With their full-length debut, "The Ailing Facade", Aeviterne have released one of this year's most intriguing extreme metal albums. Although the record contains enough of the kind of dissonant churn that is so integral to 2020s death metal to ensure that the band slot quite neatly into the zeitgeist, Aeviterne have so much more to offer than the latest Immolation or Ulcerate clone. Subtle electronics are woven into the songs in such a way as to suggest that they are way more than an afterthought, and martial rhythms and stark industrial sounds blending seamlessly with the grinding guitars suggest a band with a huge sonic scope that they are only just starting to explore. I recently caught up with Garrett Bussanick (guitars / vocals) to dig a little deeper into what makes Aeviterne tick.

Ben

Both you and Erik previously played in Flourishing, a band not completely dissimilar to Aeviterne. To what extent is Aeviterne a continuation of that band? And what lessons did you learn from the Flourishing experience that have been applied in the creation of Aeviterne?

Aeviterne is a continuation of Flourishing, just as Flourishing was a continuation of a band I was in many years ago called Cardiovascular Sub-Hypothermia. Maybe the lessons are just about creativity, and both bands are certain points on a timeline. My hope is that Aeviterne continues to become more and more cohesive going forward.

"The Ailing Facade" took several years to record and mix before its release this year. How close is the final version to your vision for the album at the outset of the recording process? And did the process change the end result in ways that you were not expecting?

I think the point has been made with how the recording turned out. Our drummer Ian (Jacyszyn) did a great job mixing it. I wouldn't say the process changed anything in particular - it turned out close to how I envisioned it, personally. We had demoed these songs pretty extensively, and so very little was not fully realized before tracking the LP - maybe only one of the segues between songs was never properly demoed.

Your music has a coldly calculated feel, as if every layer of ambient noise and electronics, and each drum hit has been deliberately placed, as opposed to emerged via improvisation and jamming. Is that the case, and can you elaborate on your song-writing process, and how the electronics are so seamlessly integrated into the songs?

Everything is deliberate, and all aspects were conceived as part of the whole. And yes, it is the case that these songs were not written through jamming. As for our process, I'd bring in rough demos, and then Ian and I would re-demo in order to further work on structures and components until completion. Electronics were part of the process from the beginning and play a role when heard, and so were never added for the sake of it or just "on top" of the main instrumentation.

How has the arrival of Samuel Smith on guitar impacted the sound of Aeviterne? He comes from a fairly avant-garde, technical background, at least with respect to his other bands. Has his playing added anything different to the band?

Sam is a great player and brings with him a lot of musical experience and know-how. The LP was almost fully written before he started playing with us, but he did contribute to the instrumental song 'The Ailing Façade' by writing a lot of the bass.

Conceptually, I interpret "The Ailing Facade" to refer to the difficulty of reconciling one's public and private sense of self in a world in which the delineation between the two has become less concrete. Is that a fair interpretation, and can you expand on what "The Ailing Facade" means for you? And is it important for the music to reflect the lyrical and philosophical themes of the album?

The phrase The Ailing Facade is perhaps best described as representing states that could lead to potential conclusions of the human condition. With the LP, I'm getting into futility, madness, extinction, stuff like that. The lyrics exemplify and ponder these types of conclusions. Lyrically, I'm always hinting at the biggest picture (at least that I'm aware of at the time of writing the lyrics) - the reasons or questions behind, and leading to, the examples outlined. So the lyrics are meant to lead to an idea: of doubt around whether there can be consensus on what human progress actually is, and, if identified, its likelihood. Perhaps humanity's 'wheels', being mud-bound and slick with philosophical conundrums (consciously or not!), will keep spinning out until failure, no matter how much pressure we apply to the gas pedal. Of course, by failure I mean whatever self-inflicted end of humanity you want to choose. And so: is progress for humanity even possible given the circumstances of the human condition? This is the question I want to leave with the reader/listener. And yes, I'm thinking more in terms of musical and lyrical cohesion these days (as mentioned in the first answer): I think there is room for Aeviterne's growth there.

On a similar note, are you familiar with Emile Durkheim's writings on the concept of 'anomie', and the grave consequences that may follow the breaking down of social norms and interactions that hold society together? And is that an idea that the songs touch on in any way?

I'm just aware of Durkheim's name, but not familiar with these writings. And I wouldn't say the lyrics touch on those ideas specifically, although this sounds like an interesting topic!

Back to the music, the core of Aeviterne is death metal, albeit more Ulcerate than Obituary. However, I can hear some distinct hardcore influences (specifically Integrity), and also some industrial sounds that recall Godflesh. Have these bands influenced the direction of Aeviterne, and if so, can you expand on the importance of bringing these sounds into death metal?

I like some hardcore, however, funny enough, I've barely ever heard Integrity. And yes, Godflesh is definitely an influence. But it really goes back Cardiovascular Sub-Hypothermia (CS-H): the "Pulmonary Descent" demo is the blueprint for what Aeviterne and Flourishing have done, and my involvement in CS-H has been, by far, the single greatest influence on the direction of both bands. Credit to my old CS-H bandmate Glenn Sykes for coming up with these musical ideas all those years ago.

And which other classic and contemporary bands (in any genre) have been important in contributing to the sound of Aeviterne?

Killing Joke and and Immolation are two that come to mind.

