Like a Brainstorm

Need some catchy swampy folk metal? The new Vorgrum album is sure to hit the spot then. Entitled ‘Party In The Deep’, these South American’s really know how to cut loose and go for broke on the new album. With 13 brand new tracks, ‘Party….’ pushes their blend of black and folk metal into some new territory while still retaining the original sound they have cultivated over the last few years. We had the honor of having Folter and Iti tag team some questions for us regarding the new album, the scene in Argentina, the big upcoming tour and a few other things …check it out…

Party in the Deep

Congrats on your debut album “Party In The Deep”!! How has the album been received so far?
“So far all critics are good, and were well received by public and some labels. All have different opinions but all of them are really positives!”

Going back to ‘Last Domain’ your previous album, were tracks for ‘Party…’ Already in the works or are they all newer tracks?
“MMM… We think that “Beer Island” was an old song, but all the others are new.”

I feel that the new album has a lot more folk instrumentation going on… is it just a coincidence or did you try to add more of it on this one?
“We have the need to try new things, more sometimes means better. We always try to be a hybrid in the genre, but this album was like “You know what? F*ck it” put an elephant there (“Pinta la joda”) hahaha”

Collaboration

How does the songwriting process work? Does one-member handle music and another lyrics? Is there collaboration when it comes to song direction?
“It’s collaboration between all members, some songs are full made by one member, others add some things, and someone came with a riff or melody, and other finish it. Like most bands, the same with the lyrics, one has an idea, and we try to complete it all together, like a brainstorm.”

You have opted to sing in English as opposed to Spanish… do you feel that this will help reach a wider audience?
“English is universal, and it’s more catchy to global public.”

Do you think that you are simply a folk metal band or is there a more detailed description of what Vorgum is all about sound wise?
“Well sometimes we said that we are a hybrid of Folk and Black Metal band. But if you want to get elaborated, it could be a lot of things. Sometimes we say that is more like Fantasy Metal, because lyrics are about stories written by us, and it’s not a specific Folk thing. But for being more simples we say Folk Metal and englobes that all things.”
Who/what are the biggest influences in the Vorgrum sound? Other bands, movies, books, TV?
“We can say Leshak, Moonsorrow, Wolfchant and other bands… I don’t know, we are four and all of us listen to a lot of different music and read a lot of different books. We all like Tolkien and GoT and play a lot of games. Most of our lyrics are influenced by videogames or folk in general.”

South America

South America has a rich history of metal but maybe not so much when it comes to folk metal…..care to offer any opinion on why that is considering the abundance of native music to draw inspiration from?
“It’s a complicated question… We don’t use any Folklore from here because all our relatives came from Europe. Before, even and after the WWII, a lot of Europeans came to Argentina escaping from war. We do not have connection to Argentina Folklore like Gauchos, or aboriginal tribes, or his history at all, because we are not related to anything before 1940 (When most of immigrants arrived here). Yes, we were born here and we are Argentinians, but we have European roots and we don’t feel really connected to the local Folklore to write about it, or any folklore at all, because or ascendancy are different, Italian, Spanish, even Arabic. So we combine a little bit of everything, and add a lot of fantasy.”

How is the metal scene in Argentina? How do shows come together there and who are some of the local up and coming acts you have played with?
“Metal scene is general is alive and full of excellent bands, but the Folk Metal scene is a little bit dead. It had his boom with Skiltron, but now we are like… I don’t know 5 active bands, and we can’t play really often because the genre it’s like a “taboo” and is weird for most people that don’t listen to Folk Metal.”

How do you feel about playing live in general? Is it something you aspire to do more of or do you pick and choose what shows you want to possibly play at?
“At first, we played everywhere, because the adrenaline and the need of playing alive, but now we are little bit selected and choice what is better for the band.”

2nd European Tour

Speaking of touring, you have your 2nd European tour coming up this fall with our friends in Grimner and the equally epic Kalevala….how did this come about?
“We were searching for a new tour and this opportunity came to us, and we took it. We are really anxious about it, we like a lot both bands and it’s a really huge experience for us being part of all this.”

Is being on a record label important at all to you or is releasing your music independently a better option?
“It’s important, a Label could help a lot to the growth of a band, and other times it could be worst. But is better than make all the things by ourselves, because here our coin is really devalued, and it cost us a lot making album, merch and all of that things. We are now in the search of a good label for the making of “Party in the Deep” for our incoming tour.”

Any favorite music from 2018 so far?
‘Party in the Deep’, hahaha. I (Iti speaking here btw) didn’t listen so many new albums, “Vanadrottning” from Grimner it was a really good album. The new Immortal single is excellent too, Spiritual Deception EP is amazing, new Kanseil work it’s promising too. I didn’t search so much material from this year, I’m still discovering albums from 2016/2017 on this days, I’m a little bit of disaster on new material, I always listen to it really late hahaha.”

Closing thoughts?
“We are really thankful for this space on Folk-Metal.nl, thanks for the interview and for being really supportive with us.
We want to use this space to invite to all people from Europe to join us at the party on the Northern Winds Tour, we hope to meet a lot of new folks and share our music with all of you.
Search more info on our Fb Page!
Thanks again!”

By: Jeff