Havenless Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Hi, and thank you very much for this interview!
We are a progressive death metal band strongly influenced by bands as Opeth, Ihsahn, Enslaved. Founded in Toulouse at the beginning of 2012 by the Composer-Singer-Guitar player Fred Blanchard. A few months later, our first EP “Architecture of plague” came out, we played some gigs in the southwest of France while working on our first album.

2.Recently you have released your first full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the ep you had released in 2012?
To us, this album is following the same line as our first EP recorded in 2012, even if songs are different, they are less experimental more intelligible for the audience. About the sound now, we have maintained a natural and human touch, but in a professional studio this time. We are all very satisfied of this!

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The lyrics tell to the listener some mysterious and unnatural stories… even for us! ^^
Stories to be more specific could be considered like “Thrillers”, in wich victims and guilty are present. For example, the first four tracks in the album tell about two young boys who kill their mother because they are driven by a kind of supernatural ghost entity … but I’m not going to spoil anything, I prefer to let the curious read the booklet!


4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Havenless'?
As I said previously, in our stories, victims are present and their aggressors always achieve their goal . So these victims are helpless against this fantastic strength, without refuge… Havenless.
This is also a music title from a band I particularly appreciate: Enslaved

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Our best souvenir: I would like first to mention a live in Albi to celebrate 10 years of “Une nuit en enfer” with Necrocult, Trashnasty and Oldskull , the ambiance was perfect! The show in Montpellier with “Negura Bunget” and finally our live in Montblanc, at the “Garrigue fest” with our friends “Orob”!
I think we have been improving and we can’t wait to play our full album on stage next year!

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
We are now in the progress of organizing a tour in the north of France with “Orob” for February 2015. We will also participate in a maximum of concerts and competitions to promote best as possible our first new album!

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of progressive and extreme metal?
People liked our first EP, but we haven't really been able to export our music a lot ... that’s why we signed with the international label “Wormehole death”. Famous French webzines and magazines have supported us (such as Rock Hard, Metallian) but each reviews always ended with sentences like: “so excited to hear a complete album”!

8.What is going on with some of the other musical projects or bands these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Other projects of members in the band are not very active at the moment, exception for projects of our new bass player “Christine Lanusse” (Qantice, Hretghir, Brain Collapse)
Ben, our guitar player, plays with his cover band 70’s “Devik” on a regular basis & Fred (singer guitarist) project, Osuaire (old school death metal) is currently preparing an album.

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We’ll just let the music evolve in our future songs certainly with more clean vocals. As it starts with our new songs of the future second album, the atmosphere is in the way to be more 70’s while remaining melodic death metal! And we are working to have our sound evolving also.

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?
The main musical genres, which our composer is inspired by are Swedish metal, progressive rock, Doom/death metal, heavy metal of course and nice bands of non-traditional black metal.
To cite some band names : Opeth, Ihsahn, Katatonia, Hypocrisy, Emperor, Enslaved, Bathory, Ereb Altor, Isole (best doom/death band ever!), Porcupine tree, Steven Wilson project, etc… they are to many.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
We don’t have a lot of non-musical interest…Just our drummer “Romain” wich is a Geek! Chris also likes photography.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We wish to thank you once again for your interest in our band and interest for our first album! I have no doubt that progressive melodic metal lovers will like it !

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Havenless/The Crimson Lines/WormHoleDeath Records/2014 CD Review

  Havenless  are  a  band  from  France  that  plays  a  melodic  and  progressive  form  of  black/death  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "The  Crimson  Lines"  which  will  be  released  by  WormHoleDeath  Records.

  Nature  sounds  along  with  some  synths  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  more  of  a  prog  metal  direction  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  adding  in  more  melody  as  well  as  getting  a  bit  more  heavier  along  with  some  solos  and  leads  that  are  very  melodic  and  progressive  sounding  along  with  a  couple  of  tracks  that  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  When  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  are  in  the  growling  death  metal  vein  and  they  also  add  in  a  great  amount  of  acoustic  guitars  which  also  enhance  the  progressive  nature  of  the  music  while  still  focusing  mainly  on  a  heavier  sound  and  you  can  also  hear  a  great  amount  of  early  Opeth  influences  in  the  bands  musical  sound  and  some  of  the  later  tracks  add  in  elements  of  psychedelic  music.

  In  certain  sections  of  the  recording  clean  singing  vocals  are  utilized  and  most  of  the  death meal  elements  of  the  bands  musical  style  are  more  closer  to  the  90's  European  sound  and  you  can  also  hear  keyboards,  symphonic  and  atmospheric  elements  being  utilized  at  times  and  as  the  album  progresses  you can  hear  some  influences  from  later  day  Enslaved  and  Ishann  albums  which  also  add  in  a  touch  of  Norwegian  black  metal  and  you  can  also  hear  a  slight  influence  of  that  genre  in  some  of  the  screams  when  they  are  utilized.

  Havenless  plays  a  style  of  death  metal  that  is  very  progressive  bringing  back  to  the  early  Opeth  sound  while  also  mixing  it  with  some  of  the  more  progressive  element s of  the  Norwegian  scene  to  create  a  very  dark  and  heavy  sounding  recording,  the  production  sound s very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  mysterious  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Havenless  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  blackened  death  metal  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  should  check  out  this  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Sons  of  the  Raging  Season"  "Orphans  Of  Magic"  "In  The  Sorness  Chamber"  and  "Shades  in  The  Moor".  8  out  of  10.

http://httpv://youtu.be/0r0y4kIWXFw