SOURCE – Tell us about the formative days for Krigsgrav? And did you know straight away the style of black metal you wanted to produce, or was it a feeling out process to arrive at what you want to achieve musically with this band?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – David (Drums/Bass) started Krigsgrav in 2004 with the idea that it would be his solo project with session vocalists. He wanted to focus on creating black metal in the styles of Gorgoroth/Carpathian Forest etc. He produced some material in this style and then on Lux Capta Est the sound transitioned to include broader influences such as Fen, Agalloch, etc. I joined after that album in 2011 and since then we’ve continually made conscious choices to evolve the bands sound and scope over every release. It’s been natural as we’ve gotten better as song writers and musicians we’ve learned how to incorporate other elements a bit more naturally into what we do, which I think culminates with our latest album, Fires in the Fall. It hits every era of Krigsgrav but it’s also better lol.
SOURCE – After dropping your first single Queen of the Waves, we finally have the album Fires in the Fall. How would you assess the songwriting and recording sessions for this set of material? What sort of challenges, surprises, or obstacles had to be overcome – and how do you
feel about the final output now?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – Queen of the Waves was a bonus track from The Sundering Sessions, the first single from Fires in the Fall was In seas of Perdition :).
The song writing for Fires in the Fall came right off the heels of The Sundering, However we did keep what worked and what wasn’t as successful from those sessions in mind and we were much more critical of the material for Fires in the Fall. We knew we wanted to create an album with a deeper atmosphere. We really refined the songs on Fires in the Fall numerous times and really tried to key in on the small details in each song. For example, the end of Shadowlands, we half timed the drums. It’s a subtle thing, but it makes that part really heavy and much more dramatic, so little things like that. Some of the challenges we had with writing this album was to not duplicate what we had done with The Sundering and make a new album that sounds fresh and interesting to us. We are our own hardest critics so we speak freely to each other with out hurting feelings because we know the end result is worth the debates. We are absolutely happy with how the album came out, Owe at Wolfthrone Studios really knew what we wanted and nailed it in our opinion.
SOURCE – What are your goals and aspirations for the future of Fires in the Fall?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – We want as many people to hear the album as possible and share it with others who may enjoy it. Music is one of the greatest joys in life, so being able to share it is a gift. From there, I guess we will see…maybe some shows in support of the album, some new awesome merch, things like that.
SOURCE – How important do you believe instant communication technology and social media platforms have been to the growth of your fanbase on a global scale? Do you enjoy the fan interaction through these mediums beyond building the brand of the band through live shows/touring?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – Well, it’s absolutely essential these days to ‘build your brand’ and use social media. There are just so many bands that are putting out so much material, that it’s very important to use social media to your advantage. That being said, it started as a very atavistic thing for us because we are played in bands before social media was used like this. So, at first it seemed strange to create content and try to get a platform going that made sense to Krigsgrav, which my wife helped me with (and still does!) because I’m not the best at it, but…now that I have some grasp on it, I do really enjoy the instant connection you can have with people that enjoy your music. We’ve received a lot of messages from people who seem to really be enjoying the new album and it’s really flattering to hear that our music matters to others. We don’t validate what we do through that metric, but it never sucks knowing that people enjoy what you do! Otherwise we would just record stuff for ourselves and never release it.
SOURCE – As many bands in the metal industry appear to be releasing more and more singles rather than just albums, do you plan on going that route, as well?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – I guess lol I think bands have always released singles honestly. I think more bands release one off songs because it’s faster and you can see if it gets interest faster that way. We work more like an old school band in the sense that we make albums or EP’s and then select singles to promote those things. We’re old, so we do old school shit lol.
SOURCE – Where do you see the state of extreme metal on a global scale?
What aspects do you enjoy most, and what changes (if any) would you like
to see made for the greater good of the musicians and supporters?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – I don’t know the state of metal on a global scale. I can only speak through the lense I see metal through, and it seems pretty healthy to me. There are so many bands doing really quality stuff all the time, so sometimes it can be overwhelming, but it’s still awesome. I really love the ability to find new artists all the time, either via Bandcamp or streaming. That said, streaming is a double edged sword. It allows others instant access to your music worldwide, which is wonderful, but streams do not help put funds back into the band. So I guess I would say, if you hear something on streaming you like, try to buy a physical copy or merch, but if you can’t, sharing is always great too!
SOURCE – When you think about the concept of success, what does that word mean to you as far as being a musician – and has that definition changed from your initial years getting into the business versus today?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – Success is so subjective…I think for me and Krigsgrav it’s that each release helps push us as artists and helps us make something we think is the absolute best thing we can create at the time it’s made…so I view it more from an artistic success, because we wholly fund what we do in the band. When I was younger, like 15-16 years old, I always thought success was getting signed to a big label and touring the world, but that was naive and uninformed, but you read about bigger bands and it just seemed like that was the goal then…but I’ve learned that for me success is just being able to make an album that we can all enjoy and know we did our best.
SOURCE – What’s on the agenda for Krigsgrav activities over the rest of 2023 into 2024?
J. Coleman (Vocals/Guitars) – We plan to keep promoting Fires in the Fall and from there we will see where the winds take us. We have already started writing a bit of new material, because we always write! But for now we just want to enjoy the release of this album and see where it takes us! Thanks for the interview.
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