UNCOFFINED
was the first band I had the pleasure to interview here, and it was an honor and
pleasure to interview Kat Shevil (vocals/drums) once again, this time to talk
about “Ceremonies Of Morbidity” the
obscure and grandiose sophomore album. Take your torch, come closer and
behold the morbid ceremony…
Hi Kat, how are
things in Durham at the moment?
Hi Chris, Things are ok here
thanks!
Almost three years later of the release of your debut you have your second album out, how does that fact personally feels?
Almost three years later of the release of your debut you have your second album out, how does that fact personally feels?
It feels great! We spent a lot of
time and work writing the second album "Ceremonies Of Morbidity", the
songs were crafted and refined over a period of about 3 years. We started
writing new material in 2013 and the title track was the first song that was born
in the new writing cycle.
Having a sophomore album out is a big milestone for any band and is often abit of a challenge as people have expectations of you after a debut album, we definetly were feeling some pressure this time around and were very conscious of the fact we were writing for a full length album which wasn't the case with the material for the debut album.
We wanted to write a 2nd album that would stand up strong against the debut album and I honestly think we bettered it, I think the new album is a step up a level in terms of songwriting and overall playing.
We didn't intend to make the songs so epic in length that just happened very naturally, but it is DOOM METAL after all not grindcore!!
What inspired the title of the album, and the lyrics of that song?
Having a sophomore album out is a big milestone for any band and is often abit of a challenge as people have expectations of you after a debut album, we definetly were feeling some pressure this time around and were very conscious of the fact we were writing for a full length album which wasn't the case with the material for the debut album.
We wanted to write a 2nd album that would stand up strong against the debut album and I honestly think we bettered it, I think the new album is a step up a level in terms of songwriting and overall playing.
We didn't intend to make the songs so epic in length that just happened very naturally, but it is DOOM METAL after all not grindcore!!
What inspired the title of the album, and the lyrics of that song?
The album title and lyrics were
inspired by an old 70's horror movie "Horror Hotel" a.k.a. City Of
The Dead and is about ritual satanic sacrifice, witchcraft and clandestine black masses
which features Christopher Lee and has a fascinating plot, a young female
student travels to the fictional Massachusetts town of Whitewood to do some
research into witchcraft. She finds the town occupied by the reincarnation of
an infamous witch who was burned at the stake in the 17th century. To sustain
her immortality, virgins must be sacrificed to the witch every year – and this
year, the student is the chosen victim. The samples before and after the song
are from that film.
You told me in our
previous interview that besides horror movies you are inspired by folklore
tales too, like the famous vampiric legend behind “The Horror of Highgate”…so I
´d love to know more about all the lyrics of the album.
Yes "The Horrors Of
Highgate" is based on the legendary ghost story of the infamous Highgate
Vampire which was rumoured to be lurking amongst the overgrown graves of
Highgate back in the 60's/70's, there was various apparent sightings of it back
then when the place was untendered. The lyrics also reference various other
ghost stories of Highgate cemetery in general, including those of the phantom
tolling bells that have been heard ringing from the disused chapel in one part
of the cemetery in the middle of the night.
"Plague Of the Uncoffined" is
based on "Night Of The Living Dead", another film I have been a huge
fan of for years and there is samples from the film.
"Ill Omens Of Death And Disease" is about a sinister local folklore/ghost story about a headless horseman and black horse which according to legend rose up from a pond in the middle of a village near to where I grew up each time death or severe illness was to befall a villager, they would rise out of the pond in the early hours and could be seen or heard slowly clip clopping and moving through the village forewarning of impending death and/or disease before the horse with the headless rider disappeared back into the pond( which has long since been covered over.) A story that has fascinated me since I was a child.
"Ill Omens Of Death And Disease" is about a sinister local folklore/ghost story about a headless horseman and black horse which according to legend rose up from a pond in the middle of a village near to where I grew up each time death or severe illness was to befall a villager, they would rise out of the pond in the early hours and could be seen or heard slowly clip clopping and moving through the village forewarning of impending death and/or disease before the horse with the headless rider disappeared back into the pond( which has long since been covered over.) A story that has fascinated me since I was a child.
The song "Awakened From Their
Dormant Slumber" is based on the old early 1980's Italian horror film
"The Zombie Dead" a.k.a Burial Ground and "Nights Of
Terror" released in 1981.
