Interview by Si Smith

In the humble eyes of this listener, Sorrowseed are a true phenomenon in the musical world. According to your bio the band was formed back in 2008 by Joshua Carrig and Thomas Cryownski - do you know how this genesis came about?

Thank you! Thom and Josh first met in college, and clicked musically almost immediately.  Together, they put together the appropriate melodies to best convey these mad prophecies of the end times. They’ve got pretty amazing chemistry together.

The band is now a six-piece - how did this growth occur after the initial formation of the band?

It definitely took awhile to assemble the live band. We just completed our formation in April of last year (2010). When I joined in 2009, only Josh, Thomas and Casey were present. Much of the studio work was done by session musicians. It took about 6 months to fill in the rest of the band!

It seems that even on your first EP the duality was evident - one track each for the Reaping Willow and the Scarab Prophet. How on earth did these characters come about?

They were created in the dark corners of Morte/Josh’s mind – inspired by all that is wrong with humanity and the world today. The Reaping Willow was once the serene nature Goddess, Demeter. She became saddened by the state of the Earth and what mankind had done to destroy its beauty. She then became a Weeping Willow tree – her songs on the album are melodic and sorrowful. The song "Cancer of Blades" illustrates the transformation that takes place as the Weeping Willow’s sadness turns to complete and total rage, as she sprouts blades from her leaves, morphing into The Reaping Willow. The Reaping Willow is hellbent on the extinction of man and uses all of the forces of nature to bring about devastating, catastrophic events.The Scarab Prophet was once an ordinary mortal man, who sought the answers to existence ages ago. Delving into ancient rituals of magick, he vanished into unknowable reaches of dark dimensions. Through the efforts of modern day cultists, the Prophet resurfaces in the arid wastelands of the Earth and gathers desperate doomsayers to perform the ritual to tear a hole in reality, bringing about the incursion of the False Gods to devour what is left of the world. His songs mock humans as a race of beings, and along with the Reaping Willow, he promises pain and suffering at the hands of the Elder Gods!

So as the Reaping Willow, what would you say was your specific view on the world?

The world was once a beautiful place of existence. It has been poisoned continuously by the disease that is mankind. The pollution, destruction, and abuse caused by these undeserving creatures will be tolerated no longer. It will come to an end, and this end means the extinction of all of mankind.

OK, you sing alongside Casey very well - how would you say his character and songs differ from yours?

The Willow’s songs are generally more haunting, droning, doomy, and a little more abstract in style. Many of them also have soft melodic elements. All of nature’s elements are represented. My personal vocal style gives many of the harder songs a black metal element as well. The Prophet’s songs are more driving, immediately assaulting the ears with strong riffs. There is definitely an Egyptian, Nile-esque feel to many of the Prophet’s songs. The Prophet plays off the pathetic and sub-intelligent qualities of humans as a race, while the Reaping Willow is more focused simply on mass destruction.

Your voice shows much versatility playing the various emotional scenes you play throughout your half of the album. Did you start off knowing you could sing this way or was it something you had to grow into?

During the year of recording the vocals for this album, I definitely grew as a vocalist. I have become much more versatile with my range, and able to switch from different types of vocals a lot more easily now than I could before joining this band. My previous style was pretty much just death growls. I never realized how monotonous that can start to get until I found myself experimenting in the studio with Sorrowseed. There were new elements that I hadn’t worked with before. The songs are just so emotionally charged that these new sounds started to come out of me naturally. I would think back to times in my life where I felt complete and total rage… and these high shrieks just started to emerge with incredible ease. It was awesome. Also, something else that impacted my work on this album…about halfway through the recording process, in early 2010, my father suddenly died in a very traumatic way. Although it was an extremely difficult time for me, I was able to get out a lot of my pain and anguish through my vocals. I literally screamed it out of me. So in a way, this tragedy happened at a fortunate time in my life because I had an outlet to channel my rage and pain in a non-destructive manner. It was very therapeutic for me. And the vocals came out fucking amazing. You can really hear the emotions in a lot of the songs, especially Famine Storm and Ocean Scorn (one of my favorites off the album).

