We’re just about at the point where The Spirit will be transitioning from unknown-status to full-fledged hot commodity. The German quartet has embarked on what could best be described as a whirlwind ten months, going from being flat-out ignored by the gaggle of independent metal labels and having to self-release their Sounds from the Vortex debut, to being noticed by the biggest metal label of them all, Nuclear Blast, who has opted to re-release Sounds this August. But, based on the below responses from guitarist/vocalist MT, The Spirit (think of a young Dissection immersed in even more atmosphere and death metal tinges) are taking it in stride. Read on…
Dead Rhetoric: Can you describe what the last few months have been like in terms of releasing your debut via Eternal Echoes than being signed by Nuclear Blast?
MT: After we recorded the album, we got in contact with many labels but not even one was interested. So, we said fuck it, that won´t stop us. We founded our own label and released the album in late 2017 by our own. It never came to our mind that a big label like Nuclear Blast could be interested in us. That´s the reason we never sent them an application with the album. A couple of months after we released Sounds from the Vortex via Eternal Echoes, they heard about us and it seems they liked our music a lot. They got in contact with us and that´s how it started. It´s a bit strange, first not a single label is interested and then we get signed by the biggest one on the market.
Dead Rhetoric: What are the expectations with Nuclear Blast? Are you going to become a full-time touring band?
MT: It´s a big step for us and Nuclear Blast will help us to spread our sounds all over the globe. If you want to reach more people you have to go on tour. But I think it´s way too early to talk about if we become a full-time touring band or not. Let´s see what happens in the future.
Dead Rhetoric: What brought the four of you together?
MT: What brought us together? I guess the desire to play good music. It wasn´t that easy to find other musicians. It´s not just that they can play their instrument well, it´s also about the personality. I don´t want to spend my time anymore with people I cannot stand.
Dead Rhetoric: Your influences are right from the best of what black and death metal has to offer. What bands did you pattern yourselves after when forming The Spirit?
MT: None. Of course, we are inspired by many other bands but there was never the goal to sound like another band. Our influences are not just between black and death metal, there is also Rock and heavy metal and many other genres. For me, it´s always important that music I listen to transfers energy and touches me in some way.
Dead Rhetoric: For a debut, Sounds from the Vortex sounds very mature. It’s the kind of an album a band three or four releases into their career would put out. What do you think contributed to that?
MT: Maybe because we´re not eighteen anymore. We knew what we want, and we put a lot of work and time on this album. I think ten years ago I wouldn´t have been able to write a song like those on Sounds from the Vortex.
Dead Rhetoric: Vortex only has seven songs. It’s a very tight, but adventurous release. What was the approach when putting it together?
MT: Our approach was to make the best record we could do. Not a single weak guitar riff, no fillers just killers. You said only seven songs. I prefer a perfect album with just seven songs, then an album with eleven songs but four of them are not as good as the rest. I don´t like to push the skip button when I listen to a record.
Dead Rhetoric: You can easily bounce between technical, swirling black metal riffing and atmospheric motifs. How do you go about achieving that kind of balance?
MT: I can tell you it´s not that easy. I spend a lot of time with the songwriting. I mean a shit lot of time, till a song is like it is at the end. I don´t like black metal when it´s all the time straightforward. You need breaks and atmospheric parts to support the fast and aggressive ones.
Dead Rhetoric: The Nuclear Blast version has updated cover art. Who is responsible for it?
MT: It´s made by Costin Chioreanu. He is very well known for many great artworks and he has a unique style. We just gave him the rough idea how it should look like and gave him as much creative freedom as possible. We are still happy with the original one from the Eternal Echoes release, but we thought we should get something different for the re-release.
Dead Rhetoric: Obviously, you are just getting started, but, do you have any long-term goals for your career in metal?
MT: Not really. The next goal is to create a worthy successor to Sounds from the Vortex. And that will be not that easy because we set the bar very high with our debut album.
Dead Rhetoric: Finally, what’s on your agenda for the rest of 2018?
MT: We have some festival shows this summer and then a massive tour in autumn with Hypocrisy and Kataklysm. In between, we put all our effort in the songwriting for a second album.