On this
year Finland
based doom/death band Hooded Menace will release their fourth full length
album”
Darkness Drips Forth”. Hooded Menace Front man Markus Makkonen unveiled
about their upcoming album, bands history and many
more. Already they are experienced and well renowned in underground music
because of their astounding, critical acclaimed, heavy, claustrophobic misery
,enigmatic musical style.
Earlier
this fantastic doom/death metal band Hooded Menace served up some devastatingly
sacrilegious,
rotten, phenomenal death metal album, EP. So recently I’ve interviewed Hooded
Menace Vocalist Markus Makkonen. I was very keen to interact with him and I’ve
tried to enlighten on their upcoming new album and tried to explore more about
his bands. Check out the full interview below. Interview done by Souvik Basu.
1. Hello,
how are you doing today?
Markus - Hi
Souvik. All good here. Taking it easy just.
2. Hooded
Menace was formed in 2007. From 2007
in each and every single year Hooded Menace
gifted us
Full length album, EP, Split,
demo’s, Can you give me a brief history of how the band got
together? Had
you been in any bands or musical apparition before Hooded Menace?
Markus -
Hooded Menace was born out of Lasse Pyykkö's need to get back and active with
metal. He was in a band called Phlegethon in late 80's, early 90's.. HM was his
return to all things heavy and murky, in that sense. From there things just
kept growing. Now we're releasing the fourth Hooded Menace -album already. I
haven't been in the band that long. Jumped abroad in 2012, around the time the
previous full-length, Effigies of Evil, was out.
I had been
recommended to Lasse for the vocalist slot in his grind/death band, Vacant
Coffin, by a mutual friend. That never happened, but out of the blue, got an
e-mail from him, asking if i could fill in for Hooded Menace's live-vocalist in
a Madrid-show. A couple of years earlier i had been totally into Hooded
Menace's album Never Cross the Dead, running around telling everybody how great
that record was, so it would've been foolish to say no, really. From there, one
thing led to another.. Not too long after Madrid-show, Menace's live bass
player quit and Lasse asked if i'd like to handle that department too. Soon HM
turned into a proper band, rather than a studio project it had been in the
beginning and found myself playing bass on the new Hooded Menace -release of
that time, Labyrinth of Carrion Breeze -Ep and still doing the live vocals
too.. It has been like this for a couple of years now. That line up just
sticked. So, this is how i got to be in the band.
- My own
musical background comes from the Finnish metal demo scene of mid/late 90's.
Been playing in various bands, with various styles, for 20 years now. The first
"bigger thing" to happen to me was joining the Oulu-based death metal
unit Sadistik Forest, in which i still am a member
too.
3. what
bands inspired the direction that Hooded Menace took and motivated you?
Writers? Visual artists? Movies? Books?
Markus -
Hooded Menace has been drawing from the source of horror films from the very
beginning. Especially the 70's European horror flicks. That element of
gloominess and horror will always be a part of our music. It is our concept. In
the beginning it was coming more directly from certain cult classics, but these
days the theme is there still, but in more abstract form.
Musically,
we have been described of being somewhere in between Black Sabbathy doom and
Autopsy-like death metal. I think those parts are still there. Maybe with a
growing influence from British death/doom pioneers.
4. There
are two basic ways of looking at music. In the first, there is a mechanism to
the arrangement of certain tones ,musical style. in the second, a narration
occurs where a story is told or a poetic function completed. In your view of
compositions, which is more important? Where were you when you first thought
the project had long term potential for you?
Markus -
All music in Hooded Menace is written by Lasse. He is the soul of Hooded Menace,
in that sense. We, the rest, are rather the performers, if you want to put it
that way. I suppose, Lasse seeks for the improvement as a songwriter and
emphasizing of certain moods, with his music for HM.
5. What for
you is the significance of the name, “Hooded Menace”?
