Band – Gråt Strigoi

Album – The Prophetic Silence

Country of Origin – Scotland

Genre – Black/Doom/Experimental

Release Date – August 9, 2024

Label – Fiadh Productions/Realm and Ritual

Author – Hayduke X

 

2021 was an immense year for music. It was, for example, the year in which I placed “Communion of the Nameless” by the Scottish duo Gråt Strigoi at the number three spot on my year end list. In retrospect, I ranked it too low based on how often I’ve listened since. I don’t think it would take the number one spot from The Sun and the Mirror, whose “Dissolution to Salt and Bone” is my clear front runner for album of the decade, but “Communion of the Nameless” pushes it, where not much else does. Which is to say it should have been number two for the year, and that quite easily.

 

2024 will bring us a new Gråt Strigoi album, this one entitled “The Prophetic Silence.” This new album is another evolution of the style the duo has been developing from the beginning. There is still plenty of the black metal and dark sludge found in past releases, but there is also an infusion of punk aggression and a more noise-forward approach to building atmosphere. It contains moments of subtle grandeur, like the bleak fade out of Remembrance, beside intense aggression. “The Prophetic Silence” is dynamic, with plenty of build and release throughout, and is immediately a frontrunner for my own 2024 album of the year. I’ll add my typical caveat when making these statements – there’s plenty of year left and anything can happen – but I’ve been obsessed since receiving the promo. 

 

Nearly an hour long, “The Prophetic Silence” contains six tracks (though the final one is broken into two parts for ease of listening). Like a virus entering your body, the music embeds itself, bringing about visceral change. This is one of those goosebump raising albums that requires a few moments of stillness to recenter yourself when it ends. I’d write in more detail here, but Josh and Kieran do a good job in the interview below of explaining the meaning behind the album, better than I could hope to do. So, press play for a taste, then jump below the player to read the full interview.

 

 

Interview

 

Hayduke X: Thanks for being willing to answer a few questions and congratulations on the upcoming release of “The Prophetic Silence.” Can you start by introducing yourselves and your roles in the project?

J: Thank you! I’m Josh, I handle most of the instrumentation, as well as recording and mixing.

K: I’m Kieran, I handle vocals and lyrics, help with some instrumentation and this album I’ve taken a bigger charge of the art

HX: What can you tell me about the history and formation of the project?

J: We’ve been friends for a while, both in different bands outside of the black metal world, but never in the same band. We both shared an interest in black metal and doom, as well as similar moral and aesthetic values, so it just felt right to start something in that realm – a lot of our favourite black metal artists are solo acts or duos, so it felt fitting.

HX: What does the name Gråt Strigoi mean?

K: Gråt is a loose (bad) translation of ‘crying/cry’ and a strigoi is a Romanian legend that eventually morphed into what we know as vampires today. So in a vague sense, the translation of the name is “Crying Vampire”

HX: Tell me about your writing and recording process.

J: Everything, from writing and recording to mixing and mastering is handled in house, just the two of us. The only other person involved in any of our recorded music has been a friend that helped with some grouped chanted vocals on “A Path Through Ashes.”

K: We both generally start with a loose overall concept for each album, and an overall theme for which direction we want to go sonically and lyrically. Josh will always start with writing and recording, and from there I will start to do the world building for each project lyrically.

J: Previous albums have been written and recorded at the same time, a practice I picked up when making electronic music in a past project. However, with this recording I had a specific sound in mind, so decided to record everything properly when writing was finished. Recording is handled only by us, in spare rooms, practice spaces and secluded woodland areas.

HX: “A Path Through Ashes” and then “Communion of the Nameless” have a shared narrative. Can you tell me about that narrative in more detail?

