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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
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CALLENISH CIRCLE
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Gav
November 2005
http://www.callenish-circle.com
Dutch metallers Callenish Circle have just released their new album entitled [Pitch.Black.Effects]. Read here what drummer Gav had to tell about the band's latest effort.
Hi there, how are you? Already tired of interviews? ;)
We're pretty ok. Really busy with the interviews and other promotional activities. Well, it's always cool if someone is interested in our new album and I'm always willing to talk about it. So nope, I'm not tired of the interviews yet :)
Ok, so [Pitch.Black.Effects] is still very fresh but how have the reactions been so far? I dare to believe you've seen yourself confronted with controversial opinions?
Yep, you're right about that. A lot of people write that we made the best album ever and some people (probably the ones that are more into conventional melo-death thrash ingredients) aren't that charmed by the album. The latest reviews we got were really stunning. It looks that those reviewers really took the time to listen to the album. What I do know is that we feel very comfortable with this album. We played some songs of the new album live and it really rocks! Another thing that's quite funny is that looks like people don't get it when they listen to it for the first time. We heard a few time that people at first glance aren't really into the album but after a few listings their opinion changes drastically and they think the album is absolutely top notch.
The official statement on your website reads "What we think...groovy as hell, catchy as Justin Timberlake and heavy as fuck!" So, what do you think of Britney Spears' latest album? ;D
Britney is a mommy now, isn't she? Too bad, she had such a nice body. But hey...the doctor will stretch some here and there and will fix her. So she has a new album. Mmm...we're more into Justin T. as you can read in our "official" statement. Hahaha.
Seriously though, can you elaborate a little about where you see the main differences compared to previous albums?
Well, some major points are: focusing more on modern groove stuff instead of speed. Don't worry there is still loads of speed there, just the focus is a bit different. The other thing is that we experimented more with electronics in the songs. And the last thing we worked on were the arrangements. The past few albums we had a kind of strict way to build up a song. With this album we changed this approach totally.
Whether I like the result or not, I definitely appreciate when a band evolves and tries new things instead of doing the same stuff over and over again. When was the point that you thought you had to give the music another direction and why did you choose the "electronic way"? Someone in the band into that kind of stuff in particular?
Well, we just didn't want to create the same album as the one before. We don't want to repeat ourselves. It would only get us bored. The only thing to avoid this is to explore some new elements.
About the electronic way.. we always experimented a bit with electronics. On "My Passion // Your Pain" about three tracks contained some electronic intros and outros. For this album we wanted to integrate the synths more into the songs instead of just using them as intro. Our livesound & studio engineer Gail Liebling is really into the electronic synth stuff and we worked close together for this album. He came up with some ideas and synth add-ons and we used the best ideas on the album.
What's your favourite track on [Pitch.Black.Effects] and why?
I think the album is strong because there are many tracks on the album that have their own atmosphere and elements. So it's pretty hard for me to choose a favourite. One track that really turned out quite surprising is "Guess Again". We only had a basic instrumental version of the song when we entered the studio but Pat did some really cool vocals on this one. After the electronics were added this track got a really aggressive groove.
It took you a while to come around with the new album. Are you slow when it comes down to songwriting or did you simply haven't the time to dedicate more time to it?
In 2002/2003 we were really busy with touring and all. So at the end of 2003 we decided to take a long break in 2004. We actually did a few live shows but I couldn't spend that much time to the band so we couldn't start writing new songs. By the end of 2004 I was available again and we started writing for this album.
What's the meaning behind the title [Pitch.Black.Effects]?
A few years ago I was in Berlin visiting the Jewish museum. Besides the whole Jewish history the most impressive part was (regrettably) everything concerning the holocaust. One room in the museum was created to give the visitor an impression of how it would feel to be locked in one of the camps. You must imagine to be in a concrete building; pitch black, cold, humid, alone, feeling really tiny, desperate and the only light was too far way and unreachable. For some reason this made quite an impression on me and when I read a poem a few months ago it immediately reminded me of my visit at the museum. The poem told a story of someone in a hopeless situation, who got their energy from really simple things, like this beam of light coming into the room every morning. The poem described this experience as coming from a completely dark environment (pitch black) into a light environment in a symbolical way . If you do this literally what you get is an overexposed effect in your eyes: a pitch black effect. Besided the title [Pitch.Black.Effects], the song "Schwarzes Licht" describes this whole story and the overexposed effect comes back into the artwork.
