SOURCE – Where do you see this album stacking up in terms of Novembers Doom stylistically? To me it’s a melding of a lot of the classic metal trademarks while still being heavy enough to appeal to a younger generation… any special highlights, new recording techniques, or struggles that you had to work through?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – That’s an interesting view of it, though honestly when we wrote the album we weren’t thinking about trying to do anything that would appeal to the younger generation or any specific genre. As a band we have a very diverse set of musical influences and tastes, and they shine through and influence our music in different ways at different times. To my ears it sounds like we wound up taking a big mix of our influences, past and present, and put them together here, but at the same time we still tried some new things we’d never done before musically and vocally just to keep it interesting for ourselves. The recording process went pretty moothly, though we did start working with a new studio to do the drum tracking because we wanted to try a new drum sound, and we’re pretty happy with how that turned out. Otherwise we continued to work with Dan Swano and Chris Wisco on the production as we have done for the last several albums, because it works so well we may as well continue that way!
SOURCE – Which songs took the biggest transformation from the initial demos into the final song [Nephilim Grove production]?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – Most of the songs on this album were pretty well-formed right from the start actually. The one that probably went through the most changes over time was the opening track, “Petrichor”. I tend to agonize over the opening track on our albums the most because I get an idea in my head of how the album needs to start, and I know right away whether or not it’s going to work. So that one did go through some changes and refinement before finally settling on the final version, and I’m happy with it. The rest of the songs came together very naturally and flowed well right from the start.
SOURCE – Do you feel that the band has gone in a more rock-ish direction with this release?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – No, not at all actually. I’ve heard a few people say that but I don’t really hear it that way. I think some people formed that opinion due to some of Paul’s vocal choices not being as guttural and brutal as before, but I think the actual riffing is some of our heaviest and I think his vocals in this album is the best he’s ever done overall. Songs like “Nephilim Grove”, “What We Become” and “Adagio” are touching upon our heavy doom influences much more than we’ve done on the last couple of albums. Songs like “The Witness Marks” was inspired by my older influences like Morbid Angel and Asphyx, at least in terms of the guitar riffs. I do think we emphasized a bit more on the groove in some songs on this album, so in that respect I guess it rocks a bit more? The last song on the album, “The Obelus”, is a bit different for us in that respect and I know that’s caught some people off guard, but again when it comes to Novembers Doom you have to expect that we’re not going to just do the same thing over and over again. It’s hard to judge one of our albums based on only one or two songs, unlike some other bands. I realize that people sometimes criticize us for that, but it’s just how we are.
SOURCE – Anything you can say about the video for Nephilim Grove [official lyric video]?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – We’d wanted to do an “animated” style video for a while now but just never found the right time and opportunity to do it. When we decided to do a lyric video for that song, it just made sense to use the artwork from the album since it ties in so closely to the lyrics of that particular song. It can be a challenge coming up with anything interesting for videos anymore, especially lyric videos when they tend to all be very typical and same. Ours might not be the most original concept either, but we’re so happy with the artwork that Pighands created for us that we really wanted to show that off as much as possible. We’ve also released videos for the songs “Petrichor” and “What We Become” that’ve received a lot of positive attention too, so hopefully people will check those out as well. I think we’re going to do some more video content very soon, we’ve got some ideas…
SOURCE – Being one of the veterans of the metal scene, where do you see the state of things in terms of structure and support compared to your early beginnings in the 1990’s?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – Oh it’s very different nowadays obviously, in both good and bad ways. It’s good because with the internet and social media, it’s easier than ever to find bands or find people who are interested in this music and make a connection with them. We’ve always been a band who thrives on being connected to the people who support us and follow us and this music in general. At the same time, with it being so easy now to find music and get it out there, I think people do tend to be more lazy about it and maybe don’t take it as seriously as we did in the “old days”. Obviously the whole record industry has changed due to this and again, it’s both good and bad. I’d say overall it’s a good change, we’ve gotten a lot of opportunities due to people being able to find us and correspond more easily with us now. But some things, like the rigors of touring and dealing with the business end of music, still is a challenge and I doubt that’s ever going to really change. I think it’s excellent that people show their support for underground metal bands online by checking out the music and sharing videos and files and all that stuff. But it’s still really important to get out to the shows when you can, and really be a part of the whole scene.
SOURCE – As Novembers Doom at this far in your career, do you still have goals that you’d like to shoot for?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – Oh yeah, we have plenty of goals left. While we have been able to travel and play so many places and see some big crowds, there’s still lots of areas left to visit that we haven’t seen yet. We were booked for a full tour of Australia and New Zealand this summer but unfortunately the virus pandemic caused that to be shut down, for now at least. There’s many other places we’ve yet to visit and we’re anxious to get back to Europe and South America as soon as we can, because we always have a great time there. And honestly, I am stubborn and I still believe I can make a better album than we have. I’m sure many people think our best days are behind us, and that’s their opinion they’re entitled to. But I’m always looking to do something better, whether I succeed or not remains to be seen but I think we as a band have it within us to make even better music than we already have. So that’s always a major goal for us.
SOURCE – Now with all the issue that the Coronavirus has raised, hoping it will be solved soon, how do you think this affects the music industry, and in particular the world of Metal?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – Yeah, this whole virus situation has really made a mess of things. Of course everyone’s health and safety is the most important factor, but unfortunately this has resulted in so many tours being cancelled, record and merch sales being lost, etc., that it’s going to be really hard for many bands and labels/distros to recover from. So often we’re all operating at a defecit and losing money regularly as it is. So to have the bottom fall out completely like this has really been devastating. Most metal bands don’t make a lot of money especially in the underground, because most of us aren’t really doing this to make money anyhow. But it still costs a lot of money to exist, with most of us funding our own merchandise, touring, even recording and manufacturing costs. I’ve had a few friends from other well-known underground touring bands tell me that they lost tens of thousands of dollars because they had tours booked, merch printed, work visas bought, etc., and then it was all cancelled. Most of that is money they won’t recover and that’s going to mess them up badly. Plus, so many places are saying that they don’t want any concerts, big or small, until this virus is completely gone. That’s not going to happen for a very long time, and that’s a problem. It’s great having the internet to do live-stream concerts and to be able to keep in touch with fans, that does help somewhat. But it’s still not the same as touring and really getting out there and promoting, because so much of this business (for better or worse) is still built upon that whole process. I think there are solutions for having live concerts resume in a way that’d be safer for people, but I’m not the one to make these decisions and make the rules. So all I can do is hope that we start to figure something out and we see some steps forward that are positive, because the idea that no concerts or tours can happen for another year and a half would be a devastating blow for many.
SOURCE – So what else is Novembers Doom planning for the remainder of the year?
Larry Roberts (Guitar) – Well unfortunately most of the plans we had already made for touring in Australia and Europe have been postponed until this pandemic is over, and that was our main priority. Our appearance at Maryland Deathfest has been postponed to May 2021 and we’re appearing at the Karmageddon Fest in Norway in May 2021 as well. So if everything goes well, then hopefully we’ll really start getting out and touring and getting the ball rolling again that spring. In the meantime, we’re looking into writing new music and possibly some more video content while we’re basically stuck at home. We definitely encourage people to contact us on Facebook and Instagram and on our YouTube channel to keep in touch with us and keep an eye open for new content from us soon.
We just have to keep as busy as we’re able to and hold onto hope that we can get back to the music and supporting “Nephilim Grove” as soon as possible!
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