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Fractal Gates Interview - Lords Of Metal (Netherlands) |
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'Blood, bears and Satan' ... these subjects are to be found on many, many metal CDs. But not with the French band Fractal Gates; Stéphane Peudupin and Sébastien Pierre (both Inborn Suffering) seem to come from the ‘ET & Doctor Spock circuit’ and write their lyrics about extra-terrestrial activities, ancient planets, science fiction, abductions, gates to other dimensions, et cetera. All this is packed in melodic death resulting in the fine debut album t Altered State Of Consciousness’. Guitarist Stephane Peudupin provides a glimpse onto the band...
Our first encounter at Lords of Metal with Fractal Gates was through your debut album ‘Altered State Of Consciousness’. Could you, for those out there who may not know Fractal Gates, tell a little about the band? Could you tell me what is going on with you and the band right now?
Fractal Gates was created in August 2007 as a two member project band by Sébastien Pierre (Inborn Suffering, Cold Insight) and me (Inborn Suffering, Ningizzia). We are born doomsters but we really like the Scandinavian death metal scene and we are into more melodic but catchy/fast types of metal. Fractal Gates was actually built from the ashes of another band we had: Mislead. That band focused more on Paradise Lost kind of tunes but we did not feel really satisfied with the way things were going with that. We then decided to stop Mislead and build a band as a two people act more focused on what we really like and enjoy playing: science fiction / extra terrestrial activities and catchy melodic death. Things went quite fast, we created one or two songs per weekend and we really felt that style was natural for us. We had some of the tunes in our heads for years. Once we had composed four songs, we decided this should get more than a studio band so we recruited a bass player, a drummer and a rhythmic guitar player. At that time we released in digital format our 2007 demo and we received really incredible feedback. That motivated us a lot during the creating of our eight other songs. The rest is history: we entered studio and created ‘Altered State Of Consciousness’, our debut CD. For the news up till now, we recruited a new drummer (Milos Matevic), our previous drummers really didn’t convince us. Milos really has that creative touch and the skills that will really bring something important for our second album (which we are already preparing, we have two new songs). And we hope to keep that new drummer! We are also preparing for concerts in Paris start October/November. Other than that, things are going good with the band, once again we really are surprised by the great welcome people make us. This has been an incredible adventure getting in all that.
If you had to compare your musical style to any other band, what would it be?
Hmm, I think we don’t really sound like other bands since Fractal Gates is a mix of styles we really like. But you could say of course that we are very 90’s Swedish / Finnish melodic death. If we would compare our musical style to another band I would say a mix of Amorphis meets At The Gates meets Septic Flesh meets Satyricon meets Edge Of Sanity. Fractal gates is about catchy riffs, nice tunes and about shaking your heads! (Well that is what we think of course, some people will hate us and other love us).
Which bands do you guys take influence from? And how do you make sure that they remain nothing else than an influence and that your song writing stays original?
We like the 90’s melodeath scene like I said and we like bands such as Rapture, Shape of Despair, Amorphis, Katatonia etc. We have on a few times been criticized for the original touch, but this is something really stupid. If we talk about originality, then all bands are related to Metallica and Black Sabbath should not be listened to. We compose and play what we like, what we feel is natural. We will never of course copy riffs or songs, that is criminal. We all have a huge background of metal, and what we really like is doom and then Scandinavian melodic metal. We were raised with that and we like this. We also listen to other genres, but where I am getting at is that we are influenced by riffs that talk to us. We are sincere in what we play and really enjoy what we do.
Musically you seem to be the kind of band that uses of diversity, different sorts of influences and a huge amount of atmosphere. Is it difficult to find a balance between all those different elements?
It is not difficult since we really like the genres here and all of that talks to us. We are mainly doomsters (the melancholic atmosphere part) and we like diverse styles of metal. We can compose an infinite amount of riffs with different atmospheres. Now to make all that sound logical and good is a bit tricky, it takes time but it is not that difficult because we sometimes hear the tunes and songs in our heads before the song is actually finished. I don’t know if you fully understand that, we don’t hear voices we are not insane of course hahaha. Like I said before, for ‘Altered State Of Consciousness’ we composed songs in like a day. Our new songs takes four times more to finish now though!
Tell us about writing and recording ‘Altered State Of Consciousness’; did it turn out the way you wanted? Are there things, looking back onto it now, that you would like to have changed?
