WHEN THEIA CREATED THE MOON: Without Boundaries
Berlin-based progressive death metal act When Theia Created the Moon launched their newest single “Killing on Adrenochrome” back in June, which came after the release of the debut EP “Would It Kill Us Not to Kill Us?” in February this year. Following the band’s participation on Progotronics 38 compilation, the band spoke for Prog Sphere.
Define the mission of When Theia Created the Moon.
When Theia created the Moon aims to do crazy metal stuff without subgenre boundaries combined with meaningful, well thought lyrics. We wanted to make music that we would like to listen to, that equally challenges ourselves while playing and consuming it, as it does others. In short: we wanted to make something-something death metal great again!!1!11!!
Tell me about the creative process that informed your recent single “Killing on Adrenochrome”.
The song was actually written some time ago before the EP-Release. We were still in the rehearsal-phase for the EP and working on several songs at the time – we thought it didn’t match the other songs of the EP and therefore left it out. Nonetheless we wanted to make a statement on some political movements and as well conspiracy theories that are going around, and we thought this song would fit perfectly for this purpose. Many hours went into its production, especially the music video, so just f***ing watch it already!
The song itself is influenced by Dying Fetus – the riffing, the lyrics, the overall atmosphere. But we’re no longer living in an era of adrenaline, but of adrenochrome, as it seems. So we wanted to carry on the torch while setting fire to some places that obviously need burning.
Back in February you launched a debut EP titled “Would It Kill Us Not to Kill Us?” How did you document the music while it was being formulated?
The ground structures and lyrics were written and composed by Christian, then put into guitar pro or on recycled paper respectively. After that we arranged and rehearsed the material together. Some months later, we had a decision to make: our drummer and music producer Sascha was scheduled to leave Berlin to live in the worst place on earth save for maybe the Vatican: Bavaria. Therefore, we pushed to record a preproduction and then the final EP-recordings, so that everything could be mixed, mastered and released in time before Sascha left Berlin to live under a rock once again.
Is the dynamic flow of the pieces carefully architected?
Indeed, the EP was conceptualized as a musical triptych: three individual pieces that deal with the question the EP-title raises in their own regards and that add to each other. The Samples and Drones that accommodate the songs are meant as hinges between the three main pieces and hold together the creation.
Describe the approach to recording the EP.
It was 100% self-production with a modern (digital) approach. We recorded Guitar and Bass DI, Drums via Sampler for the aforementioned allotted time frame problems and recorded the vocals and saxophone parts in our rehearsal room.
The songwriting was further optimized after the initial recordings and we decided to change the arrangement of Maelstrom Juggernaut and Remnants of Existence to make them fit better into the EP-concept as well as to bring the Saxophone parts in Remnants more to the foreground. After that it was Sascha’s black sound magic that made it into the totally unheard-of masterpiece it is.
How long was “Would It Kill Us Not to Kill Us?” in the making?
Depending on what you take as the starting point, it was either 18 month from the first riff being written to the release – so pretty much since WTCTM existed. Or 12 month from the first rehearsal with the band for the EP assembled to the final master. Or about 5-6 months from the start of the initial recording to the grand release that nobody heard about…
Which bands or artists influenced your work on the EP?
In WTCTM we call them the usual suspects: Death, Origin, Archspire, Cytotoxin, Nile, I Built the Sky, The Black Dahlia Murder and many others to a lesser degree.
What is your view on technology in music?
We embrace modern production tools. Using modelers in the odyssey for the right tone. Technology in the music making process definitely speeds up the writing process, because many different versions of one part of a song can be easily put to the test. We have no elitist view on technology or amps and are up to experiment around, as our EP can attest. And as Sascha once put it in so many words: ‘Editing is as a digital tool is a nice thing for technical Death Metal.’
Do you see your music as serving a purpose beyond music?
Absolutely! We don’t believe in those “music and politics should be separated”-phrases, that mostly get uttered by people who don’t really have a clue about what’s going on in the world save for that the illuminati or some other imagined shit show are supposedly running it. Don’t get me wrong: We’re not saying that you have to be openly political, just that music always is political, rather you like it or not. For the same reasons we cannot not act, music cannot not be political. It always propagates a certain musical or ideological worldview, consciously or not. We just decided to use our music, lyrics and videos to purport one view on things for people who are interested to look at and think about it. The world is of course not changed by music alone, but music can for sure be a catalysator for political emotions, ideas and in some cases instigate or help bring about political change on a smaller or greater scale.
What are your plans for the future?
We’d like to assemble a crew of musicians for playing live, record an album and getting a label who releases and helps spreading it. Finding an audience that likes to listen to our stuff and maybe even wants to buy our merch. So nothing out of the ordinary – except maybe for the doormats and Zippo-lighter merch, I guess…
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