Greetings from Metalheads Forever Magazine, I’m Keith Clement the Editorial Head, how are you today?
Hi Keith, I am doing good. A bit stressed due to all the tasks that need to be handled at the same time. But better to be busy than bored.
You are releasing the album “Dahoam” on September 24th, can you tell me a bit about the Songwriting and production behind the album?
We started writing for “Dahoam” sometime mid 2019. Originally I had planned that Dahoam would only be an EP, but once I started writing on it the ideas just poured out of me. It soon became clear that an EP is too short to cope with all these different aspects of “home”. Even a full-length is not enough to discuss everything. Some of the songs felt like they wrote themselves. As I am not perfect in the Bavarian dialect, I needed to work on the lyrics very close with our drummer Thomas. That was a first but good experience and helped to get meaning, words and dialect in the perfect balance. We started recording the guitars around spring 2020 in my own “Schattenschmiede Studios”. Drums followed in autumn at “Mischbatterie”. For the vocals, Mixing and Mastering we went to the famous Klangschmiede Studio E and Markus Stock. This was also a first time, as I usually did these steps myself as well. We couldn’t be more happy with the decision. Markus was able to get the best vocal performance out of me and craft our vision into the perfect sound.
I Love the cover art, looks awesome, can you tell me about the art of the cover and the concept you set behind this album?
“Dahoam” is a concept record on the meaning of the word home. Based in specific places and landscapes of Upper Bavaria, I tried to find out about what home really means. But please do not understand it as a patriotic praise of Bavaria. Dahoam is nothing like that. The landscape of Bavaria only serves as a setting to discuss universal truths about home, and additionally I tried to investigate on the good and the bad sides of home, the shadow and the light. There are English translations of the songs available on our website, if one is interested in more details. The cover was drawn by Benjamin König and we couldn’t be more happy with it. It shows the Wendelstein – the highest and most prominent mountain where I grew up – in the middle and it is surrounded by the heraldic animals and symbols of the towns I feels connected with: Rosenheim, Ebersberg and Grafing.
The album is an amazing Black Metal, a special one for the Black Metal fans, I’m sure they will enjoy as much as I enjoyed it, great work as always on this album, how as a band you feel about the outcome of the album?
We are very proud of this record. In our view it is coherent from start to finish, it has the perfect flow between harsh and soft moments and the concept glues everything together. I also think that it has the perfect balance between simple black metal riffs that are focused on melody and riffs that show our more “complicated” Post-Rock/Metal side. At least that’s how I see it, if all of this is true needs to be judged by the listeners.
You have chosen to keep it in your Bavarian Dialect since the beginning, that is so awesome and makes the record an awesome one, what was the idea that went into your mind when you planned to do this masterpiece?
The Bavarian dialect came natural with the concept. Dahoam is not only exploring different ideas and thoughts on home, it is also trying to occupy it with new ideas, with our ideas about this word. Ideas where you can feel this deep connection to your home and it’s landscape, but are not afraid to criticize it at the same time. Where you can call out nationalism while loving the mountains, where you can embrace change and new ideas while still respecting traditions that make sense to you.
You chose the topic “Home” how does it make a special one, for some its everything, for some there is no home, for some the world is their home, what was your term when you call it Home, what does it brings to you and how special it is for you?
These past years I found myself thinking about the term home and what it means to me a lot. I sense this kind of belonging when I see the Wendelstein in the distance that I wasn’t able to explain. At some point it became necessary to explore all those feelings I have when thinking about “home” and find my own truths about it. Home is so much that it is impossible to define it in a short interview, therefore we wrote an album about it. Belonging, identity, exclusion, otherization. What is home and who gets to call it that? Why is something considered typical or local and how can we make a place our own? Those are some of the thoughts we tried to explore. I haven’t fully answered what home is to me even now. I just know that the hearts that accompany me on the path I follow and the laughing of my children are home, as well as the woods and fields and mountains that surround me are an essential part of what I consider home.
16 years of making music, how has the road been for you so far?
Bumpy. There were ups, there were downs. But I always followed my heart and my vision and I have always strived for something and will hopefully continue to do so.
What would be the next plans, touring plans set right before for you?
Of course we would like to play a tour and some festivals. The current pandemic makes it hard to plan though. So we will see. On the other hand I feel this itch to create new music again.
What would be some of the great moments, that you would like to share?
Ah there were many. The shows at Summer Breeze or Ragnarök Festivals, or our tours with Ereb Altor/Angantyr/Asenblut, with Panopticon and with Woman is the Earth are definitely one of the most memorable moments we had so far.
What are the things that you would feel to accomplish through music, do you feel to experiment more on music and give the fans more darkness for Black Metal?
I do not know what the future brings and which direction our music will develop to. We always wrote music that we felt needed to come out of us. The next record might be a full blown Black Metal record, it could be a Post Rock album or anything else. Most probably it will be some sort of blending of different genres as always. But we will see. An Acoustic/Folk record is something I always dreamed of. Maybe we’ll do something like that in the future.
Finally, what would be the message for the fans around the world?
Thanks for all the support over the years. We hope you enjoy “Dahoam” and that it can help you finding your own truths about what home means to you. Hope to see you on the road again at some point!
Band/Artist: Waldgefluster
Place of Origin: Germany
Album Title: Dahoam
Album Release Date: September 24, 2021
Record Label: AOP Records
Genre: Black Metal
Track List
- A Taglachinger Morgen
- Im Ebersberger Forst
- Am Stoa
- Am Tatzlwurm
- In da Fuizn
- Mim Blick aufn Kaiser
- Am Wendelstoa
Waldgeflüster is:
Winterherz: Vocals, guitars, keys & samples
Dominik Frank: Guitars, Backing vocals
Markus Frey: Guitars
Arvagr: Bass, Backing vocals
Thomas Birkmaier: Drums
Social Links:
https://www.waldgefluester.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BlackMetalWaldgefluester
https://twitter.com/_Waldgefluester
https://www.instagram.com/waldgefluester_official/
