Having formed in 2013, can you tell us a little about “Path of Desolation” and it’s members? Has everyone been with the band since the beginning? How did you come up with your name?
Our line-up evolved a little bit over time. Three times we had to find a new guitarist and we recently hired a new bass player, David. But I think we now have found a stable formation. The band’s name was found kinda on an impulse. We had a gig coming and we needed to find a name for the posters. To our knowledge, we are the only band using this name, which enables us to be visible on the social networks and all platforms.
You have released an EP “Soaked Jester” in May of 2014 and a full length album “Where The Grass Withers” in October of this year. How do you believe the album is being received so far and are there any plans of touring to follow the album?
I personally got a very good feedback about the new songs. People are telling me that our music has changed a lot since the EP. That the songs were better produced and structured. We hope to play a bunch of concerts in 2017 to promote the album. Playing abroad would be awesome!
What was your recording process like? Does everyone play a hand in the writing process? Is it a blend of everyone’s ideas or do specific members write lyrics and or music?
Steven and Pilou, our guitarists, pretty much worked together away from the rest of the band, in order to work on each other’s idea and create the basic songs. Once the structures were good enough, they would send us the tracks and each member could add their own tracks. As far as I am concerned, I recorded the drums demos at home and then submitted it to the other. Lyrics and vocals in general were all created by Dave, and we are very pleased with them. We all worked home to avoid the “Jam-writing” and to be able to write in better conditions. We were on a short deadline since the Soundfarm studio was already booked and we had to be ready before starting the recording so this solution was the most effective. Regarding the recording itself, it was also a weird and stressful thing: our producer Anna Murphy was playing the 70’000 of Metal on the day we entered the studio so she had to find a replacement under a very short notice. There were some ‘surprises’ with the bass tracks and Pilou had to rework them almost live in the studio and record them itself, then the flu hit me so I couldn’t sing a single note… Chaotic but me made it through anyway!
Where can your fans expect to see you in the future? Will there be touring done internationally in 2017? If so where can we expect to see you and when? What’s in store for “Path of Desolation” in 2017?
We are looking through different options about a small European tour. We didn’t have many occasions to play outside Switzerland yet but strangely enough we have a good following outside our country. But not many concerts I can announce now for sure.
I really enjoyed listening to your album, what were the influences that went into your particular sound? Do you have similar musical influences within the band members or do you have differences in playing styles?
I listen to a lot of melodic death and metalcore (although not everyone in the band likes this genre). I try to create rhythms I would like to hear on the albums I love. Everyone has his own influences in the band and that is probably what makes the songs a bit richer. I’m way older than the others (sadly) so I’m more into old-school stuff: the old In Flames records, A Canorous Quintet, At The Gates, but also old German thrash bands. I’ve been listening to Kreator and Sodom for about 25 years and I guess this had an impact on the way I sing. I also love those freaky black metal bands like Solefald. The “Lamarck, Darwin’ part in ‘The Hunting Prey’ is actually a direct tribute to their song “Philosophical Revolt”. But the thing is: I am totally unable to sing like those singers I love, so I think I developed my own style over the past 20 years. I discovered this genre just before joining the band. I’m a big fan of prog-death but we are obviously more influenced by northern pioneers of melodic death. The musical diversity of our band is a real strength. I think you can easily hear every influence in the album. Each track has its own atmosphere.
Where do you see “Path of Desolation” being in the next few years? Are you planning on enjoying a creative rest with having just released an album or do you plan on jumping right back on the horse with writing new material? How does the creative process come together as a whole?
As far as I am concerned, I’d love the band to gain more popularity, spread our name and reach more people. Also play a lot of gigs from our area because there is a very good scene there. And of course: I won’t lie and tell you that we wouldn’t be happy to sign with a good label and tour in other countries. But it’s only a dream so far…The writing process will start soon! We want to start early enough to get a result as professional as possible. We’ll no longer take breaks for composing, because the last year was really frustrating without any live! That will also be a good exercise for mixing “live composing” and “studio composing”.
How has your album been received in Switzerland? It certainly is getting the attention of fans from all over! How do you feel knowing your music is reaching such a wide audience so soon?
We just started promoting the album so we didn’t have a lot of feedback. But we already got quite a lot of offers for interviews, and zines asking to get our CD.So it seems people are liking what they hear or they wouldn’t bother talking to us, would they? Feedbacks are really positive! We are proud of it, but don’t feel fully implemented in the Swiss metal community yet. Surprisingly, we get a lot more support from Asian countries! Lives will certainly help us to be better known in our own region. In Switzerland, there are a lot of great bands and it is sometimes difficult to grow a reputation. Hopefully, there are also a lot of bars in which bands can play.
Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for your fans here at “Metalheads Forever Magazine”. Hope to work with you in the future. Is there any last words for all your fans? Anything you would like to say at this point that we may have not covered?
Yeah, the lyrics are brilliant!! Thanks for the interview, mate. It’s really cool. Thanks a lot for the interest “Metalheads Forever Magazine” has shown for our album release! We enjoyed giving birth to this album, so we hope you will have the same pleasure listening to it.
Trisha Lindley / Metalheads Forever Magazine
