Interview with Lords of Metal

1) It was great to have a first encounter with Fall Of Empyrean through 'A Life Spent Dying'. But you have been around since 2000! Who are the founders of the band and can you tell about those early days until you recorded the first demo?

The band was founded in late 2000 by Justin Burning, and the very first line-up consisted of Justin on guitar, Adam Russell on guitar, Jason on bass/vocals, and Steve Henson on Drums. Although, shortly after the band started, Jason left the band to pursue other musical endeavors, so that left them searching for a new vocalist and bassist. I would say it was just months after that happened that I saw an ad in the paper from a doom band called Fall of Empyrean that was looking for a singer, and after looking at the ad and seeing their influences, I responded and went to tryout. I tried out one time and was asked to be part of the band and have been with them ever since. And, just a month or two after that, we put out an ad for a bass player, tried one out that didn't work, then the very next tryout was with Dan Sobeck, which worked out very well, so we offered him a spot in the band and he accepted, so we were all set at the time. We practiced about 5-6 songs until we got them down, then went into the studio to record our first demo, which was four tracks long. It was released in 2001 and was met with pretty good reviews, we also did a few shows in support. So, basically, Justin, Dan, and myself, are the only ones left from that first full line-up that recorded the first demo.

After that, it did take a while to find a keyboardist, Justin ended up doing the keyboards on our first album "Anhedonia", which was released in 2002, re-released in 2003, but then we found Kevin Leeds to do keyboards in 2004 and he has been with us ever since. He recorded on our second album 'A Darkness Remembered' and on our new album 'A Life Spent Dying'. Through the years, we went through a couple of second guitar players and drummers, but now have a line-up that is great and should last the duration. The line-up now consists of myself, Richard Medina, on vocals, Justin Burning on guitars, Ron Clark on guitars, Dan Sobeck on bass, Kevin Leeds on keyboards, and Sage Johnson on drums.

2) I hear echoes from bands like Saturnus and Novembers Doom in your music. But what can we see as your proper early influences?

I would say our biggest influences are basically the three bands that started death/doom and made it what it is today, the true pioneers, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, and Anathema. I know Anathema and Paradise Lost abandoned their roots, but back then, they had it going on. I know when I heard My Dying Bride for the first time, for their first release, I knew that was the type of music that I wanted to play. To me, it was death metal with class. My first band, Nuctemeron, which started in 1992, played the same style of music as those three. Unfortunately, it only lasted until '95 and took me until late 2000 to find Fall of Empyrean, a band who played the same style. I also know that Justin was very inspired by early Anathema, specifically 'The Silent Enigma', and they were one of the main reasons he started the band. So, those three are crucial in why we sound like we do today. Other bands that inspired us are bands like, early Katatonia, October Tide, Skepticism, Thergothon, and a few other early doom metal bands. I do think that individually, that we take our inspirations from all types of music and different genres, not just doom, and some it is not even metal at all, so I really think that gives us perspective and helps in our creativity.

3) In 2002 you released the full length 'Anhedonia'. How do you look back on this record?

We actually look back on it pretty fondly. We just realize what a great album it was, and still is. Every time people listen to it, they are shocked about how much they like it, thinking that maybe our earlier stuff wasn't as good or as advanced as our new stuff. So, I really think it stands out in our collection; a lot of people even consider the first vocal track on there, 'This Paradise Crumbles', as their favorite FoE song of all time. Someone even listed it in their top 50 doom metal songs of all time. So, the response on it was really great from the fans, as well as from the zines; it couldn't of turned out any better. The funny thing is that is the only album we recorded without a full band; we were only a four piece at the time, having trouble finding members, so Justin had to record both guitars and the keyboards. But the recording went well. I know that I had my best vocal recording ever on that album; not the heaviest, but I felt so good and strong while recording it, which wasn't the case with other albums I recorded throughout the years. Coming after a demo we really don't like anymore, this couldn't of been a better first album for us.

4) It was followed by 'A Darkness Remembered' in 2004. Can you compare this sophomore record with the first one? What was different?

Comparing it to 'Anhedonia' is like comparing night and day. They are just worlds apart—the songs, the sound, the whole experience was different. It is our longest running album to date, being over a hour long, and it is brooding; it seems like it goes on forever. But, we really like the songs on there, and the main difference is that it was the first and only album, so far, that a few songs were written by someone other than Justin. Cristobal Felix was the first second guitarist to join our band since Adam was out of the band. I believe he joined late in 2003, so a couple of years went by before we got him. He was extremely talented and wrote very good doom; he ended up writing 3 of the 8 songs on there, and we even still use one his songs in our setlists every now and then. So that added a bit of a different feel to the album and gave Justin a bit of a break, especially since he didn't have to record both guitars this time.

