Noctum is a band you need to hear: dark and doom-laden yet with a sound that you can’t quite stick a label to. It’s refreshingly different. Step into the dark side with guitarist/vocalist David Indelöf.
Mark: Hi David thanks so much for talking to The Rockpit, let’s get straight into it! What are you guys up to at the moment?
David: We’ve a few upcoming shows in the next couple of weeks and one next month, but other than that we’re out there supporting the new album.
Mark: I must admit when I heard the name NOCTUM and saw the album cover for FINAL SACRIFICE I thought we were going to get some Death Metal but it’s not like that at all? Tell us about the sort of music NOCTUM plays? For us it’s more Doom-laden 70s Sabbath and Hard Rock.
David: Yeah, I don’t know really we try not to really limit ourselves. The cover of the album probably tells you we have Death Metal influences but in our music we have not only classic rock. But we’ve always had that Doom influence and Black Sabbath of course have always been a huge influence but you know the influences range wide and so it’s hard to say we play a certain type of music. To me it’s just Heavy Metal/Rock and for me as long as it’s heavy I don’t care what we call it.
Mark: It’s great to hear a band like NOCTUM from Sweden as all we tend to really hear are the two extremes of the very Melodic Metal and Sleaze and the Death Metal at the other end of the scale. It’s always great to hear a band doing things differently on their own terms. Where does the name come from – please tell us it’s the Swedish horror role playing game?
David: No, no we came up with it pretty much when we started up the project, I don’t know where it came from, I think a friend of mine. We were discussing cool band names and he came up with NOCTUM (which means darkness in Latin) and I discussed it with our bass player Tobias and he liked it too so we went with it.
Mark: Yep, cool name and really fitting for the music. You’ve been active since 2009 but now are signed to Metal Blade how did they get involved?
David: I think they heard or read about us, maybe Metal Hammer I think, and they got in touch through MySpace, asked us a few questions about music and our future plans. Then they offered us a contract.
Mark: FINAL SACRFICE is probably one of the best albums we’ve heard all year. It gets released on October 29th – what’s the reception from press like so far? Have you managed to read any previews?
David: I’ve not read that many so far but three or four that I have read were 8/10 and 9/10 so that’s a good start, I hope to see more.
Mark: The album is also a concept album or story of sorts – tell us about that?
David: Well it’s a fictional Horror Story. Tobias our bass player comes up with our lyrical ideas while I come up with the music, so he could tell you more. But all of the songs are connected. It’s a story about a man who is quite frustrated; he’s trying to reach the darker side, and to find explanations. But it’s up to you as the listener to interpret it as you like.
Mark: Like all the best stories it’s up to the reader. Unlike a lot of Doom bands there’s a real sense of getting to the point in your music – sure there’s Sabbath and Pentagram but it’s also 70s Hard Rock is it a conscious effort to be different?
David: I think that’s just how we evolved to be honest. I mean bands like that will all be influences but we do our own thing.
Mark: TEMPLE OF THE LIVING DEAD is a great choice for a video was it hard to pick a track to release?
David: It was actually Metal Blade that suggested we do that one – either that or LIBERTY IN DEATH. We preferred TEMPLE.
Mark: Our favourite is probably VOID OF EMPTINESS tell us a little about that one? I’ll bet it’s a great one to play live.
David: Yes definitely it’s pretty short but there’s a lot of things happening in there. The song always has something interested in there and there’s a lot of nice screams in there for me, it’s always in our setlist.
Mark: The Epic closer AZOTH is another one that really stands out for us and is my personal pick from the album. Can you tell us a little about that one and how it came about?
David: It was probably the last song we wrote and I think we all agree that it’s our strongest song there. I remember listening to a lot of Merciful Fate and stuff at that time and I think you can hear that in the riff.
Mark: How do you write? Collectively as a band or do you bring ideas in and work on the together?
David: I tend to write most of the music and Tobias writes the lyrics. I bring the music and the band works on that, Tobias adds the lyrics and I arrange the music and lyrics and that’s pretty much how it works.
Mark: You mentioned you had some dates in Sweden soon. Tell us about your future touring plans now that the album is about to hit? Maybe the UK or the US?
David: We hope to get to the UK and hopefully the US. But we’ve been over to Germany a couple of times but we don’t have as a band any solid plans. We hope to do a Europe tour by the end of the year but I can’t really give you anything solid right now as things are still being planned.
Mark: Is there a healthy local scene for bands like NOCTUM in your part of the world?
