Nightshade Interview

 

1.For those that have never heard of you, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?

Thomas: Nightshade was founded in 1998 and was active in the underground scene until about 2004 when it changed its name and style. Originally, we created a metal style that was much influenced by bands like Samael, The Kovenant, the use of tons and tons of electronic and synths to create soundscapes, also with classical influences. Then in 2019, about 15 years later actually, I came up with the idea to reactivate the band.

David: Wasn’t I the one who came up with the idea?? Hahaha. I think I was kind of hoping this would happen at some point. I’m still very fond of our first demo, “Andromeda’s Heart”, released in 1999. It has this youthful energy that we never really captured after that. I wanted to “celebrate” its 20th anniversary so I uploaded a remastered version of it on Bandcamp. It so happens that Thomas had secretly been working on new songs. When he came to me with these demos, I was blown away and felt the stars were aligning again.

2.In November you have a new album coming out, can you tell us a little bit about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

Thomas: We wanted to stay true to that original energy and style because it’s quite uncommon. At the same time, we wanted to make an album that reflected who we are today as musicians and also as individuals. It’s a sort of return to the origins and at the same time an evolution from the last 15+ years. For example, we rearranged Chopin’s Opus 23, something that was really hard to do, integrated samples of opera voices alongside David’s clean singing and used lots of guitar tracks, like around 10 or so. Eventually, we worked with Sebastian Has, who is also known for his work with Behemoth, to produce a very warm and natural, yet powerful sound.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?

David: Right from the beginning of the band in 1998, there has been a “spacey” touch to our lyrics as well as many references to Greek, Roman and Christian mythologies. But they are roughly an imagery that allows us to dig into deeper themes. On Sounds of Dark Matter, we deal a lot with knowledge or rather the search for knowledge. “Set To Destroy The Heart Of The Sun” is about the feeling that all spirituality seems to be slowly dimming out in this world. “Pulsars 1.33” is about the desperate need for mankind to leave a legacy in the cosmos, though we’re bound to become extinct at some point. “A Call From Distant Skies” deals with how civilisations have turned towards the skies to try and explain everything that is happening down here, while at the same time trying to harness and conquer these stars.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Nightshade'?

Thomas: We were, and still are, huge fans of Summoning. Our band is named after their EP “Nightshade Forests”. Also, the song “A Call From Distant Skies” is our kind of tribute to the band.

5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

The angels represent The Lamb opening the seven seals. It’s an illustration by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, a German painter from the 19th century. We gave it a “Nightshade” twist of course…. the background is a surreal vision of space with clouds, there is also  a dying sun behind mystic symbols alluding to songs like “Pulsars 1.33” or “A Call From Distant Skies”.

6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?

Thomas: The current line-up is working just fine. But you know… “Never say never” haha … we’ll see what happens, especially as we’re having more and more demand for playing live.

7. On the album you also done a 'Kovenant' cover, what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?

David: A lot of the composition for the album was done during the 2020 confinement. People having too much time on their hands, these “10 albums that had a huge impact on me” lists started to bloom on Social media and it made me realize how important Nexus Polaris was for me when it came out. It’s actually the main album that drove Nightshade lyrically into space. Since we were kind of paying tribute to our own past, I thought why not acknowledge the influence of Covenant/The Kovenant by covering one of their songs. “Chariots Of Thunder” was always one of my favourite tracks off Nexus Polaris so we had a go at it. Thomas was keen to work on this but he wanted to twist it, to make it stand a bit off. Hence the “acoustic almost flamenco” version, haha.

8.On a worldwide level, how has the reaction been to your music by fans of industrial and black metal?

David: It would be a bit pretentious to state we aroused worldwide level reactions with Nightshade, hahah. We’ve been silent for more than 15 years so it’s hard to say how people will react to our sound today. We had many good reviews back in the day, most nodding to the freshness of this mix of orchestral, cold wave, thrash and industrial influences. The scene has evolved a lot since then and I feel there is a lot of space in today’s underground for experimentation, which is great. I hope we can squeeze in there.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Thomas: It’s a bit early to say as “Sounds of Dark Matter'' is just being released now. But we’ll certainly stick to what makes our music different: a blend of orchestrations with industrial/Dark Wave feel and some thrashy influences! … and we’ll certainly explore new frontiers.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Thomas: Part of my influences come from classic metal bands like Iron Maiden, etc… when I was a teenager. After that, there was the new wave of BM in the late 90’s and 2000’s that had a huge influence on me musically and personally. In the last 10 years I’ve been listening to so many things that I just couldn’t pick one. I’m also revisiting some bands, like I ‘m having a blast re-listening to Morbid Angel’s discography at the moment and following some new bands on bandcamp.

David: Having taken a very wee part in the composition, I can only speak about vocals and lyrical inspiration… I mentioned The Kovenant and I guess this is still something that lingers in my mind, at least lyrically. Vocally, I’d say you can hear I’ve listened to a lot of “Gothenburg death metal” in the past, though I don’t really listen to these bands anymore. I’ve grown up with thrash metal and that’s also a big influence, as well as a lot of atmospheric black metal, like Summoning, Winterfylleth, Negura Bunget, old Arcturus… Lyrically, I’m heavily inspired by Romantic and Symbolist artists, including painters. Hence the numerous references to Greek, Germanic or Christian mythologies.

11.How would you describe your views on Satanism and Occultism?

David : As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care much for Satanism as an oppositional system to Christianism. That being said, the serpent is a constant figure in our lyrics, used to embody both the idea of lie but also the thirst for knowledge. The Promethean figure is central in our universe. And Christianism forged the image of Satan from the Promethean myths, as the opposer of God, the one who offers mankind knowledge as a way to challenge God(s).

Thomas : I bought Anthon LaVey’s Satanic Bible back in the days. It had quite an influence on me on several fronts, like “good” or “bad” can have very different meanings compared to what society wants us to think. But today I feel more inspired by occultism. As a matter of fact, much of our current image as a band is based on mystic symbols. Together with the lyrics, it creates many ways in which you can discover our music.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thomas: we’re really grateful to ADifferentShadeOfBlackMetalZine and your readers for the support. We’re trying to share back as much as we can so please follow us on social media and check out our 2 videos for the album!

David: Yup, thanks a lot for choosing Nightshade to travel through time and space!

 

 www.facebook.com/NightshadeMetal