By Isiamon of Immolith
A few months back I featured an amazing Black Metal album by the Finnish Horde Alghazanth. Now Woodcut Records, the same label that unleashed Algazanth’s Vinum Intus on the World,offers us the blackened Finnish metal of Forgotten Horror. Their debut album The Serpent Creation was released on September 2, 2011. Mikki Salo the mastermind behind Woodcut Records contacted me and asked me to help spread the plague of Forgotten Horror. Without hearing the band, I knew coming from Woodcut Records this was a band we should all know more about. So with that in mind, I offer you my entire interview with Forgotten Horror.
With whom am I speaking, and what is your role in Forgotten Horror?
My name is Tuomas Karhunen, and I’m responsible for the music, lyrics, vocals and guitars in FORGOTTEN HORROR.
Can you talk about the band’s history a bit?
Well, to put a long story brief, I started the band in January 2004. First I didn’t have a line-up but it was always crystal clear that FORGOTTEN HORROR was a band, not a one-man project. Then with time I found the right people and now we are fully active, with the intention to play as much live as possible, and to go forward with creating new material.
According to your website the band formed in 2004, released one demo in 2007 and the current album The Serpent Creation. What accounts for the many years between the formation of the band and the current release of your debut full length?
Everything has its time and place, you know? I think it’s important to learn to know when it’s time to wait, and when to strike without hesitation. And that applies to all areas of life. In this case there were several reasons for the long wait. After I started the band I moved from Finland to Spain for a couple of years, but all the time I kept writing songs. Then in 2007 Kassara joined the band as the drummer, we released the demo and I moved back to Finland. In 2008 Corpse joined FH as the bass player and in 2009 we recorded the album. Soon after the recordings I moved from Finland to my current headquarters in Sweden, and I went back-pack traveling to South-East Asia for some months. So, during these years I’ve been moving around quite a bit and that naturally takes time. But now I’m settled in Sweden and everything is working smoothly. I want to emphasize that there definitely won’t be a similar wait with the next album, as a matter of fact I’ve already started working with it.
The guys in your band are also members of Deathchain. How is Forgotten Horrror different then Deathchain?
Well, FORGOTTEN HORROR differs a lot from DEATHCHAIN, and if you listen to ‘The Serpent Creation’ or our demo this is quite obvious. The whole approach to Metal and the sound of is different with these bands. I couldn’t find much to compare those two with, except that they can both be quite fast and that the lyrics dwell mostly within esotericism and occultism. Actually I play in three different bands with Corpse, but that doesn’t mean that they sound even remotely similar, one of these bands is more rock oriented stuff anyway. It just means that there’s a lot of musical ideas coming out and that we can be very creative and work with different kinds of music. But of all these bands, FORGOTTEN HORROR is the only one where I make all the music and lyrics, and that affects the overall sound and atmosphere of course.
Not having a chance to hear the album yet except for the one track that you’ve made available from your website, can you tell me and our readers a little bit about what they should expect to hear on The Serpent Creation?
Expect fast and aggressive extreme Metal with also melodic and slower parts in it. I try to make music I really feel like listening to myself, something that sounds fresh. Something you want to listen more than once.
Could you talk about the songs on the album, and the philosophy and inspiration behind the band’s songs and lyrics?
The album is an initiatory opening for the blood-dripping gate of Lilith, and the inspiration comes from several occult systems such as Qliphothic dark magic, Hindu and Buddhist Tantricism, ancient Mesoamerican spiritual traditions et cetera. It is the first conscious step towards the darkness of Lilith, and with ‘The Serpent Creation’ the journey just begins.
Where was the new album recorded, and who was the producer?
The album was recorded in Finland, at my home city Kuopio. The drums were recorded at Studio Sound and the other stuff was recorded elsewhere. I produced the album alone, but the sound engineer Jari “Tupi” Tuomainen had a lot to do with creating the album, so he was kind of a co-producer. And he helped me out a lot especially with the vocal arrangements.
The Serpent Creation
What is the band’s philosophy on recording? In other words do you prefer to work for a precise, clean, slick modern production? Or does the band attempt to keep things more traditional or old school in the studio?
It all depends. The demo 2007 had a raw brutal sound and it suited the material perfectly. But for ‘The Serpent Creation’ I wanted to go forward, I wanted a sound where all the instruments can be heard clearly. Not a clean sound, but trying to create an aggressive atmosphere with tight playing and aggressive vocals, without the nuances getting drowned under a wall of distortion, you know? I want to explore and try out new ideas with FORGOTTEN HORROR, so I have no idea how the next album will sound, it all goes on the terms of the material. I’ll probably continue with balancing between and old and new, hopefully resulting in a unique sound. Not being old school but not overproducing the sound into clinical plastic either, heh.
In my opinion Hammer of Hate and your label Woodcut Records has been behind some of the best black and death metal coming out of Finland. How did you guys get involved with Woodcut, and how has the relationship between the band and Woodcut been so far?
I had the album ready and recorded and when I started thinking about finding a publisher, Woodcut Records happened to contact me before others. Things just sorted out easily from there on. So far things have been working very well and I’m very pleased with Woodcut Records. They are showing a lot of interest towards FORGOTTEN HORROR and things go as they should between the label and the artist. I’m looking forward on making the next album in co-operation with them.
As a metal fan that remembers when vinyl was the main medium music was released on, I am glad that bands are again releasing music on vinyl. What are your personal thoughts on different mediums for releases in this day and age of digital music? Is it worthwhile for underground bands to still press CDs let alone vinyl or cassettes?
Yes of course! ‘The Serpent Creation’ will soon be released as LP and all of my bands release their stuff on vinyl also. I do listen to mp3s and CDs, but vinyl definitely has the best sound, there’s this warmth and room in it you just cannot have in a digital format. I still have my cassette collection as well, so even though I don’t release cassette stuff myself, I could imagine buying good new music on cassette.
What are the band’s plans as far as touring and gigging to support the new album? Is there any chance we can expect to see Forgotten Horror in North America?
Hopefully we’ll start touring as soon as possible, but so far I think we’ll focus on single gigs, first here in the North of Europe… We had our first live performance earlier this fall, we did the album release gig in Finland and it went great! It really left us hungry for more, and now with a complete live line-up we’re eager to build the whole concept of the live FH experience forward. I have no doubt that we’ll plague the States some day also, it just has to wait a little.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, any last comments or news you want to share with us?
Thank you for the interview and for the interest towards my band. For the readers, check out ‘The Serpent Creation’ album and the nasty music video, they’re both now unleashed and available. Keep the fire burning!
Forgotten Horror “The Serpent Creation” Official Video
Forgotten Horror Official Website
In Blood,
Isiamon
