The Lost Lovers of Signs of Darkness by Lugbúrz (1999)
"Solemn Tears" already is the third epic story from the Gaellic warriors of Signs of Darkness. Their previous demo, "Odes to Our Brumal Kingdom", convinced me of their high quality of passional grief metal but with this new 3-track melodic black release they reached a very high, far above the average, sound. Lets ask how the war is going in the ruined rosegarden!
Joris - "The only thing I want to say about our first release, "In Morpheus Arms" is that we learned very much from our mistakes. I mean at that point we weren’t ready to record a demo, but we did it. It was a mistake. I’ll finish this answer by saying that we sold 100 copy’s of it and that they are sold out now… I can’t give you more information about that release."
Some questions concerning the previous demo "Odes to Our Brumal Kingdom" then. Could you tell us some things about the sales (how many copies did you press/sold) and the reactions till now from press, public and labels.
Joris - "Our second demo, "Odes to our Brumal Kingdom" received very good critics. Aardschok and Mindview said that we were a very good band, they liked the music. But no labels contacted us to offer us a record deal. Only one label (VMI from France) contacted us spontaneously but only wanted to offer us a distro-agreement. About the sales now. Until now we sold over 250 copy’s and it’s still possible to buy that tape! We can even make a deal: everyone who reads this on the net, can order the 2 tapes: "Odes to our Brumal Kingdom" and "Solemn Tears" for 300 BEF / 15 GLDN / 12 $ at my address (see below)."
Another thing which has been occupying my brain for a long time also concerns the second demo. Is it possible that an rather major error occured in the second track called "The Black Rose"? Because when the second part of the song starts, no voice can be heard although some lines should be screamed, how come?
Joris - "First I have to correct you, it isn’t "The Black Rose" but "Blackened Rose" (ed - wow, I guess I was having a hang-over when typing) and no there aren’t any lyrical mistakes on that song. Sometimes it’s beter to let the music speak the message and the lyrics can continue the story-line. You must see music and lyrics as one, but that’s not necessary. Take a look at the lyrics of our new songs ("Solemn Tears"), you’ll find some lyrical parts that aren’t sung... You know what I mean?"
Message is clear and understood. Let's concentrate on the present now. In what do the new songs (from the third demo) differ or ressemble in contrast with the old ones (second demo)?
Joris - "I see the new songs as a normal follow-up to the old ones. We just evoluated tot his kind of music. "Solemn Tears" sounds more mature than "Odes to our Brumal Kingdom", I hope you can confirm that."
I do, give us some remarks on each of the three tracks on the demo. (e.g.: concerning lyrics, used effects, musically, evoked emotions, ...)
Joris - "the first song "The last shiving moon... beyond the autumn leaves" contains a story about a lost love... and it turns into a suicide, the acter ("I") kills himself. Evoked emotions are musically translated by piano-part: sadness/grief about the love lost; blast-part: anger/insecurity; rest of the song: the voices in the actor’s head are talking to him, more sadness, mental insecurity, anger and at the end of the song: the actor enters a new dimension (listen to the keyboards!). The lyric of the second song "Embraced by Dreams" is a variation on the same theme, but there are 2 warriors fighting for the same women. But at the end there can be only one. Musically, evoked emotions: a battle is prepared! The last and third song "Stars in the Nocturnal Sky are like a Thousand Screams in the Ruined Rosegarden". Lyrics: It’s again a variation on the same theme but this time it has a "happy ending". The actor is trying to kill himself but then suddenly a girl (listen to the female vocals) appears..."
Wouter - "For all the songs I used standard effects (chorus, delay ,reverb) to get a rich guitarsound which fits into the rest of the music."
How did the studio sessions go? I suppose you learned a lot out of the previous recordings of your demo's, not?
Wouter - "Yes we did. This time we knew what sound we wanted and we also had a bigger budget to spend on the overall quality. Despite the little mistakes during the recordings, we are very pleased with the result."
How are you going (or already are) to promote your battle-epos this time?
Joris - "We are contacting several people for gigs, In 1999 we’ve got until now 3 gigs but when we’ve planned it right, I’ll let you know. We’ve got also several distro’s, so now you can buy our tapes in several countries: Finland, Holland, France, Portugal, Germany, Indonesia, Russia, Slovakia,… and of course we pressed tons of flyers to promote the tape."
