Consecration INTERVIEW

1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.

Hello to you and your readers!

Well, we’ve now been going for 8 years now. It all started way back in May 2010, Myself (Daniel; vocals), Shane (bass) and Chilli (original guitar) were at a Criminal gig if memory serves me correctly. Shane & Chilli were both in another band at the time, and I was doing various other projects. They wanted to try something a bit different musically with a focus on big doomy riffs and atmosphere; I wanted a new band to join, so Consecration was formed right there and then. They made a couple of calls and got Jordan (guitars) and Tudders (original drums) on board for our formative line-up; which went on to record the ‘Gut The Priest’ EP.

Chilli left to concentrate fully on his other band later that year, and Liam became our second permanent guitarist.

Robbie replaced Tudders on drums at the beginning of 2013. Robbie recorded the ‘Echoes’ EP and our debut album with us, which was released at the end of 2014. Shortly after we played Desertfest in 2015 Robbie decided it was time for him to move on, and we now have Jorge behind the kit.

2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?

That’s an interesting question. Back when we formed, we wanted a unique name that ‘felt right’ for what we were writing. We had a subtle black metal element to our doomy sound, and lyrically a few tracks at the time had anti-religious overtones to them. I can’t remember if it was Shane or Chilli who suggested the name, but it fit very well.

The definition of ‘Consecration’ is “Make or declare sacred (to); Dedicate formally to a religious purpose; Devote to; a solemn commitment of your life or your time to some cherished purpose (to a service or goal)” [Oxford English dictionary]. I thought it was cool having subtle, lesser known meanings in there; aside from the obvious religious reference to making things sacred or holy.

Obviously we also liked the juxtaposition of using a mainly religious term with playing a hellish racket too.

3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?

We are based in Norwich, UK. The east of England has quite a varied scene; with everything from death metal to thrash to black metal and all the bits in between catered for. Names that come recommended are Norwich’s own Shrapnel, Eastern Front and Stahlsarg from Ipswich, and The Infernal Sea from a little further afield.

4. How would you describe your style?

We play Death/Doom Metal, I suppose you could describe it as more of an old school sound too; although we don’t write to specifically fit into a genre. We bring various musical influences into the melting pot, as each of us have our own tastes and favourite bands; for example some of us are really into traditional doom, some more death metal. Add some stoner, gothic and black metal elements as well, and I think you’ll agree it makes for a really interesting mix. Most of us are into stuff like My Dying Bride, Novembers Doom, Paradise Lost, Swallow The Sun, Evoken etc. Primarily though, the focus is on atmosphere. That may come from thick doomy riffs, harrowing melody lines, or acoustic passages. Lyrically; most songs I write deal with death, grief, loss in all their various guises.

5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?

Well releases to date are:

Gut The Priest (EP) - released in 2010.

Unhallowed (Promotional DVD) - released in 2011

Echoes Of The Dead (EP Demo) - released in 2013

Ephemerality (Full Length) - released in 2014

Remembrance - coming very soon 2018

As for what someone can expect from our works; If I can cheat and use a quote here…. Northern Darkness Magazine summed this up quite well when reviewing us – “Ominous, oppressive and bleak moods, crushing riffage and grim, venomous growls”

6. Do you have any new music in the works?

Yes we do and we are really excited to get it out there to see what people think of it.

Coming up in the short term; we have a really cool package called ‘Remembrance’, which is being released digitally to coincide with our 8 year anniversary as a band (we couldn’t wait until we were 10 haha). It is a new package containing our debut album ‘Ephemerality’ alongside the ‘Gut The Priest’ EP, and some previously unreleased songs taken from demo sessions between the two. We thought it was a really nice way to show our progression as a band and to get some rare stuff out there. All the songs have been remastered and we have some exclusive artwork for this as well.

After that we are also going into the studio in September this year, to record our second full length which is to be titled ‘Fragilium’. This we feel is our strongest material to date, so watch this space for more news on both of these.

7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?

At the moment we have a number of really cool shows lined up, and lots more being planned. We recently supported Primitive Man from the US, and are really excited to be supporting De Profundis in June and Godthrymm in August

8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?

Well we would like to continue playing what we love; and getting out to play to more people in more places. Getting into Europe next year. We are all really looking to playing the new stuff from ‘Fragilium’ when that is ready.

9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?

Our webstore is www.consecration666.bandcamp.com

Keep up to date with us on www.facebook.com/consecration666, also on the usual twitter, instagram, youtube, spotify, etc. We also have a full website coming soon.

10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?

To remember they left the CD in the CD player so they can listen to us again the following day.

Joking aside; we would like them to remember what they want to remember. Music is subjective and different people will take from it differing elements and emotions; depending on their own personal tastes and experiences. If our music makes some form of connection, no matter how small; then that is awesome.