First of all, congratulations for your new creation, an interesting atmospheric black metal, will you please tell us the story of the band, how it all start?
Greetings! At first, I want to express my gratitude. I am glad that you are interested in my work. It's nice to know that music finds its listener.
A little history of the Utburd project.
I've always wanted to write music. But, it all came down to the lack of interested musicians. The local scene was represented only by punk rock and near-rock bands. I wanted something more difficult and complex in the spirit, for example, of the early Satyricons. As a result, disappointed in the local scene, in 2014 I take all into my own hands and under the nickname "TUOR», I create a one-man project called "Utburd".
Poems written a year earlier on mystical and theological themes, became the lyrics on the debut demo CD "Black Pages of the Bible". It was release in Pro-CD format via the Russian independent label CVLMINIS Records. Demo album style is depressive black metal. Anatoly Balko, who was sitting at the drums in band “Vynil Rockers” (Olenegorsk), took part in the recording of the disc (interlude "through the pass"). The demo disc contains eight tracks.
The disc was record and mixed at home. Alexander Chezhin did mastering at the Murmansk studio Witchcraft. Self-published 40 copies, which were distribute among friends and acquaintances. The last 10 copies were distribute at the Finnish metal festival "Tuska open air" in the summer of 2015. Also, the CVLMINIS label produced a trial run, which is available on their official website.
In 2016, the first full-length album of the project was release. In two and a half years, I has gone from desperate depressive black to powerful, natural, stormy atmospheric black.
I continues to explore theological topics, but from a new angle. On the new disc, the lyrics conceptually explore the human nature's predisposition to evil. Starting directly from the quintessence of evil - a demon, continuing with vengeful spirits, and ending with a maniac led by devilish voices. Album 'The Attraction to the Infernal Nature' was release on July 5, 2016 via Irond Records.
In the spring of 2018, the third work was release, qualitatively different from the previous one - "The Horrors Untold". New dense, heavy sound, mystical atmosphere, high-speed blast beats, hard riffs. Having given up the session musicians, I record all the parts myself. Mixed and mastered by Slaughtered Studio. The picture is complete by a mystical design in the best traditions of old illustrations for horror books. Cover and booklet design - PAINT-IT-BLACK Design. Local photographer Kirill Tatarintsev took the photographs.
Three years later, in the spring of 2021, after a year of worldwide isolation, I present new work. Sound experiments from Slaughtered Studio, frosty atmosphere, stormy blast beats, guest vocals, live flute, lyrics full of despair and hope - this is what the new work from the polar project Utburd is fill. Cover and booklet design - PAINT-IT-BLACK Design.
How would you describe your new creations?
In recent years, I have been extremely fascinate by the topic of Antarctica research. I have re-read a lot of material. Documentary books by Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton. And art books too. I wanted to express my feelings, and a new work began to be create. It's about loneliness and heroism. About personal feat and the tragedy of losses. Cold, blizzards, storms and loneliness of the polar Antarctic night. The concept album tells about the exploration of Antarctica, the discovery of new lands and the first travels. The collective image of the pioneering heroes James Ross, Ernest Shackleton, and Robert Scott, seasoned with Edgar Poe's story about the adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym, coupled with stringy, gravitating riffs, voluminous compositions full of Antarctic cold and oppressive darkness, will make listeners sweat.
Is there good compositions or bad compositions on it? (in my opinion they aren’t)
All compositions were create very painstakingly. If the guitar-riffs core was fast, then I sat over the rest of the filling for a long time. I was looking for the necessary samples, effects, experimenting with instruments. I added live flute, the parts of which I played myself, and guest female vocals in two compositions, which are listened to very harmoniously. The result pleased me. This is a new step in my work. The goal was not only to tell the story, but also not to stagnate musically. I did it. The album turned out to be dense and complete.
Would you be so kind to explain what every song is all about?
The concept of the album is the story of seafarers who dared to go out into icy waters in order to discover unknown lands. This is a collective semi-documentary image.
The album begins with a farewell ceremony for the team. This is an epic, but mostly chamber composition. It is based on “Menuet” from the opera “Erminia” (1723) by Giovanni Battista Bononcini (1670-1737). Score for flute transcribed by Erich Kats. I arranged and played it. This is how the original composition came about.
The second and third tracks are traveling across the ocean, experiencing storms and meeting the first beauties of the icy continent.
"The Unknown Shore" tells about mooring to new shores and the team's delight from what they saw.
"The Tentacles of Winter" tells the story of a wintering on a ship that was overtaken by the polar winter. He is ice-bound and the team spends days observing. As a result, the pressure of the ice destroys the ship, and the team is left alone with the elements, with no chance of returning. This is the beginning of the end.
The sixth and seventh tracks are filled with hardships and suffering of travelers. Being in these latitudes for the first time, they experience snow blizzards, when nothing is visible around, and the wind deafens and blinds. Gradually, the team freezes one by one, someone in a dream; someone deliberately goes into a storm, so as not to become a burden to the rest.
"Impenetrable Sadness" is the closing track. This is the story of the last survivor in uncharted land. He lost everyone and everything. He only had to look into the distance, remember the house and hope for a quick unknown death.
What themes do lyrics approach?
I think I have already answered this question earlier. The texts are inspired by the stories of real people who survived a travel to Antarctica and discovered this new continent.
The productions it is also very good, did you have good time in studio?
The studio is my home. When you have no deadlines and you can think about the details, the time for writing compositions flies by. You can experiment, find successful arrangements. I gave the recorded material remotely for mixing at Slaughtered studio, with which I had already collaborated on the previous album. It's a pleasure to work with them. It's like a dialogue between two long-familiar people who are "in the subject."
What can we expect from your new album, will be in the same line with your latest?
Hopefully enjoyable listening!
What hobbies do you have except music, by the way your favorite musicians are?
In addition to music, I am professionally engaged in photography and video editing (this is my profession I work in). I love spending time in nature. I read a lot.
My favorite musician... now I prefer to listen to old music. Jazz, swing, Dixieland 50-60s. From the musicians of that time, I like Bing and Bob Crosby, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, Big Maybelle and The Ink Spots. From modern metal I love the early Amorphis, Satyricon, The Vision Bleak, Cradle of Filth, Ajattara and many others.
The cover illustration is interesting, who’s ideas were and the meaning?
The idea arose after Shackleton's story of wintering on a ship bound in ice. It seemed to me that this picture fully reflects the oppressive loneliness of travelers. The idea of the cover and the entire design of the booklet was embody by the Paint-it-Black design studio.
In the end, you have the final word for all our readers…
Search and listen to good music! Make up your own opinion. Support the musicians with a minted coin.
Interview by Ionut Dimitriev
August 2021