Information
Author: Mourning
Translation: Insanity
Line Up
Sébastien "Roby" Robitaille - Bass, Guitars, Vocals
Luc Gaulin - Drums
From Canada come to us Sorcier Des Glaces, Black Metal band came at the third stage of his career with "The Puressence Of Primitive Forests" which will find the review in the site.
Welcome on our website, how did you spend the summer just ended? It has been successful?
Sébastien: Sure! It is always a great time when we release a new album. I spent a lot of time in the studio preparing/recording our next album too.
Sorcier Des Glaces are active nearly from fifteen years, how they are born? How the formation has evolved over time?
I would say Sorcier Des Glaces is timeless. We are a duo that started in 1997 and remained the same since then. Me and Luc Gaulin were playing in a metal band called Moonlyght and I decided to start a new project, something really obsessed by misanthropy and dedicated to the primitive nature, a world still free from human beings. We are not a live band at all that the goal is to do world tours or something like that! Sorcier Des Glaces is made of two tortured souls that share the same musical interest for dark music and I want to express that in our songs. We are not rushing out new albums, we take our time. Sorcier Des Glaces has evolved a lot since we started as for our musician skills for exemple, or songwriting, but in some way it stayed exactly the same as our original goal hasn’t changed at all. We are here to express our deepest hate against humanity, with no compromises.
Your sound has a lot of Scandinavian flavor, especially the atmosphere reminiscent of the historical works of Immortal, and "The Puressence Of Primitive Forests" in many ways is a child of the nineties period. What is your musical background? There are formations that you consider fundamental to the sound path you took?
"The Puressence Of Primitive Forests" is a kind of tribute to that period, the album title says it all. I wanted Sorcier Des Glaces to return to the very "core" of the black metal essence. Black metal is about atmosphere, not musicianship or production aesthetics. I wanted the puressence of “metal” to be the only thing that you hear: guitars, bass, drums and vocals. No keyboards anymore! For me keyboards has made it’s time for Sorcier Des Glaces. We used a lot of keyboards in the beginning of Sorcier Des Glaces. When we recorded "Moonrise In Total Darkness" in 1999, I used to like a lot of Bal-Sagoth and Obtained Enslavement stuff, so it has a lot of keyboard flavor in that album. Of course I don’t listen only to my black metal classics, even I would say that I don’t listen very often to black metal now in 2011. But for Sorcier Des Glaces, my main inspirations always remained the same: Mayhem, Darkthrone, old Samael, Obtained Enslavement, Immortal, Tormentor Ved Buens Ende and Dissection.
How is it possible to compose a Black Metal album that has the intensity of that black-gold period, but still remains faithful to the current bandwagon? It was difficult to create your album?
I don’t care about the "current bandwagon" I want to express my musical ideas and I would say Sorcier Des Glaces belongs to the nineties. You have to be true to yourself. I had a lot of inspiration in the beginning of 2010 and 3 albums were composed! “Ritual of the End” and “North” will follow the steps of "The Puressence Of Primitive Forests" that’s for sure. I don’t think it is difficult to write that kind of songs, at least for me, it is something I have inside my head, a kind of melody all the time...
"...Et Les Anges Périrent Sous La Neige" sums up the qualities inherent in the whole platter: violence, frost, melody in the service of the vehemence of the riffing. Are you totally satisfied or is there some small detail that you want rework? In the mix phase there it not seemed that the snare was a little undertone?
I’m totally satisfied with it! I wanted to get that whole "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" kind of production: not too dirty, not clean either, reverb-toms very high in the mix, guitars leads are very important and I think the melodies are very well audible in the mix. As for the snare? I like it that way, I did not equalize anything, not even the guitars, and it worked out good for us. The music is important, I could decide to record the next album on 4 tracks to get a "Nattens Madrigal" kind of production, that would be fine!
What is Black Metal for you and what is it now? There is a form of this style that is perhaps all too distorted to become a parody?
