INTERVIEW: U – Entropia

WORDS: Tom Wakenell

Psychedelic black metallers ENTROPIA have been making a noise in the crevices of metal’s bleak underground. With a sound that fuses black metal, shoe-gaze and post rock into one interesting mix, ENTROPIA are onto something truly special. Ahead of the release of Ufonaut we spoke to U to talk about the new record, the black metal scene and future plans! 

Your second album Ufonaut is coming out on the 15th of February, how do you feel the album will be received by fans?

U: The new album is quite different than Vesper, but still retains most of the elements that made its predecessor so successful – memorable riffing and overall sombre atmosphere is still prevalent. Although there are many changes and the sound feels reinvented, this is the same band with the same principle of delivering only the best music possible.

How did you approach making the album? Were there any major differences to when recording Vesper?

U: Every element of the new record was planned in advance, also the recording process took much more time and involved a lot of resources that the previous album was lacking. However, composition-wise, the scheme remained the same – all of the riffs were meticulously prepared at home, and then brought to the rehearsal space, where due to other band members input they evolved into their final form by implementing changes, additions and removing unnecessary elements.

The production on Ufonaut is a lot more refined and less atmospheric than your debut album. What inspired the change in the quality of production?

U: Recording the second album is always a big step forward, as you are able to use all the experiences you gathered since the debut had its premiere. Although personally I don’t think of Ufonaut as less atmospheric, the production is definitely more refined, as the sound shapes on the new length are much more dense and required crystal clear production. The new album involved separate sessions for the drums and the rest of the instruments, also a pre-production session to get an idea about the overall end result.

How do you feel you have progressed as a band since Vesper?

U: Our technical skills and general knowledge of the metal scene improved considerably, we also managed to play gigs across seven European countries with many bands that inspired us in one way or another. Those positive experiences pushed us into new territories, which in addition to our fascination about psychedelics definitely feels like a big step forward, a logical continuation of our our musicianship.

In the last few years, more and more black metal/shoegaze bands are emerging and it seems that the genre is at the height of its popularity. What makes Entropia stand out from the rest?

U: At this point I don’t really think of ENTROPIA as a “post” band of any sort. We concentrate on merging the psychedelic sound with many elements of the metal genre in general, although the black metal backbone is still prevailing. In the future it would seem obvious that the psychedelic overtone will be even more abundant, which is – in my opinion – what makes us stand out in the scene.

Any upcoming tour information?

U: There is an upcoming Polish tour in April along with other interesting psychedelic-inspired bands, other tour plans for the rest of the world will be revealed in the future.

What have been some of your favourites countries and venues you have performed at?

U: We like to visit places that normally would be quite exotic – like Ukraine, Romania and Moldova for example – and we would like to visit even more remote places outside of Europe in the future, although such trips take a lot of preparing and managing to succeed.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

U: At this point we are still some days ahead of the Ufonaut premiere – besides plans for the Polish tour in April, we hope to reach some bigger audiences and perhaps be a part of some bigger events in the second half of the year with our new material. As always, in the background the new sounds will be brewing and molding to reveal themselves in years to come.

Ufonaut is set for release on February 15th via Arachnophobia Records