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SOLOTHUS is a young - yet very talented and promising Death/Doom band from Finland, pretty different of what usually comes from those devastating lands of frost too... "Summoned from the Void" is a devastating aural mammoth plenty of crushingly slow tempos, deep growls, somber harmonies, mid-paced heaviness and epic atmospheres ; finally released a few weeks ago by Memento Mori rds, you need to check it out after reading the following interview I did with vocalist Kari Kankaanpää !!!
Hey, thanx for answering the following questions… Throughout different interviews over the last couple of years, I was always intrigued by your band’s name that you never explained clearly, you even said once that it would not be revealed before you become an old band ! then recently in Terrorizer you said it comes from an harsh infecting bacteria called “solothus maleficium” that people can catch in northern finnish forests…. How did Kat succeed to change your mind ? was it the best moment and media to finally give its origins ?!!!
Hey, thanx for answering the following questions… Throughout different interviews over the last couple of years, I was always intrigued by your band’s name that you never explained clearly, you even said once that it would not be revealed before you become an old band ! then recently in Terrorizer you said it comes from an harsh infecting bacteria called “solothus maleficium” that people can catch in northern finnish forests…. How did Kat succeed to change your mind ? was it the best moment and media to finally give its origins ?!!!
Greetings!
Well, to tell the truth, there are a lot of different words where the name
actually comes from. There is actually a lot more to the name… I remember there
was this old writer in Finland who had this long saga of books. In these books
there was this language he had made up called “jallurillion”. In said language
there is word “solothus” which means both “glorious” and “victorious”.
Your demo
“the ritual of the horned skull” got a very good response with stunning reviews
from death/doom zines and magazines (even including an interview with Decibel
mag !), but you guys took your time to craft new stuff, strengthtened the
line-up… it really looks like you didn’t
want to hurry things up too much but prefered to gather all conditions ultimately to propose a
very accomplished debut ? did you fix a kind of schedule in time and were you
all ok with this way of doing things ?
Well, we
were supposed to make a split album with Cataleptic. We even had a label
willing to put it out, but it never came out. Everything was ready, but then
suddenly the label pulled out of the deal. So we didn’t really have any plans
other than that, but then Raul from Memento Mori offered us a record deal and
we took it. We already had material for the debut album. We wanted to take
things slow and do a proper album, so we didn’t rush it at all. We always have
certain goals in the horizon what we want to accomplish and time tables. I
think we managed to get the album out at a perfect time.
Speaking
about the new line-up for the album, I think the drumming is tighter and the
addition of a 2nd guitar gives a thicker sound and value more
soloing… Have they been fruitful changes
as expected ?
Extremely
fruitful! Our new drummer Juha is propably the best doom metal drummer in
southern Finland, so we are really happy! With the addition of second guitar
the compositions can have more variations and more room for leads and solos.
Also with the second guitar we added a tons of more heaviness into the music!
Both those
new members play in Cataleptic but I guess things were clear between you and
them that SOLOTHUS is the highest priority for everyone in the band …. ?
For them,
Cataleptic is the number one band, for they have played in that always, but it
does not affect their motivation and dedication for Solothus. There has been no
conflicts.
Nihilistic
rds has re-released the “ritual of the horned skull” demo tape with a bonus
song, was this one from the original recording session or recorded later
specifically for this special edition ?
We recorded
two songs for the split with Cataleptic, A Call to War and Magus of Doom. The
split never happened and we wanted to re-record Magus of Doom for the debut
album. So A Call to War didn’t really have no use and it was recorded already.
Then Gabriel contacted us and asked if we had any bonus material for the
re-release. So we decided to use that song! It fits really well on the tape!
How did you
get in touch with Memento Mori records ?
They ‘re actually releasing very good material but were not that reknown back
one year ago when you signed… were you confident from the 1st
contact in their abilities to be THE label to deal with ?
Raul
contacted us and his offer was really good for us! I think they have seriously
good bands in their line up and he is adding more awesome bands all the time!
Raul’s enthusiasm, personality and professionalism really made a good
impression on us. He has so much respect for bands and he puts a lot of heart
and work into his label. I can’t say a single bad word about Memento Mori!
Did you
enter in contact with some label mates yet ? Have you heard tracks from the
awesome forthcoming album of Uncofinned ?
