Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Shores Of Null started from an idea of our two guitarists, Gabriele and Raffaele. They channeled the desire of composing dark and melancholic music which differed from what they were doing with their respective bands (The Orange Man Theory, a nice combination of death metal and hardcore vibes, and Mens Phrenetica, a sort of alternative/math rock band). Gabriele soon contacted Davide from the stoner rock band Zippo: they shared many tours in the past, and they often discussed the possibility of forming a gothic metal band given their love for the genre, especially the one coming from the 90s. Moreover, the clean vocals of Davide looked like the perfect fit for the project. Then Emiliano, who comes from a more prog metal background, was selected as drummer, and I was auditioned at bass after the split-up of my former prog-death band. As you can see we come from quite different music backgrounds, but what united us was the unanimous love for the gloomiest and saddest subgenres of metal, such as doom, gothic, black and death metal.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
As I said, in Shores Of Null we tend to mix a few different genres from the darker side of metal. We love all of the seminal bands from the 90s that started the gothic and doom wave, such as Katatonia, Anathema, Sentenced, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost, Moonspell. We also tend to mix black metal vibes, especially in the guitar sounds and riffing, although inserting quite melodic tunes thanks to Davide’s vocals. This is maybe similar to what bands like Enslaved, Borknagar and Primordial use to do. As the final touch, we have some melodic death metal influences: you could, for instance, recognize some similarities to bands like Dark Tranquillity at times. Mix all of this, blend it with some modern mixing à la Insomnium/Swallow The Sun/October Tide, and you have Shores Of Null, more or less.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
We always tried to propose a sound that, despite based on past metal currents, is amalgamated and reinvented in a very personal way. If someone likes the more sad and melancholic sides of metal, with a mix of old and new, we are a band that could definitely grab his/her attention.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
Our debut album, ‘Quiescence’, was published by Candlelight Records in 2014. It has been received very well from both public and critics, with very enthusiastic reviews and quite good promotion both in and out of Europe. Between this and our second record, ‘Black Drapes For Tomorrow’, Candlelight was sold to Spinefarm Records, so we found ourselves under this bigger label with very high hopes. Sadly, these hopes were not matched by the actual support of the label: despite the good reviews, not only the promotion of our sophomore album was close to zero, but we have been obstructed on many bureaucratic aspects managed by the label, on which we had no control. To give an idea, videoclips that should have come out at the album release, or in the first months, have been postponed for nearly a year, and our music has been blocked because of copyright issues in a lot of countries for a very long time. On top of that, it was nearly impossible to communicate with them, nor for solving these problems, nor for other very basic stuff. This nightmare led to our decision to publish our third album with a much smaller label (in this case run by our singer Davide). This gives us total control on our music, promotion, etc.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
We have always been very active live, with around 150 performances in total. We were lucky enough to be invited to big European festivals such as Inferno Metal Festival, Eindhoven Metal Meeting, Metal Days, and many others. We also toured Europe many times with awesome bands like In The Woods…, Ereb Altor, Harakiri For The Sky, Sylvaine, Mourning Beloveth, Novembre, Hooded Menace, etc. We always had a blast and the feedback from crowds around Europe has been great every time.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We are a very professional band, formed by people who gathered a lot of experience during the years in the metal scene. We know how to handle all the different aspects of running a band, and our general philosophy is that if you want to do something, you should do it at the best possible level, or just don’t do anything at all. Despite our perfectionism, we are all very easy-going people, who strive to have fun and enjoy life and music, which we look at mainly as a passion, but always managed in the most professional way possible.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
Our new album ‘Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying)’ will come out on November 27 via Spikerot Records. It’s quite different from our two previous albums, starting from the tracklist: it is a single track concept album of nearly 40 minutes, which definitely emphasizes the doomier side of our music. It also features great guests such as Mikko Kotamäki from Swallow The Sun and Thomas Jensen from Saturnus. They play a very important role throughout the whole record, so fans can expect many different sections in which they are involved.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
The main hub to listen to our music is Spotify, where we recently published our first excerpt from the album (and two more are coming). You can also find us on many other platforms like Youtube, Bandcamp and basically every digital store on the internet. You can follow us on social media like Facebook and Instagram, and buy our merch on both the Bandcamp pages of the band and of Spikerot Records.
October 2020