Distorted Sound Magazine 36 - Black Stone Cherry Cover | Page 8

DISTORTED SOUND MAGAZINE
DISTORTED SOUND MAGAZINE
Blistering Belgian Black Metal!
Black metal might most commonly be
associated with Norway, but today, it is now
very much a global affair. Since the infamous
second wave exploded in the 1990s, metal's
most visceral style has embedded its icy bite
worldwide and now, quality bands exist in all
shape and sizes. WIEGEDOOD are one such
band. Very much a fresh face in black metal,
since their formation in 2014, the band have
been putting Belgium on the map of extreme
music alongside their peers in the Church of Ra
collective. Now, four years after their formation,
the band are on the cusp of the conclusion
of their De Doden Hebben Het Goed trilogy
of records. With the third and final chapter's
arrival imminent, guitarist and vocalist, Levy
Seynaeve reflects on how WIEGEDOOD have
progressed.
“We have a lot more shows and touring under
our belt now. Something that played a crucial
role in us becoming more self-assured of what
we are doing. Practice makes perfect and it’s
8
Written by JAMES WEAVER
Photographs by STEFAAN TEMMERMAN
only when you’re really comfortable you start
to try and push boundaries. We’re constantly
checking how far we can take things with this
band and it’s a never ending work” explains
Levy. “The new record builds further on the
first two chapters of the DDHHG trilogy. Both
aesthetically and musically. We’re becoming
more and more comfortable with writing records
for WIEGEDOOD and that reflects on the new
one. Guitar-parts are more explicit and the
drums keep getting faster if you compare every
record to the one before. We believe it’s the
perfect ending to the trilogy we started writing
four years ago.”
Indeed if you look at how they have progressed
since last year's De Doden Hebben Het Goed
II, then it's clear that WIEGEDOOD's evolution
is natural. Whilst refining and honing their brand
of black metal, it's important to understand
that Levy is keeping the band strictly within the
confines of black metal. “It has always been
our plan to be a black metal band and nothing
else. We don’t really like to throw around sub-
genres and to be stuffed into an over-defined
box. WIEGEDOOD riffs aren’t interchangeable
with any of the other bands I play in and I think
that works the other way around as well. That’s
how I feel it should be. If there’s no clear line
in between bands or a different kind of light at
the end of the tunnel for each band, I would just
lose interest and it wouldn’t work.” So no room
for experimentation or fusing other genres, but,
in their case, this is just fine.
Despite being a band for just four years,
WIEGEDOOD have spiked in popularity and
now are one of several bands spear-heading
modern black metal. Inevitably, you'd think this
would bring about immense pressure for Levy
and his bandmates to deliver the goods on
new material. Yet, Levy remains a calm figure
and insists that it drives them to work even
harder to make WIEGEDOOD stand out from
the crowd. “We have no pressure whatsoever.
On the contrary it just drives us to work even
harder and take things further. I hope people
9