The debut full-length from Greek band Automaton is weighty, sludgy, coffin-lid-slamming Doom perfection.
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A one man project playing calm and sorrowful music in the vein of Until Death Overtakes Me and Funerary Dirge. Includes both elecronica and indust...
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| Though a comparatively recent band, this Swedish coalition of members of The Order Of Israfel and DoomDogs, amongst others, are about to release their second Folk-influenced Doom full-length. Comrade Aleks finds out more... |
"What would you expect from a band with Patrik Andersson Winberg from DoomDogs and The Order Of Israfel at the helm? This bass player has been the chief songwriter in Dun Ringill since 2017, offering the lion's share of ideas for debut album 'Welcome' (2019) and brand new album 'Library Of Death', which should be released on July 31st by Argonauta Records. Being named after the Jethro Tull song rather than the actual Iron Age hill fort in Scotland, Dun Ringill succeed in blending Traditional Doom with elements of Nordic Folk. How far are they now from their original sound? Let's ask Patrik."
 Dun Ringill: Jens Florén (guitar), Thomas Eriksson (vocals), Patrik Andersson Winberg (bass), Patric Grammann (guitar), Hans Lilja (drums), Tommy Stegemann (guitar). Hail Patrik! How are you? What's going on in the band camp? Hi and Doom to ya all! The release day July 31st we will have a kind of a release party via IT but what time and what will happen is not decided yet so keep your eyes open and read all about it at our Facebook and Instagram. We are preparing a streamed live gig when the album is released but we will probably do that when the vinyl is released, at the end of August. It is delayed from the pressing plant due to Covid 19. The release of your second album 'Library Of Death' has been announced, and the single 'NBK' heralds its arrival. 'NBK' isn't a typical Dun Ringill song: why did you choose it? Does it have something common with the Oliver Stone movie? It started out as a warmup piece at the rehearsal room but we realized that it was a good song we had coming there so I sat down and changed bits and pieces and then we had the 'NBK' song in the bag. We chose it as a first single from the second album to stir up everything a bit and show everyone that we can play rock'n'roll as well, but you are right, it is not a typical Dun Ringill song but maybe it will get people's attention who are not so keen on the Doom scene. When we started to rehearse the song, it felt like driving a car fast and not give a damn about anything so the leap to the Oliver Stone movie was not so far and therefore the lyrics got inspired from that great film.  Your debut album 'Welcome' was released in 2019. How do you manage to keep such a good writing pace? Sometimes in life all just falls into the right place and that is how we felt about Dun Ringill when we started this band and that feeling is still there and the song just keep on coming. I have about 6 new songs as well for album number 3 and I know that both Tommy and Jens have something up their sleeves as well. Dun Ringill continues exploring Folk influences in the new songs, as it did with the debut album. Was it a part of the initial plan to mix mournful Doom with medieval aesthetics and images? Which common themes do you see between Folk and Doom? The folk music idea was there from the start when me and Tomas Eriksson, vocals, decided to start the band. We are both big Jethro Tull fans and we felt that JT goes Doom was something we never heard of before and that it was the path to walk for us. The name of the band came easy because of the folk feeling we wanted and it is a beautiful tune from JT that we also use as intro to our gigs. Apocalypse Orchestra and Dautha stay close to the "medieval Doom" definition, too, and both bands are from Sweden, did you ever play with them? I have unfortunately never heard about those bands, but I will look them up for sure. So, no we have not played with them, but we would love to do it in the future. There are three guitars in the band's arsenal, and there are really few bands who need that many. Do you feel it really benefits your sound? Does it make for difficulties when you play on stage? We wanted to have a big, big sound and that's the reason why we have 3 guitars in the band. I have written 6/7 songs on the record and all of them are written from a bass player view so the guitarists have to work a bit backward and start learning my bass lines and then develop this into great guitar parts. Jens is almost always playing my bass lines on the guitar and then Peppe and Tommy are the 2 lead guitarists that can flavor the music with great solos and harmonies, but some of the best parts in the songs is when we sometimes have 3 guitar harmonies on top of the bass. The only bad thing about 3 guitarists in the band is that we are 6 persons on stage and therefore we like to play big stages to have the space. As you use folk instruments in your songs, who wrote their parts? And how did you record them at the studio? I wrote the main parts for the folk instruments but then the people who played the instruments at the recording got the chance to put their ideas as well into it to make it better. They did their recordings at their home studios and sent us the files so we could use it in the mix. A few guests took part in the 'Library Of Death' recording: how did you build this collaboration? Did you want to invite certain people from the start, or was it an improvisation? We have been playing music for so many years and have over the years got to know great people and musicians and when we had the Dun Ringill idea working we decide that we would not limit us in this band as we had in previous bands, in those bands we always thought that we had to be able to play all parts live as well. As the recording developed new ideas popped up in our minds and then we tried to make them come alive by asking old friends if they wanted to help us to make our dreams come through and they did!!!  Most of your songs (I would say most Doom songs) deal with the theme of death. How serious are you when you touch on this topic? Especially now during this quarantine? I have a fear of death and have always had that, so to write about it makes me understand my fears a bit better and to be honest we will all meet death in the end so it is better to meet it as a friend instead of fear. All lyrics were written before this pandemic so it was not written with that in mind, but maybe people will think so. We decided early on that this bands lyrics should try to explore the dark and evil sides of mankind and some lyrics are fiction, but some are not. What are your plans considering the album's promotion? Do you see prospects for playing these songs live in the near future? Mona Miluski at All Noir does the PR work for the label and she is the best there is! We will also try to do good work on our social media to get more attention to the band. We will do some live streams and then hopefully we will tour January and then maybe our support tour to Pentagram this summer will be rescheduled ´till next summer. Click HERE to discuss this interview on the doom-metal forum. Visit the Dun Ringill bandpage. |
