INTERVIEW: Ophidian Forest

OPHIDIAN FOREST are one of the many hidden gems of the American black metal scene. Comprising of members from both the US and the Netherlands, the band have garnered critical acclaim and a respectable, cult following with their dark, eerie and progressive take on black metal since their formation all the way back in 2006. Distorted Sound sat down with OPHIDIAN FOREST to talk about the writing and recording of their brilliant latest record, VotIVe, how they came back from hiatus back in 2016, and the many challenges that come with working on new music when all of the bands members are spread out across the globe.

Where did the bands name come from? Is there any inspiration or meaning behind it? 

Otrebor: When I came up with the name years ago, the combination of words conjuring up images of a forest whose branches were so dense and tangled, like a den of snakes, that no light could penetrate, inspired my imagination. Seemed like a great name for a black metal band. The words might have different meaning for the other members, and they can tell you themselves.

You released VotIVe last year. How do you feel the album is being received by fans and critics, and how do you feel it measures up to your previous three albums?

Amalgamoth: The album has been received greatly! I’ve gathered most reviews on our Official Facebook page and from those it is evident that everyone thinks this is our best album to date. 
It’s a different beast altogether. The contributions by D. are an important factor in this. Also, in a way I think the previous three albums reflect our sound from the previous decade, considering that the third album Susurrus was finished in mid-2010. Our songwriting and playing skills have improved a lot since then.

OPHIDIAN FOREST has members from the US and the Netherlands. How did you end up meeting and forming the band?

Amalgamoth: Well, the first formation happened late in 2006. We were all writing reviews and articles for the US metal webzine Maelstrom. One day one of the writers came up with the idea of forming a band, because he had a number of guitar tracks. The chief editor of Maelstrom was a drummer, so he told us he was available for a project. I offered myself as a volunteer, so I got an audition. I made a short soundclip in which I screeched demonically some nonsensical lyrics about wolfmen in the forest, hoarding up Christians at fullmoon and executing them all. Textbook black metal lyrics. I was in right away. No further questions. But that was the first formation, and that line-up is over now. The second formation however is more important though, because it saw the original guitarist replaced by D. from BOOK OF SAND.

D.: I’d corresponded with Otrebor on and off for some years – BOOK OF SAND and BOTANIST started around the same time, and I’d submitted releases to his old zine, Maelstrom. In fact, Amalgamoth wrote a wonderfully ambivalent review of my first album in that zine in 2010 or so, in which he spent most of the time comparing the sound to a broken dishwasher (accurately). I’ve not met either in person.

Are there any issues with having all the band members spread out across the globe, and how do you overcome then when it comes to writing and recording your music?

Amalgamoth: No, there aren’t any. We’ve been exchanging our separate recordings online, just like we always have done. With the current line-up the songs begin with drum tracks. Otrebor sends bulk data to me, then I record melodies with my keyboards and synths to them. Forward bulk data. The next step is that D. records whatever he likes to them: bass, guitar and his choice of additional instruments, like for instance his cello, his bowed psaltry or maybe even a banjo (like on Vagdavercustis). And if time permits, D. could handle the mixing just like he did with VotIVe.

Your lyrics tackle topics from mythology and mysticism to history. Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics?

Amalgamoth: In the case of VotIVe it could be from a visit to a museum, followed by any information I can gather about the subject. But inspiration can also be drawn from interesting books about mythology, mysticism and history.

Do any of the mythologies and mystical elements you sing about come from your own world views and beliefs?

Amalgamoth: No, they don’t. They come from the distant past when these goddesses were worshipped by people who have died long since. But those people could have been my ancestors, so by singing songs about their beliefs I briefly transcend to their world. Almost like a shaman, who chants or dances in order to obtain a different state of mind. A state in which you create a different reality. In fact, in one instance I wrote lyrics which were inspired by visionary writings by shaman and teacher miss Linda Wormhoudt, in which she writes about dreams in which Hella appears. With permission, I translated and converted the text to verse and rhyme. I needed more sources, because the info on many of the names on the album is very sparse! This is most likely because of the eradication of knowledge by Christians. By dedicating songs to ancient goddesses like Vagdavercustis I want to contribute to their remembrance. This speaks more to me than saying that God is a wanker. That’s hardly imaginative, is it?

Between 2011 and 2016, the band was on hiatus. What prompted this lengthy break from writing and recording music as OPHIDIAN FOREST, and how did the band reconvene in 2016?

