(Last week we had the privilege of premiering a powerfully moving song named “Anna’s Woe” from the tremendous new album by the Dutch band Officium Triste, and now we follow that with Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the band’s steadfast vocalist Pim Blankenstein, a discussion that includes insights into that song we premiered, among many other subjects.)
One of the oldest bands on the scene of Netherlands is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary this year with the release of a new album Hortus Venenum. Officium Triste have consistently and slowly continued to improve their art of death-doom since 1994, and it must be said that the band somehow manages to develop and grow without going beyond the genre’s borders.
Their sixth album The Death of Gaia (2019) turned out to be the best one in their discography, and now it seems that Hortus Venenum surpasses it predecessor. While Transcending Obscurity Records prepares different sorts of the album’s physical releases for September 6th, Hortus Venenum could be found online almost everywhere – an unfortunate sign of our times.
We discussed all of these things with the band’s original vocalist Pim Blankenstein.
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Hi Pim! I just prepared the questions for Stillborn and found that the band has its 40th anniversary this year, and now I see that Officium Triste reached its jubilee too, as it was founded in 1994. Accept my congratulations! You’ve kept the band alive and active for a pretty long period of time. How do you feel about it now? Do you feel that you did everything right?
Thanks Aleksey. It seems 30 years flew by. Within our possibilities I feel we did most things right. There are only a few things I would have done differently in hindsight.
Well, was your “career” with Officium Triste a smooth one or were there any rises and falls? Which ones?
In general, I would say we had a smooth ride. Of course, we had some setbacks when it came to member changes. Most of them went on a friendly basis except one. I regret we didn’t act on that sooner. There’s still bad blood.
I also think we could have done more in the touring department, which would have gained a lot more visibility. If you look at other bands who did tour a lot more than we did, you can see they got more opportunities.
Some highlights were definitely shows with bigger bands such as Candlemass or Anathema (in 1997) as well as gigs in places such as Malta, Mexico, and Moscow. And releasing a new album is always a treat too.
First of all, you celebrate the anniversary with the release of Officium Triste’s seventh album Hortus Venenum. And the album’s title could be translated as “poisoned (or “poisonous”?) garden”, and in a global meaning we can draw the connection to your previous full-length The Death of Gaia. Is this guess a correct one?
Yes, that’s correct. When we were working on our album, I came up with the title Poison Garden. There are actual gardens with poisonous plants, but for us it has a metaphorical meaning. Later on we decided to translate it into Latin, which sounds a bit better. And we’ve used Latin album titles in the past. So, we felt it was time again to use a Latin title. Also to prevent people thinking “My Poison Garden” is the title track.
As with The Death of Gaia this new one isn’t a concept album but all topics described in the songs are about stuff that happens on this earth. And when our previous album’s title is a metaphor for the death of our planet this new one is a metaphor for our planet being poisonous. Well, the people on it that is.
How did you work with the other guys over the new material? Was it a routine search of ideas or did you have the overall vision of the entire album from the start?
Basically the Corona pandemic enabled us to work on new material. We couldn’t do much else. So, we actually wrote tons of material and we chose songs we thought fitted well enough to each other to make up a new album. We still have a lot of great ideas shelved, which we might use for future releases.
As a band we have our own style and we always will create music in this style. We just piece together the songs that we feel are the right ones to make up an album.
Don’t you have some material for a release like Charcoal Hearts – 30 Years of Hurt this time? Or maybe something for a fresher live album?
I actually had a different idea, which I didn’t follow up on due to some changes in my personal life. But the idea still stands and I might make that happen a later date. Obviously, I can’t disclose what that idea is.
As far as a special release is concerned, we did Charcoal Hearts in 2009 and 5 years ago we released that double CD Born to Lose – Doomed to Die. So the whole idea of doing another special release was scrapped. We were too busy with Hortus Venenum anyway. Since we do have some material shelved, we might use some of that for some split releases for instance.
Live material we have plenty but I wouldn’t want to release that officially. I’d rather record something live properly. I myself am a total fan of these recordings Obituary did in the rehearsal room. Something like that would be cool to do in my opinion. But we’ll see what the future brings.
You supported the release with two digital singles – Morose (2022) and Behind Closed Doors (2024). How do singles work nowadays? Is it necessary to release them?
Actually Morose was also released as a limited CD release through Brutal Insanity Records from the Netherlands. Now this was the first song we finished and we recorded this track at a studio we wanted to check out if it would meet our needs to record a full-length. In the end we used this studio to track the drums for Hortus Venenum too. Everything else was recorded at different locations and mixed at Toneshed studios.