I would say the biggest downfall was the recording process and production; it was an absolute nightmare. It would take me five more paragraphs to explain, so I will spare you. Basically, a lot time was wasted, our drummer at the time just could not be satisfied, and it really cost us in the end. So the production suffered immensely because of that, we have even considered remixing and mastering it—that is how bad it turned out. Luckily, people still really liked it and like I said, a lot of the songs on there are still really good, it was even named doom metal album of the year by an Italian zine at the time. So, in the end, it is a really good album, but we just don't look back fondly on it like we do 'Anhedonia'.

5) You have achieved a worldwide interest and fan-base. Did the Internet have a positive influence on that?

Absolutely, there is no doubt about that. The internet has made it so much easier to get in touch with fans, with other bands, to listen to music and promote; it really turned out to be a great thing. And, it cut down on a lot of the work that had to be done with all of that, as well. A lot of the younger people out there may not remember, but everything before had to be sent through the mail; you actually had to hand write letters to fans and zines, hand write interviews, mainly because people didn't even use typewriters at the time—it was a lot of work. Even from my first band Nuctemeron, we still have 3 huge bags full of mail from all that we did at the time, just keeping it to remember. That really was the golden age of the fanzine and metal magazines. They were the only way at the time to find out about bands; if your band didn't get reviewed, interviewed, or advertised in a zine, no one knew about you. So, things have definitely come a long way, especially with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and all of the other public sites—music is a click away.

I do know that the record companies and a lot of musicians think the internet ruined music because of all the file sharing and burned cds, as lot of people wont buy cds, but I may be one of the few musicians that supports file sharing and burning cds. I was a fan of Metallica until they started crying about Napster and file sharing. Is there anything worse than millionaires complaining about money? Now I cant stand them. If you are an underground band and are not on a major label, you really can't afford to self-release thousands of records to the masses, nor can independent labels, so the only way that a lot of people will hear you is by file sharing and burning cds. I can tell you that really helped us in getting known all over the world. As far as I am concerned, as long as people go to the shows, that is all that matters to me. No one should be in metal to get rich.

6) In 2007 you recorded 'A Life Spent Dying', but I found out that it was delayed and delayed ... well, until now. What happened?

The main reason for the delay, from 2007 until we got signed, had to do with trying to finance the album ourselves and trying to find a label to release it. We kept falling short on money to do it ourselves, so we really tried to work with a label on it. But until Grau came along, we never had any luck. We did end up signing with Grau a year after it was recorded, but with all the issues the label had in their separation with Prophecy Productions, it kept getting pushed back longer, so at that point it was out of our control. But, we were finally able to get it released this year and now that the label is back on track, there should never be a delay that long again. I can tell you that we hard at work on new material, have most of a new album already written, and hope to get back into the studio by early next year.

7) Can you tell us about the recording process of 'A Life Spent Dying'?

The recording process for 'A Life Spent Dying' went much better than it did for 'A Darkness Remembered'. It was much like recording 'Anhedonia'. It was also the first time that we were able to record with our good friend Ryan Butler at Arcane Digital Recording, which made things run so much smoother than it ever has before. Not only has Ryan been a good friend of the band for years, he also is one of the few engineers in town that really knows how to record metal, as he has been in the scene for years. He records most of the metal bands in town and also some bigger named bands, such has Misery Index, Nightrage, Phobia, The Funeral Pyre, and also his own band Landmine Marathon, so he has had a lot of experience. We will definitely be recording our future albums with him. It took us about 6 days over three separate weekends to record the album, everybody did their parts very well and used very little time to do it, except for me. I don't know what happened; I went in to do my vocals and they just were not coming out right. Even if it sounded ok to everyone else, I just didn't feel right. So, I had to cancel my day and come back the following weekend, but it was worth it—I had a much better recording that day. I just wish I could redo my spoken vocals on the album; I am not happy with the way they turned out, but hey, it's a learning experience every time and all you can do is improve on the next one. The only thing we wish we could of spent more time on was the production. Things could of turned out a little better on that end, but we couldn't afford more time. I mean, it was a million times better than the production for 'A Darkness Remembered', so we were happy about that, but next time we will make sure the production it is exactly what we want.

8) Lyrics are written by vocalist Richard Medina. As the title suggests, it won't be happy stuff. But can you tell about the lyrical inspiration?

