Deathwhite: The Great Balancing Act

The mysterious trio known as DEATHWHITE have been an active collective for a number of years but 2020’s Grave Image release instantly propelled them into the spotlight with its elegant combination of graceful escapism and immersive melodies. This album fell at a really pivotal time as the world began to grind to a halt and everyone suddenly had this abundance of time to dive down those rabbit holes and uncover hidden gems.

“We were very appreciative of the response and we got a lot of good feedback in terms of reviews and fans reaching out to us saying the music resonated with them and that was extra motivation for us,” explains their drummer, known only as AM. “We obviously ultimately write music for our own musical endeavours and to make ourselves happy but to get such a great reception from listeners was an added benefit.”

DEATHWHITE are not a touring outfit and do not perform live which makes them one of the only fortunate bands who wasn’t hugely affected by the mass of restrictions that were in place around the world. “We have only played one live show in the ten year history of the band so we’re not the type of band that spends two months getting songs together ready to hit the road,” discusses AM. “We may spend a year at a time just demoing songs and it can be a very long and arduous process. We’re usually exhausted by the time we’re done. There were a lot of things we thought we never wanted to do with DEATHWHITE such as the heavier side of things and the more aggressive vocals and that set us up for Grey Everlasting. The nice thing is that we’ve been able to shatter our own expectations of what the band can be. When we started we had some quite strict parameters for the type of sound we wanted to have and it feels like the scope is widening. Myself and the guys have all come from extreme metal backgrounds and we wanted to see if we could incorporate some of those elements into this album. We wanted to branch out and try those heavier, brazen approaches. I think we fall somewhere within the realm of doom that feels like quite a wide and far-reaching term these days and a lot of people have different interpretations like SAINT VITUS, PARADISE LOST, MY DYING BRIDE and we somehow fit into that wide spectrum.”

Grey Everlasting will be unveiled on June 10th and will push the boundaries of their sound, delving deeper and experimenting more than ever before. “I think the two biggest examples of this experimentation are Earthtomb and another song called White Sleep. Those two in particular stand out in terms of us trying more extreme elements within our sound,” informs AM. “At the end of the day the goal is always the same with us, the framework of the songs hasn’t really changed but within our existing framework we have also been trying new things and we’re very happy with the results. It really is a balancing act and we always look for that dynamic within a song and that sometimes comes through a clean guitar part, acoustic parts or keyboards. That also relates to the vocals as well, we’re very fortunate to have a singer who can sing a variety of styles with emotions and degrees of emphasis and that really drives the scope of the band. It sounds like a bit of a cliché, but it’s almost the light and shade elements of the band, I think that really benefits the songs in a way that we are never all one speed, we’re not doing the same thing all the time and have a lot of variation. That’s a crucial component to us. We enjoy the heavy parts as much as we enjoy the quieter, softer parts and that interplay is a foundational element of what we do.”

DEATHWHITE have really developed a knack for constructing tracks which flow effortlessly through a variety of tones and moods that keep the listener engaged during every moment. This is an approach which the band take particularly pride in and spend endless hours fine-tuning and refining their craft. “We have one writer within the band who composes the bulk of the material, it has been that way since DEATHWHITE began and this individual will demo at home using their own setup and that’s where the framework begins in terms of song structure and vocal melodies,” states AM.

“The lyrics are the next step, where the piece begins to circulate around the other members and we all put our own twist onto each song. Once they’ve gone through the deliberation process the demo often takes turns that we did not initially foresee, but that is the beauty of this process. The vocal framework is a vital element of what drives DEATHWHITE so it deserves that kind of attention. We’re very fortunate to have some very talented people in DEATHWHITE who can take these songs in different directions and it’s amazing to see just how far things can progress. We all enjoy writing songs and we’re very motivated to continue writing. We’re even working on material right now for what will become our fourth album. It’s an art that is very hard to master. I don’t think we’ve quite mastered it yet but with each successive album, we learned more about ourselves. A song is not one size fits all approach, you can do many different things with it. And we’re fortunate to be in a scene where there are no limits or rules as to what you can do.”

As stated previously by AM, the lyrics and vocal narratives are one of the driving forces of the bands creative output. They intend to utilise the platform available to them to express their outlook on the current state of the world. They are certainly not short of potential talking points. “Over time we’ve become very much an outward facing band. Our early releases were probably a bit more personal on that level but since Grave Image we’ve become a lot more vocal about climate change, racial injustice and the proliferation of lies and deceit that is happening within the political spectrum or social spectrum. All these things are very much at the front of our minds for our lyrics and they often drive what we do as a song. Grey Everlasting is sort of self-explanatory in many respects, humankind has kind of been in a downward spiral for many years now and it continues to be its own worst enemy. We have all these wonderful tools at our disposal but over here in the United States, we have certain political parties and political figures who are very much inclined to send us hurtling back to the 1950s and delaying any sort of progress or equality, these things are very frustrating to us. All this effort has gone into creating a level playing field and improving the way of life over here in the States and it seems like people are more interested in taking away rights rather than helping others and these things just do not sit very well with us.”

Grey Everlasting is out now via Season Of Mist.

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