Markus - It
comes from the Blind Dead -movies, really. where the hooded, bearded and
eyeless undead suck the life our of their helpless victims... heheh. So, it
suits a metal band well...
6. If you
could tour with other bands in metal, who would you pick if you were looking
for bands similar to Hooded Menace?
Markus -
Winter would be one, definitely. They pretty much defined our kind of music
with Into Darkness -album, back in the day. Guys from Asphyx are fantastic
people and we keep on bumping into them at festivals here and there. That would
be a killer tour too! Total crushing of the helpless!! We're going to tour with
Mourning Beloveth this December. Looking forward to it also.
7. Hooded
Menace released their debut album in
2008. From 2007 Hooded Menace shaped the style of dom/ death metal music in a
well manner. How do you maintain this consistency yet keep developing with each
album? How do you write your riffs, songs? What is the most difficult part about
composing songs as you do?
Markus -
You really would need to ask Lasse about that, but as far as I see it, he
avoids of making the same record twice. Rather, he keeps on evolving and
opening new doors with his music. Darkness Drips Forth will be, once again, a
different bag of bones, when compared to previous Hooded Menace albums. A
different angle to the same thing, maybe.
8. Do you
have a preference for type of equipment? In your mind, how important is
equipment to the production of music?
Markus - It
is pretty double-edged, really. Yes, you need certain level of equipment to
work without distraction from the poor gear, but we are definitely no tech
freaks or hi-fi geniuses.. We rather keep to the stuff we like, even there
might be better quality equip available for doing the same thing. The tool has
to fit the purpose, i think, and our music does not especially demand any state
of the art technology.
9. well, now
I’m going to the main point about new album “Darkness Drips Forth”. Already we
have saw the new album artwork released and the Official album teaser from
upcoming album “Darkness Drips Forth”. To be honest the artwork is wicked. I’m
super amped for the manifestation from upcoming album and obviously for the
whole album too haha well, When were these tracks written, and how does Hooded
Menace go about the writing process?
Markus -
Thanks man! Glad that you liked the cover. It was done by Justin Bartlett and
it definitely is different from your regular metal cover, for sure. The
material for Darkness... has been coming for a year, or year and a half, I
think. Lasse writes all the music first, band hears the demos, and then we all
start to look for suitable lyrics for the music. Finally, the rest of us learn
our bits and pieces and we start to rehearse the new material as an band. It's
mainly like is, if you put the long story short.
10. What's
going on as far as lyrical themes on new album ?
Markus - It
is the "suffocating horror"-feel still.. Definitely in more abstract
form this time. Rather than writing some specific spook-story, we wanted to
achieve maybe a style that will make each listener to find his/hers own view of
the concept. It is definitely more like an painting, than a short novel, this
time.
11. How did
you get into this chaotic , multi-layered ,ultra-dense, monolithic death metal
musical style laced with blackened, gloomy atmospheric vibe form of music and
kindly explain about this music genre according to you?
Markus -
Hahah! That is a nice way to put it! What struck me with Hooded Menace in the
first place, back in the day when i was still "just" a fan, was the
brilliant combination of two musical styles i adore - doom and death metal. The
Sabbathian riffs are there, but it still has that Obituary/slow Morbid Angel
-feel to it. Don't know what makes that kind of music seep out of Lasse's mind,
but to me it sounds killer!
12.How
would you describe the sound of the new album to someone who hadn’t heard it,
and what distinguishes your music from any other act in the same genre?
Markus -
Darkness Drips Forth is the most extreme Hooded Menace release, by far. It has
our slowest and heaviest stuff in it, but also it has a strong emphasis on
melody too. It really goes from extreme to extreme... Four songs and almost 45
minutes of melancholy and yet heavy music. Like Crowbar playing Bathory, if you
want to put it that way.
13. Do you
guys have any official videos coming out soon?
Markus - At
the moment, I really do not know yet. The length of the songs, does set the
difficulty level for a music video pretty high. Don't know really. It depends a
lot of Relapse Records.
