Since your band was formed in 2011, your music has been constantly evolving. Despite you have begun making music in a dim basement you became widely acclaimed in the extreme metal community. Do you often recall the early days, where you came from and what you have become?
Well, the whole thing turned out completely differently than it was planned, because nothing was planned. It was just, you know…a different band before with kind of like folky, melodic death metal music. But it was too limited for me, that I tried to make some different recordings at home. I asked JJ, my friend, to write some lyrics to that. Actually, we never wanted to release the stuff, just upload it online and get some nice feedback. And then, people were asking if we had wanted to play live, and we started to give some shows. And then it went on and on with more and more shows at some point. And now there we are, it has become a huge part of our lives. So, there was nothing like this planned, but I’m very happy how it turned out.
The sound of your early works is remarkably different from your new series of albums. Though, the grim and fearsome atmosphere, the „emotional roller coaster” is still there ont he records. I think this unique way of sounding is the greatest hallmark of your band, and you made it to perfection throughout the years. Which element of the songwriting process did you use for experimentation then? Which musical and technical elements are you using for experimentation nowadays?
I think back then me and JJ were listening to certain albums with like Ritual and Alcest, Woods of Desolation. The goal was not to have like a clear sound or a celar structure of where we want to go. It was harsher, it was like a „bedroom protection”. And the more music we did together the more we evolved, and we tried to implement all other music influences we were listening to, like indie, alternative rock, whatever, but keeping the harshness of black metal, staying melancholic and atmospheric. Like a mixture of all those things. We just tried to implement all music we like and see how it turns out…and I think you’ve already heard the result.
Yeah, and I noticed you have so many musical elements together by keeping up black metalish atmosphere.
Yes, I think it’s important to have fast parts, like the blast beats, but at the same time the nice melancholic melodies. And this is our trademark how we put them together by becoming not only calm, not only harsh, but always melodic. How it’s played together became the hallmark of our sound.
May I ask about the most significant influences of your teenage years? Did you have a lot of traumatic, negative events impacting your life and way of thinking?
Well, everything in life influences our music. In the case of JJ, his lyrics tell us everything happened to him. For me it’s just right to do something with melodies. In my family, my mother is also a musician who plays viola, so I got in touch with music early while playing music on classical guitar. Then, on electric guitar I got in touch with harder music. Likewise, around 9 years I had my first metal record from In Flames, that changed my life completely. And then onwards, I fell in love with this kind of music, which has constantly evolved and there are so many great things to discover. The whole journey with different subgenres of metal, everything we listened to has influenced our music.
So, your whole family settings with family members playing together and the band influences inspired you the most.
Exactly, and I always was into this kind of melancholic, atmospheric music, and not into the happy party music. I think it’s some kind of depth and some sadness in this music, which feels more real music, as you can hear in our music, as well. There is nothing wrong with party songs and happy music. But for me to write something out of my soul helps a lot mostly to get the negative things out of my chest, and I feel much better afterwards.
Absolutely agreed. Metal is a more sincere genre, and that’s why I like it, because it covers a broader spectrum of emotions.
Yeah, and I think it’s not necessarily negative. Because we filter negative emotions out by writing music our painting. With these we find a way to channel these emotions. And this is something, what is beautiful in our creativity. And we would not aim to make music that people feel bad after listening to it, but for the opposite. To get things off your chest, and to feel better afterwards.
As I mentioned above, I find you great musicians due to the wide variety of emotions shining through your music. Your songs tell us so much about world-wide sorrow, but at the same time they give us the energy to get over it, raising our attention to hope and more heavenly aspects of life. What do you think about it? How can you realize such a vast complexity of feelings and thoughts in your music so well?
I think it’s just like life with ups and downs, what you can hear in our songs. We often get feedback from our listeners, that they find themselves and feel their situations in the lyrics. It helps them to progress and to work out some issues, just because they feel understood by it. And it’s actually a very good thing. Every time we hear something positive from people, like our lyrics help them, then it feels like something done right.
You have had plenty of live shows during the past few years. Have you noticed any differences among the fans of different nations? Are these shows bringing you the maximal amount of motivation and energy?
Of course, we noticed differences from Central Europe to Latin America, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. I saw vast differences, because Central European people can have live shows every day, especially people in Vienna and Germany can choose from at least 3 metal shows per day. But in countries where it is a more rare thing to have international bands over you can feel a bit different kind of energy, because it is more special for those people not having the chance so often. My favorite continent is South America definitely. The energy of the Latin American fans is amazing, I can’t wait to play back there. As for me, playing live never gets dull. Sometimes, when you are not in the mood, first you are not looking forward to a show, but when you are already on stage it just feels right in every single show. Except one time, when I was so sick I could not focus, we still love what we do.
Together with the bonus songs, HFTS reached a new level of its musical evolution. Could it be a new direction of your music or the beginning of a new project?
We don’t try to force any changes. I think it’s a natural thing you try to evolve and implement some new things to your music, as well as to avoid repeating yourself and recycling certain riffs. It’s our natural evolution, where we do not try to force any changes, they are just happening during our songwriting process. I’m happy if people can recognize our trademark sound, but still we try to bring in something new. Otherwise, you get boring, and I don’t want to make the same album over and over again.
On your current album cover, all animals from your previous album covers were included. What is the reason for depicting these animal symbols alltogether in one cover? What does this tell us, and who made it?
