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.
Sophie: It took a fair bit of writing and re-writing to get it sounding how we wanted, but we're really pleased with how it ended up.
Who designed the album cover and what does it mean?
John: It was done by an artist we found on Fiverr, vyajet, who does epic fantasy digital painting. With the album being titled Corryvreckan, we wanted the core scene to feature the Cailleach arisen from the churning depths of the whirlpool. We were aiming for a heavy, ominous tone in the art, but also a good level of ambiguity - is this entity malicious or benign? After a lot of discussion with the artist over how to represent her face, we opted for her to be hooded and shadowed to add to that ambiguity.
Sophie: Staying true to the source mythology, she carries a hammer (for shaping mountains) and a staff (for creating ice), and we wanted to represent her white plaid as being drawn from the waters of Corryvreckan itself. Also of note is that the Cailleach is assisted by 8 "attendants" in the legends, one of which we wanted represented in the art. In our writing, we frame them as undead angels of sorts, raises every year from their watery graves at the call of the Cailleach, who casts them into the skies to form winter storms. Finally, in the background is a giant sea serpent, a Cirein-cròin from Scottish mythology. We really loved the resulting piece, getting new artwork is one of the most satisfying things about making a new album.
Are you happy with the signing and signing for the Prosthetic Records record label?
John: Absolutely, we're long term fans of the label ourselves, and so to now be on their roster alongside some of our favourite bands is just awesome. The team there are great to work with and have been incredibly supportive. Plus, having professionals helping you out with all the admin involved in a launch like packaging designs, distribution and promotion is a massive help.
Sophie: Yeah, it's been a great experience, they are lovely to work with, and just the professionalism that they bring is incredible. It's also let us do fun things like the music video for Fell Reigns that we wouldn't have had the budget to do ourselves.
All the songs on the new album Corryvreckan are highly valued by us, however we highlight The Hubris of Prince Bhreacan which makes our hair stand on end, what can you tell us about this song?
Sophie: Great to hear you liked this one! It actually about the origins of the name of Corryvreckan itself. The legend goes that a prince named Bhreacan who was in love with the daughter of the Lord of the Isles. The seat of the Lord of the Isles was situated on Islay, where John's family is from. To gain consent for the wedding, Bhreacan agreed to a test of courage which involved anchoring his boat for three nights in the Corryvreckan. Bhreacan sailed back to his homeland and consulted the three Wise Men of Lochlan on how he could win this challenge. The Wise Men advised him to have three anchor cables made: one of hemp, one of wool, and one that had been spun from the hair of maidens. Bhreacan has his servants create these, returns to Corryvreckan and anchors his boat. On the first night, the hemp rope snapped, and on the second the wool one.
John: On the third night, a violent storm swept across the sea and the last rope, whose strength lay in the purity of maidens’ hair, was torn apart. In his final moments, Bhreacan realised that the maidens were perhaps not as virtuous as they’d led him to believe, as he and his boat were engulfed in the whirlpool. In our telling, the 'maidens' acted in concert with the Cailleach to gift her a new groom beneath the waves. The name Corryvreckan means "Bhreacan's Corry" - in Scots Gaelic 'Bh' is pronounced 'V', and a 'corry' is a large scoop-shape hole in a landscape.
Another one that we really love and that you released as a single is Cirein-cròin. Tell us also about this song and why was it chosen for a single?
John: Yeah, glad you liked this one too, as mentioned it's Sophie's favourite from the album! "Cirein-cròin" is the name of a gargantuan shapeshifting whale-eating sea beast. It was so large it was said to eat 7 whales a day. There's no consensus on what it looked like, so in our descriptions and artwork we opted for scaled serpent/worm like creature (think Jörmungandr from Norse mythology as an example). While it's true size was impossibly massive, it disguised itself as a small silver herring in order to lure prey (including fishermen) before unfurling/expanding to it's true colossal size. The lyrics are mostly around the transformation and the resulting Lovecraftian nightmare. The chorus that Sophie sings is a Gaelic child's poem we added a melody to, that translates to:
Seven herrings a salmon’s meal,
Seven salmon a seal’s meal,
Seven seals a whale’s meal,
Seven whales the meal of a Cirein-cròin.
We just really love the track, and the contrast of the ethereal chorus melody makes it stand out against the much heavier verses.
How long have John and Sophie been in music?
John: We've played music since we were children in one form or another, but prior to starting Hand of Kalliach I'd not played in a band for well over 10 years.
Sophie: And I've never played in a band before! This was also my first experience playing bass, I played guitar when I was younger.
More questions and we finish for you who are the most dedicated and hottest metal fans in the world at a concert?
John: Having gone to metal concerts for over 20 years now I honestly think the atmosphere is only getting better and better, and more inclusive of varying tastes. Fans are much less elitist than they used to be, and for the most part just allow and encourage each other to enjoy what they enjoy, which is great to see.
The correct label for Hand Of Kalliach is symphonic death viking metal?
Sophie: It's a good question, we've struggled with suitable genre tags previously and so have reviewers to a degree. We've mostly settled on melodic death/Celtic folk metal, as the sound is probably more recognisable to melodeath fans. But there's clearly a lot of folk sound and influences, though the themes are Celtic rather than Viking (but there's a fair bit of cultural overlap). But, we've been described as all of these, black metal, progressive metal, atmospheric metal... So who knows what we are!
What message do you have for the new children of metal who don't know you yet and what do you encourage them to do so?
Sophie: Maybe simply if you like your metal on the heavier side, but with a lot of folk-y melody, texture and contrast, we might be worth a listen! We're definitely not going to be for everyone with our slightly unusual style, but we've been pleasantly surprised by the number that do enjoy it.
Finally, congratulate and congratulate the band on the release of the new album and hope it is a good year for the band. How do you rate this interview?
John: Thanks very much for the interview and kind words Javier, it's been a pleasure!
Sophie: Absolutely, some excellent in-depths questions!
Without further ado, thank you for giving us this little interview, it has been a pleasure on our part and there will be another opportunity to chat with you, greetings from Javier for the RockVip website in Spain see you soon
HAND OF KALLIACH es:
John - Voz, Guitarras, Batería
Sophie - voz, bajo
El vídeo y el primer single "Fell Reigns" del nuevo álbum "Corryvreckan" aquí:
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