14. How do
you explain the album title “Darkness Drips Forth”. what it means and the album
art and how it coincides with the lyrics, themes?
Markus -
The theme of "dripping death" occurs in the lyrics. It probably
describes also the best the gloomy, doomy feel of the music too. Like something
black oozing from your speakers and raining down (slowly) from the skies.
Dripping darkness is also maybe a metaphorical way of putting things into
perspective, where everything veers slowly towards it's natural end. It is
really metaphorical and abstract with this one. Maybe listeners can come up
with better description, after hearing the album and reading the lyrics! The
album art, is once again based on our concept with the Blind Dead. Just like on
every Hooded Menace album. Yet, it maybe has a little bit more deranged feel to
it, this time.
15. Who
came up with the album cover? I personally cherish Hooded Menace’s each and every
album artwork because those are truly indelible, remarkable, appreciable too.
Markus - It
is of Justin Bartlett's doing. We wanted to work with him, as he has definitely
his own style, that stands out from your regular guy, definitely. We told him
one or two main guidelines, but he took it from there.
16. What's
the first gig you ever went to? Have you been to any killer live shows lately?
Markus - My
first show? Hmm... That must've been some local punk show in Finland in mid-90's! When living in
middle parts of Finland,
like i was and when most of the bands coming from outside our country did only Helsinki back then, the
supply was mainly just local bands. Luckily enough, i got to see Amorphis and
Sentenced quite a many times. I saw Nightwish when they were a demo band just! But
yeah, it was mainly Finnish bands only. One of the first ones from outside of Finland
was Norwegian black metal band Covenant.
We played
Jalometalli festival just recently. Got to see quite a many cool bands there.
Shining, Candlemass, Tyranex, Saxon, Obituary... My definite favourites were
Finnish legendary thrash band A.R.G. and the young devil-worshipping bunch
Bonehunter.
17. In before you guys performed a lots of
gigs so, Which show was the most memorable to you so far? Do you get a good
crowd response? Did you get offers to play in other countries or anything like
that?
Markus -
The crowd thing in doom is very funny, at least to me, when i got to the scene
after playing grindcore and death metal for quite some time... I mean, had seen
just people going nuts, moshpits and such and then... BANG... you're fronting
this way cool band and all you see is people standing and slowly swaying along
to the music.. At first show, I was like... what... do they not like it?! Where
is the pit?!? After the show, people came still telling how they had liked the
show and appreciated it, but it took definitely a couple of shows to get used
to it. Doom fans rather listen, than go mental, I suppose.
- There
have been a couple of really cool ones we have done with HM. Hellfest being
one, for sure. I mean, being in the same bill with Napalm Death, Asphyx,
Candlemass, Kiss, Morbid Angel, Hypocrisy... it was just something truly
awesome!! Maryland Deathfest was great too! We do not play that often, so each
gig has it's own story to it, really.
18. Do you
study other bands music to come up with ideas?
Markus - I
suppose you will have try to cut that down, as the influences will sneak out
even if you wanted them or not.
19.
Appreciate your howling scream, hoarse ,snarling, sneering , deep rasps , deep
lung-burning roars, immense voice. how do you prepare your vocals before the
studio or especially for live performances? Did any band in particular inspire
you in the shrieking department?
Markus - Death
metal/extreme metal vocals are something I have been able to do naturally, well,
as long as I've tried. I don't have any special care-taking or warm up to it.
Just plunge into it. Can keep the voice intact on tours and will not have to
force anything. This is why i do the live vocals in Hooded Menace. We, the rest
of the band, keep forcing Lasse to do the studio-vocals still, as he really has
an unique sound to it. It has the cobwebs!! Hahah! But he does not like it at
all, so out of practicality, I do that part live.
