Volcandra: Integrity & Good Humour
The Way Of Ancients is the sophomore offering from Kentucky quintet VOLCANDRA. With a blend of melodic black metal, death metal and thrash like overtones, VOLCANDRA have been winning fans since 2022. Building upon a fantasy concept, introducing audiences to a wide array of epic, immersive tales involving mages, magics, beasts and barbarians. The Way Of Ancients has already made a significant impact on the scene since it’s release at the beginning of March. With the mighty, Prosthetic Records in their corner, it would appear that the sky is the limit when it comes to creativity for the five-piece.
When discussing the creativity and inspiration for the new album, vocalist Dave Palenske happily confirms that thematically the new music is a concept album. “It’s based off one of my favourite video game serious from the late 90s and early 2000s. While I haven’t been too vocal about which game that is, it’s more fun for those interested to read the lyrics, but those that are fans of the game already will immediately recognise it. It’s been with me for a long time, my aunt and uncle got me into it which gives a feeling of nostalgia that is very special to me.”
While there is the hefty presence of the video game narrative woven into the music of The Way Of Ancients. Palenske goes on to say, “we wanted to advertise this as generally a fantasy record and the music matches that. My favourite records are like that, the ones I can start from the first track and consume as a whole piece of work. This is the first record from this band done as an intentional story.”
For pre-existing fans of the band, they will notice an evolution of sound between records to what VOLCANDRA sound like today. Palenske puts this down to a mix of both organic growth and deliberate development. “VOLCANDRA stemmed off of a band that three of the guys were in previously, with a blueprint of melodic black metal. There’s a lot more influence now and we’re not only trying to do one specific genre. Birth Of The Nephalem is an example of this. It opens with melodic black metal then the chorus kicks in and that is more straight up death metal. Moving forward, we’re looking to see what we can mix into our sound and make it all work. We will keep moving with a varied approach.”
When it comes to songwriting and creativity. VOLCANDRA have a democratic set-up with everyone contributing aspects of value. “It comes from all different directions,” Palenske explains. “The way that process starts, River [Jordan, guitars] or Jamie [DeMar, guitars] will come up with a demo and send it out to the rest of us. And we’ll contribute digitally to these pre-production demos and keep adding. Then we’ll hammer it out in a rehearsal studio. At times, it’s like does this sound like a VOLCANDRA song, but inevitably, with all of our touches it comes together.”
When it comes to musical inspiration, there’s a host of elements that VOLCANDRA takes note of. After explaining that he himself is interested in jazz and orchestral musicians, and River will take influence from 70s prog artists. Palenske goes onto say; “there’s an emphasis on guitarists not playing the same parts, each part is equally important and intertwining. We’ll just listen to weird stuff on tour and whether or not that influences us. Exploring other genres can be really rewarding and looking at how instruments interact with each other.”
“The more we play live, we get more of an idea how the crowd will react. So that helps build the setlist, which songs are going to go over the best. There’s the break in Fouled Sanctity which is definitely designed to draw the crowd response along with the kick drum…it’s a lot of fun to get people on board.” When discussion turns to picking a setlist that’s representative of a concept album, Palenske laughs “we’re having that trouble right now! At rehearsal last night trying to figure out what songs will work. We’re currently playing the whole album and a couple of older songs to build something together and time will tell what the hits will be.”
While it may be a challenge to build a setlist that showcases both album and band at their best. The lead single choice for The Way Of Ancients was much more straightforward. “It came pretty naturally. I was making a storyboard for the video which we wanted to be visually interesting. Drawing from the lyrics for the inspiration and Fouled Sanctity was perfect. When we sent it to Prosthetic, Steve our label rep stated that should be the single and he’s been in the business for a while.” It’s always a bonus when everyone is in agreement for a single choice.
When it comes to album artwork, Palenske is quick to state that while he came up with initial sketches, artist Varises Otak helped bring the visuals to life. “He’s fantastic. Kills it. Adapting the artwork as it nears completion and took the sketches and made actual art.” When mentioning AI art, Palenske says, “it’s a useful tool, but as far as being creative it’s not for that. There’s something rewarding with having a relationship with an artist and having that creative process which you don’t get with AI. At the end of the day, if you want to use it, it’s your band it’s on you. Don’t be surprised if people criticise it, people have a perception of integrity and AI art doesn’t have that. Support your artists.”
While there is a new album out, creativity is still at the forefront and ideas for a follow up are beginning to germinate. When it comes to a final thought he shares, “we would like people to know we are a band that takes our music seriously, but we don’t take ourselves seriously (laughs). We try to be approachable, have fun and play a show that people won’t forget.”
The Way Of Ancients is out now via Prosthetic Records.
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