AN NCS INTERVIEW: GUYOĐ

******

Hi Guyođ! How are you? What’s the band’s current status? And who’s online today?

Greetings! This is Dohrn and Ōjin. We are doing just fine, thank you very much. We’re currently in the middle of promoting our just-released debut album, playing a number of shows in Austria and other European countries.

In what kind of gigs do you take part? Do you have an opportunity to join some festivals if there are any in December?

Most of them were really small underground gigs in shady venues. These have their own charm though. Not in December, but in August next year we’re doing a show at Kaltenbach Open Air, which is the biggest extreme metal-festival in Austria.

I read the interview where you represented Guyođ as a death metal band although the band’s influences are richer obviously. Was it your intention from the start just to play death?

Absolutely not. In the beginning, it was our intention not to over-specify our style, but we never considered us a mere, classical, death metal band. As you correctly stated, our influences are much more diverse. Not even sure if death metal would be the first sub-genre people will think of when they first hear us. But that’s up to everyone else to decide.

Okay, let put it simply: which bands helped you to choose the right direction for the band?

Some musical influences are certainly Mayhem, Opeth, Sulphur Aeon, Paradise Lost, Craft, or Immolation. We could extend this list endlessly, probably.

The band’s first full-length Heart of Thy Abyss was released on the 4th of November; how do you promote the album? Are you afraid that it may get lost among other releases, as the extreme scene is overwhelmed with lots of bands nowadays?

Well, you are absolutely right, there are numerous high-quality releases out there. Just in the Austrian underground scene, 2023 has been rich in great albums from upcoming, as well as well-established, bands. As much as we do not fear comparison with other bands, we are absolutely aware that listeners are very likely to miss out on us due to the abundance of material. But that’s a challenge every band has to face. All the more, it’s important to deal with positive fan-reactions humbly.

Guyođ played a series of gigs in October, how was it? Did you have some fun performing your music live?

Yes, we came around a little this autumn, playing shows in Slovakia, Poland, Czechia, Austria, Croatia and Germany. The overall experience was great. It feels we grew together more tightly as a band and further improved our live performance.

What are your overall impressions of this tour? Do you feel yourself enthused to go on or do you feel yourself disenchanted?

Definitely the former. Of course, on the road you sometimes have to deal with un-ideal circumstances. Some days, you have to cope with incompetent technicians, others you play for 5 people. But we are well aware that that’s part of the game. And so far, we’ve been lucky for the most part.

How many people in general were at the gigs? Did you feel feedback from listeners?

The numbers range from 10 to 70 roughly. It really strongly depends on how effective promotion ran and, honestly, sometimes it’s also a matter of luck. However, we’ve had great shows with just a few visitors. In general, it’s important to give your 110%, no matter how many people there are. If they’re here to see us, they get us. And yeah, we’re getting great feedback from visitors of our shows! Directly, through conversations afterwards, as well as indirectly, through the vibes during our set.

You recorded the album in Lakewood Studio, Graz. How smooth was this session? Did you record everything yourself?

It was quite smooth. We had no time pressure, thanks to one of our members being involved with Lakewood Studio to some extent. We were able to record and produce everything by ourselves besides the contrabass parts mentioned in a later question.

How did you share the duties in the studio? Was it Dario who did mastering and other stuff?

Dario/Daikakuji is a professional mastering engineer. So it was an obvious choice to lay the mastering in his hands. The recording was engineered by the band but mostly by our drummer Rehoboth. Mixing was done by Thomas Taube in his Five Lakes Tonstudio in Germany.

There are contrabass parts performed by Emanuel Jauk in three songs. How did you come out with the idea to use this extra instrument in Heart of Thy Abyss?

Not really sure anymore. The idea just popped up at one point during songwriting or recording a demo for us. I think first we thought of using a cello for the short section in “Descension” (the first part of the trilogy). Same goes for the intro section of “First Wave”. Later we had to learn that cellos do not have the deep range we needed, so we searched for someone to play contrabass for us. Luckily Julian Jauk, who did the re-amping for us, told us that his brother plays this very instrument we were looking for.

You quote Charles Baudelaire, Melville’s Moby-Dick, or The Whale and mention Ars Goetia demons in your lyrics. Do all of these images serve a single purpose? Do they set the album’s concept in some way?

The poem by Charles Baudelaire and the quotes from Moby Dick are weaved into a trilogy of songs about someone who is drowning, going through various emotional stages and illusions. And yes, Vepar is the 42nd Goetic demon and appears in the form of a mermaid. The song revolves around someone praying to Vepar in a situation of distress. The song “Into the Temple of Vepar” is also inspired by an Austrian artist called “Temple of Vepar”. So actually yes, they serve more or less the same purpose: the overwhelming power of the oceans.

You complete this trilogy “Thy Everlasting Lightless Realm”; didn’t you think to record an entire concept album?

Yeah, we thought about that but actually some of the lyrics are older than the band itself and they were far too good and fitting to the songs to change them. Maybe next time.

You prepared listeners for Heart of Thy Abyss with the single Watcher in the Dark. Is it based on H. P. Lovecraft’s story? Why did you choose it?

“Watcher in the Dark” is in fact not inspired by Lovecraft’s story of the sort of similar name. It revolves around a creature watching mankind with their struggle against the forces of nature. This is a quite Lovecraftian idea in a way, but it was never our intention to directly quote the master of horror.

As for the second part of your question, “Watcher in the Dark” is the newest song we chose to record for the album. We picked the song as a single and video ‘cause we think it would prepare the listeners in an adequate way for what was to come with the album.

There are a few tentacles in the album’s artwork, so I have to ask how much of Lovecraft is in these songs?

Actually not that much. Of course we are inspired by the whole atmosphere of Lovecraft’s stories, and the notion of mankind’s ultimate insignificance – but you won’t find an explicit song based on his work. Though we can’t speak for future releases.

What are your plans for Guyođ in 2024?

There are plans for a tour in late January/early February and some concerts later that year.
Besides doing concerts we will begin writing and rehearsing some new songs, some of them being already written to some extent.

Thank you for the interview gents! Did we skip something important?

Check out our music and let yourself be drawn into the depths! If it speaks to you, support us, and do not hesitate to seek us out on Social Media and get in contact! The depths are calling…

https://www.guyod.net/

https://www.facebook.com/guyodofficial

https://guyod.bandcamp.com/album/heart-of-thy-abyss