INTERVIEW: Irdorath
With everything going on in the world, it’s nice to reach out to bands and pick their brains about certain things that people may want to know; as an individual, I tend to look toward other reviews and see what people have previously asked the band so I can try to avoid repeat questions. One thing I enjoy doing, as well, is throwing in a question that is completely off topic. I’ve asked bands if they have a favorite pair of socks to if they have a favorite coffee, and this interview has an interesting question at the end. Thank you to the band for reaching out and to everyone reading, I hope you’re staying safe!
Hello! How are you all doing today?
Markus: Hi, except the whole restrictions because of the Covid – 19 pandemic quite good right now! Thank you for that interview and your interest in Irdorath!
Before we start, I wanted to check in and see how are things over by you guys given the pandemic that’s happening? Is everyone staying safe?
M: Yes, almost everyone is safe here in Austria right now. We have the luck, that the pandemic did not hit us that hard here. Also, our politics reacted fast, so things are getting slowly back to normal in the daily life!
Of course we had a bad start for our release. As for all other artists, all our shows had to be cancelled. So, we could not promote our new record “The Final Sin” as planned. But we will try to catch up on our shows in the beginning of 2021.
Meanwhile, you can listen to the whole record here:
Your newest release, “The Final Sin,” is a masterful combination of Thrash and Black Metal. What inspired you all to blend these two vastly different genres?
M: Thank you very much for that kind words, I appreciate that very much!
I think that it is not that uncommon to mix black and thrash metal; think of all those black metal bands that were also inspired by old German Thrash bands like Sodom or Destruction. But, in my opinion, we never did “only a mix” between those genres. We always tried to create our own vision of music, and I would say that black and thrash metal are the main influences.
What I really like the most out of that two genres are the dramatic melodies and the atmosphere of black metal as well as the energy and driving aspects of thrash metal. These are the main, but not the only, elements, when I write songs.
And, if you would listen to our discography from the beginning on, you would discover that it was more like a smooth evolution to that sound. We never left that path very much, but tried to evolve our style.
Describe the title for “The Final Sin” and the artwork that accompanies it; it really catches the eye and I’m curious if there’s a story behind them?
M: “The Final Sin” is the last part of a trilogy we started with “I Am Risen” and continued with “Denial Of Creation”. Summarized, it is the last strike of the reborn Christ to erase the Divine, to give humanity the chance for a better future without the crimes, mislead and negative influence of the religious institution called The Church.
We found a quite unknown artist, Giannis Nomikos (GN art), who painted that artwork for us. We saw his pictures that he only creates with a pencil, without any digital help and knew from the beginning, that he is the right one for that cover idea of us.
It simply shows “The Final Sin”, the last strike to end that misery. The angels symbolize the obstacles he has to overtake to reach this goal. The nails that float over gods head, with which he was crucified, can be seen as the consequence god and religion has to face and that religion should not think, that all their crimes will be forgiven and forgotten.
So, all in all it summarizes the main content of the lyrics, and we think that he did that very well!
I noticed that between each album release there’s about 3-5 years before an album is released. Do you all take time crafting the albums before they see the light?
M: You are right. On the one hand we do not want to hurry too much, because I think that this could lead to a not satisfying outcome. On the other hand, we all live our normal lives with full time jobs, family and so on. So, it is not possible to spend much more time creating music.
For me as main songwriter: I always need a break after I wrote the music for one record. Thomas (Drums) and I write 99 percent of the music and lyrics and we put a lot of energy in that. A break is good after a new one. And when some time has gone and we know how the songs work live, we try to find out, what we did well and what could be better. We do not want to make the exact same record again, only with some different melodies…
So, there are many aspects, why we always need time before the next record, haha.
How did you all meet?
M: Except myself, all members came to Irdorath over the last 15 years. I am the last founding member, Thomas (drums) came to Irdorath with the record “Dekonstrukteur des Fleisches” and shortly later Mario (Bass) joined. Craig is our live guitarist since “Denial of Creation”.
To meet Thomas was quite simple, because he is my brother, haha. We knew Mario already from the local metal scene and he liked our music. So, when we needed a new bass guitarist, we simply asked him and he was on board. Craig is a well-respected metal guitarist in the Austrian underground scene. When our old live guitarist left, we happily could convince him, to join us!
How long have you all been playing your instruments/singing for?
M: I was starting with the guitar when I was about 17 years old (around 2003), so quite late; I took over the vocals when our former singer “Schnitter” left. It was after the release of “Dekonstrukteur des Fleisches”.
Thomas plays the drums since he was around 6 years old. He also studied this instrument later, so he is quite professional. Maybe that’s why he plays in about 5 bands and helps out another 10 sometimes… good drummers are very rare.
Mario was a guitar player before and switched to the bass guitar when he came to us.
For Craig I cannot tell, I never asked him, but when I think of his skills, maybe he was born already with a guitar in his hands.
How would you describe your lyrical themes on the album, “The Final Sin”?
M: As I mentioned before, simply said, it is the elimination of god through the hands of Christ himself.
If you look deeper, the lyrics are analyses of the negative aspect of institutional beliefs and that humanity does not learn from past mistakes; especially when we look deeper in the history of all institutional beliefs, no matter what kind of religion it may be.
What is really strange to us is the fact, that we have so much scientific knowledge today and that the church still has that might. In our idea, but I would need 5 pages now to describe it in detail, Jesus Christ did not accept that and started a revenge campaign against his father, the betrayer. This is “The Final Sin”, the end of all divine and the hope for a better future…
Would you say you all are looking to tour once the pandemic is over, and do you plan to tour America in the future?
M: Yes, as said before, we had to cancel all shows and all touring plans because of the pandemic. And playing in the US would be a dream, but I do not know if we will get the chance in the near future. But let us see, it all depends on the listeners and fans, if there is enough good reputation and a good possibility, we would definitely would be happy and proud about a tour in the US!
Who are some of your biggest musical influences?
M: This question is always hard to answer for me, because I never had that main influence, to be honest. I always listened to different kind of metal and rock genres.
I cannot neglect, that bands like old Sodom, Vader, Hate, Satyricon, Mayhem Immortal,… (and many more) had their parts to motivate me to make my own music.
But I never tried to sound like a specific band, I always tried to find my own way of writing music and we never changed our direction because of trends.
What do you all do in your spare time when you’re not writing or playing music?
M: We all have jobs and kind of “normal lives”! Thomas is finishing his studies right now; the rest is working full time. The little time that is left is filled with some sports, going out and on shows, hanging out with the family and so on.
I hope you are not disappointed that I do not write about all the rituals, we do in our free times, or about all the depression we have to go through… that lies can be told you other bands, haha. Most of the bands I know live a quite normal live, so as we.
To keep the interview fresh, I like to end on a wacky question. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?
M: Haha, funny question. I try now to think more on what could keep me alive and not what tastes the best… and I split it in “one thing” and “one meal”, but it is really hard!
“one meal”: maybe been stew with a lot of vegetables in it, so you should have almost everything your body needs to work well!
“only one thing”: maybe fish because of all the good protein, but where to get vitamins… I don’t know (and I am more the meat eater then fish fan…); but maybe you could survive a long time. Or should I think of crickets? I heard with them you survive even longer! (but disgusting)
Thank you for answering the questions and I hope you all have a lovely day!
M: Thank you very much for the interview!
And to the readers: Thank you for checking out the interview! Visit our web appearance, you find almost everything there! If you like it, leave us a message and support us with an order at our shop!