Things went quite good I would say. The writing went quite fast and smoothly. The recording was a little bit tricky to handle, we really put a lot of effort into that. We recorded the guitar parts and bass at my place (we used a lot of guitar tracks). There were a few technical problems while doing that as I used a POD X3 (people knowing this issue will understand). We then recorded the rest at Andrew Guillotin’s studio (Hybreed Studio: Glorior Belli, The Arrs, 7th Nemesis, Inborn Suffering etc.). It went on very well since he is a friend of the band and he already recorded another band Seb and me are in called Inborn Suffering. There were some problems with the drummer Hugo Terva at that time since he promised us he learned all the parts by heart etc, and we lost a little time because of that. Other than that it was really a great, but exhausting souvenir.
What I would change? Everything! No seriously, I would change very few things, but I will keep that for myself. Let’s say that our second album will have all of that corrected. Bands always feel as though they could have produced or played the album better with more interesting ideas, but we have to learn to stop sometimes and say ok this is good. I might add that we had to remove three songs from the final version of the CD because our album was over one hour long! But we will add on or two of the songs to our second CD since it is the logical sequel to ‘Altered State Of Consciousness’.
You have had Jacob Hansen handle the production. What is it that made you decide to go for him and in which things on the new album can you hear his ideas, vision and thoughts? Which element(s) on your album do stand out because of having Jacob as producer?
Jacob Hansen handled the mastering. I really liked the bands he produced and we decided to give it a try, knowing that the result would satisfy us. We would have preferred doing the whole CD with him, but we did not have the necessary funds and time to do that. We like the crystal clear round and loud sound he produced, that is really some good Jacob Hansen work. People seem to appreciate the sound so that is great that we have not disappointed anyone there.
Lyrically the album is about extra-terrestrial activities, ancient, planets, science fiction, abductions, gates to other dimensions, et cetera. That’s quite different from the common ‘blood, bears and Satan’ lyrics. What made you decide to go for this lyrical concept and are you not afraid it will be too far away from the harsh reality of every day life?
Fractal Gates is a concept and a whole. It’s metal & science fiction you could say. Seb and me are really into science fiction, extra-terrestrial activity, ancient civilization etc. It was natural that Fractal Gates would be talking about that. Fractal Gates means (for us) the infinite voyage through the universe. Fractal representing the infinity and Gates the portals leading to other dimensions or worlds. Talking about the present or past and earth only does not interest us. We like visionaries...
‘Altered State Of Consciousness’ is getting raving, euphoric reviews; what does this do to you when you read this and how important are positive reviews for a band as Fractal Gates?
Yes there are mainly positive reviews and that of course really encourages us to make a better second CD. We before all do that for us and the pleasure we get from creating and playing the songs but the positive reviews and response from people is important, that means that people like your work and respect it. We have put a lot of work and sincerity into this and we are happy with this.
You have signed a contract with Rusty Cage records. How did you come into contact with them? What made you decide to choose for them and, up till now, do they deliver what you had hoped for?
Well, I liked some bands that were released by them and I was told by a friend (Felix S.) that they were cool people and a serious label. So well we sent them a package, and asked them what they though of that and they replied positively. They are indeed professional and nice people! We have no complaints whatsoever about the label. Everything is going on smoothly and nicely. I would add that now we have another label deal with the French label Great Dane Records (Season of Mist) and that is going on great as well.
Stéphane, you and Sebastien are both in Inborn Suffering as well. Where do you find the time to give both bands proper attention? Is it difficult for you to divide creativity and time equally between the two bands or could you say that there is a certain band which has your priority?
We are in Inborn Suffering also yes, and now we are composing and finishing the new songs for the upcoming CD. It takes time but I think its all about passion, when you really like something it does not becoming too difficult. Our composition process is different from Inborn Suffering to Fractal Gates. We don’t really have a priority concerning these bands, we put them on the same level, but there were times where we were more active in Fractal Gates. But Inborn Suffering is a slow doom band so...
What can we expect from Fractal gates when it comes to playing live throughout Europe?
Well, credibility to start with, that would be just fine! And some great moments playing the songs live to the people who like what we do and like the concept of FG. We want to deliver melodeath energy.
Are there any other happenings or things going on with the band or you personally that you would like me to let people know about? Do you have anything to say or add for closure?
Thanks you to people supporting us! Thanks a lot for this interview! Thanks to people supporting melodeath! Hope to see you guys on a future gig! Open your minds, live fully your present lives, learn to dream and to believe. The Annunaki will soon judge us.
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