Speaking of arwork: Did you guys in the band came up with the idea for the coverart or did you give the artist Mircea Gabriel Eftemie free hands to do whatever he thought?
Well, for the cover we wanted a kind of overexposed effect that would not be as crowded as the previous covers. We explained Mircea and this was the first idea he came with. Because the cover is pretty plain the inside artwork of the booklet is pretty crowded. Every page has its own theme matching the lyrics of the songs. Yep, Mircea did a really good job. Besides the regular artwork the CD-DCD-set is packed in a pitch black artwork to create a total contrast with the overexposed artwork.
"Scharzes Licht" must be the experimental overkill on the album. Who's the female voice and why a German title and (partly) German lyrics? It's nothing I would expect from a Dutch band ;)
The German voice comes from Gail Lieblings wife; Kaleen. Why the German stuff? Now you know what the song is all about and we wanted to put in some elements that would intensify the atmosphere of the song so we added the German lyrics. The original work title of the song was "Black Sear", but as we added the German parts we also changed the song title. All just to create the right atmosphere.
Generally speaking: do you consider lyrics to be an important part or is it just something that has to be done? A necessary evil so to speak.
For us lyrics are pretty important. I think the subject of the lyrics, in our case extreme human emotions, should match the atmosphere of the song. We pay a lot of attention to create some decent not cheesy lyrics.
Just right before the recording of the album your bassist left the band. Maurice Brouwers stepped in for the recordings and I read that for future live activities you gonna have Wim Vossen on board. Does that mean he's not a full member of Callenish Circle?
That's right. Maurice from Engine of Pain only did the studio job. We agreed that we would do some new auditions for the full member after the recordings. Maurice did a really good job in the studio but as he's very committed to Engine of Pain we agreed not to take him on board for the live shows.
You already have in mind what you want to do differently for the creation of the next album?
Nope, we don't really plan it. Of course, there are always some minor things we want to do different compared to this album. But those issues are more in the area of recording. I doubt if we would put more electronics in the next album 'cause with [Pitch.Black.Effects] we feel we reached the limit of the amount of electronics. We even took away some electronic parts because we thought those were a bit overdone. Besides the electronic elements we also changed our way of arranging and focussed more on modern grooves & riffs. That, I must say, feels really cool so I think we'll continue to develop.
It seems after a lot of strife with labels during the early days you can be satisfied with Metal Blade now? I'm thinking of promotion as well as the bonus DVD for example. What can we expect to see on that one?
Well, we don't want to call this a bonus DVD as there are so many releases with bonus DVDs with just a bunch of crap on it. This DVD contains some serious quality recordings so we call it a CD/DVD set. The DVD contains a live concert filmed at 013 in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Further there are some festival reports of the Piorno Rock fest in Spain and the Brutal Assault fest in Czech republic. Besides that we added a studio report with an interview with producer Gail Liebling and a photo gallery of the minitour with Dismember.
Metal Blade announced you gonna start playing live again soon? Are touring plans already in the making, anything you can already reveal?
We're still planning everything for 2006. We are proud to be confirmed to support Paradise Lost on their Mexican tour. That's going to happen in January 2006. Further there are some plans to do some shows in Austria and Switzerland. Hopefully we can do some cool summer festivals too.
If you could be part of a say 3-band package and choose any of the other two bands: who would you want to tour with?
Let me think...I think there would be one big headliner band like Dark Tranquillity or Nevermore. I would put us in the middle. Besides that I would ask a recent signing by Metal Blade; a German band called The Ocean. I'm really impressed by them. Also a band that includes some fresh & cool elements in their sound including some Meshuggah alike rythms. That would be a really cool package, I think.
Thanks for answering the questions. Any last words to our readers?
Thank you for your attention to Callenish Circle. And to the readers: Just listen to the album with an open mind and you'll be convinced! We have some samples online @ http://www.myspace.com/callenishcircle or just visit the website @ http://www.callenish-circle.com.
Cheers!
submitted by Cora 26.11.2005
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