• Hello, how are you doing today?
Hi. I'm fine. Drinking morning coffee and answering your questions.
• Funerary Bell was formed in 2007, So, you guys are formed in late 2000's, So Can you give me
a brief history of how the band got together? Had you been in any bands or musical apparition
before Funerary Bell?
I played the drums in Charnel Winds and Utgard but wanted to do something on my own so I formed
Funerary Bell. I am also one of the founding members of Verge but I left in 2006 to focus on the other
bands.
• What bands inspired the direction that Funerary Bell took and motivated you? Writers?
Visual artists? Movies? Books?
Mainly the old first wave black metal bands were the main inspiration. I am also a big fan of Edgar
Allan Poe and Charles Baudelaire. We took a lot of inspiration from old Italian horror films, mostly from
the late Lucio Fulci's flicks.
• There are two basic ways of looking at music. In the first, there is a mechanism for 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 the longterm potential for you?
Wholeness of the song is the most important matter here. Without the right composition, good lyrics won't save the song and good composition doesn't work for me if the lyrics are bad. I think that I was in my mom's womb when this project was born so it will last as long as I breathe. This is not just music, this is all I've got.
• What for you is the significance of the name, “Funerary Bell”?
The ancient Bell that tolls in the tower when the funeral is set in the old gothic graveyard.
• If you could tour with other bands in metal, who would you pick if you were looking for
bands similar to Funerary Bell?
Black Oath and Oltretomba from Italy and Ithaqua from Greece.
• Since late 2000's each and every year Funerary Bell's released albums, demos, EPs, Split,
compilation etc and shaped the style of music. 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?
In the beginning, I was the main composer but nowadays all of us write the music. I just basically take the guitar in my lap and play. The most difficult part is to get in the right mood to get Funerary Bell sounding song composed.
You can stream the full album here :
the production of music?
We use old tube amplifiers and analog effects for the guitars and bass. If you don't have good songs the equipment can't save the result of the final product.
Well, now I’m going to the main point about the new album. On the 23rd of February via Saturnal Records Funerary Bell “Undead Revelations” released and already so, which sounds extremely promising. When were these tracks written, and how does Funerary Bell go about the writing process?
The tracks were written between 2010 and 2014. We all write alone in our homes and bring the songs
to rehearsals, then the band works with the arrangments to make the songs whole.
• What's going on as far as lyrical themes on “Undead Revelations ”?
The album is my personal diary of the things that happened to me from 2010 to 2014. It starts from the birth after I survived the near-death experience and ends to death only for the protagonist to be born again to this cyclic life – living Hell.
• I’ve noticed Funerary Bell musical style reminds exceptional black metal with the low-pitched screams/chants laced with old-school black metal influence along with avant-garde esque. would you agree with this though aforementioned black metal stalwarts, its purveyors willingly eschewed publicity and allowed 2018’s ceaseless deluge of quality releases to subsume their monumental collaboration?
Well, I agree. For what I have heard the year 2018 was full of high-quality releases and Undead
Revelations should have had a vinyl treatment because people don't buy CDs anymore which is a shame.
• I’ve categorized Funerary Bell's significant black metal genre.so, How did you get into this
style of music and explain about this very rare known music genre?
In 1997 I had my first band (a punk rock one) I heard other bands playing black metal in our rehearsal place and instantly fell in love with the genre. Back then Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was just released and everybody played keyboard led black metal. It was some years later when I found Bathory and all the old first wave acts when listening to the CDs in the local music store.
• How would you describe the sound of the new album "Undead Revelations" to someone who
hadn’t heard it, and what distinguishes your music from any other act in the same genre?
The mixture between death metal and old school black metal. I don't believe that there is any other
band that belongs to our ”genre”.
• Do you guys have any official videos coming out soon?
Nothing has been planned, we are working on our next release.
• How do you explain the album title, what it means and the album art and how it coincides
with the lyrics, themes?
As I stated before, I live cyclic life and therefore am undead in a metaphorical way. And the revelations are the diary.
• Who came up with the album cover? I personally cherish Funerary Bell's each and every
album artwork because those are truly indelible, remarkable, appreciable and meaningful too.
I have been responsible for every Funerary Bell album covers, excl. The split with Blood Red Fog.
• Let's talk about your early memories. What's the first gig you ever went to? Have you been to any killer live shows lately?
Honestly speaking I can't remember the first gig ever but about 20 years ago there were lots of black metal nights with local bands playing and I was always present. Nowadays I don't go to gigs at all because I rather listen to music alone at home.
• In before you guys performed a lot 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?
Our best live shows were the first one ever in 2013 and the show we released as a live album just a
while ago called The Last Temptation – Light Of Violet Penance.
• Do you study other bands music to come up with ideas?
No, I don't.
• Vocals style is raspy, raw and tortured .appreciate your vocal style.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?
I don't prepare at all, I just sing. I can drop few names who inspired me: Vincent Crowley from
Acheron and Sanctis Ghoram from Paul Chain Violet Theatre / Death SS.
• Is there a difference in the band’s sound as compared to the Full length, EPs and demos
you’ve released in the past?
All of them sound different but it is just a natural progression.
• Saturnal Records has been a great supporter of extreme metal, especially black metal. So it’s
nice to see that you’re signed to them now. How did this happen?
An interesting fact: I was one of the founders of Saturnian Productions that later, after my departure,
turned to Saturnal Records when the guys started work more professionally. So it was natural to us to
release our work through Saturnal as we knew all the guys personally.
• You guys are from Finland, how much have you discovered about the extreme metal scene
and how much of it were you aware of before the band started?
Finland is full of black and death metal bands and has always been so I discovered the scene already
when I was a kid.
• There is some satanic, Occult imagery with your lyrics, logo, theme. Is this just an image or something you believe in?
Everything is personal for me. I don't keep just an image, I have lived through my art and experienced
everything that has been sung in our records.
• What do you do as individual band members to relax, when not working on music? Do you
have jobs or business?
I am unemployed at the moment but one of our guys is a student, one work in a record store and one is a professional tattoo/piercing artist. I relax by listening to music, reading books and watching movies, don't know what others do in their spare time.
• 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 the past year?
Right now I am listening to Finnish punk/psychobilly band Flesh Roxon, really good stuff. I didn't
follow the releases of past year or years. I don't follow the scene anymore. Mortuary Drape demo
collection DLP was a really great rerelease.
• Last one question, what are your future band goals & tell us something about an upcoming
tour. lastly, lots of teenagers aim to be full-time musicians. Many of them might be without any proper guidance, any words of wisdom for them?
Our next goal is to record the new album. There is no tour coming, maybe some little gigs here and
there. For the teenagers I could tell that try to find your own sound, there are too many black metal
bands around that sound the same or copy each other.
• That's all I've got right now.best of luck for the upcoming release. "Undead Revelations" this
album is one of my top listed release of the previous 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.
Thanks for the interview. Stay true to yourself.
Interview was done by Souvik Basu. Published on 21/01/2019
