The Spaniards of Frozen Dawn have released "The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods" (read review here) a superb black metal album, which immediately captivated me. To find out a bit more about the band, I asked their singer/guitarist Grinder a few questions. Who does not know this album yet, should definitely catch up, because it is really done right from the cover to the music!

Michael

Hey, how are you doing? Can you introduce Frozen Dawn a little bit more to our readers?

Hello everybody. Well, about Frozen Dawn we are a black metal band from Spain, founded around 2006. We have released four albums to date, including the last one "The Decline of the Enlightened Gods".

Were you nervous about the album release?

Yes, we were really excited about the new album. We have put a lot of effort on it and we strongly believe that this is our best work to date. It has been a long journey from the conception, the songwriting, the recording, and finally the edition of the album. We are also much pleased that a label the size of Transcending Obscurity has put such trust in the album and the band.

As I wrote in my review, "The Decline Of The Enlightened Gods" is a fantastic album and probably the highlight in your discography. Are you satisfied with the result or would you have liked to change anything in retrospect?

We are more than satisfied with the result, almost for every point of sight. From songwriting, production quality, and engagement the people are experiencing. For sure there is space for improvements, but to date, this is without any doubt the release we are most proud of.

In the past your music sounded quite similar to the typical Scandinavian black metal that was done in the 90s, nowadays you sound like a slightly more melodic version of Necrophobic (and you covered them on the new album). Are these your main influences or is there some more you draw your inspiration from?

This is always a recurrent topic, about the band's influences. And it is always strange to me somehow. People tend to classify the music always to be similar to one or another band, and that's right, but I won't say these are our "main" influences, as I hear a lot of bands, not only related to black metal, that are also reflected in the music. I also think that our music has evolved from the first album to the last one.

You are the vocalist and guitarist in Frozen Dawn. Who is your all-time favorite singer / guitarist?

Well, I would say that I have no fav vocalist or guitarist. I see music as a whole concept, where every member has their place in the songs. I have instead favorite bands like Dark Fortress, Immortal, or lately In Aphelion.

The album title sounds quite mythological. What is the deeper meaning behind it?

All of our albums are about an imaginary world called Winterland. Each of the albums touches on different aspects or stories about this land. And for the last album, I agree with you that we have focused on the Winterland's cosmogony and how these gods fell.

Does the band have a certain philosophy in general?

No, there is neither philosophy nor politics in the band, except for the taste of good music. We think that music should be excluded from any political sign and should be only an art expression.

In the past you were on the Spanish label Xtreem Music, now you were signed by Transcending Obscurity Records. How did it come to this?

Well, when we finished recording the new album we started the search for a record label. Although Xtreem Music is a great label and we have such a good relationship with Dave Rotten, we wanted to try other paths to expand our music. That's when it came to Transcending Obscurity. As soon as we sent the demo to them, they were immediately interested in our music.

Are you satisfied with the label's work for you?

It has been a long journey until we got the album released due to the big schedule in the label, but in the end, we are very pleased with them and with the result. Kunal knows very well how to deal with the band and with the promotion, as well as with the merchandise.

I guess that you are together with Obituary, one of the last bands that use a cover by the great and much too early deceased painter Mariusz Lewandowski. How did you make this possible and did you get to know him personally? I really adore his works.

Mariusz Lewandowski was a friend of Kunal, and Kunal worked with him for some of the other releases. Then Kunal suggested to us, wisely, to select a painting from Mariusz. He said that its painting will fit very well with the music and the whole album concept. That's how we got to know its art, and we were instantly captivated by the power that Mariusz's paintings project.

Do you have any plans for 2023? I read that you're going to play a show in Bavaria soon – anything else?

Well, let's see how the year evolves. These days it is quite hard for a band of our size to perform too many shows without being bankrupt. But for sure we will try to do some gigs here and there when possible.

You are also a live musician in Haemorrhage. Do you know anything about their future plans, too? I guess it is time for some new surgery stories that have to be told!

With Haemorrhage we will be playing some summer festivals this year and hopefully new material will come soon….

Muchas gracias por la entrevista!

Many thanks for getting us interviewed!!! See you all in winter!!!!!!!

The modern age of music, even for metal, is a very troubled one. It's hard to get any sort of spotlight if you're not considered relevant by some modern standards, especially if you're not a YouTuber or linked to a major label perhaps. One cannot know what the future brings, and it seems that with every technological step forward, there are very few instances of any natural progression. Of course, with every subgenre of music there are various people on YouTube who put out various content be it sketches, vlogs, documentaries or such, many of them who are also musicians. One of them is Boris Behara, the founder of black metal band Tryglav. He recently put out his second full-length album "The Ritual" on February 17th 2023, and so far the fan reaction seems to be mostly positive. This album has faced serious troubles in the past, from personal health issues to a search for a new vocalist to step in, but it luckily saw the light of day. I've decided to share a few words with Boris and talk about the current situation of Tryglav and some potential plans in the future.

Vladimir 

Greetings Boris, I wish you a warm welcome on behalf of the MetalBite crew!

Hello guys. Thanks for having me on your pages!

Your second full-length album "The Ritual" is finally out and the fanbase just keeps on growing. How do you feel knowing that the album is no longer facing all the troubles that surrounded it in the past and the fact that it's released on CD, 12" vinyl and digital platforms?