I don’t listen to newer bands, or only few ones. I don’t like it anymore. I think black metal died in 1996 or 1997, when bands decided to focus on more good productions, bigger labels, money, etc. That’s exactly the same as for punk or grunge. Black Metal was a "feeling" an "ideology" and belongs to a time period. That’s the reason why I can’t call Sorcier Des Glaces "Black Metal", I don’t have the right to call it that way. I prefer to label it "Cold Primitive Music" because it does sound like that. Or simply call it "Metal". At the end of the day every Black/Death/Doom/Thrash/Melodic/Atmospheric or whatever the fuck they like to call them with 35 prefix, we are all heavy metal!!! We have to find the very essence inside and keep it simple. Well, SDG belongs to the past and must be seen as a tribute to the masters, nothing original or avant-garde. We play what we want to play and that’s all.
You come from one of the nations in the world most active in metal, Canada is always had a big source of major act like Voivod, Blasphemy, Gorguts, Sacrifice, and so on and so forth. How do you feel your scene today? Have you ties with other bands that are part of this scene?
We don’t have much contacts with the Quebec or Canadian scene. It was more the case when we played in Moonlyght, when used to play live a lot. I owe a total respect for Voivod, it will remain of of the most innovative bands in the world! I do like a lot of other Canadian bands though.
If you were to choose five Canadian albums that every metalhead should know by heart, what would it be?
Rush - "A Farewell To Kings": classic album! Nothing more to say.
Voivod - "War & Pain": really good and true metal, dirty, some punk and prog elements. Hail Piggy!
Annihilator - "Alice In Hell": what an album! So fucking badass guitar riffs and solos. This is one of the best speed metal albums ever.
Slaughter - "Strappado": Sttrrraaappppppppaaaddoo!!!
Anonymus - "Instinct" (and also the album "Stress"): very intense heavy/thrash album from a great band from Quebec!
Since you started to move in the metal world, both as listeners that as musicians, what are the sharpest changes you've experienced in the way people think and act?
Internet. It changed everything. It helps a lot of new bands to spread their music to the world and without internet it would be way more difficult. But the fact is that we became lazy. When there was tape trading bands had to forced themselves to send their work to labels, etc. Internet destroyed also more well-known bands that are making music for the living. This is not fair, but you have to adjust yourself in 2011! For a band like Sorcier Des Glaces, internet is a very good weapon to spread our music, we are making music as a hobby, not for a a living.
What would you change of the music scene today?
Real music, in any style, should be straight from the heart, not for album sales or to please people expectations. Sorcier Des Glaces has no aim to become the next big thing, we are very happy if people like our music, but we do what we like. We are not doing this for money, we are releasing albums because we want to share our ideas, feelings with others. Music is important in my life, so it is for many other people I guess.
Have you got the opportunity to bring on stage your new songs? What were the feedback in this regard?
Sorcier Des Glaces never played live and will not play live in the future. That’s a personal choice, I think that our music should be much appreciated when listened alone than in front of people with a live setting. I never really enjoyed much playing live in other bands honestly.
There has been a live experience that you remember with particular pleasure? And a night that went wrong but there has still left you a smile?
Like I said, SDG is not a live band at all. With other bands we used to play live a lot and of course there was very memorable moments.
What is the reason that brought you to revive your first job "Snowland Reprise MMXI"?
We think that the original album had great atmosphere and melodies, but the poor way we recorded it and our lack of experience ruined the whole thing I guess. It will be still raw with the northern atmosphere but it will be way colder. The way we see Snowland in 2011 will make a much better version.
There are something in the pipeline for the near future?
We are already recording our next album "Ritual Of The End", the follow-up to "The Puressence Of Primitive Forests". This will be a very good and logic continuation of "“Puressence..." and I find the new songs to be very sad, cold... I don’t know it has the same old school vibe but with an even darker texture. In the meantime we will release "Snowland Reprise MMXI" probably in the beginning of 2012 and we also did a split album with Quebec "Metal Noir" band MONARQUE. We should release this album in the near future too, so a lot of things going on!
There will be an opportunity to see you around Europe and even here in Italy?
Maybe one day, who knows?!
We have reached the end of our conversation, it was a pleasure to have you with us on Aristocrazia Webzine, there is still time for a last message to our readers, I leave you the word.
Thanks a lot for the interview. We will soon behold the nature’s ultimate revenge on humanity, so don’t forget to get a copy of our latest album! Never believe the lies of Mankind.
