HAZEMAZE Studio Report

HAZEMAZE were in the studio recording their next album and Blessed Altar Zine used the opportunity to talk to Stefan Carillo (bass) and to discuss the new material right from the spot. Find out in our studio report when “Hymns of the Damned” will be released and further details about the band and their brand new material. There will be RIFFS again and much more DOOM!

– Welcome back to Blessed Altar Zine, HAZEMAZE! It is great to meet you while you are in the studio recording your second album! How are you? I guess pretty excited?
– It’s all good thanks for asking!

Yeah, we are all very much excited to finally be here at Studio Underjord and begin the recording of our second album, something that we have all been longing for a while now so it feels great to be here.

– I think you did a fantastic job with your debut album and showed your great potential – riffs, gloom and doom. Now from distance of time, how do you see it?
– Thank you, I’m happy to hear that!

We were actually quite surprised by the good reception it has received n since its inception. It has opened to a whole new audience for us, which we are extremely grateful for. Nevertheless, there were aspects that, in retrospect, we would have done differently, like for instance rewritten some parts or dedicate more time during the recording process. But, at the end of the day, people seem to enjoy the record very much so I guess we did something right, haha!

– Now let’s talk about the future ahead of HAZEMAZE. You are recording a new album currently. When did you enter into the studio and how was the recording process going so far?
– We booked the studio for an entire weekend in late March at Studio Underjord together with Joona Hassinen (Year of the Goat). The plan was to record everything live because that’s what we are used to, and gives more dynamics to the overall nature of the songs.

– Do you have ideas of the album title already and how many songs it will contain?
– The album will contain 8 riff-melting songs and the album will be entitled “Hymns of the Damned”

– OK, is there a new direction in song writing and that we can expect in the new album? Or different approach in sognwriting or change in style even? What will be different?
– This new record will definitely stand out from the previous one, especially when it comes to song writing and style. Our goal for this record was to write the heaviest record that we possible can and that are fun to play live.

Since the beginning of last year, right after the release of “HAZEMAZE” we started listening more to traditional doom, such as Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus, as well as some early 70´s proto-metal. We wanted to incorporate those elements, while still maintaining the essence of the first record. This new record will most likely solidify us more as a doom-act rather than your conventional stonerrock band, which is something we want to dislocate us from with this upcoming release.

– Did you dare to experiment more now after having the confidence from the debut album?
– Absolutely. We experimented a little bit on this one. We added some vocal harmonies on two songs, which was not intended at first when we wrote the songs. It was something that Ludvig wanted to try and it sounded surprisingly good that we decided to keep it. We wanted to lay down some old school organs but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to add that, but we will most definitely have some malicious Hammond keys on the next record we decide to release.

– What is the most difficult part for you now while recording? Where did you see the bottlenecks?
– We didn’t have any major obstacles this time in the studio, which kept us right on schedule with everything, The only thing that we had troubled with was nailing the long songs, because it got quite frustrating when you had to start all the way from the top when one of us played a wrong note or if the tempo wasn’t right, but I guess that’s what you have to deal with when you are recording everything live. Even though we might have gotten frustrated during the process, we are still content that we managed to record the whole album in a live environment.

– What about the lyrics? Are there new topics and themes you are interested in and you write about?
– For this record, the lyrics follow a specific theme, which circulates around the mind of infamous serial killers and cult leaders. It wasn’t intended for the lyrics to follow a certain theme but it developed over time, and it fitted the nature of the songs perfectly, so we just went with it.

– In the light of all the above, are there new influences that inspire you most recently and trigger you to write the new music?
– Absolutely! With this record, we have finally found ourselves as a band, stylistically speaking, and we have also progressed ourselves as songwriters. We still got a lot of songs that are waiting to see the light so we hope that we can record them as soon as possible and perhaps release it as a “Lost Session” EP in the future.

– What is your ultimate goal to reach with this album?
– It’s quite hard to say what we expect from this new release but I guess that the outcomes that we hope will get with this record is to reach a new fan base, enhance the chances of playing more festivals, getting more opening acts possibilities, and broaden our name in the doom scene in Sweden and abroad. That’s pretty much it, but we will see how things progress when the album is finally released.

– Can you describe your new works in colours? What colour will be the new album?
– We are still working on the artwork design for the album but as of now, we are working with a talented illustrator that has really understood our music and approach, and we can assure that it´s going to be as pleasant for the eye as for your ears.

– When can we expect these new colours to hit the market?
– The record will be released in late fall, around November. We will announce more details regarding release date in late May.

– Can you share some other secret with us and our readers?
– Haha, I don’t know if there’s any secrets to tell, I’m afraid. The only thing I could say is that this record is going to sound more mature and heavier than the debut record. Prepare yourselves for riff-worshipping experience!

– Great! Looking forward to hearing from you soon with more news and an early copy of the new album to review here on Blessed Altar Zine. Thank you for sharing all this with us! It’s been a pleasure talking to you!
– Thank you

Interview by Count Vlad

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