1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
After releasing the new album (January 2023) we of course tried to promote it and played few gigs in Czech republic and Slovakia. There was one special concert in our hometown, just very recently (end of June) where we played on a small courtyard, so open air, old walls, and own sound production (little bit underground style) 😊
2.In January you had released a new album, musically how does it differ form the stuff you have released in the past?
We have a typical footprint from the late 90’s – melodic black/doom metal, with keyboards, flute, female voice and male grunts, melodic or slow doom guitars. This is something what media is telling us is wrong – that we do not change ourselves. However I am not taking that so badly, you need to have a typical footprint (Iron Maiden has, it, AC/DC as well, ...) and evolve even. We try to bring always some small elements on top – in this case it was more acoustic guitar playing in parallel with the electric one, male clean voice in few songs and live (not much to be heard in the recording) we use a timpan (hit orchestral instrument) which is very rare. (also expensive 😊 )
3.The band was also broken yup for a few years, what was the cause of the split and also the decision to reform?
We have this question in almost every interview 😊. It was simply the destiny – me (as a composer) was empty of ideas, few band members started their own families or travelled abroad. We met together after 14 years, with having family life little bit stable and tried to put something together. Since the comeback (2018) we released 2 albums, what we did not expect. We somehow thought we will only play the old songs, as we have seen many people wishing our comeback, but we had luck there were ideas even for 2 albums.
4.The lyrics and the band name comes from the writings of J.R.R Tolkien, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in his writings and also do you have any interest in other fantasy authors?
Apologies if you got wrong information. Inspiration by Tolkien was with us in 2003 on our 2nd album „Grond“. The last album is inspired by old Slovak (our country) faerytales and castle legends. Do you know that Slovakia is the country with most of castles / ruins per one citizen? With that lot of old legends come and we try to use them in the lyrics. Normally these are stories about unhappy love, romantic topics, wizards, dragons, witches, prophecies, curses .... all the themes from the new album are captured on the album layout if you watch carefully.
The stories normally end sadly, therefore also the album name LUEA (Living Unhappily Ever After).
5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
I touched this topic in the previous answer. It is a collage of all various tales and legends being used in the song lyrics. You will find an abandoned cursed castle, maid jumping from a cliff because ending her life due to an unhappy love, wizard calling a dragon, witches flying above the mountains and few others. In te part with the mountains we incorporated the highest hill of our country, which has a typical abyss seen on the first look.
We like the artwork much and it was created by a talented guy Joan Llopis Domenech.
6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We have mainly small underground concerts (70 – 250 people in the audience) and they have one thing in common – great atmosphere coming from the fans. We try to communicate with people and lead them to support us by clapping some rhythmical parts.
What is maybe unusual is ( I mentioned already earlier) – using timpani, which is a great instrument – if visually or sound wise.
It is not easy to set up the sound for it, therefore we rather use it for the open air concerts. For smaller or indoor events we have an alternative – a tom hidden in piece of wood. People always ask us if that is real. It is.
7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Currently we have set a summer break. We are a small band, without label – it is not easy to get to festivals, speaking about some known ones. We can rely only on luck and friendship / support of some local promoters. Here we had a great opportunity to play as support of Eluveitie last year, the last band before they started. That was great, you do not have this kind of luck normally. (we had something similar long time ago when we played in front of Nightwish). If you are successful to get to some festival, band of our size, which is completely unknown normally gets playtime very early when not much people are in.
Our dream was to get to some bigger festivals in Germany, however not successful there. Nevermind, we know that music is business as well.
8.Currently the band is unsigned but has worked with a label in the past, are you open to working with another label again in the future or do you prefer to be independent?
We released our last 2 albums by ourselves. There are pros and cons to be with some label.
Pros – much better promotion, distribution, chance to get to better concerts.
Cons – you are somehow bound, and we do not prefer that. In the current situation we have complete freedom (but of course losing the pros)
We do our music from heart, it is not our money income (rather money absorber 😊 ).
I am not saying label yes or no, but feeling fine where we are.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black and folk metal?
We are a small band from a country which is not that known on the worldwide metal map. We have a small, but strong and heartful fan base in our country. If I take a look where did we send our albums, then it is Czech republic, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, US, Japan, Russia, .... But very small quantities – every country to be counted on fingers of one hand.
Still, it is very hard to get successful nowadays. There are so many bands, so much competition. Some of them are more stronger virtually (reactions on facebook, views on youtube), but what we learned from smaller bands – strong virtul presence does not mean autoamtically success.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Nobody knows. Ideas are coming as they are. There is no band with never ending source of ideas – everybody will start to repeat themselves. Here is the advantage to be not contracted with a label and feel the pressure to produce even being not convinced about well deserved result.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles the band members are currently listening to nowadays?
Every of us liks something different. Schwarzwald (guitarist) likes more power bands like Statovarius, Evergrey, Kabi (bass guitar) likes Finntroll, XIII, stoleti, Rob (drums) some old Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth and of course some drum strong bands like Behemoth, Lydia (female voice, flute) likes not only metal. Myself, Crom (keyboards, male vox) loves bands from mid of 90’s – Summoning, Bal Sagoth, Therion, Hecate Enthroned, .... in the last year I listen much to old friend band from Germany – Ancient Ceremony.
12.before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
What else I can do instead of – thanking you (for space for our band, and interest) and to everybody who reads this. If we are new to you and you like atmospheric melodic metal music (with emotions, little bit medieval/folk touch – flute, with keyboards, beauty and the beast vocal style, ...) drop some minutes to listen to us where you can find us online.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orkristofficial/
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