Meet From Dusk Till Doom Full Line Up: Clouds, Evadne, Hamferd, EchO, Fading Bliss, Descend into Despair, and Oldd Wavrms

As I promised this morning, here is the part two of my piece about the impressive rising Metal Festival in Belgium, "From Dusk till Doom" 4. Through this article, you will have full interviews for the all participated bands in Fest.

The lineup's of this edition contains: Clouds, Evadne, Hamferð, EchO, Fading Bliss, Descend into Despair, and Oldd Wvrms.

1- Clouds (Atmospheric Doom Metal / International)

Surly, I will start with the headliners "Clouds", and without any doubt, "Clouds" is a beloved name to majority of Doom Metal lovers. It has its real, distinctive sorrowful sound, and weeping atmosphere.

 I tried to contact the band through its official Facebook page, but I found a cheerful surprise that Clouds' Drummer, who is also Descend into Despair's Drummer, Luca Breaz, is on my Facebook friend-list. Actually he was so humble, and nice, and accepted to receive my questions.

Regarding Clouds participation in the Festival, Breaz explained,

"Mike and Chris are no strangers to us, we've known each other for some years now, and we've been happy to accept their proposal to play in the Fest." 

Also regarding playing in Belgium, Breaz continued,

"We are so glad to play in a country that's a home to countless amazing artists. We feel honored to take part in this event along such a great lineup." 

Actually, I was curious to know what Clouds is going to play in the festival, Breaz revealed,

"Our friends will have the chance to listen to some of our most appreciated tracks, and some new material that the Belgian crown will be able to hear for the first time, and we cannot wait for sharing it with them."

He also revealed that Clouds performance in the event will witness the presence of guests alongside "Clouds' sister" Gogo Melone.

Finally, Concerning Clouds' fan-base in the Middle East, Breaz commented,

"We got many great messages from our friends from Middle East, and we would gladly play for them whenever given the chance." 

2- Evadne (Melodic Death Doom Metal/ Spain)

The second band in the lineup is the iconic Spanish Melodic Death Doom Metal band Evadne. Founded in 2003, Evadne's sound is based on Melancholy, a devoted desperate attempt to set a proper soundtrack to the human beings deepest and saddest feelings. It is also one of the well-known Spanish names, and it had a good fan-base in Europe.

I contacted Evadne through its official Facebook page, and I got answers from Evadne’s Guitarist Jason Martin.

Martin expressed,

 "The Festival promoter Mike Evelette got in touch with us, and offered us the opportunity to participate in the festival."

Regarding its playlist for the performance, Martin added, 

"We will present almost exclusively our latest album "A Mother Named Death". 

He added that Evadne won't have any guest members, and there is a possibility of performing covers. Regarding the scene in Europe, Martin expressed,

"For us, it is the best possible scene to which we can aspire for the moment, Organizers, and fans (outside Spain) have always treated us very well outside our country."

 If you want to check our previous interview with Evadne: Click Here 

3- Hamferð (Death Doom Metal / Faroe Islands ) 

Hamferð is a Faroese Death Doom Metal band. Actually, it is one of the most active bands, It participated in a lot of tours, festivals, actually, It was a nice chance to discover this band. I contacted the band through its official Facebook page, and I got answers from Hamferð's guitarist Theodor Kapnas. 

Kapnas started his talk through speaking how they joined the Fest's lineup, 

"The festival actually first got in touch with us a few years ago. We've tried to make FDTD fit into our schedule a few times, but it has never been possible for various reasons. 

Now, it is finally happening and we are really happy about that. It is been a long time coming!"

Regarding its playlist for the performance, Kapnas revealed, 

"We will mostly focus on material from our latest album "Tamsins Likam". We feel it is our strongest work so far. Also, we really enjoy playing the songs live, so that it has been the cornerstone of our set since we released it earlier this year."

“We of course will also play some older stuff from the first two records, and maybe even something old, and unreleased stuff."

Then I asked Kapnas about his views regarding the Metal scene in Europe, he answered, 

"I am a big fan of European Metal. It is less scene driven than a lot of stuff in the US, and I feel that a lot of the bigger bands in Europe are quite unique and not just following current trends."

He clarified, "Don't get me wrong, there are amazing innovative bands all over the world, especially since the dawn of internet, but for me personally a lot of my favorite Metal throughout the years has been from northern Europe.

One reason might be that, that's where I am from which makes me relate strongly to it."

Concerning the band's performance in the Fest, he expressed that the band won't have any guest musicians for the upcoming performance, in addition it won't perform any covers. 

Finally, I asked Kapnas about its relation with Middle Eastern Metalheads.

