Summoner's Circle's upcoming album, "Cult," challenges religious institutions with a blackened sound and orchestration. In an interview, Gog discusses the album's themes, creative process, and anticipation from fans.
1. The
new video for "Irreverence of the Cross" is quite captivating. Could
you tell us about the concept behind the video and how it connects to the
themes explored in your upcoming album, “Cult"?
[Gog]
Thanks. The concept is essentially about the forced indoctrination of religion
and the violence and manipulation of religious institutions. The floating bible
pages represent the lies the institution drowns you in. You witness a forced
baptism with the subject overpowered by the religious authority against her
will. These themes are prevalent throughout the entire album.
2. With
"Cult," you've taken a departure from your traditional cosmic horror
themes. What inspired this shift towards a scathing indictment of religious
institutions, and what message do you hope to convey through the album?
[Gog] There
were a couple of contributing factors to this.
Throughout
history religious institutions have manipulated and controlled through fear and
have gotten away with murder, rape and torture all in the name of peace and
love, going against the very values they claim to stand for. Still, to this
day, they are not made to answer for their atrocities.
Secondly,
is the erosion of the separation of church and state here in the U.S. The
chokehold that religion, especially the religious right, is having on policy is
tightening. It’s extremely disconcerting and goes against the core values that
the founders of our country believed in. The overturn of Roe v Wade in June of
2022 and the legislated and discrimination and marginalization of the LGTBQ
community are just a couple of examples that, I feel, are just the tip of the
iceberg.
Lastly,
even though we’ve mostly focused on cosmic horror themes in the past, we’ve
still seen a good deal of pushback and criticism from religious types over the
years. Couple this with the above and this album is kind of a, “Well, then
let’s give them what they want then. They want something to protest? Here it
is. You think we’re blasphemous? Well, try this on for size. Want to know what
we think? Here it is. Enjoy.”
Cult is
absolutely an indictment of religious institutions. It is meant to show our
anger and outrage. It’s meant to show that change needs to happen. We hope the
message of this album resonates with victims and those hurt and/or marginalized
by religious ideology and institutions and shows that they are not alone.
3. "Irreverence
of the Cross" has been praised for its melodic elements and the way it
builds up. Can you share some insights into the creative process behind this
particular track and how it represents the overall sound of the upcoming album?
[Gog]
Irreverence was the first track written for the album and, essentially, set the
ball in motion for us moving forward. The writing process for this song started
fairly organically, and came to be when I was experimenting with some basic
chord forms that ended up becoming the verse and chorus. The bluesy clean part
and subsequent build up was quite intentional. I wanted it to crescendo into
something melodic and epic that had a memorable, harmonized solo in there
somewhere. Azra, our second guitarist at the time, wrote the catchy harmonized
lead line and the build that followed seemed to write itself. It was a very fun
song to write and the scale of the build and it’s energy was definitely key in
what we wanted to do moving forward with the rest of the album. We wanted this
album to be bigger and more grand in tone and vibe with more orchestration and
a bit more blackened overall.
4. The
album is set for a worldwide release on May 24, 2024. What can fans expect from
"Cult" in terms of musical evolution and thematic exploration
compared to your previous work?
[Gog] We
aim to grow as a band with every release, and I feel this is the strongest and
most complete album we’ve put together. Musically, fans can expect more of a
blackened sound with more orchestration and choirs adding to the ambiance and
giving the tracks a more immersive sound. The theme with Cult is intentionally
more in your face. From the production side, I think this is the best sounding
album we’ve made.
5. The
band has faced criticism and vitriol from religious factions in recent years.
How has this influenced your creative process and the direction you've taken
with “Cult"?
[Gog] See
question 2, lol. All band members wrote with purpose on this record and I think
that purpose is evidenced by the emotion in the created soundscape we’ve put
together.
6. Zach
Moonshine from Metal Devastation Radio expressed enthusiasm for
"Irreverence of the Cross," particularly highlighting a melodic part
at the 2:00 minute mark. How does it feel to receive such positive feedback,
and did you anticipate this kind of response when creating the track?
[Gog] I
like to sneak a little blues into my blackened - something that is more about
playing with feel. With the track opening up very in your face with blasting,
bringing it down to something with a melodic and heartfelt vibe seemed very
fitting and definitely in touch with the song’s subject matter. We were hopeful
that the song would resonate this way with with listeners, and it always feels
great when someone vibes with what you’re putting out there. The fact that it’s
Zach is like icing on the cake.
7. The
album is available for pre-order through the Black Lion shop. How does it feel
to see the anticipation and support from your fanbase leading up to the release
of “Cult"?
[Gog] It
couldn’t feel better. Our last album, Chaos Vector, was a Covid release and we
really only got the opportunity to tour for it during the end of 2022 through
2023. So it feels like “Cult” has been a long time coming. I think we’re are
just as excited as our fanbase, if not more so, to see the album available for
pre-order.
8. The
immersive world crafted by Summoner's Circle seems integral to your artistic
expression. How important is the visual aspect, such as music videos, in
conveying the complete experience of your music to the audience?
[Gog] As a
theatrical metal band, visuals are extremely important to the audience
experience. We put a huge emphasis on it and are always aware of how visuals
will tie into a video or live performance. We aim to make the total experience
memorable and always try and up our game in that regard.
9. As a
band, how do you navigate the balance between maintaining your artistic
integrity and responding to external criticisms, especially when addressing
sensitive topics like religion?
[Gog] As an
artist, criticism is just part of the game. Not everyone is going to like or
appreciate what you do, so I think your integrity as an artist is part of what
keeps you moving forward. We’re from the bible belt, have seen protests and
even been banned from one of our local venues because they deem us too
controversial. In the end, that’s their
choice. It’s sort of a badge of honor - better to be hated than ignored. At
least people are paying attention. We certainly hope people pay attention to
the message behind “Cult."
10. With
"Cult" being described as an album destined to leave an indelible
mark on the metal landscape, what do you hope listeners take away from this
musical journey, both in terms of the music itself and the messages embedded
within the lyrics?
[Gog] First
of all, a description like that is quite flattering and we’re grateful to
receive such a compliment. I hope they enjoy it. I hope they feel it. I hope
listeners can lose themselves in the soundscape we’ve created and feel the
emotion we put into this. I hope they see the growth the band has made over the
years and I hope the songs are songs that they’ll want to listen to over and
over again.
Summoner's Circle (@summonerscircle) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
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