Hello Hand Of Kalliach, greetings from Javier for RockVip, delighted with this interview.
John: Hey Javier, likewise, a pleasure.
Sophie: Absolutely, thanks very much for having us.
Tell us a brief biography of how Hand Of Kalliach started from its beginnings until now 2024?
John: We started writing in summer 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK - we're married, so we were stuck in the house together without much of an outlet. The restrictions at the time served as a good prompt to do something creative and positive whilst trying to get through the turmoil that was 2020. The project was something we had talked about doing for some time, to meld all our favourite elements of extreme metal with the passion and energy that is found in traditional Scottish folk music.
Sophie: Our initial demo/EP Shade Beyond was picked up by UK-based underground label Trepanation Recordings, who then also put out our first full-length album Samhainn. It was met with a really surprisingly positive reception, and we've now signed to the very established LA-based Prosthetic Records for our new album Corryvreckan.
I assume you are promoting the new album "Corryvreckan" for fanzines and web radios, how is the promotion going so far?
Sophie: We have, and we've been honestly blown away by the response so far. We've had some very kind reviews come in across the underground and even mainstream metal press, and getting listed by the big magazine outlets like Revolver, Decibel and Metal Hammer in their 'Best new tracks' roundups has been amazing.
John: Yeah, we've been pretty humbled by the traction and response we've had, it's incredible. Especially given our slightly weirder sound and approach! We're very grateful for all the positive coverage, and of course the Prosthetic team for all their hard work in putting it out there.
We have listened to the album and it sounds perfect from start to finish. How was the recording of the new album?
John: That's fantastic to hear, thank you! The recording was pretty straightforward, as we have some decent recording gear at home. It let's us make sure we're 100% happy with the takes before we get them mixed, so we can take our time to make sure we get it right.
Sophie: We then send all the raw audio over to our engineer, Wynter Prior at Sphynx Studios, who re-amps and mixes everything there, where we can chat through mixes and options remotely, which really works well.
Tell us a little about the development process, how it was carried out?
John: I'd say it was definitely more of a challenge than our first album, as with Samhainn it was all new ground for us and so we were experimenting more with combining our vocal styles and balancing the dominant melodeath sound with the more folky elements. With Corryvreckan we were really focussed on making sure we were tightening the sound up and building on Samhainn, so it took a lot more effort to make sure we were hitting the right spot.
Sophie: We feel like the new album is more consistent, with that heavier lower spectrum more finely balanced with the duelling melodies and the contrasting vocals. But of course, we hope our listeners find this also!
What is the song from the new album that could not be missing from your concert?
Sophie: 'Cirein-cròin' is my favourite, I love the chorus and the bass parts are a blast to play!
John: Yeah, it's definitely on the setlist, along with our lead single 'Fell Reigns', which was really popular.
What inspiration does Hand Of Kalliach have to write the lyrics and music?
Sophie: Our writing is heavily tied in with the mythology surrounding an ancient Celtic witch-god of winter, called the Cailleach. She's variously depicted as both a vengeful hag and a youthful woman, and is responsible for ushering winter at the start of Samhainn, which was the Celtic precursor to Halloween. She arises from her slumber beneath the Corryvreckan whirlpool off the western Scottish isles, washing her cloak in it's waters before casting it over the lands where it falls as snow.
John: There's a huge amount of Scottish mythology out there that we really enjoy diving into when we're writing, we actually learn a lot about some of the stranger tales and creatures while writing Corryvreckan.
The first album was really good, very interesting and for us RockVip was one of the best of that year. How was the reaction of the metal press and what were the reactions of the people?
Sophie: Thanks so much for the kind words! We were really stunned with the positive reaction to Samhainn, and the reach it had. It was the first time that we'd really put serious effort and studio money into a full album, and we had no idea if it would be of interest to people all over the world. But it got a great amount of interest and some very positive reviews, and even ended up on a number of year-end lists which was just unbelievable to us.
John: Yeah, for what we thought was such an odd project and approach to metal, we were pretty shocked when people were enjoying it so much. It ended up as one of the best selling death metal albums on Bandcamp that year, and the comments, reviews, radio plays were all very humbling. It really gave us some motivation that we were on the right track and we should keep the project going.
Hand Of Kalliach is a duo as we already know, do you intend to incorporate more permanent musicians into the band?
John: Yes, we've been keen for some time to build a band so we can do some live shows, and we've now got a great drummer (Tom) and lead guitarist (DeHaan) onboard.
Sophie: Yeah, we're definitely in sight of getting some gigs lined up finally.
How are concerts and festivals going for 2024? Do you have any already signed?
Sophie: Nothing yet booked as we're still practicing to make sure we can get the sound as tight as we can, particularly with all the atmospherics, but watch this space!
Are you going to see more official videos of any songs from the new album?
John: We definitely would love to do another one but the logistics are massive in pulling it all together, not to mention the costs, so might not be another for this album. But never say never. In the meantime we have released a slightly abstract lyric video for 'Cirein-cròin' which I think has really captured those Lovecraftian elements of the sea monster the song takes it's name from.
How far does Hand Of Kalliach intend to go?
John: In all honesty, we have no idea... This was really only ever intended to be a fun lockdown project, and things have just snowballed in the past 3 years. We'll keep writing and playing as much as we can, and hopefully people keep liking what we're doing!
In our opinion, with this new album, the band has achieved one more step to be even bigger and for you, what is the goal for 2024?
Sophie: Thank you, we're really delighted with the reception. While our main goal is to get some live shows kicked off this year, we're also bouncing a few ideas around for a 3rd album.
What bands have currently caught your attention as a revelation this year?
Sophie: We really enjoyed Dawn of Ouroboros' release Velvet Incandescence last year, and they've got another one already in the pipeline for this year. They're doing something quite unique, definitely worth checking them out.
John: Domhain was another highlight for us late last year in the black/folk metal sphere, and we're also looking forward to metallic hardcore Mastiff's new release later in March. Incidentally, Dan the bassist is the man behind Trepanation Recordings who picked us up originally!
Let's go back to the new album Corryvreckan, what was the most difficult song for you to compose and why?
John: It would definitely be the last track, 'Of Twilight and the Pyre'. Aside from the usual challenge of making a 7-minute song stay interesting all the way through, we really wanted to do a full, progressive development from Sophie's delicate ethereal vocals to the full, roaring maelstrom at the other end of our sound spectrum.
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