ADifferentShadeOfBlackMetalZine: Sol Draconi Septem

Sunday, March 21, 2021

Sol Draconi Septem Interview

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?

Tauon - Hello there, since we have recorded the album we have worked on the communication and the distribution with Season of Mist. Now the album is finally out !

And we are working on the next project for Sol Draconi Septem, guitars and drums are already recorded. This split will be released at the end of this year.

The next album is planned between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.

2.Recently you have released your first full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

Tauon - SDS is a mix of black metal and many kinds of music like jazz, funk, electro, pop, other types of metal, movie musics etc... We love to experiment.

At first we just have the idea to make an album about spatial black metal. When the idea to make a concept album on Hyperion has bloom we have rewritten our songs around the vision of what we want to share around the book. Texturing, lyrics, rhythm, new instrument s(like saxophone) are all think to serve that purpose.

3.The lyrics and the band’s name comes from Dan Simmons's Hyperion Cantos, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this author and his novels?

Kaon – Well it’s an universe I’ve always loved, since I read the novels as a young man, discovering and consuming every scifi books and movies I could find. I’ve been fascinated since day 1, by this rich and deep universe, which is enhanced by the writings and the characters that live in it. Sadly it has never had a video adaptation or anything else, so it was a great occasion to use this universe and make more people discover it !

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

Tauon - The artist Guibz made the cover (follow him !) : It represents The Shrike, the principal antagonist of the book. You haven't so much representations of Hyperion in the artistic world, so we have to construct our vision of this universe. Pretty happy about the work with Guibz. But, we can't tell as much as we want about this creature because that would spoil people who haven't read the book yet. So, please, read the book.

5.Are there any plans for any live shows once the COVID19 pandemic ends?

Tauon - SDS is not a live band. So we will not perform any live, except if we have a big headliner in festival and time to prepare ourselves : to approach what we do on the album, we need to be 8 or 10 on stage.

6.The album was released on 'Time Tombs Productions', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

Muon – It’s my own label that I created with a friend of mine as our concerts production activity is totally stopped for now, check out our page if you want to learn more about it ! A lot of good stuff are coming.

7.Do you have any interest in any authors besides Dan Simmons?

Kaon – Oh definitely. Frank Herbert is another big one, as well as Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Lovecraft, Alan Moore, Warren Ellis and Mathieu Bablet. Also I recommend to check out Alain Damasio, a french scifi author who’s incredible with words play, and who create incredible worlds and futures.

Muon – I'd say Tolkien, Lovecraft, Tom Clancy and Stephen King. But I don’t have a lot of time to read unfortunately …

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

Kaon – Weirdly positive overall. Except a couple of people who would like more industrial parts (which I understand), it’s been really nice to have so many good reviews and excited feedbacks on our album !

Muon – We had a lot of feedbacks from fans of different kinds of Metal and non-Metal, It’s always positive ! It’s very motivating for us ! We had also awesome feedbacks from some of our inspiration like the leader of Sojourner which is totally unexpected !

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

Kaon – We’ll definitely try to add even more influences into our music, more industrial and electronic parts, as well as more jazzy parts. We wanna push the blend of organic and electronic sounds together further !

Tauon – I'm impatient to test new things and push ourselves in new explorations.

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?

Tauon – For this album my drums play was mostly influenced by a mixed of old and modern rock/pop music of different country, jazz, technical deathmetal and obviously all the blackmetal scene.

Those days i listen meditation music, ambient music, Max Mitch beat tape, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Aklhys, Bloodhound gang, Clown Core, None or Olhava.

Kaon – Overall, I’m mostly influenced by progressive metal and rock bands, as well as jazz and funk music. As for what I’m listening those days, I’d say Alpha Wann – Don Dada Mixtape, Benjamin Epps – Le Futur, and Sly And The Family Stone – There’s A Riot Going On

Muon – As I said before I was really influenced by Sojourner and all this atmospheric Black Metal scene, also Caladan Brood, Summoning, Khonsu, White Ward, … And also Industrial Metal like Fear of Domination (check out the album Distorted Delusions !), and outside of Metal I’d say Hans Zimmer and Vangelis !

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Tauon – My studies are about music... so I don't really take time to do other things for the moment.

Kaon – Photography, urbex, movies, IT/science and new technologies, comic books … I have a lot of passions outside of music, even if I spend most of my time working on some kind of musical projects, one way or another.

Muon – Not a lot of things outside of music because it’s my main work … But I’d say video games and I also travel a lot.

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

Kaon – Always experiment. Don’t stay stuck in one genre or pattern. Art is made for experiment.

Tauon – Read Hyperion with our music in background ^^

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Sol Draconi Septem/Hyperion/Time Tombs Production/2021 CD Review

Sol Draconi Septem are a band from France that plays a melodic and industrial form of black metal and this is a review of their 2021 album "Hyperion" which will be released in March by Time Tombs Production.

Industrial style synths start off the album and also mixes in with the heavier sections of the songs at times. Saxophones can also be heard in some parts of the recording while the solos and leads are also done in a very melodic style along with the riffs also adding in a great amount of melody.

Vocals are mostyl high pitched black metal screams while death metal growls can also be heard at times. When the music speeds up a decent amount of tremolo picking and blast beats are also utilized along with the songs also adding in a decent mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts and clean vocals can also be heard at times.

Throughout the recording you can also hear a decent mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts along with some spoken word parts also being utilized briefly ona couple of songs. Symphonic and atmospheric sounds can also be heard in certain sections of the music as well as the songs also capturing a very sci-fi orientated atmosphere. The production sounds very professional while the lyrics are a concept album based upon Dan Simmons's "Hyperion Cantos".

In my opinion Sol Draconi Septem are a very great sounding melodic industrial black metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "The Man Who Cried God" "The River Leth's Taste Is better" and "The Last Pilgrims". 8/5 out of 10.