Bruno is a Brazilian artist and a great friend of mine. I love the way he paints so I asked him if he could do the artwork, and I was very happy with the outcome. We always had animal topics, but this time we wanted to get everything together, just like to change the style of the album artwork. But the children’s movie and book, Watership down meant for us a bit of an inspiration, where animals escape the forest.
„Maere”, your album released in 2021 got highly praised by critics and fans. For example, it reached position no 4 on the German album chart. Are you satisfied with this result? Would you desire any better than this?
It depends. It’s not our goal to have a better album chart position. It’s nice that Germany has a better music market for metal, and it looks nice, but we want to make an album, which makes the fans happy and not boring. Especially because it’s a subgenre, it’s not our main goal to have a high chart position. But of course, it’s nice and a positive surprise, despite not aiming for a high chart position.
Now we’ve got to your latest, long-awaited album, titled „Scorched Earth”. It took a bit longer than usual to be released, but essentially it testified to your musical evolution. The result is a monumental record supported by eye-catching music videos with high numbers of viewers. How has the recording of this current album begun? What was in your mind during the preparation of the songs? What shape have you imagined for them?
The songwriting process is always the same. I just play around with a riff or a melody and build a song around a certain theme or a melody. There is no certain song structure to make. Some songs take two hours to finish, some songs take two months. The difference is that then we recorded the songs in Vienna with the mixing and mastering, but this time we decided to go to Christian Köhler in Germany. So, I recorded base and guitars at home, sending them back to him and Krimh went there to record the drums. It was kind of a patchwork, part of the work was also done in Vienna, then sent back to Germany for mixing. Though some things were done here, and other things were done there, they came together nicely. It was a bit of a difference to work together with Christian, but I’m very happy with the result. I think the songs made a justice for the music.
Could you highlight its values? What makes this record outstanding and unique? What feelings and thoughts could you express in it?
Sometimes I need a bit of a break to evaluate our new music. But I think it’s a bit fresh and rockier, some parts are more old-school, going back to the first two albums. It’s a nice mixture of everything, and though I don’t know how unique it is, I really hope people will enjoy it. Let’s see!
I loved that there more experimentation with the keyboards, especially in the first few tracks.
Yeah, we actually used a road piano, and we didn’t used any plugin for it. But there was also a new approach and so a bit more keys than ever.
There are multiple guest musicians playing in your songs making your new album diverse and interesting. How did you assign the proper musician to each song?
Tim from Austere was a huge influence for us. JJ and I were listening to one of their records a lot before deciding to form the band. And now we tour with Tim and Austere, and he is a fantastic guy. We toured together with Patrick from Grosa, lisening to his clean vocals while listening to Nirvana, and we asked him if he would like to do that because we were blown away how nice he sings clean. I never heard it before, because Grosa uses stuff like growls and screams. And Svalbard is a band we thought in certain part of the songs to fit some female vocals nicely. Thanks to Serena she took part in it. The other bonus track, which is not so metallish, but softer has Daniela, friend of hours played together with JJ in other bands. All the guests on the bonus tracks are great friends of hours, so all these songs are very dear to us.
Your first two albums (HFTS and Aokigahara) were re-recorded/remastered, and they were released by yourecord company. What inspired you to make this decision? What extra features these new issues gained compared to their original versions?
Back then we didn’t have the possibilities. I mostly recorded certain drum parts, and I took programs and samples and stuff. But I think the sound was not here what we imagined for the songs. But now we have the possibilities, we wanted to try out with Krimh on drums these old songs with a better sound. We wanted to know how they would sound with the possibilities we have right now. I think these records should not replace the old ones, just show how they would sound now, given that for eg. JJ. or my guitar play has changed a little bit. So, these albums are the more recent versions of the old ones, I think it’s interesting how they sound.
You mean these albums were technically refurbished.
Yeah, so we recorded everything again, like all the guitars and drums. Also, JJ. re-recorded the voice at home back then, and we’ve got to fit everything together. The sound quality was full of effects and everything. His voice now is totally different that he is ten years older now. Now the songs sound close to when we play them live.
I’ve noticed your loyalty to AOP Records releasing all your albums. I suppose you are satisfied with their work. What do you think about them? Why did you find them the best?
Swen from AOP records is our close friend and a fantastic guy, we grew very close together. Back then labels were his hobby, now he does it full time. He supported us in every possible way, so it’s just natural that we stick with him. We feel incredibly comfortable with his work, and he puts all his heart into it. We would never change the label, and I can only recommend it. And we really feel like we are working with a friend and not a business partner.
Your European tour begins just in our home country, in Budapest on the 2nd of April. I can foresee an unforgettable evening with you on stage. What can you say to all the people who are attending your concert? What should they be prepared for during the show?
Well, we gonna play like 3-4 new songs, and the mixture of old songs, like song we didn’t play all the time, and 3-4 songs we always play because the people want them. We have a new stage design, and we have been rehearsing together now. We’re going to the U.S. before the European tour, where we have 3 live shows there next week. I hope we can meet a lot of Hungarian friends there. I’m very much looking forward to it.
As for me, you will always be a highly appreciated band, I’m really looking forward to seeing all your upcoming concerts and records. I’m also very grateful for the talk, and I can’t wait to see you on the 2nd of April!
See you there, man! It was very nice talking to you!
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The interview was taken with M.S. on 16.01.2025.