Finally, where do Aeviterne go from here? Are there any tours / live shows planned, and what do you think the next album will sound like? Do you aim for Aeviterne to evolve over time into totally new areas, or simply refine what you have already built with the debut full-length?

There is a tour in the works for later this year. I'd like to both refine our base concept and evolve into new areas with Aeviterne's future music. I have some rough music lying around for a second LP, which I'd classify as "riffier". However, we plan to further conceptualize what the band is, and so it's hard to say if any of this material will work for LP number two. And I can see us pushing the electronic elements further; making this component more central to the songs is interesting to me.

Less than a year after their first release, the self-titled EP, 10,000 Years are back with their first full length titled "II". Picking up right where the EP left off, "II" continues the story of the ill-fated Albatross-mission and its exploration of time and space through a skull crushing mixture of stoner, sludge and doom metal. Check out what Alex Risberg (bass/vocals) had to say about the band, new record and the making of "II".

Tomek

Thanks for taking time to do this, how is all right before the release of the new album?

Things are good! We're really stoked about this album and we can't wait for people to hear it and to share it with everyone

Why 10 000 Years?

Haha, there's really no big story behind it. We we're thinking of a name and a tradition in the doom scene is to name your band after songs by your favourite bands. As we absolutely love High On Fire, one of our favourite bands since forever, I looked over their catalogue and thought that 10,000 Years would make a cool, different name for a band, so then we went with that. It was High On Fire who inspired it by writing so fucking crushing music.

"II" comes out June 25th, how long did you work on it? Can you tell us about it, about the recording itself, and how satisfied are you with the outcome?

The new record didn't take that long actually. We released our first EP back in July 2020 and then we were already writing new stuff, so we had all the songs that make up the new album done probably by autumn last year. Then it was just a matter of rehearsing them 'til they were second nature. Then we hit the studio in February and banged the whole thing out in, like, three days. We work according to the Black Sabbath-method. We're extremely happy with how the record turned out. It's absolutely brutal. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

What can we expect from the new album?

It's really a continuation of the EP both in terms of the story and the music. It's a bit more dynamic in terms of songwriting and the whole ride has a bit more twists and turns, it keeps you on your toes while you also recognize the band and the sound. They can also expect that the head that does not bang, will bang.

Is there a hidden meaning behind the title?

There's no deep meaning here, it's called II because it's our second album and it's a sequel to the first one. The story of the ship "Albatross" and the adventures of the crew continues.

What was your frame of mind when composing, what was your main inspiration?

It was really no different from the first record. We just try to write heavy songs that riff for days. Songs that we like and would want to listen to. The main inspiration often comes from ourselves, 10,000 Years is based on a science fiction concept involving wormholes, interdimensional travels and ancient gods and beings, so we often come up with a cool concept or plot point in the story, even just a title, and then we jam out on riffs that we feel fit that title or concept.

Was there anything that influenced you differently while composing; were there any non-metal influences that surprised even yourself?

Hmmm... Not really. I mean, we all listen to so very diverse kinds of music, it's not all heavy doom and gloom the whole time. Like, when we're in the studio we never listen to metal, it's mostly The Band, JJ Cale, Leonard Cohen and stuff like that. But when it comes to making music for this band we kind of know what framework we want to adhere to, so it doesn't really matter what other types of music we listen to.

Some guys out there like to put tags on bands and so you ended up with 'stoner metal'. Are you ok with it?

I don't mind it. It's a good tool to use to find your bearings and stuff you might like. But at the same time, it's all just music. The important thing is if it's good or bad music.

What does it mean to you?

It means heavy music with massive riffs combined with groove and a bit of tempo. I think, haha.

When you sit down to write, who do you write for?

We create for ourselves. We've been lucky enough to have other people dig our stuff as well, and for that we'll always be extremely grateful, but we would be doing the exact same thing even if no one else cared, because we care. This is what we want to do, what we want to play and listen to.

What do you expect from the listener?

I don't know if we expect anything from the listener more than to listen. If anything, I would want the listener to have an open mind and to hopefully agree with us that our music is worth their time.

Do you play to build or to destroy?

We play because we love it. If the resulting music builds or destroys is an inevitable side effect either way.

What would you do without music?

Go insane, probably. I mean, if I couldn't play music I would survive, even if it would suck. But if I couldn't even listen to music, then just end me, please.

Where do you see yourself and the band in next 5-7 years, is there a plan in motion?

We didn't start this band to become famous or big. We do this because we love it and because we wouldn't want to do anything else. So, we can express ourselves in the heaviest way we can imagine and to do it with good people. So, we'll probably be doing the exact same thing as today. There's no big masterplan behind us.

Ok, we covered past and present. What are the plans for the future?'

The plan going forward is to write the next record, which we've already begun doing. And hopefully we can come out and play a few shows soon as well.

Nowadays most of the labels and bands release their new material on CD, vinyl and cassette, which one do you prefer?

I love physical media. Personally, I prefer CDs but appreciate both vinyl and tape as well. I tend to gravitate more towards digital media these days for my own collection, but that's mostly because I have limited storing capacity at home. That doesn't stop me from still buying A LOT of records though! Haha!

Thanks a lot for taking time to answer all the questions, last word is yours.

No problem, thanks for having us! Hail the Green King!