K: “A Path Through Ashes” was intentionally built off the idea behind our debut album “Alt Dette Har Skjedd Før, Alt Dette Vil Skje Igjen” – which is another bad Norwegian translation meaning “All shall come to pass, all shall come to pass again.” The debut album had no real lyrical direction, so I decided to create a sort of story for APTA based on that same concept of “all shall come to pass”, which then led into “Communion of The Nameless.” In CoTN, I guess that’s when it really takes shape, and becomes an allegory for how history through corruption, capitalism, and tyrannical rule will always repeat itself. Within the actual lyrics themselves, both albums convey a story of how easy it is to be fooled by idealists who promote change, but will still rather see us on our knees, and how that can break us. However, within our deepest pain we must join in unity to break those cycles. We initially got the world building inspiration off of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, and thought that would be such an interesting concept for a black metal project.

HX: “The Prophetic Silence” has its own lyrical narrative that “weaves a story of something that was once lost, and can only be remembered as a distant memory.” Can you expand on that?

K: “The Prophetic Silence” separates itself from the past three albums lyrically, but I suppose that was the whole point of the new album. Over the past few years I have personally experienced a lot of grief and trauma, with an attempt on my own life. I felt like I had been put into a position where I could not escape how I felt, but over time I have learned to find some sort of self acceptance again. That idea of losing something was myself, and how I’ve tried every day to remember what gives me the mental drive to be the best I can everyday. Lyrically the album is a dark love letter to ourselves.

HX: Where do you get your inspiration for lyrics and music?

J: Kieran can talk lyrical inspiration, but musically I try not to get inspired by other black metal or doom bands and I try to refrain from listening to much of that stuff when writing. I think that can lead to a closed loop, where bands just sound like different versions of another band (this can also be said about our music, but I’m content that it at least isn’t conscious). This album in particular, although there may not be any specific punk tropes in the guitar playing or recording, was heavily inspired by the attitude of the early 70s NYC punk and 80s DC hardcore scenes, as well as harsh noise. I think more interesting ideas come from other genres, even where guitar isn’t the main instrument. Something as simple as how dub music sometimes drops out the drums for a small section could inspire you to do the same. The texture of horns on a jazz song could inspire you to record your guitar differently. The way an ambient track uses field recordings, an unexpected acoustic guitar line in a synthpop song. Anything. One of the tracks on this album was inspired by a Beach Boys song. I think it’s also important to be inspired by other forms of art – film, literature, performance. Although compared to inspiration from music, this is more instinctual than direct.

K: Much like Josh, I try not to get inspired by other bands within the genre, because I think that’s how we have always managed to find our own unique approach to music. Inspiration comes to myself in many different ways. I have been heavily inspired by the works of Andrei Tarkovsky, as I find his work really poetic, especially with the likes of Nostalghia. I’ve also been inspired a lot in the past by the works of Hidetaka Miyazaki with Dark Souls. I find his dark concept of humanity to be something really enigmatic, and I always try to convey that same writing style. I will always end up using religious values/beliefs in my lyrics because that in itself is something enigmatic, and something we can only perceive as a belief.

HX: You write: “This record is dedicated to those who have lost their guiding light, the everlasting presence of a fighting force within yourself to continue in this bleeding cesspit. We may lose stability, and mental fortitude, but we must forgive ourselves and seek to remember a part of you that is deemed lost. For this is blessed remembrance.” Can you explain further what you mean by that?

K: Initially, when I started writing lyrics for this album, I had no idea conceptually where to go. All of my lyrics were really sporadic, and didn’t actually have much meaning to them. It was only when I started writing them as if I was trying to tell myself something, that I realized it was starting to form into the aforementioned dark love letter. I wanted to convey that no matter how dark things get, no matter how far you have lost yourself –  you can and will get better. It’s always so important to hold your memories dear, hence the meaning behind ‘For this is blessed remembrance’.

HX: Your Bandcamp states: “This project, and it’s members, are explicitly anti-nazi, anti-fascist and anti alt-right. We want no confusion in this matter.  If you are racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic etc. please do this one favour for us…  Leave us the fuck alone, Don’t buy our records.” We fully support this stance here at MoshPitNation. I’d like to give you an opportunity to talk about why this is important right now.