A scientist studying an ancient crypt near a grand mansion accidentally unleashes an evil curse. The curse reanimates the dead buried in the area and the zombies devour the scientist and the skeletal ghouls kill other visitors to the mansion leaving a trail of blood and terror in their wake.
A truly creepy and sinister horror film about undead bloodthirsty zombie monks which I just had to write a song about and they are some of the most ghoulish looking zombies I have seen in a film.
The lyrics are soley based on this film.
A scientist studying an ancient crypt near a grand mansion accidentally unleashes an evil curse. The curse reanimates the dead buried in the area and the zombies devour the scientist and the skeletal ghouls kill other visitors to the mansion leaving a trail of blood and terror in their wake.
A truly creepy and sinister horror film about undead bloodthirsty zombie monks which I just had to write a song about and they are some of the most ghoulish looking zombies I have seen in a film.
The lyrics are soley based on this film.
This time you used more samplers from movies like Evil Twins, Dawn of
the Dead or Horror hotel...something that I really enjoy and think that adds a
special and gloomy aura to the songs…How did you chose each of the samplers for
each song. Have you thought about a song or part of an Unncoffined song
could fit into a scene while watching a classic horror movie?
I chose samples that I thought
would fit the lyrics of each song and that would help enhance the dark
atmosphere of each track.
Theres a few scenes in various old horror films where I think an Uncoffined doomed funeral dirge soundtrack would work to good effect!
Theres a few scenes in various old horror films where I think an Uncoffined doomed funeral dirge soundtrack would work to good effect!
Do you have plans to do a
video clip in a near future? Do you imagine Uncoffined´s music mixed with some
hammer horror films maybe?
No but it's definetly something
I'd like to do in the future. I'd like projections of parts of various old
horror movies playing on a screen behind us when we are performing live, maybes
that could happen if we ever get invited to play a festival like Roadburn?!
You didn´t include a cover
version on this album, as you did on the debut album with “Frustrations” of the
band Revelation. I liked the song and the fact that it is not the typical and common
“big, famous band” cover. Have you thought about covering a non-metal song?, I know many bands do it but hey, sometimes there are
some good surprises..
We
have plans to do another cover in the future but not sure when that will
materialise.We chose the Revelation cover because we wanted to do something different and
more obscure. We are BIG fans of Revelation and Blessed Realm the old doom band
featuring 3 of us was named after a Revelation song "Blessed Realm"
which appeared on the Dark Passages 1 compilation.
They are a band who don't get namedropped and mentioned enough even within the
doom metal scene so i'd like to think our little tribute helped expose the band
to more people out there.
The artwork designed by Cesar Valladares looks stunning and
old school, was it designed and drew from an idea or vision of yours? I’d
love to know more about it…
The cover artwork couldn't have
turned out more perfectly! VERY HAPPY with how it turned out!
I gave Cesar a detailed spec and concept for the cover art and he made me vision become a reality!
Again the idea for the cover art came from Horror Hotel/City Of The Dead and the black mass sacrifice crypt scene.
I gave Cesar a detailed spec and concept for the cover art and he made me vision become a reality!
Again the idea for the cover art came from Horror Hotel/City Of The Dead and the black mass sacrifice crypt scene.
Can you tell us a bit more
about the recording sessions, why did you do different in studio this time? Is
there anything interesting to tell about the way you manage to get such a heavy
and macabre sound?
We actually recorded in the same
studio as the debut album, once again we used Bri Doom and Studio 1in12 in the
darkest depths of Bradford a city a couple hours or so drive south west from
here.
It's a great little studio and he knows how to capture a great organic sound.
We channelled the spirit of the Bradford/West Yorkshire grimmness and Early Paradise Lost which was helped in part by using an old bass cab that once belonged to Paradise Lost!
More time was spent on vocals and mixing this time. Javi Felez (Moontower Studios) once again worked his mastering magick on our hymns of doom and darkness.
What are your current activitlies with Winds of Genocide after the release of the great “Usurping The Throne Of Disease” last year, and the release of Lucifer´s Chalice debut recording “The Pact”?, (which is totally different to Uncoffined and Winds of Genocide style)
It's a great little studio and he knows how to capture a great organic sound.