He said, "We have received a few messages from the Middle East throughout the years, most notably we seem to have a small but very loyal following in Iran which to me is fantastic. We have also had people flow from Israel to see us in a concert which is incredibly cool."

Kapnas added, "We've never received any offers to come over to play, but it it ever arises, it is something I'd absolutely love to do." 

4- EchO (Melodic Death Doom Metal / Italy)

EchO is one of the finest Italian Doom Metal bands. Founded in 2007 as Atmospheric Doom Metal band. The name comes from the oreades nymph Eco of the Greek Mythology. The band has shared the stage with many great bands such as Agalloch, Daylight Dies, If These Trees Could Talk, and Forgotten Tomb. The band has released 3 full length through its career. 

I contacted EchO through its official Facebook page, and I got answers from EchO's guitarist Simone Saccheri. 

Saccheri started by telling me how the band joined FDTD's lineup, 

"We got in touch on Facebook! Mike contacted us after listening to our latest record and he and the rest of the staff really enjoyed it apparently, so they asked if we were interested in playing at the festival, and we were, of course!!. 

Regarding EchO's set-list, he explained,

"We are going to play some songs from “Head First into Shadows” and also some from our debut “Devoid of Illusions”, since we’ve never been in Belgium before." 

We might also add a couple of new songs, that would be played live at FDTD for the very first time, making this gig really special for us. It our first time to perform in Belgium! And we couldn’t be more excited about that!!!!"

Concerning performing covers through the upcoming show, Saccheri expressed, 

Although we have performed Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath before we are not planning to do so in the next few shows. 

We’ve been talking for years about doing a few covers but we haven’t worked on those yet, because while Electric Funeral was a very easy and rough song (our version at least) the ones we are considering are very distend from our music world and we will need to put a lot of work into them.

And since our time with the band is unfortunately limited by our jobs and lives we preferred so far to dedicate ourselves 100% to our original material.

Then he shed light on EchO's latest release, 

The new album, as the first two, doesn’t have a specific concept that concerns the entire record, but this time the lyrics seem to be more connected with each other than before, probably because our singer Fabio wrote most of them. 

Both musically and lyrically we tend to take all the bad emotions we feel and try to make something beautiful out of them. One could say that our music is our personal antidepressant.

Beside that we are really art-hungry people, so we often take inspiration from books and literature in general, movies, or even some comic books, this sometimes helps us to go where we want with our lyrics especially.

So, I was somehow curious of EchO will have any guests for the show, Saccheri expressed, 

"As far as live performances we will have a session drummer for our upcoming shows in the near futures, since our drummer Paolo will soon become a father and will need some time off to dedicate himself to parenthood, although he will record the new album."

Actually, I have good friends from the Italian Metal Scene, as my friends from Metal On Fire Webzine, Unmasked Dead label, My Kingdom Music Label, Lonera S. Fingers band, Rome in Monochrome, and Blaze of Sorrow. So, knowing more details about one of the closest Metal scene to my heart is something blissful, that's why I asked Saccheri for his opinion of the Italian Metal scene. 

He explained, The metal scene here is very much alive, there are hundreds of bands that are working really hard and would really deserve a bigger spot on the international scene. 

Unfortunately it’s rare to see a lot of people at gigs these days, but that depends also on the sub-genre and the area. 

Doom metal is not particularly popular in our area at the moment, but you can easily see hundreds of people on a Wednesday night for a black metal show, for example.

5- Fading Bliss (Gothic Doom Metal / Belgium)

Fading Bliss is one of the most successful Doom Metal bands in Belgium. Its music is mainly influenced with the early 90s Gothic/Doom/Death bands as Katatonia, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Theater of Tragedy, and My Dying Bride. It was formed in 2009, and it has 2 full length albums.

I contacted band through its official Facebook, and I got answer from Oli, Fading Bliss’ Bassist.

So, I asked Oli first about how Fading Bliss joined the Festival's lineup, he answered,

"The organizers are good friends for a long time. They are real fans of doom metal and they like our music so they simply invite us. And it is a pleasure to play for us because the festival is very good. It is a nice place to play and the staff is really friendly."

Regarding the upcoming performance set-list, For this show, we will play songs from each album and
 from our first EP. We played the entire album at our last live appearance. And we like to play a different set-list at each show.

For this show; we did not planned to play covers. We like this exercise and we will do it again. We have ideas for new covers but actually we just want to play our songs.

