story. Going back to recording, we couldn't all get together at the same time, so we had to adapt and record separately, always with Carlos as the common denominator.

The mixing process was a bit complex because we had to make a series of decisions and each perceived things differently depending on their speakers and headphones. Carlos sent us samples and different versions, so we listened to them and made our comments via WhatsApp. It took us more to reach agreements than it would have been possible in person, but we finally achieved a result that left us quite satisfied. Finally, once we were able to establish a relationship with the Cult of Parthenope label, Giulian made some observations that he thought pertinent to improve and we had to modify some details, so the final version of the album was ready last May. It was a difficult process and slower than usual, but at the same time we know that we achieved the best production of the 3 albums of our career."

10. We know that Ricardo and Pablo have another Black Metal project, AD FINEM OMNIA, which already has a 2020 Demo and they are working on a full-length album that is in the pre-production process, what can you tell us about it? project, personally from what I have been able to hear is a very different Black Metal from SOL SISTERE, which sometimes reminds me of the Black Metal that is made in cold Finland, tell us a little about AD FINEM OMNIA.

Ricardo: "Since our creative efforts are usually focused on a more atmospheric and ethereal side of Black Metal, we wanted to unleash our more raw, minimalist and natural side, with shorter but intense songs, responding to a more oriented type of compositions. to the Finnish and German sound. We always maintain a melodic approach, but I would say that the intention and the way we apply those melodies are different from the melancholic and emotional music that we are used to composing.

Ad Finem Omnia tries to be something visceral, simple even, but totally direct and dark."

Cover - art AD FINEM OMNIA: Demo MMXX 

11. We see with curiosity that everyone in the band uses their first name, except for the vocalist who uses only "S" to identify himself, why is this?

Ricardo: Everyone has the freedom to appear as they prefer. Nobody else wanted to choose to use pseudonyms in the band, but curiously and coincidentally, our vocalists have preferred it that way. The original singer was called Cristóbal Jorquera and he preferred to appear simply as C. The current one, on the other hand, is called Alfredo Pérez and his motivation is based more than anything on differentiating himself from his different bands. He is a very busy musician who sings on other projects, and the letter S comes from his pen name Sulfur used in Concatenatus, where he plays drums and sings.

S - Vocalista

12. What do the members of SOL SISTERE do when they are not making music for their different projects?

Ricardo: "I think the most important answer is on the side of our respective jobs. As we know, having a metal band (especially in Latin America) is not a lucrative activity, so everyone has their own way of making a living. Pablo is a speech therapist; Carlos is a sound engineer; Pedro lives a country life and also operates a drone; S is a medical examiner; and I am an English-Spanish translator.

Besides that, I think something we have in common is that we all enjoy cinema in its different facets."

Ricardo Araya

13. During your live performances, what do you think was the best, what funny anecdote you remember, and what is the worst thing that happened to you live.

Ricardo: "It is difficult to choose just one date, but I think I should choose our presentation in 2019 at the Dark Troll Festival in Germany. I think that in addition to having given a great show (not the best, but it was good) and getting a good response from the public, it was the whole context in which that show took place, in a pleasant festival atmosphere and sharing the stage on the same day with Influential bands for us like Winterfylleth and Mgła.

An anecdote from that same festival is that there was a place for bands to relax and drink, something like a VIP sector. We were there and suddenly I recognized the German band Sarkrista, which I personally like a lot. I wanted to greet them and talk a bit with them, but they gave me a very cold greeting and left. We always remember that and laugh about it, but I have no resentment for his "contempt", perhaps a cold and apathetic attitude is actually more consistent with his music. On the more positive side, we do share beers and a good time with other bands, including Winterfylleth, who have been an influence since our inception. We also met Saor, but especially we got on well with his guitarist Paolo Bruno, who is the Brazilian genius behind Thy Light, very friendly."

Pablo Vera

14. Without further ado for the moment, we thank you for your time in answering this interview. A few last words that you want to dedicate to your followers around the world.

