The Soulscape Project : le Black Metal autrement

Hello, could you describe the Soulscape Project genesis (how did you met, do you have an artistic experience, how did you learned music and what are your influences)

Yes of course. TSP was formed in late 2012 by Delastik and me. We know each other since a long time, and did some „magical“ jam sessions in the past. After I quit my other band (Invocation) Delastik forced me to start the Band. At that point we both knew what we wanted to create and so we started this "Project“. Denckert and Gneipel are also friends and great musicians too, so completing the band was easy for us. Four months later we entered the studio and recorded our debut EP.

I can only speak for myself. I started drumming at the age of 15 without any lessons (up to this day). I was playing to some random metal stuff like Gorgoroth, Immortal, Slayer, Metallica, Dumm Borgir or Sodom. One year later i joined Invocation. I have a lot of musical influences as well. I started listening to classic music at a very young age (Prokowjev, Britten, Dvořák). A bit later I got into 80ies and Wave music. At the age of 12 I listened to the first time to Rammstein. This was the point in my life were i figured out that hard music is a style of it´s own and it embraced me. A relationship that never broke up.

You presents yourself as a Black Metal band, but what does it mean for you (Do you have a “definition” for Black Metal)?

Even though BM is a very young genre it seems to take itself too serious. Delastik and I grew up listening to BM of the second wave. At that time bands like Emperor, Satyricon, Behemoth or even Mayhem started to break out from their old images and realized that there is more than an evil image, „electric shaver amp sound“ and corpse paint. The feeling of this progression is clearly noticeable in our music. We are much more open minded than other musicians who want to play black metal. One other reason why we are so different to other bands is that we are all open minded to all forms of music. Four weeks ago I met Delastik and we went to a Hatebreed show. After that we had some drinks while listening to some Retro Wave and Hip Hop music.

Is there a definition of BM - the answer has to be “It’s freedom“ :-D

What Black Metal bands did inspire your work ?

That’s easy. I don’t know. We make music that comes to our (or better to Delastiks) mind. Sometimes you have a small idea and when you start to jam around on it, it grows up very quickly. Most of those ideas are now listenable on our last record….“

Would you qualify Liberation as a Black Metal record or is it more complicated ?

There are BM influences, no doubt about that but on the other hand it’s a progressive trip through different genres. For me - and that that´s my personal point of view - Liberation is the kind of BM i would like to listen to.

Is Liberation a concept album, and what is the concept ? (if not, why did you used some “narrative” samples (closing door, cars in the street, etc…) in some songs?

Yes. Liberation is concept album musically and thematically. From the musical angle it’s composed as one long song. If you listen careful to the whole album you will notice. Thematically it all breaks down to the term “Liberation” in all its different meanings. We tried to catch that liberating mood while ignoring any rules of genres (and that’s the only way, it feels proper to me) and bring it down to our own style. If you take a look at our cover artwork (from great Henri Selbmann) you will find an overall mood but lot more details than you might notice at first glance.

Did you spend the past two years to work on Liberation or did you wrote all the songs in a short time (I can’t find the right worlds in english but when I listen to the whole album, some songs sound more Black Metal (the last ones) but others are more experimentals (the beginning), or progressive (“Withe Heaven”) : is it intentional ?)

I think Liberation was written in period of half a year and most ideas came at the same time around us.

Do you have something to add ?

Thanks for the Interview! Cheers!