Lunacy – Rainy Darken Feelings

Another old one, this time Lunacy, a One-man project from Seattle.

It is with great pleasure that I see that the genre is far from falling into oblivion and doldrums, and the last few years have been quite productive, all over the globe, in terms of Black Metal. How do you see all this "movement" around Black Metal?
 
Black Metal is certainly experiencing a bit of a renaissance worldwide. I think a large part of it has to do with the accessibility of consumer recording equipment. We like to think that the second wave bands were all DIY, but the truth is many of those classic albums were recorded in studios. Now that anyone can buy some microphones and an audio interface, anyone can record a demo.
 
Can Black Metal still be considered an Underground genre, or even those who try to "hide in the shadows" end up being part of the same reality?
 
I think it is still a pretty fringe genre, but thanks to the internet, these small pockets of a Black Metal 'scene' are a hell of a lot more connected than they were in the 90s. It is the same spirit as people sending letters and tapes to each other back in the day, but augmented by the capabilities of the internet. Same spirit, different medium.
 
How do you see yourself in the entire immense sphere that is Black Metal? Where do you stand Lunacy and where do you stand, as an individual, in the musical, creative and spiritual reality that is Black Metal?
 
The amount of Black Metal bands putting out new music is frankly a bit suffocating. I just try to make music that I like, and if other people like it, then that is awesome. It is very easy to be caught in the excitement of the scene, but Lunacy has always been more of a personal output for me. I try to put myself, and my spirit, into the music and create something that I am proud of, regardless of where it stands in relation to other bands. Every album is a personal reflection of my reality at the time of recording. The goal is simply to translate the creative spirit within me into something external.
 
"Melancholic Invocations" is, without a doubt, one of the best works published this year in terms of Black Metal. How the process of creating it and what was is it based on, musically and lyrically speaking?
 
Thank you, I really appreciate that. My goal for this album was to make an album with the emotional potency of DSBM, but the mystical atmosphere of raw Black Metal. In terms of recording, having SC from Ebony Pendant record drums was a huge boon to the album. I recorded the guitar parts, sent them over to him, and got back some killer drum tracks from which I recorded bass, vocals, and all the other instrumentation. I also wanted to put more focus on the riffs of the album than my previous work. My next album, coming out in a few months, is a further continuation of this idea, but with a much more aggressive edge.
 
What musical influences do you have the most when creating?
 
For this album I was very inspired by the spirit of DSBM bands like Gris, Trist, and Lifelover. These bands just make their emotion so tangible you can't help but let it wash over you. In terms of production and riffs though I was listening to a lot of Darktrhone, Horna, bands with a lofi sound and stellar riffs. There is a certain melancholy in the sound of these bands that I aimed to amplify.
 
Little information is found on the internet about Lunacy, but there is a geographical reference: Seattle. Seattle is well known for the Grunge phenomenon, but in no way do I need to mention it, much more to you, a native of Seattle. All the ambience, the image "painted" by so many works that came out of it, are a faithful portrait of the city, and is it the same portrait that you intend to capture with your music?
 
Seattle is certainly a very inspiring city, and it is no surprise that there is such an active extreme metal scene here. I am honored to be surrounded by some of the best bands in the scene right now. Ebony Pendant and Kukailimoku all live within like 3 miles of me. You got Lamp of Murmuur up in Olympia. Its an inspiring place. That being said, I have never been a fan of grunge so I can't really speak to that aspect very much. But the atmosphere of living in the shadow of mountains and forests certainly has a profound effect on Lunacy's music.
 
How has Grunge helped to shape a music scene, opening doors for more and more genres to be fully accepted by fans and music lovers?
 
Before the pandemic, the Seattle music scene was thriving. Tons of DIY hardcore, metal, and experimental shows. Certainly the grunge thing in the 90s kind of started that tradition, but it grew far beyond what grunge could have imagined artistically. It is great to live in a city where more outsider genres are appreciated.
 
Your music is far from being one-dimensional. In terms of production, it does not fall into the mistake of many, leaving the melody to be lost under tons of dissonant guitar, bass, drums lines ... dragging vocalizations away and away. Your sound on this album, and as I read in another interview, escapes the DSBM that until then had been at the heart of your Black Metal. What is the reason for this sound metamorphosis?
 
Honestly I've been moving away from the DSBM sound because after a while, it just doesn't feel as powerful as fast, aggressive Black Metal. I need riffs, I need blast beats, that kind of thing. What I think is really the most ideal sound is somewhere in between, where the aggression captures the emotion and spits it out in melancholic riffs. I think Melancholic Invocations approached this ideal, but my next album takes it further with a more riff focused approach. That said, the best riffs maintain emotion and it's a mistake to leave that aspect out of Black Metal.
 
Still on the DSBM theme: allow me to ask you, what attracted you initially to this facet of Black Metal? Its particularities are - in those more "honest" cases - associated with darker and more gloomy realities. Is this reality of ours prone to drag us into less pleasant states of mind?
 
What I love about DSBM is that it celebrates those less pleasant states of mind. It makes them beautiful. There is a lot of energy in those moments of deep depression and self-loathing. It makes good art. It takes aspects of life that we tend to shy away from and blows them up. To make beauty out of suffering is one of the most noble artistic acts one can achieve.
 
"Outside the Castle Walls" lives, in a way, between DSBM and more aggressive Black Metal. Do you consider that Lunacy lives not only in a reality, but in a more complex situation?
 
That song was kind of an experiment for me, and I am glad it went over well. It's really easy for a Black Metal band to sit within the confines of what is traditional, but it's a lot more interesting when you find within yourself a new mode of expression. That is what it is really all about for me, drawing out the unique vision I have and making it into art. Genres and style are merely tools for expressing oneself.
 
How are you experiencing this new reality, and how has it influenced your attitude towards music and the creative process? Did it give rise to new songs, new ideas...? Moreover, how do you imagine / glimpse the world from now on?
 
I've always said about all my music that the goal is to express that which is within oneself that cannot be named, described, or represented with words. It's my reality that I try to get across in music. I think Lunacy is really the product of my experience of the world, which is always different, but also the same across every release. Every album is an attempt to better capture this vision.
 
Thanks again. I look forward to new music and new conversations. Greetings.
 
Thanks so much!

Lunacy Official Bandcamp

Realm and Ritual Official Bandcamp