We channelled the spirit of the Bradford/West Yorkshire grimmness and Early Paradise Lost which was helped in part by using an old bass cab that once belonged to Paradise Lost!
More time was spent on vocals and mixing this time. Javi Felez (Moontower Studios) once again worked his mastering magick on our hymns of doom and darkness.
What are your current activitlies with Winds of Genocide after the release of the great “Usurping The Throne Of Disease” last year, and the release of Lucifer´s Chalice debut recording “The Pact”?, (which is totally different to Uncoffined and Winds of Genocide style)
Winds Of Genocide will continue
writing material for a 2nd album next year and the debut Lucifer's Chalice
recording will be released as an album in 2017.
As I know you have good
taste in music I will ask you to recommend your fave albums released this year,
any new doom metal album among them?
Dream Death – "Dissemination"
Darkthrone- "Arctic Thunder"
Ketzer - "Starless"
Discharge - "End Of Days"
Soulburn - "Earthless Pagan Spirit"
Heavydeath - "In Circles We Die"
Martyrdöd - "List"
Cauchemar - "Chapelle Ardente"
Minotaur Head - "Minotaur Head"
Serpent - "Trinity"
BAT - "Wings of Chains"
Gehennah - "Too Loud To live, Too Drunk To Die"
Church Of Misery - "And Then There Were None"
Vanhelgd - "Temple Of Phobos"
Sacred Steel - "Heavy Metal Sacrifice"
Head Of The Demon - "Sathanas Trismegisto"
The Temple - "Forevermourn"
Ursut - "Köp Dig Lycklig"
Age Of Woe - "An Ill Wind Blowing"
Asphyx -"Incoming Death"
Halshug - Sort Sind
Ringworm - "Snake Church"
Gatecreeper - "Sonoran Depravation"
Victims - "Sirens"
Dark Funeral -"Where Shadows Forever Reign"
Abigail - "The Final Damnation"
Ketzer - "Starless"
Discharge - "End Of Days"
Soulburn - "Earthless Pagan Spirit"
Heavydeath - "In Circles We Die"
Martyrdöd - "List"
Cauchemar - "Chapelle Ardente"
Minotaur Head - "Minotaur Head"
Serpent - "Trinity"
BAT - "Wings of Chains"
Gehennah - "Too Loud To live, Too Drunk To Die"
Church Of Misery - "And Then There Were None"
Vanhelgd - "Temple Of Phobos"
Sacred Steel - "Heavy Metal Sacrifice"
Head Of The Demon - "Sathanas Trismegisto"
The Temple - "Forevermourn"
Ursut - "Köp Dig Lycklig"
Age Of Woe - "An Ill Wind Blowing"
Asphyx -"Incoming Death"
Halshug - Sort Sind
Ringworm - "Snake Church"
Gatecreeper - "Sonoran Depravation"
Victims - "Sirens"
Dark Funeral -"Where Shadows Forever Reign"
Abigail - "The Final Damnation"
偏執症者 (PARANOID) - "Satyagraha"
Death Angel - "The Evil Divide"
Naevus - "Heavy Burden"
Diavolus - "You Lived Now Die"
Death Angel - "The Evil Divide"
Naevus - "Heavy Burden"
Diavolus - "You Lived Now Die"
Earlier this year the vinyl version of Ritual Death was released, Is there any agreement, or are you talking to any label to release the vinyl version of “Ceremonies…” soon?
There
is interest and plans from a label or 2 about releasing the 2nd album on vinyl,
hopefully that will happen in 2017.
I´d love to see Uncoffined touring Europe, any shows scheduled or plans for a tour?
I´d love to see Uncoffined touring Europe, any shows scheduled or plans for a tour?
No
tours planned yet but it's definetly something I'd love to do in the future. It
would be great to play live outside of the UK.
If you had the opportunity to represent a character in the remake of an old movie (or get into the skin of the original character), which character would you like to play?
If you had the opportunity to represent a character in the remake of an old movie (or get into the skin of the original character), which character would you like to play?
Countess
Dracula!
Thanks a
lot for taking the time and all the best! anything else you'd like to mention?
Many
thanks for the interview and continued support!.
You can pick up our new album direct from us, Memento Mori or via all good
dealers worldwide.
Buy it and be DOOMED TO DEATH!!
Buy it and be DOOMED TO DEATH!!
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