Amalgamoth: That’s a long story, and I shall tell it here for one time only. Early 2011 I started composing pieces for an intended fourth album, but then I had to give priority to re-recording parts intended for the tracks for the split Darkest Origins. During this re-recording process certain problems occurred, which caused Otrebor to distance himself from the project. He was about to launch BOTANIST anyway. I felt things had become so serious, it was almost no fun anymore. All musical OPHIDIAN FOREST activities got shelved indefinitely. “Darkest Origins” was in fact the beginning of a long hiatus, which to me felt like a split-up at the time. Things weren’t looking good.

Despite this situation I decided to do a project with Zaragil called KRVOROG, which is Croatian for Bloodhorn. We slowly crafted songs for an album, six in total. Early 2015 we got Chad Kelly to master the KRVOROG album. Chad also released Darkest Origins on UW Records. Everything seemed to be going nicely, but around the time I was ready to approach labels to see if they were interested in KRVOROG, Zaragil developed some undisclosed personal issues which caused him to get really hostile toward me and others. Maybe it was because with the completion of the KRVOROG album I declared OPHIDIAN FOREST split-up after four years of inactivity with no expectation of reconvening as a trio. I thought it was false pretending to be in a band while no music was being created. But pretence seems to be no problem for him, just like he continues continues to run the original band Facebook page, which he hijacked, which can include bad publicity of the new lineup and record, and recommend things that bear no relation to OPHIDIAN FOREST whatsoever. To this day I still don’t know what caused Zaragil’s behaviour, but one sure thing was that the finished KRVOROG album was doomed. In the next year, when Susurrus finally came out on some small label cassette, ready to quickly disappear into oblivion, there was more hostility, now between Zaragil and Otrebor, who managed the promotion of Susurrus. Another communication cut off followed.  On the original Facebook page a false statement was issued that Zaragil had fired us. However, the only thing he did was excluding us from the original Facebook page. He never managed or owned the band, he started the Redbad album. The band name was invented by Otrebor.

In June 2016 Otrebor suggested me to look into those rough recordings, made after the third album, in order to see if we could create an album with it, this time without Zaragil. An excellent idea! It was a relief and a surprise to see I could still work with Otrebor and do something without white noise in the background. So, that’s how we reconvened.

Even though your music is firmly rooted in black metal, there’s plenty of progression and avant-garde aspects in your sound. How do you come up with these elements for the bands sound, and is it difficult to come up with music for the progressive side of your sound with each subsequent record?

Amalgamoth: That’s a great, deep question. I can only speak for the melodic parts, because Otrebor delivers each drum track as is, and he is a guarantee for lots of odd time-signatures, so it all comes naturally for him. It is my challenge to compose something to it that makes sense. Then again, if you can let go of traditional song structures, you can get rather surprising results. Weird songs, and while in some reviews I read that we hearken back to this old school black metal vibe like DARKTHRONE, I can’t help but think we can’t be further away from simple stuff like Transilvanian Hunger. I don’t want to do regular black metal that goes “duggah-duggah-duggah” the whole time. Make it more progressive, more challenging. I was thrilled to read a review saying how VotIVe sounds like Gabriel-era GENSIS gone black metal. That’s great! And we got a review in House Of Prog, so yeah.

Otrebor: I record drums to a click based on arrangements that I plan out before hand and then allow deviation from. It saves time and is also focusing for the work. In all projects I’ve been involved with that uses this approach, it’s been universally helpful to focus the subsequent music writers (which is sometimes me) by eliminating options of what the music could be.

With regards to the future, do you have any plans for future recordings or touring?

Amalgamoth: Funny how the touring question always pops up again. We’ve never toured and we’d have to have a good reason for that, because if not, it would cost us way more than it would gain us. Future recordings is a different story. Over the past few months there have been made new recordings. There are drums, there are keyboard compositions, so later this year there will be more added; bass, guitar, and I especially hope more unusual instrumentation by D. He’s keen to remain with us. Things are looking much better now than back during the Darkest Origins times.
Look forward to something weird, proggy and avant-garde in an old school black metal kind of way! Until then, our album VotIVe is perfectly new music by a new OPHIDIAN FOREST.

And finally, do you have any message for your fans?

Amalgamoth: Absolutely: For new developments, follow us on Facebook’s Ophidian Forest – Official, because the original OPHIDIAN FOREST Facebook page does not represent the current line-up – and it now may be clear why. Thank you to the people at Distorted Sound Magazine. You’ve been wonderful to let me tell our story!

VotIVe is out now via Code666 Records. 

Like OPHIDIAN FOREST on Facebook.