As a creative person it must be thrilling to play such a heartstrong character - how much of yourself is in the character? Is Lilith Astaroth similar to Reaping Willow or completely separate?

Yes it is thrilling! I love this character so much… it was a perfect fit. When she was first described to me from Morte, I fell in love immediately. I thought, "She sounds just like me!". A lot of me is in her. Growing up I carried around a lot of anger, hatred and rage.. and general loathing towards the human race. It’s part of why I became a death metal singer. It’s easy for me to find inspiration when it draws from hatred. Very easy. I have felt disgusted by humans so many times – I’ve often felt ashamed to be human myself. Sure, we’re somewhat intelligent creatures… but for being so "intelligent"… we sure can be fucking idiotic and despicable. The state of our existence is quite honestly repulsing. Any higher being must look at us like ants. I’ve often thought of humans like ants. (Although, ants are probably more intelligent than we are – they don’t completely destroy their environments or torture and mass slaughter each other for fun). But yes, I can relate to many aspects of the Reaping Willow. Anyone who knows me jokes about how I’m so often this giant whirlwind of destruction, whether intentionally or not. Some things and some people don’t last long around me if they’re too fragile *laughs*. I can be cruel and sadistic. I am quick to to start a fight if provoked and I’ve unleashed my rage on many sorry motherfuckers in the past. But… that being said - really at the core of it all, is a sensitive, caring, and nurturing being. It’s just that I don’t allow many people to see that part of me, and being subjected to masses of humanity all the time (Boston is a pretty crowded city, and not a very friendly one at that) often makes that sweet part of me bitter and hateful. I am a product of my stressful, dirty, overcrowded, and often hostile environment. I do plan on moving to a more rural area one day where I can’t see my closest neighbors and I can enjoy a more natural surrounding. That will be so tranquil!

Your songs definitely ilustrate that duality - one minute you are sorrowful the next angry and vengeful. How do you prepare yourself for such a contrast, vocally and emotionally?

I’ve had a tumultuous past. My own emotional reactions to situations have often been a fast-alternating contrast of bleak sorrow and uncontrollable rage. Thankfully, as I get older I am becoming more capable of handling unpleasant situations better and keeping that rage from boiling too high. I’ve also had points in my life where I was extremely low and depressed, even not wanting to be alive. Those feelings occur much less frequently now – but I am able to draw upon them easily at will. I have a strong memory, and when I think about certain times or feelings, those feelings will flood back as heavy as they were at that time, no matter how long ago it was. Often when I am singing live I am channeling things from my past and that gives more emotion and power to my performance. It is definitely beneficial to me and therapeutic, and I consider myself very fortunate to have intense music and performance as an outlet.

It seems that a live performance of Sorrowseed would be amazing - by the time you get this interview you will have already have done your first show in Boston, MA - how did it go? Were the crowd up for all the new material?

Our first show in Boston was absolutely incredible. It was packed, full of friends, family, as well as lots of people that we’d never met and only knew online. There were so many photographers and people taking videos the whole time that the flashes were almost blinding! A lot of people were waiting for this night and the amount of support we got was humbling. We also gained many new fans – the show was of mixed genres, and strangely enough, we impressed people that didn’t even like metal. That was one of the things that stuck with me most and made us all feel very good about the performance. We got so much great feedback and praise – it was a wonderful experience!!

Is it difficult to produce such intricate stuff live? What are the main problems you have to overcome when performing your material?

We’ve actually been pretty tight musically – the main problem we’ve been facing is the issue of space. There are many of us and some stages are small. With two vocalists, it’s very challenging sometimes to be able to move around and not smack into someone. We’ve had a couple of minor collisions… admittedly, my fault. I am constantly in motion and usually moving rather destructively without a ton of awareness. As we continue I know my physical awareness will improve, and we will learn how to deal with having no space. There are larger bands than ours that have done it – it’s just something we’ve got to get used to.

