BURIAL VAULT
Milfits Issue II
the band changed their name into “Burial Vault”. After two selfreleased EPs (“… There Is No Resort” and “Come To Grief”),
Germany's “Burial Vault” was formed in 2006. After a couple of EPs, in 2012 the band signed to “Apostasy Records” and released their debut album, “Ekpyrosis (Peridoic Destruction)”. One year later, their sophomore album “Incedium” (a review could be find in the review section) is released also via “Apostasy Records”. This album was inspired by Ray Bradbury’s classic novel “Fahrenheit 451”. With these two albums the band has gained a reputation as one of the finest new death metal bands today. Here they took some time to share “Burial Vault's” plans and answer my curious inquiries. How the band got together? The band was formed in 2006 by Tobias Schaub (guitar), Alexander Petri (guitar), Eugen Deutsch (bass), Daniel Pasligh (drums) and Raimund Ennenga (vocals). Tobias, Alexander and Eugen worked as a threepiece under the moniker “Carbacan” before the actual formation of “Burial Vault”. A lot of the songs from the selfreleased debut “… There Is No Resort” were written through this time. Then Daniel and Raimund came into the picture, completed the first official lineup and
two albums via Apostasy Records (“Ekpyrosis (Periodic Destruction)” and “Incendium”), a lot of great shows and some lineupchanges the band currently consists of Tobias Schaub (guitar), Alexander Petri (guitar), Raimund Ennenga (vocals), Immo Groeneveld (drums) and David Speckmann (bass). What are bands that have helped you most to influence and shape your sound? This is always a tough question though milfits@gmail.com
Milfits Issue II
the influences changed a lot through all the years. In the beginning “In Flames” and “Amon Amarth” had a huge impact on the direction of the music. But there are a lot of other bands that had an impact, too: like “Death”, “Hypocrisy”, “Dissection”, “God Dethroned”. Many bands share the same influences but after seven years of making music it doesn’t matter too much for us personally. It might be a lot easier for an external listener to say “That sounds similar to…”. We want that everybody can hear that this is “Burial Vault”. That’s what counts the most! Why did you go the concept album route on your sophomore album “Incendium”? During the writingsessions for “Ekpyrosis (Periodic Destruction)”, we worked on the lyrics for the song “Those Things Which Were Thought Can Never Be Unthought” in a special way. All the lyrics were based on a short story that Raimund wrote. So we took that influence out of this story right into the lyrics for the song. After finishing “Ekpyrosis (Periodic Destruction)”, we instantly thought about a concept album. It looked like an adventure and we wanted to lift both the music and the lyrics up to a higher level. There are obviously the Ray Bradbury's “Fahrenheit 451” references in the “Incendium” album. Do you have a general fascination for Scifi literature or was it more just the idea of the moment? It is not a fascination for SciFi in general but more for dystopian themes. We liked the fact that some old dystopian novels and especially “Fahrenheit 451” come really close to milfits@gmail.com
BURIAL VAULT
the society of today. Maybe we are allowed to read but nobody takes the time to read and write properly. It is all about short messages and fragments that just show one aspect of a certain circumstance that we take as a significant aspect. We lose the connection to each other by using technology rather than to communicate face to face. In general, is it important for “Burial Vault” to conjure imagery with the songs? Yes, indeed it is. For a lot of bands in the more extreme Metal subgenres lyrics don’t matter. They are full of clichés and stuff like that. The phrasing takes a bigger role than the content of the songs. We never wanted that for “Burial Vault” even if we tried to do that in the very early days. The music itself tells stories and so do the lyrics. We like to create images that people can (or can’t) relate to. “Incendium” truly is a splendid piece of work from you guys. Obviously, it's an album that’s meant to be experienced in full. It shows your musicianship at its best and it really shows your skills as a band, both musically and lyrically. Which approach did you choose to create this concept album? How did you challenge yourself soundwise to fit this concept? First of all: Thanks for your kind words. It’s cool that you like our stuff! After defining “Fahrenheit 451” as the basis for the music, we defined specific parts of the book and divided them into several parts. We wrote short stories for these parts that set the foundation for both the music and the lyrics. Then Tobias started to write the music. He really wanted to make the mood of
BURIAL VAULT
each and every situation as obvious as possible. So the challenge was not to be as technical as possible but to make the music fit the story. But to be honest, it is obvious that “Incendium” is our most technical work to date. One of the distinctive features of this work is the presence of atmospheres looping from raw to melodic passages. How do you decide what works best within a song and what to put where for maximum effectiveness? As we already mentioned, everything was worked out to fit the concept and its story. There are several twists and turns in the story which shall be symbolized by the loops that you mentioned. We think that the maximum effectiveness unfolds by listening to the album as a whole and by reading through the lyrics. Everything works hand in hand. You have used sporadic clean type of vocals on “Incendium”. Do you plan to use more clean vocals in the future? Do you think clean vocal may add more quality to your music? Raimund always thought about doing clean vocals someday but it had to fit the music. The clean vocals in “Peculiar” really capture the feelings of the protagonist in that scene. So it was the right momentum to use them. We don’t know if clean vocals add more quality but they add a different dynamic. Maybe we’re going to use them again in the future. Who knows… Overall, are you pleased with the outcome of the album or would you have liked to have changed anything in retrospective? We are really satisfied with the album. It is our most ambitious album to date and in the end everything turned out
Milfits Issue II
great. We recorded “Ekpyrosis (Periodic Destruction)” in March 2010 and a few months later we began to work on “Incendium”. It was some sort of a cathartic moment when the album was actually recorded and we were able to hear the result. A lot of bands lately have been playing live various albums in their entirety. Could “Incendium” be played on stage in its entirety someday? That really is in our minds. Maybe we can do this someday. It would be a dream coming true. Where does “Burial Vault” go from here? Is “Burial Vault” getting ready to put out their new album? “Incendium” was released in May 2013 but we are currently writing new material for its successor. But we are at a very early state and don’t want to pressure us. We set a good foundation with “Ekpyrosis (Periodic Destruction)” and “Incendium” and we want to put “Burial Vault” to the next level with the next album. Be prepared! Anything else you'd like to promote? Thanks to everyone who listened to “Incendium” and everyone who will! We really appreciate your support and hopefully we get the chance to see you all at one of our upcoming shows. In 2014 we want to play a lot more. Stay tuned!
milfits@gmail.com