Number 75 already? Wow, time flew by, huh? So for this one we are happy to have Noise Raid as our “radio host” this week and their diverse mix will initiate a lot of head noddin in acknowledgment or some booty shakin because of the rhythms - they chose by Kvelertak, Nine Inch Nails, Wheel, NoFX, Jinjer, Seas On The Moon and Far Behind The Sun amongst others. Have fun, ladies and gentlemen!
“As Knut had already pointed out in his review, we are big fans of incorporating different genres into our songs. This results in unusual combinations, like progressive rock meeting punk or reggae alternating with noise metal. However, we still prefer to call the result just instrumental metal, because the harder pace and the fat riffs from metal are the only constant in all of our songs. But how did we as individual musicians come to write our music like this?
Our guitarist Andi names the American artcore band Horse the Band as an influence for the varied songwriting. In the song “Rape Escape” they show, together with the Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa, that it is possible to combine artful, dissonant metal with fragile synthesizers and neo-classical 12-tone music. On the other hand, the progressive rock old masters Pink Floyd are mentioned as the second influence. Especially with the experimental pieces they presented at their audience-less live performance in Pompeii in 1972, they show beautifully how the imaginary boundaries of music can and must be overcome.
More catchy, on the other hand, are the two common influences of the two guitar players (Lilith & Andi): Both mastermind Josh Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age project and Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails are mentioned here for their incredibly detailed songwriting and expressive work with contrasts and breaks. However, the influence of down-to-earth, driving punk rock like NoFX play it should not be forgotten. Combine this with Nordic black metal and a bit of rock’n’roll and you load up on Kvelertak. As Knut correctly guessed in his review, our German title “Würgegriff” is an homage to their band name.
Our bassist Lars gets his inspiration from songs like “I Speak Astronomy” by Jinjer. He likes their sophisticated grooves coupled with heavy sounds. Another favourite band of his is Seas on the Moon, who collaborate with several different artists to create a wide range of different songs. One of which is “Bugs (extended)”, on which Brooke Dougherty a.k.a. Athena sings. This song starts off quite chilled and then takes off with a nice, heavy riff. The last influence he lists is the song “Wheel” by the equally named band. Here, a bass and drum centric groove builds the foundation of the music. In his opinion, the interplay of these two instruments can often make or break a song.
Etiennes drumming is often following the pattern of the rhythm guitar divided on bassdrum and snare like the German Post-Rock band Far Behind The Sun used to do it. Together with slow and repetitive patterns loaded with crash cymbal wash played to epic and escalating, emotional guitar leads. (Unfortunately Far Behind The Sun’s most influential songs, for Etienne, are no longer available on Spotify, but you can still find them on YouTube: “VCC 1316” & “GCG 53517”)