K: Before we even formed this project, we both knew how problematic black metal is and how it can be used as a breeding ground for the far-right and alt-right. We wanted to be blunt and straightforward in letting people know we do not stand for that. Both myself and Josh feel the same politically and morally, so we wanted to let everyone else know that there is no room for those people within this genre.

J: What’s slipped under the radar, is that the statement is a paraphrasing of something Kurt Cobain wrote in the liner notes for “Incesticide.” I think it’s depressing that the same sentiment still needs to be expressed, bluntly, 30 years later. I think many bands outside of the RABM scene, even those who are anti-fascist or vaguely progressive in their personal lives either, in the most favourable light, forget to mention this or don’t find it necessary, or if you look at it unfavourably – actively avoid making any statement of their intent, so as to not lose potential fans. I’m not going to judge anyone for that decision, but fans who have contacted us often tell us how much that statement meant to them or even just made them smile. On the flip side, it pisses off any wannabe Varg. The amount of unironic comments we’ve read directed at our statement, crying ‘black metal is supposed to be dangerous and non conformist!’ as if being unapologetically against some of the biggest fascist names in the wider scene isn’t exactly that, shows us that we’re doing something right.

HX: Do you play live or do you have any plans to do so?

J: We played one live show with Portrayal of Guilt last December, which was a lot of fun and we got a pretty good response. We’d love to play more in the future, and we’ve had a decent amount of gig offers, but as it’s just the two of us, we have to get the help of others, so have unfortunately had to turn them down. Our friends Alasdair from Ashenspire and Finn (Da Karhu) played drum and bass for us, respectively, with PoG. We worked really well together and had a great time, but there’s no guarantee our schedules will line up. Hopefully sometime soon.

HX: Do you have any recommendations for who else we should be listening to, especially lesser known projects?

J: In terms of the black metal scene, and especially the RABM scene, I’d definitely recommend Feminizer, especially the first album. There’s of course Ashenspire, Order of The Wolf &c. but if you’re fans of us, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard them just as much as us. Outside of that scene, I’d again recommend checking out stuff that’s in the opposite direction of black metal. Listen to some weird stuff. Listen to Talk Talk’s last two albums. Throw out all of your records and replace them exclusively with multiple copies of Tago Mago and Ege Bamyasi by CAN. They’re both pretty well known, but it’s practically all I’ve been listening to recently.

K: From the RABM scene I’d definitely recommend Iravu, which is a one-man project from Malaysia. I would recommend Tumultuous Ruin, which is another great antifascist project from the states. There are too many great bands within the scene to pick from, but that’s just a couple of our favorites.

HX: What’s next for the project? Are you working on new music already?

J: After a well earned break, we’re planning on focusing on a couple of quick smaller projects, three years was way too long for us and we’d like to get more stuff out – we have a few ideas for a EP of covers and I want to release an ambient/acoustic album – I have hours of acoustic demos that are itching to be properly recorded. After that, I already have a good idea of the next main project. It was supposed to be written simultaneously to “The Prophetic Silence,” but one, of course, took hold. TPS was intended to be a straight forward, punk album with short aggressive songs (as you can see from the track run times, plans change) and this other project would be some of our weirdest, most experimental work yet – no holds barred. My intention is for people to question if it even counts as black metal – we’ll see how it pans out.

HX: What else should we know?

K: We just wanted to say that we hope people keep on finding and supporting amazing bands within the RABM scene and wider anti-fascist metal scene. We need to keep showing that there is no place for hate in this scene.

J: We’d also like to plug the “Riffs for Palestine” compilation, hosted by Fiadh Productions and organised by Beaver Mosh. We’re not on the compilation, but the proceeds are going to a good cause – Palestine Red Crescent.

 

 

Biography:  Hayduke X has been writing for MoshPitNation since June of 2016. He is also a contributor to The Metal Wanderlust. Prior to joining the MoshPitNation team, Hayduke published reviews on his own blog Rage and Frustration. In addition, he has DJ’ed an online metal radio show of the same name as his blog, written for TOmetal.com, done interviews for Metal Rules, and collaborated with The Art of B Productions to create video interviews with a wide variety of bands.