At the tail end of last year a whopping great slab of funeral etched death doom from highly respected label Solitude Productions landed on me with a heavy thump. The band’s second album entitled ‘Merely the Fleshless We and the Awed Obsequy’ was massive in more ways than just by mere title and comprised of 105 minutes worth of crushing music over its two disc, five track running time. Used to the label unearthing many great treasures from around their Russian based homeland the biggest surprise here was discovering that Grieving Age actually come from Saudi Arabia. This in itself was more than a reason for finding out more and questions were dispatched to quiz these remarkable nomads about their craft and the scene that these voices in the comparative wilderness exist in.
AN: Firstly congratulations on the album it really is an epic piece of work, thanks for taking time to answer these questions.
GA: Thanks for the interview Pete! Our pleasure to answer all your questions.
AN: As far as I can see the band formed around 2003 and released a one track single ‘My Hopeless River’ in 2005. Can you tell us a bit about how the group got together and what led up to this first recording? How did that musically sound compared to the present album?
GA: Well, there was nothing special in how we got together. We were a bunch of young lads who loved listening to all kinds of metal but mostly doom so we thought of putting something out, let’s try a doom band! Bearing in mind the lack of metal bands in general and how metal music was still unknown and mystic to most of the people back then, so we started as a trio and in a few months we became a 5 piece band and that led to the first single composition which is- My Hopeless River. Back then we were huge fans of Melodic Doom Death so the song was very melodic and emotional and to be honest some of us still love it and some of us totally not, the song is kinda primitive in all ways, how it recorded and how it composed but we still cherish the memories of it.
In comparison to the recent sound, it’s totally different! There is no comparison at all.
AN: From there it took another couple of years leading up to demo ‘In Solace Enthroned By Thorns.’ I notice that this track was a fairly lengthy one and showcased a very literate and prosaic approach lyrically which is certainly very much the case with the newer work. Would you say that you were really beginning to find your feet here? Had it been difficult arriving at this point and was the line-up a stable one up to this point; you don’t seem to have an overabundance of ex members?
GA: That’s true but to more precise, Grieving Age have always had a clear idea of what to write about, no religion, no politics and no personal stories! It’s all about pure fiction and nothing more but yes from this song all lyrics are getting literate more and more.
When we started writing songs we hadn’t the capability of writing very long songs, we were young and in a learning phase so we were playing it safe but with age at your side and experience you get the courage of going far and doing what you really wanna do without being afraid and that what exactly happened with us.
In Saudi Arabia the metal scene is very tight and everyone knows each other back then, we were all friends before even starting the band therefore the line up being stable for many years and only few changes happened and it happened only in the bass position.
AN: Obviously a question that has to be asked as for a start Metal Archives lists apart from yourselves just ten active metal bands in Saudi Arabia. Is that an accurate representation and what challenges are there facing you to practice, perform and play your music on a day to day basis?
GA: No it’s not accurate, we have more than 10 bands for sure but definitely they are not active anymore! And out of 10 you have only 4 to 5 are active the rest have died in peace.
We face plenty of challenges but in a very simple words we can’t play any official live shows it all has to be secretive therefore we haven’t played any gigs since 2007. It’s too exhausting to do and plan, so we stopped playing anything local hoping for anything outside the borders but practicing you can do it at home so no issue.
AN: From what I read and this is a fairly old report bands are pretty much forced underground by religious authorities, there are no venues and public music is banned. Is this still the case or are things changing in any respect for you?
GA: Nothing has pretty much changed but most of us lost the interest in playing underground live shows, it’s awesome yes but may cause a severe headache!
AN: Are there any other bands who are active that you would advise interested readers to seek out?
GA: Absolutely! Wasted Land, Creative Waste, Deathless Anguish, Immortal Pain, Breeze Of The Dying and AlNamrood.
AN: This makes me wonder if this spreads through with other genres of Western music, is anything acceptable at all and what is the situation with you even being able to buy music as far as record shops etc are concerned?
GA: Well, basically nothing is acceptable but the rejection of society and authorities come in different levels, R&B, Pop and instrumental music are kinda common in here but still can’t be performed live, Metal is totally not as they think it represents Satanism and other devilish stuff.
AN: I take it the internet has helped incredibly when it comes to getting your music out to a wider audience. Are you faced with any restriction on this at all though?
GA: No restrictions, all doors are open via the internet, it depends on how active and smart you are to reach the right audiences
AN: You are from Jeddah I believe and looking at images it is quite a modern even futuristic looking place perhaps with a bit of an industrialised backdrop. A lot of bands take inspiration from their environment; does yours inspire your sound and lyrical output in any way?
GA: Not really, we have never been inspired by our environment our music and lyrics are totally imaginary, we step ourselves out of reality into a realm we create to enjoy the doomiest part of our souls.
AN: Your first album ‘In Aloof Lantern, Thy Bequeathed a Wailer Quietus…’ was self released in 2009. How easy was it to get recorded and to actually get out there. I am pretty sure that a fellow writer mentioned having got it so I guess it was available and heard to some extent. What was the reaction like and how easy is it to get now if someone wanted to track it down on CD?
GA: The recording process wasn’t that difficult to be honest, we record all the Guitars, Drums and bass locally at the Eastern region in a city called Al Dammam with Deathless Anguish’s mastermind Kamal Al Nauimi and vocals were recorded with Badr Al Zahrani. The whole recording process took 10 days but mixing and mastering were the real deal it took almost 7 months to see the light. We looked everywhere to find a proper musician to work with (we thought it’s impossible for someone to agree working with us because we are so underground and above all from Saudi Arabia! ), but at the end of were incredibly lucky to communicate with Dan Swano and have his agreement on our music and that he likes it! By all means he reached the sound of our dream at this point of our short career, he turned our music into something worth listening to! And again we were lucky working with the legendary Aaron Stainthorpe on all the album artwork.