"Thank you for your interest in us and our music. And for the fans, get ready for this new full length called Sol Sistere, because if you appreciate it as much as we do, you will agree that it is the best we have released to date."

Credits:

- Interview by: FEBRUUS FENRAEL.

- Photography: MARISOL CORREA CORALES.

Link to listen:  "Unfading Incorporeal Vacuum".

Link to listen: "Extinguished Cold Light"  

Link to listen: Single promo.

Link to listen AD FINEM OMNIA.

Interview: AORLHAC: "I believe we have then managed to evolve towards our own style"

On September 24th, a new album by French Melodic Black Metal band AORLHAC is scheduled to be released. For the occasion, we decided to do this interview to learn more about them and their new opus.

First of all, thank you for granting us this interview. Let’s get on with it:

 1. You guys have been around for 14 years and with a 4th album about to be published, AORLHAC has become one of the most important bands from France within the Black Metal genre. Were you guys expecting this success when you formed the band?

 Spellbound: "Hello and thank you for your interest and questions. No, we were definitely not expecting such an exposure when we formed the band in 2007. We created this project from scratch, in a desert region with an almost inexistant scene. In any case, we had it at heart to play the music we wanted to hear and offer something personal. It has been a long journey since the creation of the band, and many major events took place. Some of which were difficult, but most of them were very positive! We have evolved and grown up together with our project, as most of us were only in their 20’s, so it’s a true life project, and we are proud of what we achieved!"

2. It is very unusual to find bands named after the native city of its members. In your case, you named your band after the city of Aurillac, but with a twist- you named it AORLHAC as is it is written in Occitan language. Why did you decide to name your band after your hometown?

 Spellbound: "Simply because we were deeply rooted and influenced by our homeland, since the band was formed in the heart of the city Aurillac. Our whole thematic principle comes from this will to talk about old stories of our region, and of Country d’Oc in a more general way. Given that most of our members come from that department and that our themes are rooted in the folklore of all these historical places, it made sense to name the band after this city."

 

3. Within the Metal genre there are many sub-genres. Why play Melodic Black Metal and what are your main influences?

 Spellbound: "Our main composer NKS is deeply influenced by Nordic Black metal scene from the 90’s, with bands such as Emperor, Ulver, Taake… And I think it all goes back to that. I believe we have then managed to evolve towards our own style. But we never forbid ourselves to use more folkloric, rock or even heavy metal passages for guitars, because we didn’t want to go around in circles, and bringing diversity to our compositions is a necessity to us."

 

4. Your previous album from 2018 "L’Esprit Des Vents” was a resounding success. Personally, I think it’s a masterpiece. What can you tell us about the receptivity of this work in Europe?

 Spellbound: "Thank you! It is true that “L’esprit des vents” has marked a turning point in our evolution, especially thanks to the exposure brought by the signing with Les Acteurs de l’Ombre. Let’s say the stars were aligned, we managed to take advantage of this period and bounce back after an 8 years long absence, which is a good thing! We have witnessed the warm welcome it has had in Europe through many reviews and interview requests from all countries, and also through the shows that we did outside of France after the album’s release, in Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, England… All of which was new and particularly exciting to us!"

5. This September will see the release of your 4th album, "Pierres Brûlées", of which we already have listened to 2 songs to date. Brutal and very much in line with your previous album. In your opinion, what would be the main difference between your previous and this new opus?

 Spellbound: "It is always difficult to express oneself without having much perspective after the release of a studio piece, but I think this album differs from the previous one on several aspects, even if I understand that people compare both releases. We don’t sing a different tune nor have we made a complete change of course, but things evolve, in detail. First, what has changed the most is the fact that unlike our other albums, this one includes all our live members on the studio project. NKS took care of the composition and recorded the guitars, K.H. the drums, Alex the bass, and Wÿnter Ärvn the acoustic guitars. NKS and myself used to handle the whole process, but now there are 5 people involved. It changes everything. The global playing is pulled up, and we are really satisfied with it. Secondly, I think the fact that we came out of our comfort zone in terms of production, entrusting Fred Gervais (Henosis studio) with mixing and mastering, really changed the way the band sounds. We now have a truly solid and powerful production. Furthermore, I think I have pushed my vocal experiments further than on our other opus, once again thanks to NKS’s compositions, and this team spirit is what makes the album sound differently from the rest of our discography."