I actually get my lyrical inspiration from everyday life, what real people go through and suffer with in their lives, and even if they don't suffer themselves, maybe they know someone who does. Most of the lyrics deal with our concept of the band, which deals with the loss of hope, depression, suicide, murder/suicide, self-mutilation, failure, the loss of ones mind, things that real people experience in their lives. Although I do write my lyrics in the first person, I personally don't go through these type of things. I mean, everyone gets depressed every now and then, but I have known people that suffer from severe depression and have had friends commit suicide, so I have seen what these people have been through and how it affects everyone around them. When friends and family suffer, we all suffer, so it is very real to a lot of people. All you need to do is turn on the news and you see humanity for what it really is, there is no better inspiration for the type of lyrics we write than the news, as human suffering is all we see. Many other doom bands write about myth, legend, and other fictional ideas, but we will always try and keep it as real as possible.

9) Did the band suffer from important line-up changes through the years?

Well, more than suffering from line-up changes, the band really suffered more from actually finding members to play with us. As I had mentioned in a previous answer, after we lost our first guitarist Adam, it took over 2 years before we found our next one, Cris Felix, then after he left, it took another 2 years to find Ron, who is with us now. It's just that no one around here wants to play doom; they all want to play fast brutal metal, so finding permanent members has been a headache for us for years. It pretty much went the same way with the drummers. After losing Steve, it took a long while to find Andy. Luckily, when Andy left, we were able to get a good friend of mine, Sage Johnson, to fill the position pretty quickly. It even took 3-4 years from the beginning to find Kevin, someone who wanted to play full-time keyboards, so the line-up changes didn't seem to be as much as an issue as actually finding people to want to play. Luckily, Justin, Dan, Kevin, and myself have stuck with our positions, so it really was only with second guitarists and drummers. But, I would say that losing Cris affected the band the most, mainly because he wrote such brilliant doom. He not only wrote 3 of the songs that were on 'A Darkness Remembered', but he had about 7-8 other songs ready to go, most of which were supposed to be on 'A Life Spent Dying', so we hated not being able to use those songs. But, we couldn't ask for a better replacement than Ron; he is just as talented and will definitely be writing great material for our future albums. And, as I had mentioned before, we have a line-up now that is great; all of us are great friends, so it should last the duration.

10) What were the highlights until now playing live?

Unfortunately, this answer won't be too long because we really haven't played a ton of shows, and that mainly had to do with the answer above, not being able to find members throughout the years to have a full band for live shows. So, that really kept us from doing a lot of touring and just any shows in general. I would say that a lot of our great shows were played with our good friends Vehemence; we have done several shows with them throughout the years and most of them were nearly sell out crowds and the response for us was great. It really helped us gain a lot of fans locally in a state where brutal metal is king. And the show that was really cool for us to play, was with Agalloch and Virgin Black. Those guys both put on a great show. It wasn't particularily great for us—the show was overbooked and we only got to play a couple of songs—but playing with Agalloch was amazing. But, now that we have a complete line-up and are working with Grau and a touring agent, there should be many more shows and even tours throughout Europe, which we really look forward to.

11) Guitarist Justin Burning is responsible for the two beautiful acoustic instrumental songs. Maybe he can tell a bit more about the idea to relish the material with some introvert interludes?

I'd written/recorded those two songs independently of 'A Life Spent Dying' but never got around to using them for anything in particular. I'd always thought they'd be a good fit for Fall of Empyrean, since we already had recorded one acoustic song for 'Anhedonia.' When the new album was coming together, we all decided that those two songs would present a nice change of pace, so we threw them on. They both have a melancholy/sad feeling to them, so we didn't feel they were entirely out of place on the album. Our last release, 'A Darkness Remembered,' was a little dense—being an hour of straight doom/death—so we wanted to mix things up a bit on the new one.

12) You signed a deal with Grau Records. I think the interest in Europe will grow now. What are the prospects?

Yeah, it's crazy ... ever since the beginning, our biggest fan base has come from Europe; that is really who we had heard from the most, other than Russia, but ever since the promotion for and the release of our new album, we found out how many people in Europe never really heard of us. So, signing with Grau Records is really helping to spread the word about us even more. We have already been reviewed in 10 times more zines than we have in the past three releases combined, as well as getting played on a lot more radio out there. So it is really helping to expand our fan base and hopefully we will start creating enough of a buzz so that we can be able to land some tours and get on some of the major festivals out there.

13) And it is a four album deal, which is rather exceptional these days ... how did you manage to get that done?