It feels great. This album was such a mess. World pandemic, two open heart surgeries... I even accidentally deleted it when it was already finished. The worst part was finding a new singer. I tried tons of different singers but nobody was what I was searching for. At some point I was so tired that I seriously thought to put Tryglav on pause. Fortunately, at the end, everything went in the right direction and I found an amazing singer called Callum Wright. The previous album was released on CD and digital but this time we also have the vinyl version. Let me say that having the music on vinyl is a dream coming true. 

I know that you're always working on putting out new YouTube content with each passing day, but at the same time you're working on Tryglav or your other project Vision. How do you manage to balance all those things together?

It's hard, and the more the channel & the band is growing, the harder it is.Putting out YouTube content requires time, especially when it comes to editing. Doesn't matter how simple the video is, the editing part requires at least 5, 6 hours. The problem is that I'm doing everything alone, from music to videos to photos and it starts to be really challenging. As you mentioned, I also have Vision, which is my new 80s metal project but there's also 2 new unannounced projects which I can't wait to share more about.

I remember discovering your channel back in 2021 when you started doing your vlogs in Norway with your girlfriend, and I believe that those videos gave a huge boost to your channel and your band. Has a large number of people discovered Tryglav through your vlogs?

Initially the channel was called "Tryglav Official" and I planned to upload just stuff related to the band. The first video though, was a cover of Freezing moon solo by Mayhem. When I saw that the video was getting so many views, I decided to change the name of the channel and start to do videos related to metal in general. The purpose of the channel though, was always to advertise Tryglav so no matter what video I'm uploading, there's always some advertising for Tryglav. That helped a lot of course, because people are curious to hear what music you play. After 4 years, the first album has more listeners than it had after one year of the release. Some bands don't understand that they should always promote their albums, no matter how old they are.

What is the concept of "The Ritual"? Does the album have a specific storyline told from start to finish or is it an anthology of various stories that take place in the same world?

It has a specific storyline. The story starts with the first song and ends with the last. When people ask me to describe a specific song, it's hard, because it would be like explaining a single chapter from a movie.The concept of the album is around my character and plague doctors. The story is set in the 17th century and starts with my character dying in his bed, surrounded by his parents. The parents will call a plague doctor to try to save his life. Four of them will show up but there's nothing they could do. The plague doctor will then offer themself to take care of the body. That's how the story starts but it's long to explain and I plan to release a digital comic book in the future to explain it properly.

Have there been any venues or promoters that contacted you for Tryglav live gigs since the release of "The Ritual"? If there are, in which countries have there been big demands to see the band perform live?

For now, no promoters have contacted me. For the first album I had some offers from Germany & Slovenia but covid and my surgery fucked it up. A lot of promoters work directly with booking agencies so I'm trying to get one. We'll see how things go in the future. 

How do you envision a Tryglav live show, is there some special stage act you'd prepare to make the gigs memorable?

I'd love to do a lot of things for live shows. The problem is that all the costs are on me so it's really hard to bring to life the vision I have in mind. It's all about money, as always.

Have there been any black metal bands or albums lately that really piqued your interest that you'd recommend to your readers?

Usually, when I work on my own music, I don't have time to listen to new bands. The last albums that I really loved were "Djinn" from Uada and "The Agony & Ecstasy of Watain" by Watain. I have a series on my YouTube channel where I react to underground bands and I can say that there's pretty interesting stuff out there. Bands like Daidalos, Niflungar, Martyr Logarius have all my attention.

Are there any new or old black metals you'd wish to have Tryglav as their opening act and if so, why did you choose them specifically?

I'd love to open for Marduk because they were the band that brought me into black metal. "Plague Angel" was my first black metal album and I still consider it one of their best. Watain is also a band that I'd love to open for. Their music, the stage presentation, everything is perfect. After I've seen Watain live, every other show was just too cheap in terms of visuals. There's also Mayhem, Dark Funeral, Uada and tons of other bands I'd like to open for but also a lot that have nothing to do with black metal.

What inspired you to start your second project Vision? Are there any plans to release more songs of Vision or perhaps a full-length album this year?

My love for the 80s inspired me to start Vision. I always loved 80s horror movies and I loved the metal bands that you can hear in these movies. Bands such as Dokken, Alien, Fastway, Autograph etc. I had in mind to release something since the first Tryglav album but I didn't know if I was capable of it. One night I was just playing the guitar and the riff of "6089" (first Vision song) came out. I immediately focused on the song and in one week I had the entire song completed with vocals. It was the fastest song I ever composed and recorded. I love the song and everybody who listened to it liked it so there will definitely be a Vision album. I have 8 demo songs and plan to record it this year. Hopefully I'll have the album ready at the end of the year but considering the other two projects I'm working on, and the fact that I'm pretty slow. You never know.

When you finally move to Norway, do you think that there will be a much brighter future there for Tryglav then it was in Italy? What do you think will happen next?

I don't know to be honest. In one way, it can be really easier for my YouTube channel. There's tons of stuff that I can film there compared to Italy. I also have Sweden & Finland closer and  that's also really good for the channeI. I don't think living in Norway will make Tryglav more famous, but definitely in terms of promotion, it will be much easier.

Thank you so much for doing this interview Boris, I wish you all the best and keep up with your work. Are there any final words you'd like to leave to your fans reading this?

I'd like to thank all the fans for the incredible support I received since the release of the album. The amount of people that shared it, bought it or just wrote to me about it was overwhelming. When you release a new album you're always scared to disappoint some fans but from what I read, everybody is loving it. For now, the album is getting the same numbers that the previous one did in four years which is crazy! Stay tuned for new music, interesting stuff is coming!