The Total Sound Of The Undergound

Lelahel Metal

ADON's journey from friendship to music creation led to a unique blend of blackened death metal. Their debut EP 'Arkane' and upcoming album showcase their thematic storytelling and cinematic sound.

1. What inspired the creation of ADON, and how did the band come together initially?

Nath and I have made music together since we were teenagers, but mostly for ourselves or our friend groups. I think we came up with the band then. Since then, we've always connected through our love of similar music and stayed in touch over the years and every so often would send each other ideas. Over the pandemic, we decided to put some of those ideas to the test and start releasing music indepently. 

2. Can you share some insights into the themes and concepts explored in your EP "Arkane"?

On our EP 'Arkane', we took a few of the songs that we had initially written that felt like they belonged together most, re-wrote them and rearranged them and developed a theme based on what got us both into extreme metal in the first place; black metal!

Lyrically, it's mostly based on Arthurian imagery and concepts, and stories of legend that could have been. The song Arkane roughly supposes a story of a dark Merlin figure exacting revenge after being banished.

3. How was your experience working with Endarker Studio in Sweden for the mixing and mastering of your EP?

Devo at Endarker was great to work with! He gave a traditional black metal sound to our songs that harkens back to the classics that we grew up with.


4. What sets ADON apart from other bands in the blackened death metal genre?

I think what sets us apart is, for lack of a better term, a 'cinematic' sound or quality. The inclusion of elements from other extreme sub genres of metal also creates an ebb and flow throughout the songs so that they sometimes feel progressive. There are also keys/synths mixed deeply throughout and when combined with everything else, creates a layered and varied listening experience.

5. Could you elaborate on the collaborative process with musicians like Kyle Schaefer, Chris Beattie, Justin Sakogowa, and others on your debut album?

All of the guest musicians were friends first or became close friends quickly and during the collaborative process and were chosen specifically for their unique abilities. The inclusion of flute by Ember Belladonna on 'Axiom' and 'Adon' was deliberate from the get go as we wanted an ethereal sound for those songs in particular that we hadn't heard before in similar music. Each of them was placed deliberately based on their individual sound and the album is all the better for it!

6. How did the recording process for your self-titled debut album differ from that of "Arkane"?

'Arkane' was sort of like a proof of concept.  We each tracked at our homes as best as we were able (including James).  I think the sound we got out of it was great primarily because of James' ability to record and edit his own performances and Devo at Endarker being able to re-amp and enhance the sound in his studio. For the album, we tracked all of the major guitars, bass and gang vocals at a friend's studio in Hollywood. All of the other instrumentation was recorded individually by the musicians themselves and James had an upgraded setup compared to when he tracked the EP.  The album has a huge sound, and Dave Otero did wonders in being able to mix it all together.

7. What can fans expect from your debut album in terms of musical evolution and thematic exploration?

Musically, it is quite different and broader in scope than 'Arkane'. Thematically, it is similar in that we like to tell stories around a specific idea.  In this case, the title track is a classic tale of an ancient king playing god and getting more than he bargained for. All of our songs revolve around ideas of the apocalypse and the cosmos and how small we are in comparison to such monumental events and happenings.

8. How has ADON evolved since its inception, particularly with the addition of session drummer James Stewart?

We make whatever music we feel like making at the time...that's how we came into things and that won't change. Our music for us is just an artistic expression.  Exposure, recognition, financial gain...all of these things are just cool bonuses to us, should they even happen at all. This is a part of our ethos. James adds a level of clout that we wouldn't have been able to attain without him though,  and to us,  we're just lucky that he liked the music enough to track for us! His sound is exactly what we hoped for.  We haven't released anything without him, and we of course hope that he'll be open to tracking more with us!

9. Can you discuss the significance of dark fantasy and violent legend in your music and storytelling?

Humanity seems to have a propensity of repeating itself, and throughout history, it does so violently. It's a concept that never runs dry.  We think a great way of exploring that truth about us is through story.

10. What challenges did you face while creating your debut album, and how did you overcome them?

The challenges of making the album were myriad....from learning softwares, engineering skills, olde english pronunciation, technology failures, etc. Every artistic endeavor can sometimes feel like one big problem that needs to be solved and this was no different. However, the process is its own reward! It was a joy making it all come together and we can't wait to get started in earnest on the next release.

11. What are your plans and aspirations for ADON in the near future, considering the unique sound and narrative style you've developed?

While we have loads of plans, plans often change!  We hope that we can find a way to play a show or two with the album lineup (however impossible that might feel at the moment), or perhaps do a cinematic multi-cam recording. Of course we are also writing new material, and will most definitely be releasing more music. Our experiment paid off in our own minds and we proved to ourselves that we could make this happen, so there's no reason to not do it all again. We'd love to make more video content as well...a dream would be to produce a short film-esque music video for the title track in all of its 17 minutes of glory! \m/

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Musique | ADON (bandcamp.com)

 

 

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