Dr. Deeks's volume needs to be turned way up! Other than that, fun interview as always, Nik!

When you said he had a PhD in metal, I thought you were joking... then I heard the title of his thesis
Very cool topic, and, while not all bands follow this approach in their music, I liked his analysis of bands that incorporate some element of their native country or culture.

Also, the discussion on old vs new metal, nostalgia, and the oversaturation of music today is always an interesting topic for me. I liked that you pointed out that, while older bands aren't reinventing the wheel anymore with their 10+ releases (except Judas Priest maybe ), there definitely are lively soul and unique ideas to be found in new young bands. Perhaps one just has to look harder for them nowadays. There are a whole lot of factors going into that subject, and it's hard to get an objective view on things. But it's always an intriguing and very important topic to discuss, I find.

My instinct is to connect "arð" to "earth" (fits well with "Erde" and "aarde" and Old English "eorþe"), and by fun extension "Arda", but I'm not finding any direct evidence for this, so possibly that is merely a cosmetic connection. There is also the Modern English word "ard", which is a type of plough whose use extends into prehistory and has similar names in older Germanic languages (including Old Norse arðr). We've got "earth" and "plough" and then this "arð" that means "native land", and I just have to think there are dots waiting to be connected.

I enjoyed what he was saying about "imagined community", especially as I have the same internal confusion of whether I'm actually hearing something because it's there or I'm just hearing it because its quality was implied to me. The packaging is such a big part of metal that I think you could definitely argue for stuff like album art, logos, song titles, concepts, etc. having an influence over what people are hearing. To some extent I think that's not a bad thing and it's even the point, since music isn't just "the music"; an album truly is and encompasses all those things as a complete artistic work, and using contextual elements to influence a listener's reception is at once a valid tactic and also not something I would imagine even rises to the level of a "tactic" so much as it is a natural part of the creative process anyway. But this does enter a more concrete level of discussion when it comes to folk metal, I find, or at least styles that are somewhat adjacent to it in the way that I would say Arð is. He used the quality of a melody being "Finnish" as his example, which I found appropriate as I'm continually perplexed by Amorphis's The Karelian Isthmus. That album is commonly described as incorporating elements of traditional Finnish music and you see it come up in discussions of early folk metal sometimes, but I can never hear it while listening to the album; then I have to choose between the possibility that I don't know enough about Finnish musical conventions to pick them out in a metal song (definitely true) and the possibility that other fans are confusing folklore-themed lyrics and imagery with folk-derived music (definitely plausible).

I can hear some Alice In Chains DNA in some of the vocal approach to Arð. Or perhaps I should say that I hear some liturgical influence in the vocal approach of Alice In Chains. They're not a comparison I would have immediately reached for, but it makes sense now that he's said it.

That is a hell of a great t-shirt you've got, it sounds like.

I also find it funny that you guys are old.

Nice beard dude, good interview. Now we need find band from ol' dirt' Glasgo'

Written by F3ynman on 24.05.2024 at 18:44

Dr. Deeks's volume needs to be turned way up! Other than that, fun interview as always, Nik!

I know, I thought it was my laptop, but unfortunately it wasn't.
Anyway, I have been wanting to talk to him for a long time, and Zoom's cut-off point pisses me off because I wanted to ask a few more questions. I will try Skype next time, methinks.

Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 25.05.2024 at 00:56

That is a hell of a great t-shirt you've got, it sounds like.

I also find it funny that you guys are old.

Here's the t-shirt


And we are not old, we're just more experienced

Written by Bad English on 25.05.2024 at 10:56

Now we need find band from ol' dirt' Glasgo'

You mean Saor?

Written by nikarg on 26.05.2024 at 11:10

Written by Bad English on 25.05.2024 at 10:56

Now we need find band from ol' dirt' Glasgo'

You mean Saor?

More some punk band whit good Glaswegian dialekt