Perihelion: Integrity Over Success
Throughout the years the likes of Sweden, Germany and Finland have dominated the European metal scene with their abundance of top calibre musicians. Whilst Hungary isn’t known for possessing a firmly rooted lineage there are some shining stars which are looking to put themselves on the map. One band in particular is Debrecen’s PERIHELION who have been rising up the ranks, going from strength to strength with each passing release.
2019 welcomes the arrival of their fourth full length effort entitled Agg, an intense experience which entails a variety of conceptual themes such as escapism, death and morality. “I could say the usual thing that it’s the most mature release we’ve ever done but it is a very special one for us with regards to the structure of the songs because they’re telling a story,” discusses frontman Gyula Vasvári. “You could call it a concept album but we had a preliminary idea of the structure and course the album should take which we managed to shape into musical form. We had this inner need to do something new in comparison to what we have done previously. It was a natural evolution in terms of how we have usually approached writing an album. Once we had the topic and theme it all flowed naturally too and that was a key factor to why this release is very different to our previous releases.”
The lyrical content for PERIHELION’s releases have all been in Hungarian, with Agg staying true to their vision. Whilst this may potentially impact the worldwide interpretation of the conceptual themes constructed for this release Gyula is not particularly concerned about this. “From the very beginning of this band it has never been a question whether the lyrics should be in Hungarian or not. This is the only real way of expressing yourself, in your mother tongue,” Gyula says. “There is really no point contemplating whether people round the world will perceive the meaning we put into the music. This band wouldn’t work any other way. I think the music itself transmits the message that the lyrics intend to. Music comes first in this band, the lyrics, vocals and harmonies are only secondary.”
The abundance of technological advancements available to musicians can be regarded as a blessing and a curse. The evolution of social media platforms and streaming facilities allow bands the opportunity to present themselves to a wider audience but this also makes it increasingly difficult to make sure you are noticed in such a buzzing environment. “It is pretty difficult these days but we try our best to increase our fanbase. We’ve tried different advert systems and it is always our policy not to get on people’s nerves. That is not the point. There is a huge noise right now which is pretty difficult to wade through. There is a phrase in Hungarian which basically translates as we don’t need this at any price. Integrity is key.”
These circumstances also apply to the world of touring. Raising awareness of performances and attendance levels can make or break a band and a lot of thought has to go into the scheduling and potential viability of making touring a successful endeavour. “Bands these days who decide to do their own tours realise that it is really damn difficult to get people to attend gigs and check you out” admits Gyula. “There are lots of reasons but it seems to get worse from year to year. It’s just a sad truth. Despite these conditions there are still quite a lot of people attending our shows and we have met lots of interesting people. The travelling has been interesting and we’ve had lots of adventures. A band these days has to really think twice about how they go about organising such a trip as making it financially viable is getting more difficult as the years go by. When we were organising our recent tour with POZVAKOWSKI we really busted our asses to make it happen. I’m not kidding, we must have sent out close to 2,000 emails and you can imagine the response rate. We tried contacting many people and it was pretty difficult.”
Agg is available now via self-release.
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