Path of Destiny – Interview –
Intevriew
Hello and Welcome to Acier Doux Metalzine Tunisia. Out of all the Metal genres around, what inspired you guys to play the Metal style you do ?
Cheers man, nice to get this opportunity ! Well our will to play this style evolved through all the influences and interests of the single members and came somehow naturally to us. We all liked some kind of Death Metal with more or less melodies and decided to combine all of our preferences into one band. Also some interest in mythic and gothic stuff somehow represented by bands like for example Dimmu Borgir hat their influence on us. We just wanted to have some dark, growling vocals combined with cool chorus and hooklines. Well that’s what you finally find in Melodic Death Metal.
So your new album dropped earlier on 2016 titled “ Dreams in Splendid Black ‘’. How has the reception been to the new record ?
Yeah that’s right. We received very good reviews and feedback all over the place. This time thanks to our label even from the German Metal Hammer-magazine and Legacy The Voice from the dark Side. So not only webzines, but print ones as well. And they were almost all really amazing. Also, everything that we got back from our fans confirmed to us, that we were and are on the right path in what we are doing. In general you can easily say that this is the record with the best reception we did so far .
I noticed this album is slightly more Symphonic Melodic Black Metal compared to your previous EP “ Parasite God ”. Now, Path of Destiny has always had a healthy dose of Black Metal and Death. So was this a conscious decision or did it just naturally come out that way ?
There was definitely not one single conscious decision involved. We always keep the flow that guides our songwriting plans going. So whatever might influence us or the way we write might find its way into our music. Of course everything stays under the consensus of Melodic Death or Symphonic Death + Black Metal but this already contains a really wide spectrum to work with. Also there is not really a need to say: “Puh, that or that riff is not Path of Destiny enough.” because we often give different approaches a chance.
The new album just kicked my ass, it’s just pure Metal at its finest. How did you guys come up with the title “ Dreams in Splendid Black ”. It really fits the music that’s on the album. Also, it’s like an ode to Metal just like Metalized Blood is just an anthem to all the maniacs ! What is your thought on Modern Metal and Modern Metal production and sound ?
Thank you for your kind words! That’s really cool to hear! At first, this track was named “ Nigra somnium ” because we thought, that using some Latin would sound cool in connection with the song’s topic. But then we discovered an old lyric draft of our guitarist Alex (for a song we never finished) and liked the title “ Dreams in Splendid Black ”. It seemd to cover all the songs topics the best so the same as you feel . After some lyrical cropping we decided to also make it the title track. The modern and nowadays metal scene seems to be very healthy cause there are always new bands wanting to crush some stages. Production-wise we prefer the modern style cause it fits our music better and matches the most of our own preferences. We always like to get our songs produced the best possible way within our budget-borders. Our music shall jump at you out of the speaker boxes as heavy as possible! Of course this lead to some little criticism amongst reviewers of our album, that the songs would sound to clinical and smooth but well, you can’t always please everybody.
What are some of your biggest musical influences ?
Uh, a lot of different stuff comes together here. Maybe some of them are obvious, as soon you’re listening to our songs. For example, to give you some names: Dimmu Borgir, Behemoth, Hypocrisy, The Black Dahlia Murder and Illdisposed. So roughly this is the “ Metal base ” of our influences. But there is much more to that. Our singer for example likes Stoner Metal and Rock, our drummer is a big progressive fan, our two guitarists stick with stuff like Guns n’ Roses, Post Black Metal or Dark Songwriter-tracks (e.g. King Dude, Chelsea Wolfe) and our bassplayer also likes classical music in general. So all of this genres leave their tiny traces in our songs somehow.
What gears do you all use ? Does it differ from live performance and recording ?
Our guitarist Christian uses a Kemper profiler for live and studio purposes, whilst our other guitarist Alex is still more into tube amps and relies on his ENGL Powerball 2 +cabinet. Our bassman Christoph uses a usual Hartke-Amp on stage. We all play the same instruments live and in the studio. Our main guitars are from Jackson and Schecter, whilst Christoph uses a LTD “ forest ” bass. For our last album we took the Kemper to record all guitar and bass- tracks. That gave us a lot of options and flexibility afterward e.g. we were able to re-amp the songs with another sound or something like that. Our drummer Phil has a very special kit that he uses on stage, in the rehearsal room and also for all upcoming recordings. It features a lot of custom made parts e.g. bassdrum pedals by czarcie kopyto (Poland) and custom made cymbals by SAMSUN cymbals.
Is there any plans for any new material ?
Yes of course ! We’re always up for some new songs and the “ riff material-machine ” is always spinning its wheels. I think the songwriting is the part of the band that propels it the most forward. No matter if a new record was released recently, new stuff is already in the making. Currently, we have around 15-20 first song ideas floating around in our idea pool. Now it’s time to give them a more concrete shape. Also, we’re trying to release new material faster than in the last years. 4 years between our last EP and our recent album are quite somehow enough.
How did you guys get signed to Apostasy Records ?
Well, we already knew Tomasz the label owner for a few years before we got signed and kept him updated from time to time about our new songs and so on. We sent him some rough rehearsal videos of new stuff. He liked our music instantly and gave us the chance to join his label in late autumn 2015. Out of all the offers we got, we liked Apostasy the most. So you can finally say that it pays to be patient and stick to an already existing contact.
Well I want to say thank you for your time and answering these questions. Any last words for the fans ?
You’re welcome ! At least we have to say “ thank you ” too for this interview and your engagement for the Metal scene via your webzine. And to all the folks out there, reading this: Go, check out our stuff, like it, share it and buy some merch and CDs (for example at our bandcamp store: https://pathofdestiny.bandcamp.com/) This helps us in holding up the banner here , Metal on !
Interviewer : Speedskullcrusher
