KARA DARAHU – Suomi Finland Perkele
- Posted on 13-04-2014
Eternal Terrors free-flying Colombian writer Karina Cifuentes met up with Samuli Mäkelä and Tuomas Kuusine, the two members of the Finnish symphonic extreme metal band KARA DARAHU.
For our readers not familiar with Kara Darahu, describe the sound, the meaning of the name and a brief history about the band
Samuli: Since I’ve been doing loads of music for fun or for some other thing, I had some symphonic metal stuff composed and I showed that to Tuomas and he said that let’s try to make a song out of that piece. Tuomas wrote lyrics and I "finished" composing for that song and "Aether Inhaled Deformities" single is the result of that. We’ve been both wanting to create something like this for a long time. Aether Inhaled Deformities was released June 28, 2013 as a digital release on all main digital retailers, like spotify, iTunes, Deezer, etc. Then we decided that we’re going to make a full length album and that will see the light in the end of this year.
About the sound of Kara Darahu… I’m inspired by many kinds of music. Movie soundtracks, classical music and different sub genres of metal and so on. So obviously Kara Darahu’s music includes elements from those and what I feel, hear and experience all the time. There can be heard lots of influences from Death Metal, Black Metal, Waltz, Soundtrack type themes and even Samba style rhythms on some song and so on.
When we tried to think of a name for the band, Tuomas came up with the name "Kara Darahu", which is basically a name for sleep paralysis. In Mongolian culture, nightmares in general as well as sleep paralysis is referred to by the verb-phrase khar darakh, written kara darahu, meaning "to be pressed by the Black" or "when the Dark presses." Kara means black, and may refer to the dark side personified. And that fits for the concept of the band very well.
Where did you record the new album and how did the recording process go?
Samuli: We are DIY guys and everything from recording to mixing and mastering is done by us at our home studios. Thanks for the technology. Since there is only two of us, Tuomas handles lyrics and vocals and I’m responsible for all composing and instrumentation. Recording process is pretty slow because all material is not yet done 100% plus there will be loads of stuff and tracks inside of songs, same time also it’s very peaceful for us because we don’t have the so called "deadlines" even though we try and have some. Hahah!
There will be some very interesting featuring musicians on the album as well but unfortunately we can’t tell more about that at the moment.
What sort of themes are you dealing with on the album and what topics do the lyrics cover?
Samuli: Since Tuomas handles the lyrics he can tell more about the ideas.
Tuomas: I am very good in bed when it comes down to sleep paralysis and sleeping disorders, nightmares and just being dead tired all day long. I see very vivid dreams, sometimes experience and even experiment with lucid dreaming and I encounter The Hag quite often so when I heard some of Samuli’s ideas and listened to the songs I immediately felt a connection between certain dreams and experiences and the orchestrated massive music. The demo of Aether Inhaled Deformities just made me write the stuff down while playing the song over and over and I actually wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocals simultaneously in about 1 or 2 hours tops.
A profound interest in esoteric matters and such ideas that you could release your astral body during a sleep paralysis to freely roam and explore the world in a non-material form is something that will manifest in the lyrics as well as horror stories of toying with matters not meant for man to tamper with will form the core of the album. There are spiritual references to different branches of religion as well but we are completely removed from any religious agenda and are merely watchers and commentators.
What’s happening with the album’s cover artwork and how does it connect to the music?
Samuli: Cover art will be done by Victoria Pelejero who has done our logo and some other graphics as well. All I can say at the moment about it is that those will be dark and nightmarish and will follow themes of the debut album "From The Depths Of Neverwell". So it all goes hand in hand with our music and lyrics.
Your teaser is pretty cool, professionally made in Argentina, how did you guys get to do this in the first place?
Samuli: Thanks! We are very glad and satisfied about it too. I met director Victoria Pelejero first time personally in Finland May 2013, at Suffocation concert in Helsinki. We talked there and then I found out that she is a graphic designer and an art director. I asked her that if she would create logo for us. She did and did an amazing job with that. After that I asked some other graphics, and because I had already seen how amazing work she is doing with graphics, I asked if she might be interested in directing a video for us too. We gave totally free hands to her for the script, or there were actually some rules. It must be fucking great for example! Hahahah…. but yeah… she got an idea right away after hearing the music and understood perfectly our concept about nightmares, dreams and sleep paralysis. Whole crew (Victoria Pelejero, Camila Rodriguez, Marisa Thelmeier, Laura Alvarez Natale, Ignazio Agustin Fernandez and Leandro Coccaro) did amazing job and we are very very thankful for them and very happy about the results.
How the story line of the teaser relates to the lyrical theme of the album?
Samuli: Well, it relates in a way that there is a nightmarish theme. Fear, despair, horror and also sadness and anxiety are part of nightmares. Camila Rodriguez, a little girl who is acting on video is going to sleep and having a nightmare. In the end she could be any of us. Sleep is a personal and subjective experience. During sleep there are emotions, images, sounds, thoughts and other sensations and we all have our own dreams and nightmares. I guess every person has seen and will see nightmares at some point in their lives. Place where you usually experience these is your own bed. In the video there too is a "safe" environment, the bedroom where she is. She goes to sleep and starts to dream and she’s having a nightmare.
Tuomas: Exactly. The song which plays in the background is "The Anguish Of The Black" and the song is largely about experiencing a particularly haunting sleep paralysis that becomes a bit too real to the protagonist. Camila did great job with acting. She is really young yet very talented. The video is pretty much Kara Darahu put into images and atmospheres, like Victoria described it, a mash up of 80s horror movie clichés and the band’s lyrical and musical themes and the audiovisual landscape we all wish to paint for the listeners and viewers.
What’s happening in the finnish scene now and where do you think is heading?
Samuli: Seems many Finnish bands are doing pretty well in other countries and doing tours etc. in South America for example and so on. I’m not right person to say where it’s actually heading but I would say there are the bigger names doing lots of work for their thing and at the same time they will be creating path which can help and open new doors for new bands to get known too.
Any other bands in the same genre as yours from your country that you would like to recommend us?
Samuli: Hmm.. Finnish bands which have symphonic elements are mainly some kind of Folk Metal as far as I know, which we are not. Sounds maybe stupid but I’m not even sure if there are bands in Finland who do the same "genre" with us.
Any future plans?
Samuli: Near future plan is to get everything done better than well and to release the album in time before the end of the year. Then gather a live lineup to practice our music and play it live. New nightmares and more nightmarish music.
Anything you would like to add?
Please check out the video on YouTube and subscribe to us ( https://www.youtube.com/user/karadarahu), join and "like" us on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/KaraDarahu ) for latest updates, and most of all very big thanks to you for the interview 🙂
Kara Darahu official sites:
https://www.facebook.com/KaraDarahu
https://twitter.com/KaraDarahu
http://karadarahu.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/karadarahu