Do you think the band is ready to record a full CD? If so, Why do you think so. And if a label would be found very soon and offers you a deal, would you use old tracks to put on CD or only new ones?
Joris - "I think that we are musically and mentally ready to record a full-CD. In the time that we are together we are grown more closer. I mean that we exactly know what music we want to make: "Dark Poems of Passional Grief Metal". The CD will contain also old songs but rerecorded and new songs but that are plans for later..."
Which label(s) should fit best/worst with Signs of Darkness?
Joris - "Candlelight, Holy Records, VMI... are the best labels, I know at this moment. The last 2 aformentioned ones contacted us but didn’t offer us a record deal, they only wanted to distrubute the tapes."
What about the cooperation with Joachim and Kristof from Infernal Beauty concerning rehearsals and live-performances? And if I'm correct, one of them wasn't featured on the third demo, right?
Joris - "The 2 guys from Infernal Beauty only join us when we are planning a gig or a recording session and most of the time it’s Joachim who does that work. Yes, you’re correct, only Joachim joined us at the recordings for "Solemn Tears". Kristof only assisted him.
Also a new bandmember, Sarah as female background vocalist, has been assigned. Why did you decided to do that and aren't you afraid that Signs of Darkness will turn (or will accused) into a commercial/trendy band this way? (or don't you care?)
Joris - "She just fitted in the band, she gives more feeling, more emotion to the songs. I don’t care if anyone says that we are commercial/trendy because we know we aren‘t..."
Wouter - "Sarah was used to get a little edge to the emotional part of the music, which we thought was missing. She was the next step in our musical evolution."
What is your opinion anyway on anti-keyboard slogans in the current Black Metal-scene.
Wouter - "Well, there have always been comments on the way metal is played. These slogans could make sense if keyboards are over-used and pushes the guitars into the background. With us, keyboards are added sporadically and at the last moment of recordings. Keyboards have to be an addition not a dominating instrument.
Do you (still) like the more extremer and faster bands like Marduk, Dark Funeral, Immortal, In Battle, Gotmoor and others? What are futhermore your favourite bands, releases and do they inspire/influence you in writting new songs?
Joris - "My personal favourite bands are Opeth, Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh. There latest releases were just killer ones. I don’t listen to much to more extremer and faster bands, but I still like bands as Emperor,... and also Gotmoor. I let the aforementoined bands inspire me, but I don’t steal any musical parts/ideas from them. I just want to have the same emotional load in our songs."
When analyzing Signs of Darkness' music, I automatically recognize similarities with bands like Cradle of Filth and/or Dimmu Borgir. Do you think I could be right?
Wouter - "I don’t think so, the bands use a different philosophy and have different backgrounds, different ways of writting music. We don’t use the same aggressoin and speed, but lean more on to the slower, emotional aspect. So resemblances aren’t correctly made."
You call your music "Dark Poems of Passional Grief Metal" instead of just "Melodic Black" or something. What are the reasons to call it this way?
Joris - "Dark Poems of Passional Grief Metal". We don’t play black metal, we bring something. Our lyrical interests and musically evoked emotions are combined in that line."
A new band, Absynthium, has joined the Belgian Scene. They're from the same area as Signs of Darkness and are also calling their music "Dark Poems of Passional Grief Metal". Are they friends of yours and how do they sound? (are they comparable with Signs of Darkness or not?)
Joris - "Yes indeed, they’re friends of ours. It’s actually something more: Peter, the lead guitarist of Absynthium was our former guitarist but 3,5 years ago we kicked him out of the band. But we are still good friends. I don’t think that they are comparable to us, hence they have the same lyrical and musical interests."
Wouter - "They could sound better if Peter was less dominant towards the other bandmembers. They play a lot faster and the songs are shorter in duration then our songs. They have the same interests, but they don’t play the same music."
Signs of Darkness performs liveshows rather sporadicly. Is this a well considered choice or are other factors responsible for this? Does the band like to play for an audience?
Joris - "It’s very difficult for us to perform liveshows because we get so few offers. It’s sad because we like to play live..."
Any future plans we should know? Any plans for merchandising, gigs, new tracks or other dark and mystic things?
Joris - "At this moment we aren’t planning something new, we are concentrating on promoting our latest release."
Please, leave us with some words of wisdom!
Joris - "True metal über alles!"
Wouter - "Keep supporting the Underground!"
Copyright © 1999 by Lugbúrz