6. How was the writing and recording process of the songs? Taking into account the restrictions due to Covid-19.

 Spellbound: "It all went pretty quickly, thanks to the amount of time we had because of this “pandemic”. I insist on the fact that 8 years had passed between the releases of our two previous albums, and we didn’t want to wait too long after “L’esprit des vents”. Everything was spontaneous and fast, but I think it has brought a touch of coolness and danger that pushed us forward."

 

7. For the cover of this new album, you decided to work with the French artist Stanislas Decker, who has also worked with bands like DRAGONFORCE, ASATOR, HELLRAISER, STRYPER, and many others. Why did you choose him?

 Spellbound: "We had collaborated with Stan on our previous release, and we really enjoyed his work. His style fits perfectly with us, and repeating the experience with him was natural. Just like for “L’esprit des vents”, we only gave him little background and a narrow lexical field. You know the result! We are once again very pleased with his work, he knew how to give life to the themes that the album conveys. We find it important that the cover is linked to the lyrics, which is perfectly the case here, at least according to us!"

Stanislas Decker

 8. Changing the subject to another issue: what is your opinion on bands that have chosen to hide their faces such as MGŁA, UADA, GROZA, GAEREA, and in some cases even their identities?

 Spellbound: "I have to admit I never really asked myself that question. I guess sometimes it can be useful and give a true aura to the band, in terms of scenic game and identity, in a more general way. Maybe it can even become a “standard” or a “fashion”, because only a few create or innovate, and many are just following without a true motivation. At the end of the day, everybody does what they want, and I don’t really care about all these questions. Black Metal cannot really be the same as what it was a few decades ago. The arrival of the Internet has changed way too many things, and of course not only positively, but this is a fact, and I think we have to adapt to all these changes, try to take advantage of them for the sake of the group. In that sense, hiding one’s identity or face can be a way of staying in the back and not overexposing oneself in a world where everything is watched, framed, recorded, warped…  Let me tell you something, everybody has an opinion about everything nowadays, and I think people should try to create and produce things for and by themselves before spending time badmouthing about nothing and everything."

 

9. In Latin America there are very good Melodic Black Metal bands. Do you know any? What do you know about your followers in our continent?

 Spellbound: "I have to admit I’m not really familiar with the Latin America scene, but I’m indeed convinced that you have valuable bands!!! Of course I’d be happy if you could show me the most striking projects from your country. As regards our fans, I know we have people who follow us on your continent, and we would be glad to come and play there!"

10. What does AORLHAC seek to convey with its music and lyrics?

 Spellbound: "We don’t try to convert anyone, we simply seek, in all humility, to pay homage to our history and our country, and also to bring old local character’s feats that were hidden or unknown."

 

11. Regarding your live performances, tell us a funny anecdote that happened to you and a negative one.

 Spellbound: "Many unprecedented or forbidden things happened on the road, and I think it’s best to leave these stories where they belong… [laughing]"

 12. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about AORLHAC?

 Spellbound: "Nothing in particular. We can’t wait to introduce “Pierres brûlées” to the public and keep bringing life to the project through our discography and future gigs, hoping that we can make this adventure last for as long as possible, and push it as far as possible."

 

13. Thank you for your time. We hope to have you in Latin America soon. Is there a message you’d like to send to your fans in our continent?

 Spellbound: Thank you for your questions and interest towards the band, thank you to all our South American fans, and we hope to come and play for you guys soon!

Link: AORLHAC - L'esprit des vents (Full Album)

Link: AORLHAC - Au Travers de Nos Cris.

Link: AORLHAC - Les vésanies d'Aymérigot Marchès.

Interview by: FEBRUUS FENRAEL.