The album has been distributed by Luggamusic from Spain and they did a pretty good job in sending the promotional CD to magazines, zines..etc, cause we have received a heap of positive reviews and an offer to play at Doom Shall Rise 2010 which we couldn’t make.
If anyone wants the CD at the moment may directly check with www.luggamusic.com or send me an e-mail requesting a copy at [email protected]
AN: Four years is a long time between albums but Merely The Fleshless is an epic and massive piece of work that must have taken a long time to construct without even factoring in other external hardships. Can you tell us a bit about the writing process of the album?
GA: On paper yes it seems extremely long but on the reality no, some of the members got married during the release of the debut and the second, plus each member has his own job so it wasn’t easy to practice and compose everyday, so it was up to whenever we were all free. It took us almost 2 years composing and one year recording, that wasn’t easy at all!
AN: It’s an obvious question but one that many people are going to be intrigued about but you don’t do anything in half measures from the song titles to the running times. Is this just something that comes naturally to you, could you ever see yourselves writing shorter songs?
GA: Hahah absolutely yes! I guess the third album will contain a lot of short songs titles lol, but for this album and the debut it just came naturally, plus all the titles hold a twisting meaning, from the title you can either tell the conclusion of the song or the hidden message within the text.
AN: This again takes me to the lyrics they are wordy to the extent that reading them I have to wonder if the lyricist is a scholar and studies languages as an aside? They are pretty biblical in scope and I wonder where the ideas come from and how you would describe your narrative themes.
GA: Thanks! As we mentioned earlier all thoughts and ideas are from the imagination, not based on a true story or anything real. We’ve created out own characters and plot and weaved the music around them. It’s like a play or something, but briefly, it’s about a gigantesque ship with 3 main characters on board, the captain, the sailors and the anonymous, still there are many minor characters like the waves, the sun, the moon, basically everything speaks and tells the story. So somehow the ship gets trapped in time for thousands of years and well that’s enough! Better read it.
AN: As for the music itself it too is quite dense but I guess as a listener used to the style it is not too difficult to penetrate. If you were put on the spot to describe it, how would you do so?
GA: That’s true, the album is quite dense! The music is not completed at all, it needs time to grow and massive patience to complete the album though. I don’t recommend to fully listen to the album in one session it needs at least 3 to start getting it.
AN: Vocals should be mentioned. I described Ahmed Mahmoud as sounding like he is commanding a vast army and they really do stand out as completely formidable. Is that the kind of impression they are trying to convey and how easy does the singer find it to growl so roughly for such long periods of time that the tracks dictate.
GA: Pretty good question! Ahmed Mahmoud in this album represented all the ship characters. He represented all kind of pain and suffering and yes it was like leading a vast army! It wasn’t very easy singing this way for a very long period that’s why the album took a long time recording as every member took his time in recording with no rush
AN: How did you end up releasing the album on Solitude Productions, they are an obvious choice of label but you are far removed from their normal hunting grounds?
GA: Well, we are big fans, their releases are always good and they are dedicated to all kinds of doom so we thought of giving them a try. I contacted them by sending out our raw materials and they liked it much but they weren’t very sure about things until we had the finished materials and yes they approved and we moved on, very cool people and they love real doom to the bone!
AN: The Gravestones were polished and I love that phrase by Greg Chandler and Victor Santura, how did this pairing come about and was it something that you did via the internet or in person when it came to working on mixing and mastering the album?
GA: All via the internet, technology shortened the gaps! When we were writing the new album I was intensively listening to Esoteric latest effort (Paragon Of Dissonance) so most of the lyrics been written listening to the album plus other music such as Shostakovich, Mozart, and Ahab (the debut album). When the recording time came we thought of recording the drums and Cello outside as we were bit struggling especially as we hadn’t found anyone to play the Cello locally. So i contacted Greg via Facebook and asked him if he could help and he did with great spirit! He secured the artists at his studio and things went very smoothly, unbelievably professional and the results were immense and all done in a one week period!
Regarding Victor, first time I heard his mixing and mastering were on Dark Fortress album Seance and I was totally blown away by how intense and heavy it was! The guitars were crushing so in the back of mind I said one day I’m gonna work with this guy and create something REALLY heavy with no sense of mercy! And the day has come, so I contacted him, sent him the materials and he liked it and accepted to take the risk of working with an unknown band all the way from Saudi Arabia.
AN: I think I may have actually got the first review in, how have others been so far. Do you find people are getting to grips with your music and been accurate with describing it?
GA: Not everyone indeed, some of them are judging the album from the title and the lyrics! It needs at least a couple of spin to get into it not just a few minutes from each song!
AN: This is normally the point where I would be asking about playing live. Is this something you are ever able to do either at home or further abroad, if not do you think it could be achievable in the future?
GA: We haven’t played any live show since 2007 and that was in Egypt, we are not interested to play anything local anymore, the scene is almost dead.
We are looking forward for any international events, but mostly the doom ones!
AN: Early days yet but how do you plan to ever really top such an epic album!?
GA: We still have a lot of fresh ideas and day by day we are learning new techniques and listen to new music that will expand our horizons.
AN: Well that’s about all I have to ask so thanks for your ‘Merely The Fleshless We And The Awed Obsequy ’ I shall enjoy it through aeons to come. Any final words to our readers?
GA: Thanks a lot for the great interview and it’s first one by the way since the second album released! So enjoy it.
(Interview by Pete Woods)
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