Strigoi: Bathed In A Black Sun
STRIGOI are the dementors of death metal. They were born to blacken your soul by casting unsettlingly dark spells of crusty, doomy, and sludgy death metal. Whilst 2019 debut Abandon All Faith was born from the ashes of VALLENFYRE, by Gregor Mackintosh and Chris Casket, it’s follow-up Viscera is their demonic vision made flesh.
“I think we both realised that whatever happened, Abandon All Faith, as much as a quality record it is, was always going to be a transitional release because of where it came from,” Chris explains, just weeks after playing their first ever UK show as last-minute stand-ins for SOEN at Bloodstock. “Even if you personally want to ignore that as an artist, everybody interested in the previous band will see a correlation between the two.”
Abandon All Faith was an album overshadowed; not only by the ghost of VALLENFYRE, but by the arrival of COVID-19 shortly after its release. Whilst the world fell apart at the seams, STRIGOI suddenly found themselves with the time to channel the darkness they desired.
“With this one, there was no arbitrary label date pressed upon us. It was a natural progression as the pandemic progressed, and Greg said, ‘I think we do need to start looking at doing something new’ and I said yeah, because what else were we going to do? The time was afforded to us to be able to really look at what we were doing, to sit with a song for a week, not listen to it, and go back to it – all those little aspects that you do when you’re starting a band, we had that again with this one so we could really craft what we wanted to say.”
With ample time on their hands, Chris and Gregor burrowed themselves away. Wallowing in their own experiences, they’ve transformed STRIGOI into a whole new beast. Listening to Viscera can only be described as being dragged to the bottom of the seafloor by Kelpies intent on drowning you. But was it worth it, did they find the sound they were searching for? “I think this is us fully releasing what STRIGOI is, whereas Abandon All Faith was always going to be under quite a glorious shadow of its birthplace, of two friends just wanting to some more extreme music, but not under that banner.”
Viscera may drag you into the depths of darkness, but it’s bounded by the blood of its brotherhood. Like death metal’s answer to Bernie Taupin and Elton John, Chris writes the lyrics and Gregor composes the music. But Viscera went beyond that – it pushed Chris into challenging every concept of writing. “I did struggle to begin with, it wasn’t just a pandemic, there were other things going on in life in general, the whole thing has been a very difficult period but you find your stride, you find the spark you need,” Chris reflects, admitting Gregor was the match that lit the fuse after forcing him away from the seven or so songs he’d rewritten from Abandon All Faith. “Greg said ‘look, can we switch it up a bit, how would you feel about going this way?’ – for me it was a push, it was a challenge and he’s very good at that because the moment you’re out of your comfort zone, you have to pit more thought into something. Initially I just felt if something feels unnatural, there is that tendency to feel like you’re being a bit of a fraud to yourself because you’re changing the way that you are, but this wasn’t like that at all, this was more of an evolution into doing something else that ultimately bore fruit.”
The fruit it’s bore is an album that is as deeply personal as it is open to interpretation. Closer Iron Lung is an eight-minute masterclass in climbing melo-death mountains, where its post-apocalyptic landscapes languish in the rot that created them. But in that, they found themselves finally proud of their creation. “The one that means the most to me but is also the hardest one for me is Iron Lung; I think that will ultimately be the one that, in the same way as the title track on Abandon All Faith did, where perhaps I give a bit more of myself, those are the ones that are always going to be the ones at the top of a very cool pile.”
Whilst Viscera is a mixtape of misery, dealing in perceptions of anti-religion, human abuse, impending death, mental and physical pain, and loss, Chris refuses to indulge its inner workings. The only meanings you will find across its ten tracks are the ones you manifest for yourself. “Without meaning to appear obtuse, I’m very much a fan of ambiguity and interpretation. I’m finding myself less inclined to elaborate further on why things are the way they are, because I get so much out of other people’s interpretation of things,” states Chris defiantly, pointing to society’s reliance on open windows into everyone’s lives as the cause of it all. “I feel we live in a world where everything is laid out, any bit of information you want on anything, like what an artist you like had for breakfast because you go on their social media and they’ve take a picture of it, and I lament the days of not knowing everything.”
As ambiguous as they’re inclined to be, STRIGOI aren’t denying the influence of the pandemic on their mixtape of misery. Even if it was through their attempts to avoid it, it wormed its way in like a parasite to the brain. “I think it would have been impossible for it not to, although I certainly made a conscious effort to not have any of the lyrics I wrote convey anything that would relate to it because then it would date it, and ultimately, we were all going through the same thing, so how interesting would that be to anybody?” Ponders Chris. “Subconsciously, the situation pushed us somewhat more otherworldly because although the central themes are based in reality, there is more of an otherworldly feel to the lyrics than previously. So perhaps you’re clutching outwards, because you’re isolated, so you’re using those other facets of your imagination to try and convey other things.”
Conveying their thoughts and feelings is more difficult for STRIGOI than most, with Gregor singing Chris’ lyrics. When Viscera shares more of Chris than he might like to admit, there’s a level of trust he places in his bandmate and friend. “I can’t think of many other people that I would trust with that, because he completely understands as I do with him, and you have to have that, because the buck stops with me and him.
“I think meeting outside of the circus that is music and actually having a friendship does really help that, and it works because he knows this is incredibly cathartic for me, if ever I am putting something personal in, I’m turning something that may be negative in my life and turning it into something wonderful, even if it’s a miserable song, that’s still a remarkable thing to do and that song will go around the world, so what’s more cathartic than that? But we have to have that trust otherwise I wouldn’t write anything in those terms.”
Trusting one another to help turn each other’s negativity into wonderful misery that travels the world is a gift, but it symbolises the journey they’re travelling on together, too. It’s the very same journey that Viscera paints, as it pushes the limits of its listeners. One minute United In Viscera is dragging you slowly to the centre of the universe, before King Of All Terror throws you into the abyss below. But was this push and pull dynamic on purpose?
“The order and everything we do pour over to make sure that it’s the best part; I’m sure every band, whether it’s top pop stars or the most underground demo seven inch from wherever, these people put as much thought into that and it’s unfortunate that not everybody grew up with this, so they wouldn’t know.”
Viscera was made to be played from start to finish, an album designed with its vinyl devotees in mind. It channels Chris’ youth, listening to ALICE IN CHAINS and SOUNDGARDEN LPs on his parents stacking system, attempting to capture a rollercoasters motions.
“The first time I listened to THE CURE’s Disintegration, I realised you have to listen to it in a particular way, because you need the highs to make the lows so much lower and that’s what you need; it’s an emotional journey, otherwise you’ve just got all out brutality or all out bubble-gum pop, like a movie, you wouldn’t just put it on and skip to one chapter you like, it’s a journey.”
No matter which way you listen to or look at Viscera, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that STRIGOI have been on a journey since Abandon All Faith. It’s a journey they’ve taken for themselves and for you, as they present their mixtape of misery to your ears.
Viscera is out now via Season Of Mist.
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