He added that Fading Bliss won't have any guest musicians for the upcoming performance

Oli revealed more details about its latest album "Journeys of Solitude", "Jouneys In Solitude talks about being alone and lost in different landscapes. These landscapes can be real as imagery. Everyone can interpret them in their own way. It corresponds to the different emotions that can be felt during a lifetime."

He also finalized this interview through describing the Metal scene in Belgium,

"The scene in our city is very hardcore and metalcore. But everywhere in Belgium, you have good bands playing different kind of metal and some start to be very popular like Amenra or Wiegedood and it is good for the scene of our country."

6- Descend into Despair (Funeral Doom / Romania) 

Descend into Despair is one of the finest Doom Metal bands in Romania, its Drummer is also a Clouds member. The band has released 2 full length albums. I contacted the band through its official Facebook page, and actually the band didn't tell me which member has replied.

DID answered first my question regarding its participation in the festival, DID replied,

"It was actually us who contacted the organizers, they've enjoyed our music and therefore invited us to play." 

Regarding its upcoming performance, "We prefer to keep the exact playlist a secret until the day of the show. However, get ready to hear something completely new! 

I'm not telling anything more. We will be having no guest musicians this time, although we are planning to do so in the future."

Then, I asked DID about its opinion in the Metal Scene in Belgium, it explained,

"With bands such as Amenra, Marche Funèbre and Oldd Wvrms it is not difficult to see why the Belgian Metal Scene is a strong one indeed."

7- Oldd Wvrms (Sludge Doom Metal / Belgium) 

Old Wvrms is one of the strongest Belgian Metal bands. It is founded in 2014, and it has its magnificent dark, atmospheric, impressive sound. It music is brewed in Doom/Sludge/Black/Post-Metal. The band has 2 full length albums. 

OW explained, "The Festival contacted our Drummer Cho, and the band won't perform any covers, also we won't have any guests."

He also added, "we’ll play two old songs from « Ignobilis » and three new song from the upcoming album (recording as we speak), full instrumental Post-Metal stuff"

Finally, I asked the band about his point of view of its local Metal scene," Many cool bands are here, just to name few friends, Terraformer, A Supernaut, Ilydaen (releasing a split with them later this year)."

Conclusion

Honestly, It was a big honor to me to contact all those big, fine names, and deal with all those great musicians. Even, when I shared my early interview with FDTD organizers on some Middle Eastern Metal groups, I got a lot of positive comments, and many Doom Metal fans liked the name and the idea of the festival, in addition, many of fans are waiting for reading my interview with the participated bands. I applied my idea of having interviews with a festival full lineup twice with Egyptian Metal Fests, but actually my step with FDTD festival gained more success.

Missed our interview with FDTD organizers (it gained more than 200 views in few hours): click here

I have a final note, I am listening to Katatonia since I started editing this piece to fit blog publishing, I gained new improvement in Blog Posts publishing, I managed to attach videos :D.

Another Note, I am a Doom Metal lover, since I started listening to Metal in 2012, the first Doom Metal song I listened to was sent to me by one of my closest friends Osama Azzam a.k.a Lord Mist.

He is Egyptian unique musician, he leads, composes music for more than 5 Depressive Black/Symphonic Death Metal projects such as Frostagrath, Hateful Desolation, Hecate, and Astray.

Ah, the first Doom Metal song Mist sent to me was Saturnus' "All Alone", then I continued my love towards Doom Metal through searching, listening, and discovering Doom Metal bands with many friends such as my twin friend, Mahmoud Mohammed Mahmoud.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who supports my blog, and me! I mainly suffer from Depression, the main reason of it, love, I had a failed RS back 2015, and actually facing an empty life, can't find a job to employ my writing, and my Egyptology, Archaeology, International Affairs, Music, Fine Arts, and Literature passion.

In addition, I wish, I could do everything for a real man who loves me, and I love him, so I feel empty, and cold while producing writing pieces, because I feel that there is no one who cares for me, proud of me.

Just I am putting my power, pain, passion, sorrow, in writing, and actually there is a person in my life who I wish could be proud of me.! although, he doesn't feel my presence!

Anyways: Do you want more articles about Doom Metal bands :D

Click here to read our interview with Russian Doom Metal icons Inner Missing!

Click here to read our interview with Finish Doom Metal band Silentium

Click here to read my story about Belgium Atmospheric/Funeral Doom Metal band Slow

Click here to check my experience with Tress of Eternity Music

Click here to read my review for "Listen to the Silence" single by Bolivian Acoustic Doom Metal band Lachrima Corphus Dissolvens

Click here to read my review for Empyrium's "Songs of Moors and Misty Fields" celebrating with the album's 20th release anniversary 

Click here to know more about The Egyptian Doom Metal scene