David: I don’t know, we’ve already been compared a lot with GHOST but I don’t get that at all, musically I don’t take anything from the, I mean I admire their innovation and that but on a musical level I don’t understand that. Hopefully we’ll find our own fans and people will take us for what we are.
Mark: What is future for NOCTUM?
David: I don’t really know. I guess the next part will be fairly busy with touring and stuff, but we just play on. We have a new drummer and guitar player so we’re just looking forward to a good future and hopefully the people will hear us and we’ll take things from there.
Mark: Is your VETERNUS project still running?
David: Yeah. We haven’t rehearsed in a very long time, and that’s for a lot of reasons, like lack of time and that the drummer moved to the South of Sweden which is quite a way from where I’m living. But yeah, you know we love our Death Metal and we will hopefully release something pretty soon.
Mark: If you had free reign to go out on two with two other bands who would you like to take out on the road with you? Living or dead?
David: OK living or dead! Black Sabbath, definitely, and the best Swedish band according to me – Candlemass! Three Doom band would be cool.
Mark: There’s some great vocals on the album which really sets you aside from a lot of Doom bands out there: who are your biggest influences as a vocalist?
David: It’s hard to say I mean I listen to a lot of Ian Gillan and really love his style, but also a lot of old British early eighties stuff like Angelwitch and Witchfinder General – I’m really into those vocal parts anything like that. And Candlemass of course! … and King Diamond also, actually as we’re talking I realise there are lots more too!
Mark: What about as a guitarist, what started you playing?
David: It’s hard to say, as I began playing at a very early age and I think I probably started as I heard Nirvana or something, but then I got into Metallica and stuff like that and loved to try to play the solos and work it out from there you know? But there are a lot of guitar players – I like Tony Iommi and Ritchie Blackmore especially.
Mark: So the million Dollar question. Why with so many releases out this year should people check out NOCTUM?
David: Why should they? Well I think it’s got a good mix of styles. It’s dark and raw and evil in some ways but it’s not the kind of think you hear everywhere. It’s not that typical 70’s Classic Rock. Noctum is trying to do something interesting and different.
Mark: It’s certainly one that’s hard to put a label on that’s for sure and an album we would recommend everyone takes a listen to. There’s lots of everything we like on there.
David: And it’s great to hear reviewers so far saying that too. There’s the groove of the classic stuff but a real heaviness there too.
Mark: As someone who hasn’t had the chance to catch you live yet what’s the NOCTUM live show have to offer? Do you strip it all back to the basics? Or is there a big production?
David: We are working on a lot of ideas in the Spring and the summer, we’d love to do something very special but I can’t tell you too much about it as we want it to be a surprise. We want candles and stuff as we think it fits, there will be a few props but wait and see!
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the recording of any album at any point in time just to see how the magic happened what would it be for you and why?
David: It would probably have to be the first Sabbath album that they recorded in 1969 it blew me away when I heard it and it’s almost impossible to think it was recorded then. So for me that is the one just to see how the hell they did it!
Mark: It is one of those timeless albums that has some great sounds on it, and like you say it’s hard to think that’s 44 year ago now since they started recording it. Are you one of those bands who likes to keep hold of old recoding techniques or one that embraces technology fully?
David: We don’t really care about using vintage instruments and such, we don’t insist on recording in analogue or using Marshall amps from the 60’s and stuff. We just listen to what we record, try to capture a sound and when we listen if it’s good it’s good. But we aren’t a band that insists on using old equipment we make use of technology. It took us a while to find our sound and we did try old vintage guitars but in the end we just used good new equipment – right now I use an Ibanez Destroyer, a pretty new reissue originally from 1989 or something. Just something I like and that sounds great.
Mark: And our final question for you David – What is the meaning of life?
David: (Laughs) OK, I think it’s to spread music, that’s what it is for me anyway.
FINAL SACRIFICE Track Listing:
1. Conflagration
2. Liberty in Death
3. Resurrected in Evil
4. Deadly Connection
5. Void of Emptiness
6. The Revisit
7. A Burning Will
8. Temple of the Living Dead
9. Azoth
Noctum Lineup:
David Indelöf – Guitar/Vocals | Daniel Johansson – Guitar | Tobias Rosén – Bass | Fredrik Jansson – Drums
The track “Liberty in Death” can be previewed HERE.
For More Info Visit: http://www.noctumofficial.com | https://www.facebook.com/Noctumofficial | http://www.metalblade.com