DoomSword - Our Names Will Live On

1. Deathmaster, to be honest: I’ve always hoped for a fourth DoomSword-record but after hearing about your move to Ireland and the release of the Gjallarhorn-record my expectations were not quite high. Four years is a long time – what happened after “Let Battle Commence”? Was there a time when DoomSword disappeared?

Well the gap between the two albums was caused by a number of  reasons one being that we put two albums out in quick succession and so there was always going to be some sort of period to stop and reflect before starting on the fourth. Also as you know I worked on the Gjallarhorn album and two other members of DoomSword are members of one or more bands. When I moved to Ireland it took some time to have all the equipment I needed to record and to get my guitars sent over. I started writing material for MNWLO with a borrowed acoustic guitar and there was no routine in place to exchange ideas with the rest of the guys in Italy.

But then again, you might agree with me when I say that after this break DoomSword are simply better than they were before.

            After ‘Let Battle Commence’ was recorded work began on the Gjallarhorn album for myself and Wrathlord.  I did the guitars and the vocals on the album (I used the nickname Vali, a name already used when I played in Agarthi, more than 10 years ago). In the meanwhile we were busy rehearsing with DoomSword for our European tour, then for the gig in Athens, then for the Tradate Iron Fest and for the Bang Your Head warm up show.

I moved to Ireland the following September and spent a lot of time visiting places and reading, realising how much material for inspiration was around me.

 In 2005 we went through the phase of interviews and promotion for Gjallarhorn and I started writing a few lyrics for DoomSword, by the end of the year, a lot of drafts were ready and the album started to take shape

January 2006 was when the pre-recordings began intensely and we were in the studio September 2006. We finished the recordings in early December and as usual another 6 months is needed before the album can see the light.

The speed at which DoomSword have been working increased as time went by, we needed to figure out the fastest and most efficient ways to work together, and we learnt a lot of lessons. Hopefully we have the routine in place to go in the studio a bit quicker next time.

2. What does the recent line-up look like?

The line up is the same of the BYH 2004, with Geilt at bass and Sacred Heart at the lead gtr, and the rest of the “veterans”, Wrathlord, The Forger and me.

When you look at it like this, it’s been more than 3 years since this line up started working together… in fact, the last line up change happened a long time ago.

3. “My Name Will Live On” is the great title of the new record which is also the name of the last track of “Let Battle Commence”. Is this the only link to the last record? How would you compare the new one to ones before?

My Name Will Live On is a more complete album. You get all the elements of the previous albums but with elements of novelty compared to the old productions.

I think MNWLO has a lot more to offer to the listener than the previous recordings, much less repetition and a lot more attention to detail, even from a lyrical point of view.

We obviously want to create the “bond” between albums by taking our title from a verse or a title of a song on the previous album, and I think you can clearly hear from the first few seconds of the album that doomsword are definitely back, but we want to avoid at any cost to produce a “let battle commence 2” and instead offer more and more to our fans.

Strictly from a musical point of view, there are faster songs (steel of my axe is our fastest ever), more complicated songs (once glorious or the great horn) and our usual “strange” song (thundercult). Viking maniacs have their thirst quenched on Luni and those who liked our irish songs will surely enjoy death of ferdia.

We’ve grown a lot in many aspects, I hope this transpires from our songs.

4. Would you introduce and describe each of the new songs musically and maybe lyrically?

The album has a general theme of your name living on through your deeds, hence the title. Death of Ferdia is taken from Irish Mythology – CuChulainn fought a three day duel with his best friend and foster brother Ferdia, which lead to the death of both heroes, in one of the most tragic ends of world’s mythologies. Irish Myths have always been one of DoomSword’s most influential themes, and this is one of the most glorious tales of Ireland.

Gergovia describes the mighty clash of the most important cultures of Europe of 2000 years ago: Romans and Celts. In particular, the episode focuses on the battle of Gergovia, one of the few Gallic victories over Caesar, and on the figure of the hero Vercingetorix, symbol of independence and freedom, still to these this day.

Days of High Adventure is a song for all those who love the sensation of epic, and the emotions that epic tales invoke in their souls, hence the reference to famous novels and legends during the song, from Conan to Excalibur, through Elric.

Sword of light is inspired by the mythical symbol of a sword that is ruler of man’s destiny, a weapon that was forged before man existed and that was known to many under many names. I’m sure you’ll guess some of them.

Once Glorious is dedicated to our region, Lombardy, and its (once) glorious history.

Thundercult is a visionary song inspired by the concept that a human being can ascend to the state of a god, its quite a crazy song I don’t want to over explain it …I want to let the fans figure this one out as  it is not based in history.  What you can see though is that there is a trait d’union between all these concepts. The name of all the characters, real ones or of fantasy, will live on…

I don’t want to give everything away so I’ll let you figure out the meaning of the remaining songs…

5. Who created the cover artwork? Did you choose a classic painting once again? I love the DoomSword-artworks from the past!

We did, the painter is called L.Royer and the painting itself was created in 1899 and it’s currently exposed at Museum Crozatier in France.

6. Did you compose the record alone or did you send tapes or CDR from Ireland to Italy and back?

Every song has a different history of who wrote what, but for each song we sent cd’s to each other to arrange the tracks and coordinate the work.

It was the first time for us to try out this method of composition and I have to say that it took a while to pick up but then it worked really well, and as the songs were improving the morale was growing higher and our confidence getting stronger and stronger.

Now we are prepared to work like this on our future releases and we’re quite happy with this situation.

7. A lot of Underground fans expect another great vinyl release of “My Name…” Will they be satisfied once more?

YES!

8. In 2004 you had the possibility to play at the Rock Hard-Festival which would have been a great opportunity to push the band - but it never happened. Can you give us the reasons why?

Unluckily, our guitar player Sacred Heart injured his arm a few days before the gig, and there was no time left to find a temporary replacement for him, simple as that…

9. Do you have any tour activities in 2007?

Yes, at least 3 dates are confirmed: 27th Oct in Milan with Wotan, 22nd December headlining Swordbrothers festival and then Keep it true X.

10. How long will it take to release record number five? I hope not another four years, right?

Ahaha no don’t worry Michael. As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t have routines in place to go on working with the band, but we do now and we should be able to work at a much faster pace than in the last 4 years. We are actually already working on new stuff at the moment, so do not despair!

11. What can you tell about the Metalscene in Ireland? Is Metal happening over there?

The metal scene in ireland isn’t bad at all, only there is a lot more attention given to extreme metal then classic metal, though there are a few very good heavy metal acts such as Old Season and Steel Tormentor.

12. Anything important to add?

Yes, thank you all for the support demonstrated in the last 4 years and for never stopping to believe in DoomSword. Steel at side, horns up high, You are the Riders of Doom.

© Michael Kohsiek 2007