The Aristocracy Proudly Arrives In Its Twenty-Fourth Interview With The Slovak Band Solipsism.Within two weeks, they present us with their debut album titled as Our Night Never Ends.This is a Black Metal that does not shy away from its greatest traditions. The evil and negative energy. This band shows it in a hard and honest way. In addition, it shows a genuine love for their Slovak roots. Since some of their songs are made in their own mother tongue.The band have this formation:Diavliv On Vocal And Keyboards,Naer on Guitar,Porenut on Bass And Asterion On Drums.All band answer our questions.Let's go to a song by this band so we can see this exclusive interview in all its emotions.
A1:Talking about the composition work in Our Night Never Ends?
Solipsism:Nothing special, really.It usually starts with our guitarist having an idea, he composes a few riffs, or a few parts of the song and sends it in the file for note-writing.Then the drummer composes drum parts and when the song starts to get some contours, lyrics are written by the vocalist and bassguitarist writes parts for the bass.After the song is complete, the vocalist comes up with phrasing for the song and adds keys/piano, if needed. In this whole process we share our ideas even beyond our individual instruments.For example,we say to the guitarist to play differently here and differently there,the same goes for the drummer and vocalist, etc.All in all, we mix it together,even though we tend to our instrument mainly.
A2:Why band doing an Jaromír Nohavica Cover?
Solipsism:The main reason is that the song Mikymauz“ is great.It also has very deep and depressive lyrics, which are suspiciously close to the context of „Our Night Never Ends“ album. For example, it starts with In the morning I am awaken by dark, I am touching my wrist if my heart is still beating, if I am still lucky or I am dead and I got polished shoes, morning by morning still the same awakening to nothingness,which is basically the idea of the album.The constant repetetive,cyclically repeating night of our lives.Also,we think that when you are covering other black metal bands,then you cant really make it very interesting, so its a lot more fun to go beyond your genre. And of course,Jaromír Nohavica is a very known singer in central Europe, mostly in Slovakia and Czech Republic, so it is something a lot of people might be interested in hearing.
A3:It's interesting that the band makes songs in their mother tongue.But was this done so that the words don't lose their meaning or is it a challenge that the band wanted to pose for themselves?
Solipsism:Its actually almost 50/50 with songs in English and well, it doesnt really have anything to do with a challenge. The process of writing lyrics is different based on the language you use. Every language has its own instruments, figures and styles that can be used, so it offers more versatility to switch the languages from time to time. And of course, lyrics are a way of sending a message to people, that is very important to us, so we know that English lyrics can reach more people in the world, yet some people in Slovakia may have trouble, so there are Slovak lyrics for them as well.
A4:Does this never-ending night the band refer to have a dark connotation for the band?
Solipsism:Yes, I guess you could say that, it is called OUR Night Never Ends“ after all. The album is about us and the never-ending night of our lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tN4wPgRBEI
A5:Some literature or film inspire the band?
Solipsism:Quite a few books from various existentialist authors inspired the meaning behind the lyrics and there is several references to philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche.Maybe partially a novel,Through the Night by a Norwegian author Stig Sæterbakken.
A6:How the band arrive to Sun & Moon Records?
Solipsism:When we recorded our first EP Trhliny v (ne)skutočnosti“,we sent a bunch of emails to various record labels.A few of them responded and we chose the best possible option for us, based on their offer and how big of a name that label had.And the choice was Sun & Moon Records.
A7:What kind of adventurous voyage band talk in this album?
Solipsism:We think you are referring to what Sun & Moon wrote about our album on their bandcamp page that,this is a surprisingly mature,courageous and adventurous voyage storming both the seas of old school and sailing to new territories!We think they meant that our music on this album is not a conventional black metal record and we are trying a more curious and adventurous“approach to the genre, combining old school with a new school black metal.
A8:What´s the idea behind artwork´s album?
Solipsism:The lyrics are a lot about wandering through the city at night, so the cover art is directly referencing that. A city at night, a person walks through it, guided by the light of a never-ending row of street lamps.
A9:What is the Zostup tragédie?
Solipsism:Its actually (V)Zostup and it’s a play on words in the same manner as you could see in the name of our first EP “Trhliny v (ne)skutočnosti”or in the song called “Svetlo (ne)existuje”. You can read the word (V)Zostup in two ways: Vzostup or Zostup and they are each other opposites.Vzostup” means “Ascent” and “Zostup” means “Descent”,so its up to you whether you read it as “Vzostup tragédie/Ascent of Tragedy” or “Zostup tragédie/Descent of Tragedy”. Either the tragedy of your life begins, or it ends. Its up to you. Its also a partial reference to Friedrich Nietzsche book called “The Birth of Tragedy From the Spirit of Music”.
A10:Is man an animal that carries the corpse on its back all the time?
Solipsism:Man is a consciousness trapped in a flesh prison navigated by a biological coding. The main difference between a man and an animal is that a man actually can find out that he is controlled by biological processes, whereas animal cant.The behaviour, however, has mostly the same essence.
A11:How is Solipsism different from your previous bands?
Solipsism:Its more melancholic, depressive, melodic and modern.Less aggressive and more focused on atmosphere and emotions.
A12:Before music,what the bands loves to doing?
Solipsism:We are really close friends who live in the same city, so we spend a lot of our free time together, even besides playing music. We like to go outside to the nature, we play a lot of board-games and video-games online together, we read a lot of books and watch movies/series.
A13:This album is conceptual?yes or no and why?
Solipsism:Both yes and no, depends on what you regard as a concept.All the songs are about one single theme, which is present throughout the whole album, but the individual songs arent really linked to each other and it has no story or anything. Doing a completely conceptual album with a story and deep hidden meanings and connections is both limiting and risky.Limiting,because you cant just write what you feel, every song is a chapter that is linked to the previous one and the next one, so you always have to write what makes sense at that precise moment, which makes it less personal in the long run.And risky, because you either make a masterpiece or fail miserably. If your concept is too easily comprehensible, it ends up looking ridiculous and if your concept is too hard, then nobody has a clue what the fuck you are talking about.
A14:Is the men like specie an experience going wrong?
Solipsism:Yes.No living organism should be able to comprehend its own existence,to be able to ask the question,why?Because the answer will always be for nothing and as you get this epiphany, you cant go back.The great truth is that there isnt one.And it only gets worse since that conclusion.
A15:The band feel differences between Trhliny V (Ne)Skutočnosti and now in Our Night Never Ends?
Solipsism:Of course. Trhliny v (ne)skutočnosti was our first serious effort,we were finding our style, learning how to do things properly, what works and what doesnt.Our Night Never Ends is better in every aspect:it has better sound, as its recorded in a studio, it has better composition, better musical skills... In terms of the style: well, I guess you could say that Our Night Never Ends is more melodic than the EP,but you can still hear that it was written by the same people.
A16:What kind of subject don´t deserve a Solipsism song?
Solipsism:Politics. We are aware that artists always played a strong role in revolutionary movements and what-not, but the art itself shouldn’t be tainted by something so profane as politics. Art should help us escape reality, not draw us further into it.
A17:Based on the songs of album and your own opinion,is it better to think the human being as agony than an animal for health?
Solipsism:Human condition is what you decide it is. If you want it to be agony, its going to be agony, if not, then it wont. Its all in your head.
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