Since we had recorded this song, we thought we might put it out as well. And we already knew we wouldn’t include this song on our album. That’s why “Morose” was released as a single in 2022.
“Behind Closed Doors” (and also “My Poison Garden”) were released as singles as “teasers” for the new album. This is basically what our label Transcending Obscurity did. It’s just a bit of hyping and promoting. It seems it works as people now know there’s a new album.
Honestly, it’s hard to describe, but it looks like Officium Triste improved itself with Hortus Venenum a bit. The band developed slowly and steadily from album to album, and there aren’t cardinal differences between the new material and The Death of Gaia, and yet there’s some progress. How do you feel it from inside of the band?
We actually feel the same. We knew we raised the bar with The Death of Gaia and as a band you always want to improve. We worked very hard on the compositions and arrangements to make it even better. And I think working with Erwin Hermsen at Toneshed Studio helped a lot too. His mix is awesome. We’re very happy how this album turned out.
Why didn’t you include “Morose” on Hortus Venenum?
This was the first song we finished and not everyone in the band was completely enthusiastic about it. We did however put it out though, and we even included it in our live sets. But we agreed we wouldn’t include it on the album. As far as the album is concerned, we decided on six newer songs that we feel fit together really well. We also thought it would be better to have a relatively short album that also fits on a single vinyl LP. So, these newer songs make up what we envisioned, and since we already recorded “Morose” we kept it that way.
Pim, how much of your own is in Hortus Venenum’s lyrics? Can you say that it’s a personal album?
Since I write the lyrics you could say it is personal. I, however, make up stories about things that happen on this planet. For instance, “Behind Closed Doors” is loosely based on people like Dutroux in Belgium or Fritzl in Austria. So it deals with real life horror. “Angels With Broken Wings” is about the position of children in war zones. So, in that sense it isn’t actually personal. Yet, I think about and come up with subjects for the songs and I draw inspiration from things I see. There’s a tiny but of myself in the lyrics.
A kind of blunt question, but here we go: what’s the “Anna’s Woe” song about?
That’s based on a true story that happened in the city of Gorinchem where I was born and raised. Anna Muggen was the last witch sentenced to death in Holland in 1608. Back then the Netherlands wasn’t as it is now. The current western part was called Holland, which you can still see in the names of the two provinces. Anyway, Anna lost her husband in the war against Spain and she got depressed. The way she behaved was reason to report her as a witch. She was convicted, strangled and burned on the pyre.
So finally Officium Triste has its “witch” song too! Speaking about trends, would you like to record a track based on Lovecraft’s or Robert Howard’s story as well?
Even when I feel the song is about a witch there’s a bit more to the story. But yes we have a witch song. I don’t imagine I’d use any of Lovecraft’s or Howard’s stories as inspiration for lyrics even when I love reading those stories. I’d imagine I would draw inspiration from other writers more easily. My all-time fave is Bukowski and he has some stories that could easily inspire a doom metal song.
Then again, I am not actively looking for inspiration. It just happens. When I see something on tv or watch a movie or just having a talk with someone I get inspired. I always write down notes on my phone. Actually, I had a talk recently with a good friend of mine who is an army vet. He served in Dutchbat in former Yugoslavia. I already wrote a couple of songs about war, but his story was inspiring to me as well. Definitely something I can use for a future song.
Transcending Obscurity Records will release the album in September, but it was online everywhere the same day the label started to send the promos. Do you care about such things nowadays? I doubt that it could reduce the sales of that limited run of CDs and vinyl, but the situation looks shitty anyway.
This is nothing new I’m afraid. I guess all albums get leaked once the promos are sent out. This has been going on for decades. Even when an album is officially out people can download it for free. I really can’t and will not worry about it. There are more important things in life. Then again, when this is just a minor thing that happens; it is an example which made me decided on the album title we use. This planet is rotten due to the people inhabiting it. It’s filled with disrespectful, egotistical scumbags on each and every level.
Did you already book some shows to celebrate the anniversary? Will you have any special guests there?
We are mainly focusing on the release of the new album and we have booked some shows to promote the new album. We’re not doing anything special this time.
What are your plans for the rest of 2024?
Promote the new album as much as we can and probably work on the material we still have shelved. Nothing spectacular really.
Thanks for the interview Pim! Good luck with promoting Hortus Venenum! Any final words for our readers?
Thank you for these questions. It’s always a pleasure. I truly hope people will give our album a chance. It will be released on various formats and it all looks stunning. Perhaps some might even want to go back to our past and check out our earlier releases as well. And when we’re in the neighborhood, come check us out. Cheers!
https://officiumtriste.bandcamp.com/
https://officiumtristedoom.bandcamp.com/album/hortus-venenum