I haven’t
really been that much in contact with label-mates. Kat from Uncoffined I have
been in touch a little, really nice gal! Also newer addition to Memento Mori
roster Altar of Betelgeuze’s Matias I have been in touch a lot lately. I even
got to share some drinks with him at this years Hammer Open Air. I think there
will be more co-operation with said bands in the future.
I guess
that you’re impatiently waiting for your 1st gigs abroad ? Is there
something in the works for a tour ?
Indeed we
are! Would be great to get to play abroad, but at the moment, no offers has
been done really. We have been doing a lot of gigs in Finland for past year. It’s
all good. I love to play gigs where ever it is!
Logically
or not, people almost systematically
refer to Hooded Menace when speaking about Solothus… basically there’s
some common elements for sure but I feel you’re more brutal and melodic at the
same time and don’t have those horror-like moods, after all don’t you think
that if they were American or Chinese, the comparison would be different or inexistant?
Well yes,
there is a lot of that. I think Hooded Menace is brilliant band! Really like
their stuff, but I think we have different thing going on. I find lot of
differences but there are also similiarities. Of course the fact that we are
both from Finland and that we play Death/Doom Metal plays a part. I still don’t
mind! We even played a tour with them, which was awesome!
On the
other hand I’m a bit surprised that you never name finnish bands as
influences/references while your country has been hyper productive during the
last two decades in doom/death departments, is that you’re more into swedish
legacy with Candlemass and Lake of Tears (surprising !) ?
Hmmm that
is true. We tend to favor our neigbours, hehe. The fact is that when we put
Solothus up, we were really into Candlemass and still are. Me and Veli (lead
guitars, composer, original member) grew up listening to Lake of Tears. It was
the first heavy metal bands we were into. Those are the major ones. But easily
a lot of finnish bands have influenced us! Reverend Bizarre, Fall of the Idols,
Spiritus Mortis, Rippikoulu, Abhorrence, Funebre, Convulse… List goes on and
on.
What do you
think of a band like Purtenance coming back more than 20 years after their (brief) 1st existence and getting just 20 metalheads for their 1st
reunion gig ??? Aren’t young people interested by old names like Purtenance,
Demigod, Demilich, Adramelech, Phlegethon, etc… ?
I love the
fact that they are back! As long as they make kick ass material, I don’t mind!
Well, the gig they had at Tuhdimmat Tahdit was a festival for all kinds of
people, it was not a metal festival and they played the first slot or something
like that, hence the low number of people. If they would have played at a
proper gig place with some other bands, I think there would have been a lot of
people there. Certain younger folk are into old school death metal, but
majority of finnish people are into all this plastic metal that comes from all
corners of the earth. All this folk metal/melodic/metalcore bullshit. People
are too lazy to look up for the real killer bands!
It is
definitely not something obvious to catch attention of both fans from Candlemass and Autopsy ... but Solothus has instantaneously done it
without sounding too old-school, do you feel more close Doom or Death
metal or you make no distinction and
just enjoy your music heavy , ugly and epic at the same time ?
That is a
good question. I myself grew up with doom metal, but been into death metal also
my whole life. I have always viewed Solothus as a doom metal band since a lot
of our riffs are pure doom metal. We have added more death metal elements to
the music too. We try to be a bit of both! The songs just come up that way,
they have uglier bits with more epic stuff too. Just natural creation!
Your lyrics
are dealing with dark fantasy and occult stuff,
do you blend them in the lyrical content or does it give two distinct
type of lyrics ?
They blend
and sometimes they are two distinct songs. Depends on the things I write about.
For me, fantasy literature has always been the number one thing. I am not that
into horror/gore stuff myself. Another difference between us and a lot of other
bands, hehe.
What’s next
for Solothus for this 2nd part of 2013 ? Are you already working on
new material?
We try to
do as many gigs as we can. We have already started with new material for next
album. I think you can wait for our second album somewhere in 2015. We wanna
take things slow and do even better album than Summoned from the Void!
Thanx guys,
please remind us which merchandise is actually available and add something if
you wish…
Our debut
album is out and you can get it from us, Memento Mori or selected distros. The
tape is still available from Nihilistic Holocaust. We just pressed more
t-shirts, so if you want to join the Cult of Death and Doom, you can order your
shirt from us real soon!
It was an
honour to do this interview! Temple of Perdition was the first media to ever
review anything by Solothus, so in that way too, very important for us!
Cheers and
DOOM ON!
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