ADifferentShadeOfBlackMetalZine: Trobar

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Trobar Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

We just released the digital version of our new album "Charivari", the CD version will be released soon, and we will be playing in different cities in eastern canada starting june.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound of the new recording and also how does it differ from the ep you had released in 2011?

Our new album is made of new songs and older songs we couldn't record in 2011 due to time limitations. The result is an album that covers the evolution of our sound from the beginning to today. We could say that Trobar took a more progressive turn last years, but our music is still a recipe with different musical ingredients : black and death metal, folk melodies, psychedelic ambiance, acoustic parts and progressive structures.

3.Your lyrics cover Celtic Mythology, how would you describe your interest in this topic?

We have some celtic elements in our music, but our lyrics are more inspired by Québec's legends and history. For example, we have a lot of legends talking about the devil coming to the surface to take the bad people with him in his trolley. In the last song of our album, "Pactés à mort", the devil comes to a tavern and tells the people that the one that will drink a whole barrel of his beer will have eternal life, and the ones that fail will burn with him in hell. This is a story we created, but we took some elements from our legends.

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

Trobar is an old french word describing the art of the minstrels. It has a common etymology with the french word troubadours.

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?

When we started playing, there were not a lot of folk metal bands in our place, so we really enjoyed when people came to listen to another band of another music style and ended up really enjoying our music. One of those great shows was when we opened for "Mononc Serge et Anonymus" in Rimouski. It was a dream coming true when we opened for Korpiklaani, Moonsorrow, Tyr and Metsatöll in 2012. We also had the chance to play a couple of times with the excellent band Unexpect.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

We will be playing in Québec on june 27, Montréal on june 28, and Rimouski in september. More shows are to be announced.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

For now, we focus on our new album. We want to keep our independence but we stay open for any opportunities that could make our band progress.

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

We received a lot of comments and reviews from places in the world we didn't expect. It makes us very proud that people around the world are interested in what we do. The way metal makes connections between people around the world is inspiring.

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

We already are working on some new songs. In our opinion, these songs are a proof that we are still improving our sound and that the best days are in front of us.

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?

Of course, we have been influenced by folk metal bands like Moonsorrow and Korpiklaani, but we also have influence from Québecois traditional music, more prog bands like Opeth, and 70s English and Québecois prog-rock bands like Jethro Tull, Harmonium, etc. We like to experiment with different kinds of music, for example fusion jazz, funk, various world music, etc.
The six of us listen to a large variety of musical styles, having in common metal music of course.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

People in our band have very diverse interests. We have a physician, a radio operator, some artists (we made our artworks ourself). We are interested in literature, content creation, politics, geography, history, gaming, etc.

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

Thanks for your interest, and don’t forget to listen to our album available on Bandcamp, and to follow us on Facebook!

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Trobar/Charivari/2014 CD Review

Trobar are a band from Quebec, Canada that plays a progressive from of folk metal with elements of black, death and thrash metal and this is a review of their self released 2014 album album "Charivari".

Nature sounds and synths start off the album giving the music a folk music feeling along with acoustic guitars that add a progressive and medieval feeling to the recording and the band also starts to add in more folk instruments.

After the intro the music starts to get heavier and goes into a more folk metal direction along with some growls and screams that bring in the death and black metal elements and all of the musical instruments have a very powerful sound to them and on some of the alter tracks keyboards are added into the music along with melodic pagan male and female vocals.

When guitar solos and leads are added on the album the music starts having a more melodic and epic sounding feeling and the acoustic guitars are make a return on some of the tracks without taking away from the heavier aspects of the recording and they also bring in more tribal and prog elements later on during the recording and they also bring in back up pagan shouts to give the music a more battle like feeling and some of the tracks are very long and epic in length along with some psychedelic elements being added onto some of the later tracks and they also b ring in a couple of instrumentals.

Trobar bring a more progressive and darker approach to their folk metal sound while also mixing in the heaviness of black and death metal, the production is very professional sounding and the lyrics are written in French and cover Celtic Mythology.

In my opinion Trobar are a very great sounding progressive/folk metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Troubadors" "Le Sacrifice" "Tyran" and "Pactes A Mort". 8 out of 10.