Eschatos are Latvian black metal outfit formed in 2012. The band is avowed for Playing a distinct form of modern black metal with a strong vein of prog running in their veins. The current line up features of vocalist Kristiāna Kārklina, drummer Edvards Percevs and guitarists Jānis Bušs & Edgars Gultnieks . Short while ago we caught up with Jānis & Edgars for this little conversation regarding their inception, debute album, future plans and many general things.
Metalhead Spotted: Greetings from Metalhead Spotted! How have you been doing? Could you please introduce the band to our readers?
Eschatos: Greetings, dear readers! Eschatos is a musical formation from Latvia. Basically, we are a black metal band, but that’s not all there is. We are not limiting ourselves to one or few genres. We let all the streams of inspiration flow through us and take shape in a musical form.
Metalhead Spotted: What are the origins of your band name? What does it mean?
Jãnis: The word itself originates from Ancient Greek meaning ‘the last’ or ‘final’, referring to time. Like the end of all life and a new beginning, supreme and essential point of.being.
Metalhead Spotted: What are the genuine influences of Eschatos? Do you guys have
inspirations from any band or artists?
Jānis: I don’t think that I can
name specific bands, because my range of influences is pretty wide. I really enjoy Swedish and French black metal underground, but I don’t limit myself to that. I listen to lots of electronic, classical,
experimental and avantgarde progressive, metal and even indie music to name a few genres. So, I guess, that all goes in our music.
Edgars: We all listen to many different genres of music we come across. I’d say that any person who is involved in making music and wants to be at least decent at it should be open minded to all the music there is in the world.
Metalhead Spotted: In January 2013 you successfully released a full length studio album, Hierophanies. Could you tell us about the song-writing process of Hierophanies.
J: We had the base for the album ready when we were a trio from our previous band — Ocularis Infernum. It consisted of my songwriting, Kristiāna’s chants and Edvards rythmic ideas. Most of the riffs were written in a half meditative state and have little to do with
traditional songwriting, as one might expect it to be. When Edgars joined us, he coated the songs in a new sound with his arrangements. We also had the privilege to work with my dear friend —talented pianist Jānis Kaņeps for the title track. Now the creative process has changed a bit, because Edgars is a major asset to our cause and we work on songs hand in hand. So, I guess, we will see a different side of Eschatos in the future.
E: Recording Hierophanies was the best time we have had as a band. Some of the writing and arranging was done directly on the spot while recording. It was very creative period with a lot of spontaneous ideas disagreements and compromises, and in general we are satisfied with the outcome. Even though now we would do some things differently.
Metalhead Spotted: Are you satisfied with the response that Hierophanies has got over the year?
J: I think that we did pretty well. There were a lot of good words and reviews coming from all over the world and they still continue to come. It was a pretty big exposure for a band from our geographic location. There’s this informational gap between us and the rest of the metal world, so most bands from the Baltics are on their own.
E: Most of the feedback it got was positive and even complimentary, although I would prefer receiving more critical opinions, so that I could actually learn something new by facing some flaws or mistakes.
Metalhead Spotted: Did the whole band contribute towards music for Hierophanies?
J: Yes, everything was done in cooperation between us all. That’s the way we do all things, not only the songwriting. It’s the way we function best, I guess. Sometimes it’s harder, but the results are more gratifying in the end.
E: Oh yeah, sometimes we even quarrel over the ways how things should be done. Well, we haven’t fought yet, but let’s hope it will never happen.
Metalhead Spotted: Eschatos was formed in 2012, did the band had to deal with any line-up changes?
J: Not really and I hope that we won’t have to deal with that any time soon. Our live line-up tends to change from time to time, though. In this relatively short period of time, as a live band, we had to replace Edgars once and we had 3 different bass players, although Tomass is pretty much a full member now.
E: Playing with different musicians is always a useful experience. It is some kind of non-verbal communication.
Metalhead Spotted: How do you feel about the black metal scene today?
J: I guess that it may seem as oversaturated, as it can also seem fresh and reigning once more. Black metal became notorious for its utter extremism and the breaking of any borders. The thing with this genre is that you can’t fake it. There is no formula for ) making it. Either you’re in it or
not. Ones, that try to make this kind of music artificially — fail.
E: As long as it keeps changing within itself and pushing the boundaries without losing its core, it lives. Nobody can tell what exactly this core is, but still we know this black metal feeling, don’t we? Some truly magnificent records were made this year, that contained some of this black metal feeling mixed with other kinds of feelings from other musical fields, like, for example new albums by Deafheaven and Altar of Plagues.
Metalhead Spotted: What are your future plans for 2014? Do you have any plans regarding
releasing new album?
J: We are working on a split album with our Lithuanian friends — Inquisitor. It should be out in the first half of 2014. The first big step have also been taken towards our next full album.
E: The split album is on its way to coming out this spring. Our part will be stylistically similar to what can be heard on “Hierophanies”, but our next album might be something different. Can’t tell yet in what way.
Metalhead Spotted: Is there any one in Eschatos active with other projects?
J: Edvards is playing in technical/progressive death metal band Opifex and our bass player Tomass is playing in crust/dbeat black metal band
Wagars, and grind/death metal band Anal Punishment.E: I would like to highlight Wagars among them. Their sound is something like Baltic melancholy mixed with raw hc energy, and this mix is goddamn powerful. Definitely worth checking out. And Opifex is a kickass live band. No wonder they made to Wacken Metal Battle international finals two years ago.
Metalhead Spotted: As a Latvian Black Metal unit, how do you feel about Latvian as well
European metal scene?
J: It’s hard to say something about European scene in general, because I don’t think we have experienced it from the inside. Latvian scene is small and mostly based on death metal. Thrash,metal is also highly valued over here. The “true metal“ scene
seems somewhat fractured, but we have a really good and dedicated post metal scene with bands like Tesa, Soundarcade and
Solaris in the front.
E: Unfortunately, we can hardly speak of something like actual metal scene here in Latvia. There is,something going on, there are regular concerts, new bands appearing and old ones disappearing, but no real inner movement can be observed.
Metalhead Spotted: Thanks for taking the time out. Any last shout out to your fans and readers?
J: Well, everything we really want to say to the world, we say in our music. We will certainly let you know when we have something new.
Interviewer: Akshay Gaikwad
Edited by: Mercy Thoras
