As ever, we’re going to try and cover every single Jäger, New Blood and SOPHIE stage band before Bloodstock kicks off on August 10th. Your chance to check them out and start planning which bands to get there early for!
Trust us when we tell you that this is bound to result in some frustrating clashes because, as ever, there are some great bands on these three stages.
Our thanks to all the bands for taking the time out to answer our questions!
Decrepit Monolith – Hobgoblin New Blood Stage, Saturday
Simple things first – Where are you guys from?
Odious: From cold, dark North of England
How long have you been playing together as a band?
Baal: The band was born in 2013, after an intense year of live shows our vocalist of the time left. Not wanting to sacrifice any part of our sound or show we took 18 months searching and when Odious joined we knew he was the perfect fit.
Where does the name of the band come from?
Baal: The name is really a two-part meaning, firstly it represents the huge but decaying religious orders across the world and the infection they have caused on man, as well as their ever-crumbling grip on the world. Secondly, we felt the word monolith represented what we do live, it really resonated with us.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
Odious: People would describe us as black metal with hints of death, however we try and use a wider array of textures and tonality. We incorporate brutality, melancholy, dissonance, and ambience to form something less typical of an extreme metal band.
Baal: We tend not to label ourselves as one genre for this reason, blackened metal is probably as close as you get.
What’s your live show like? Why are people going to watch you instead of another band?
Odious: We bring a dark visual aesthetic to our live shows. Not to give too much away – but our shows are, and are increasingly, vivid and violent, intense and esoteric. If you wish to experience the true strength of misanthropic darkness – this is for you.
Have you been to Bloodstock before? What did you think?
Odious: This is the first time for us.
Did you enter M2TM thinking you could win it? Which region did you win?
Odious: We took part in the Newcastle heats. It would be counterproductive to enter any competition being too optimistic, you need a certain amount of confidence without being complacent. I think we felt we had a chance, due to us being somewhat different from the rest of the bands, but there was some stiff competition and we put 100% effort into ensuring people would, at the very least, remember who we were.
What sort of setlist can we expect?
Odious: Varied. Our songs can be extremely fast and in your face, or more mid-tempo and doom-laden. There’s something in there for most fans of extreme metal.
Baal: There are some songs to move your head to and some that may take your head clean off, during the heats we included a new track “The Wretched Bones” that got a good response so you can expect that to be in there.
Which main stage band do you most hope you’re not squished up next to so you can see them play?
Odious: I would like to see Winterfylleth, so hopefully our sets are a few hours apart.
Baal: For me it would be Annihilator.
What are you working on at the moment?
Baal: After Bloodstock we plan on writing, we have some ideas and a couple of new tracks in the works so we will be concentrating on our next release. We will still be doing the occasional show but the studio will be our main aim.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done on tour?
Odious: We haven’t toured yet per se, everything at the shows off-stage is surprisingly and disappointingly tame. We are usually focused on doing a good show rather than going wild. Ask us when we have toured and we may tell you a different story.
Baal: Saying that, there was a stand out moment recently was at the Newcastle M2TM final during our set when an elderly gentleman in a black trilby broke out into dance by the side of the stage. Simon Hall from Bloodstock who was there called him out to congratulate him and he got a roaring applause from the whole venue.
Jager, Hobgoblin Ale, Kraken, Kingstone Press Cider, Kaltenberg Beer or Bulleit Bourbon? And, yes, we’ll be counting all the votes!
Odious: The blood of virgins….? Well Hobgoblin then, our drummer won a crate at the finals so the night was doubly a success.
Decrepit Monolith: official | facebook | twitter | youtube
