Интервю със STORMCROW

Hello, and thank you for agreeing to this interview!

Guide us through the early days of Stormcrow. What inspired you to start this band, did your concept change over the years and what were the challenges you faced during this period?

The band was founded by me (Zedar – Bass), Racknos Avrakys (Guitar and vocals – RIP) and Lord Namael (Guitar) in 1996 from the common purpose of expressing our hatred for the prevailing moral sense and humanity in general. This concept never faded over the years but surely evolved into a more introspective point of view. The challenges we faced were many, from the lack of suitable venue for playing to the many line-up changes to the disinterest of labels of that times for an Italian Black Metal band just for being Italian and not north-European.

Your latest album ‘Path to Ascension’ was released last year, and you are currently promoting it. How do people react to the new material live, and what should people that haven’t heard it yet expect from it?

We are very proud of the reaction of the old and new fans for Path to Ascension. People who come to our shows, even for the first time and without having listened our music before, never fail to be captivated by our unique way of mixing fast and brutal riffing with epic and introspective melodies.

Do you have any favorite track from it, and why? Is this the same track you’d recommend for someone that’s just getting familiar with Stormcrow?

I can’t say I have a favorite song, they are all our beloved creations; if not so they would never enter a Stormcrow album. As for a recommendation to approach Stormcrow music I can’t advice any single track cause we like to explore different way of expressing our art so, in any album, you can find songs most oriented to epic like “Ascension” and death-like ones like “Detached” or more blackish like “Dark Existence” just to name some from Path to Ascension.

The mastering was in the hands of Devo Andersson, member of Marduk in their classic years and known for his engineering work with countless extreme metal bands. How did you decide to work with him, and what are your impressions of your collaboration?

We chose Magnus because we were searching for someone who deeply knows the black metal style but who should also be flexible with our personal way of intending it. It was exceptionally easy working with him, he immediately understood what we wanted and it took just two or three adjustments to the mix to get the result we were searching for.

One can feel that the raw majesty of the mountains has been one of your main inspirations for the last couple of releases. You are even calling yourself “Alpine Black Metal”. Tell us more about this.

Mountains became the core concept of our music many years ago when we realized the power of this element. It is the obstacle but also the only way one has to reach the peak and it must be done through pain, despair, effort and sheer force of will. To us this is true both physically and spiritually for climbing a mountain also means facing our inner demons, insecurities and limits; reaching the top is overcoming them and becoming something superior than before.

Since 2024 you have also added a new singer to the line-up. How did you convince Vexa to join you and what are her contributions to the sound of the band?

We searched for Vexa as a temporary substitute for Vastis that was unavailable for a show due to health problems. Vexa immediately agreed and put all the effort into learning our songs in due time.  After that we found that mixing the two immediately recognizable voices of Vexa and Vastis was a magnificent addition to the unicity of our music.

This being said, can you describe how the process of creating new music for Stormcrow goes? Are you more on the spontaneous side with a lot of band jamming, or every idea is polished to the end before you start working on it together?

It’s a bit of both. The main riffing part is made by Astaroth and Tohrus, they bring their work in studio and there it is affined, polished and arranged into the new songs that can be approved by all the band only after countless rehearsals. It happened more than once that we had to dismantle  a song after having it recorded and listened to many times.

Something I notice in a lot of extreme bands, especially in the black metal genre, is that they despise everything social media is about, but need to use it to promote themselves nevertheless. Do you feel such a cognitive dissonance, and is maintaining a band in a digital age more of a blessing… or maybe more of a curse?

In these times social media are a necessary way to convey the music to the fans everywhere. It is both a blessing, since you can reach people literally from all over the world, but also a curse, since this kind of fruition has drastically limited the attention threshold of the listeners.

One of the reasons to get in touch with you is your upcoming show in Sofia, Bulgaria on February 8 at club Mixtape 5. You already have experience playing in Bulgaria. What is your impression of our fans?

We played twice in Sofia and we were always amazed by the warm sincerity we felt there. People listened to us without any preconception and enjoyed our music together with us in an extremely positive way. 

You are going to share the stage with the local bands Deadscape and Zima. Are you familiar with them?

They are both very good bands that express an excellent flow of emotions through their valued riffings. I’m sure that together, with our different styles, we’ll give life to a show worth remembering.

For the ones that are still hesitating to join the ritual on February 8, describe why they shouldn’t miss a Stormcrow show!

Stormcrow music is something you don’t hear often, like it or not is somewhat unique in the scene and the best way to enjoy it is live because it is composed mainly for this purpose.

What are your goals for the band in the next few years? Are there any upcoming projects or collaborations?

We are in the middle of a period full of shows around Europe but we are also sparing time working on the songs for the new album that we hope will be ready to be recorded on late spring 2025.

Thank you for this interview! Is there a message you would like to send to your fans and supporters in Bulgaria and all over the world?

Thank you for reaching out to us and a really big thank to all the fans that support, and will support, Stormcrow. Keep your sight on the highest peaks!