Well, it was actually offered to us the very first time Tom and Grau had gotten a hold of us, requesting to sign us, so we very happy about it when they did offer that. We really were not sure of what type of deals that labels were offering at the time, but we were thinking that we would be getting a two, to maybe three, album deal by any label that would sign us. I think what really helped in getting the four album deal, was the fact that we already had 'A Life Spent Dying' recorded and ready to go, so Grau was able to make that the first of the four albums without having to put any major money in the recording process of it; they just had to release it. So, we would actually consider it more of a three album deal since that one was already done. We really only need to record three albums to complete the contract. We were just happy to finally be working with a real label that was able to release more than one album; it was always a struggle for us to find anyone to release our albums and even more of a struggle to finance it ourselves. So, it is great now to have the security in knowing that all we have to do is create music and record albums and not worry about how it is going to be released.

14) You work with Lugga Music now. How did you get in contact with Adrian and what are the plans concerning touring? In the US? In Europe?

We actually got in contact with Adrian through Tom and Grau Records, mainly because he knows Tom very well and already works with several other bands on Grau. So, Tom had spoke with Adrian at a show one time and told him all about us and that we would be sending him an email and a promotional package. Once we got a hold of Adrian, everything went pretty smoothly and he then offered to put us on his roster, so we were really excited about that. He immediately began working to put us on tour in Europe, and we were supposed to actually of been out there earlier this year, but a few of the bands that agreed to do the tours dropped off and he was unable to put them together. But, now that the new album has been released and we are being heavily promoted out there, he is going to begin working on getting us another tour and hopefully will be able to do so by the end of this year to early next year. As far as the US goes, he doesn't cover this area and we have not really expressed interest to any of the touring agents out here yet—there just really isn't a market for doom bands in the US. The doom tours out here just do not sell, no one really goes to them. I remember when the legendary Candlemass toured out here with Daylight Dies, I was talking to a lot of the guys and they said that they were lucky to pull in 20 people to the shows some nights. And, it is even worse on the west coast where we are. They told me that there was like 5-10 people at the shows up in the northwest and even at the show we played with them here, there was about 10 people watching Candlemass. The only thing you can really do is jump on a tour with a major death or black metal band and hope for the best. The funny thing is people really like you when they see you on those shows, but won't attend doom tours specifically. I am sure it is really deceiving to bands like Swallow the Sun, there are bigger crowds out to see them here, but that is because they are touring with Katatonia, Moonspell, Soilwork, and more popular bands like that, but if they did a headlining tour, nobody would show up, no one even knows about them here. Anyway, for now we are just booking shows on our own throughout the states and working with specific promoters to get it done.

15) You live in Arizona. I do not link that region with doom metal bands. Isn't it quite hard to get gigs over there?

It's not really hard to get gigs, it is just hard to get people to go to them. You're right, there are no doom metal bands out here in Arizona, we are the only ones, and ever since Morgion disbanded, we are really the only ones out here on the west coast. I mean, there are a lot of sludge and drone doom bands in this part of the US, but not death/doom bands that play the style of music that we do. Like I said, we are the only ones in Arizona that play this style of music. Everyone else plays a brutal death/grind type of music. In fact, we are having our cd release show on June 12th and we were only able to put death metal bands on the bill with us, so it's a little bizarre. But, strangely enough, a lot of people do like us out here, more than I ever thought would. Maybe it is because we are the only ones playing this style. Even so, it still is hard to get people to our shows, and if you play on any other night than a Friday or Saturday, no one will go at all. That's why we always felt touring Europe would be best for us. From what I have heard, people are actually passionate about shows and go to them regardless of the situation. Here, it is the land of excuses. Even if someone loves your band, any band, the excuses still roll out ... I'm tired, I have work the next day, I don't feel well, I don't have the money, I just don't feel like it ... it's ridiculous.

16) What are the plans and hopes for the near future?

Well, we have our cd release show coming up here on the 12th, then we will continue to play more shows locally and around the states to promote our new album, and hopefully we can make it out to Europe by late this year, early next year. We are also hard at work on our new material for our next album, we have nearly another full album ready to go, so we hope to get back into the studio by early next year. So, we will be keeping busy the rest of the year and will continue to work hard and make sure we stay as active as we have ever been.

We would just like to thank our fans for their continuous support and patience, now that the new cd is out and with the label being back on track, we will make sure that there are no longer any delays in releasing albums and doing shows/tours. And if you all want to see us out there on tour, please email/message your local promoters and those who run the festivals and let the know you want to see us, that way we have a better chance at getting booked. We would also like to thank you for the interview and for the great review, we really appreciate your support and we look forward to working more with your zine for our future releases. Thanks for everything! Richard and Fall of Empyrean.

Thanks a lot in advance for answering these questions! You have created a great album and hope to see you live on tour in Europe later on this year ...
Many kind regards from Vera