At the moment it seems that you are concentrating on the Northeast area of the USA for shows - are there any plans for spreading out further or for festivals this summer?

We’re sticking to New England for now, but we are planning to branch out further once we have some funds to tour. We are playing two festivals this summer – one is the first Philly NORML festival for Cannabis legalization awareness. The other is in Ithaca, NY – Of Wrath and Ruin. Both of which we are very excited to be a part of!!!

Being presented with 2 CDs may be quite overwhelming to those new to your sound. Are there any particular songs or parts that stand out for you on the album?

"Demeter’s Reckoning" was the first Reaping Willow song that I put down vocals for, and it remains to be my favorite. It’s definitely a fan favorite as well. I also enjoy "The Willow’s Edge" because it highlights a great range of what I can do vocally. "Famine Storm" has some great moments are very Dani Filth-like, vocally. And the "Reaping Requiem" is an extremely epic track and great way to end the disc! That song has all 3 characters on it. "Eldritch Hunger" and "Circle of False Gods" are my favorites on the "Scarab Prophet"’s side. I love the chants that Chris (Adamcek) added on "Eldritch", they sound so evil it makes me smile every time.

"My Harvest Time has come…The world will come undone…The reaping has begun…" - your lyrics deal with apocalyptic themes of life and death and the end of all things. Do any of you come from any particular spiritual worldview or are these just great lyrics?

Morte is an atheist and not very spiritual as a whole but does find great "spiritual" wonders in the world where he can, and loves to characterize certain phenomena that we observe in everyday life to make things more interesting. The idea of a corrupted avatar of nature bringing wrath and ruin upon the human race served him as an excellent way to vent his disgust towards people.  The Reaping Willow both pities and reviles us mortal beings, and whether in the throes of genocidal rage or ruminating over how wretched we have become since the days when we revered nature and life, she views our extermination as a necessary release - a harvest of our failures as a species to feed the earth that we have despoiled.

The final words of the album are "…we are nothing at all...nothing". With all the negative aspects of this world that the album explores, what message would you hope to leave with your listeners at the end of the listening experience?

The universe is a pretty giant place, and we’re all tiny little particles of dust in it. Remember that. There is something that I do frequently, whenever I feel that I’m getting too wrapped up in myself, and it really helps keep me in check and my feet firmly planted on the ground. So try this. On a regular basis… at least once a month: Step outside yourself and your life. Look beyond your own little world…your own problems… and into the world as a whole. Our collective existence. Instead of wallowing in your own self-pity, put things in perspective and look around you at all of the pain and suffering of other living beings. Your life isn’t as bad as you think. A very good way to remind yourself of this is by looking around you at others. Focus on something else besides yourself for a few minutes or a few hours in a month - contribute something positive to someone else’s life or to the earth. Instead of wasting your life behind a computer or a tv, get off your ass and do something to better your existence – By focusing only on ourselves and feeding into negativity, we are causing the destruction of our reality, one day at a time.

Finally, have you any other words of wisdom for us or our readers?

The world is a vile place. Do your part to make it less so, instead of doing nothing at all and truly being a waste of space and life. Help other beings in need – people and animals. Give energy and love to those in pain. Be less wasteful and more respectful of natural resources like clean water, and realize that these sources AREN’T limitless. Practice being GRATEFUL for being alive, and for what you have! Go outside more often and truly appreciate nature and how amazing it is. Above all… be less self-centered! All of us have room for personal improvement and growth.

Thanks so much for talking, we wish you success with the album and touring!!! 

Thanks so much for the great questions! I am honored to be part of your zine. Metal for life \m/

Links

Lilith Astaroth : MySpace -  Site - Facebook

Sorrowseed : MySpace - Site - Facebook 

Share & Comment

Tweet

Share