In Sadistik Forest i do a lot of that low growl/high
scream -thing. I don't know if anybody in particular inspired me to do it that
way, but have always appreciated guys who can do a variety of things with their
voice.. Like Dani Filth, Burton C. Bell and Glen Benton (especially early
days). Steve Tucker has been an influence to me and of course Corpsegrinder...
Nick Holmes... Started doing death metal as a kid, when somebody said that my
grunts sounded like Chris Barnes.. So, he too. Definitely.
20. Is
there a difference in the band’s sound as compared to the EPs and full length
album you’ve released in the past?
Markus -
Now? Well... We had a different studio environment this time. We went to England, instead our regular hide-out in Finland, to
work with Chris Fielding (Napalm Death, Electric Wizard etc). Especially, we
wanted to get bigger sound to bass and drums and i think we did that.
21. Relapse
Records has been a great supporter of
extreme metal, you’re signed to them now. How did this happen?
Markus -
Don't know the facts, as i was not in the band when the deal was done, but as
far as I’ve gathered, they contacted HM (amongst a couple of other labels)
after our deal with Profound Lore ran out and well.. they had the best offer.
Relapse is also know for their work with extreme bands, just like you said, so
they do know how to market and work with our kind of thing.
22. What do
you do as individual band members to relax, when not working on music? Do you
have jobs or business?
Markus -
When playing something as marginal as death/doom metal, it is really hard to
get by, just by the music itself. I have a job outside the bands, to survive.
Never been a very career oriented person, so as long as the work provides me
enough money to survive AND it makes playing metal possible, I'm 100% ok with
it. Never wanted to be a attorney, doctor or anything.. Was not motivated
enough as an student for that, but luckily enough, I've always found a job
somewhere, that takes a long haired metal guy onboard. Music is basically my
time off... If not playing, at least listening to it with extreme passion. You
can't take that away from me, really. Way of life kind of an thing.... The same
goes for all of us, I suppose.
23. What
albums are you listening to lately or just the bands and albums in general
you're really digging right now and tell me about your anticipated album of
this year?
Markus -
Just recently, I've been listening a lot the new albums by Bell Witch, Ghost
and Arcturus. New Paradise Lost is a splendid record too! Of the albums to be
released yet, I’m looking forward the most for new My Dying Bride, maybe. Want
to listen the new Grave Pleasures album, and Public Image Ltd also. Oh, and
I've heard that the new Amorphis one will be way heavier than their previous
ones, due the Tales from the 1000 Lakes -shows they did, so will check that one
out for sure.
24.last one
question, what are your future band goals & tell us something about upcoming tour. Lastly, a lots
of teenagers aim to be full-time musicians. Many of them might be without any
proper guidance, any words of wisdom for them?
Markus -
Well, Darkness Drips Forth is out at October 30th. We play the official album
release show in Turku,
the next day, at Finnish death metal festival Turun Kuolema. In December we
head out to Europe for 10 shows, with Mourning
Beloveth. Starting from Hamburg,
ending to Eindhoven Metal Meeting. It will be pure doom-mayhem, I guarantee
that!
Will be
cool to see where this album will take us after that. Hopefully to some new
locations again. Sadistik
Forest is also recording
the third studio album as we speak. Will be doing my bass lines for that, very
soon. There's also a old school death metal project with guys from Satanika
coming.. So, a lot is on it's way.. Hope you like it!!
As far
advices go, i might not be the best guy to give them, but i suppose the main
one is to be patient. Very few today, if any, will have the overnight success.
It takes guts to grind your way to bigger and bigger stages... A lot of blood,
sweat and beers.. But don't give up! If you want it badly, things will happen
for you. Sooner or later. Wanting it, is the key, i think.
25. That's
all I've got right now. best of luck for upcoming release .This album is one of
my anticipated release of this year. thanks a lot for enduring this torture
haha. Any final thoughts, comments for the readers? If I forgot anything,
please insert it in here.
Markus -
Thanks for the well-though questions bro! Let's keep it extreme!!
Interview done by Souvik Basu. Published on 05/09/2015
