SEAR BLISS – Interview with Trombone Player Zoltán Pál

The Arcane Odyssey by SEAR BLISS seems tailor-made for fans of symphonic black metal. Not only did the band adhere to the conventions of black metal such as grim vocals for a grim guitar sound, a raw (although clear) production and blasting drumbeats, they also included uncommon instrumentation. On The Arcane Odyssey, one will hear various brass instruments such as trombone, trumpet and euphonium. This is no high school band nerd album, though; the group designed a sound that is grandiose and epic. Equally if not more important, they managed to separate their group from the millions of Casio-keyboard black metal bands. The Arcane Odyssey is a perfect mix of beautiful harmonies, triumphant brass orchestration and scathing black metal.

These Huns have been creating music of this scale since the early nineties, but due to small-label distribution, were never able to reach a massive scope of fans until now. This being their sixth release should find a much broader audience due to the wide-ranging distribution of Candlelight Records. Trombone player (I never thought I would say trombone and black metal in the same sentence) Zoltán Pál answered a few questions via email about this labyrinthine group.

How do you feel about your new album The Arcane Odyssey? Did it meet your expectations?

We are very proud of the songs, and the sound is brilliant too. Without a doubt, this is the best SEAR BLISS album ever. Several months passed since it was completed, and we are still very satisfied with it. I dont think we would change anything. If you ask me some years later, my answer may be different, but now I feel only great satisfaction. So, it can be said that it met our expectations, and it seems that the fans and the metal media also like it; the reactions and the reviews are just fine.

This album is your first on Candlelight. How do you feel about signing to this label?

We are at the beginning of our cooperation, and all I can say is that we are very satisfied with them. Candlelight was the label we needed; they are very professional and enthusiastic for their bands. Certainly, it is great to be at a label that works with EMPEROR, 1349, CROWBAR, etc. We are very pleased to work with Candlelight.

Former releases came out on Red Stream. How has Candlelight compared to Red Stream?

Candlelight is a much bigger and more professional label than Red Stream. This way, they are more efficient in promotion and in distribution as well. Also, what was very important for us is that Candlelight is basically European. Red Stream is an American label, and they couldnt promote us in Europe as much as we expected. Thats why we couldnt take part in any bigger tours, but with Candlelight, this is over. Signing to them is a great turning point in our career.

What led to your signing to Candlelight?

Our contract with Red Stream was fulfilled with Glory and Perdition. We wanted to sign a deal with a more professional and efficient label. András was in contact with Candlelight because of FOREST SILENCE. He sent them a promo pack and they offered us a contract. We were just amazed by it, and so we signed it. This was a step we have yet to regret.

How does The Arcane Odyssey compare to your previous releases?

If you listen to our albums chronologically, you can easily recognize that each of them is different, although all of them are typically SEAR BLISS. In case of The Arcane Odyssey, we were told many times that this is our most mature album. I totally agree with this. We are older, more mature than the time we composed the previous releases. We developed as musicians, as songwriters and in the field of orchestration as well. Thats why I call The Arcane Odyssey the best of our albums so far.

Do you think your use of brass instruments such as trombones and trumpets separates your sound from the legion of black metal clones around the world?

Yes, the brass section is a distinctive feature. You know, a lot of bands use symphonic elements or symphonic orchestration. It is so common that it is not exciting anymore. It is interesting that we use brass instruments since 1993, but I personally dont know any other bands that use the same instruments (especially live).

How did you conceive the idea to mix brass instrumentation with black metal?

The main idea behind this was that the band members wanted to give a touch of originality to the music of the band and the whole scene as well. Why the brass instruments, you might ask? There was a guy, Gergely, who lived near the other members, and he was into metal music and played the trumpet. The thing was obvious: they asked him if he would join the band, and he accepted the invitation. In my opinion, brass instruments fit perfectly into (black) metal. A lot of different moods can be expressed with them.

All available information lists you as the trombone player. On your album, there is a symphony of brass. Who plays the other instruments?

In the brass section, there is only one guest musician. He is Balázs Vincze, a very good friend of mine, and he plays the trumpet. I play all the other brass stuff. All the themes were recorded with a trombone and a trumpet. The only exception is at the end of Somewhere, where at the beginning of the solo I used a euphonium. In the studio, we used several channels to make the brass sound really massive. Thats why you hear it as a complete section. So, I am the only member of Sear Bliss with brass instruments, and I play with the band live as well.

What is your musical background? Are you a classical composer?

I have to disappoint you; I am not a classical composer at all. I am a simple metalhead who plays the trombone. I went to the local music school for more than ten years and I learned to play quite a lot of instruments (flute, alto-flute, tenorhorn, euphonium, trombone). During these years, I had very good teachers whom I am very grateful to. I use these lessons during the songwriting for SEAR BLISS. Therefore, I am a composer in only that sense that I compose the brass themes in SEAR BLISS. But, being a big metalfan, I started learning to play the guitar a year and half ago.

How do these elements relate on stage? Does Sear Bliss play all the brass ornaments?

I am the only brass guy on stage. I dont think there is any use of having other guest musicians. At some bigger festivals, we invited Balázs to join us on stage for some songs, and it was great, but we dont want to make this regular.

In addition to playing classical instruments, you also relate folk music influences on Path to the Motherland. Please comment on this track.

Yes, Path to the Motherland is a very odd song in SEAR BLISS discography. Lyrically it is closely connected to the cover of the album that is based on a Hungarian legend. To emphasise this we used original Hungarian folk instruments. We invited some good friends of ours, who play folk music, to contribute to the song. They got the demo recording of the song, and they composed the folk parts to it. So, what you hear in that song are genuine folk themes performed by folk musicians. It was very interesting to see them recording these themes. They used certain kinds of instruments that were unfamiliar to me (although they were mostly wind instruments), because they were partly constructed by themselves. That was really exciting!

Please explain the artwork. Your bio says two songs on the album connect with the concept of the cover art. Can you explain this connection?

Yes, we used a painting again. We dont really like computer graphics, we are a bit old-school in this sense. We worked (just like in case of the last record) with a Hungarian painter, József Tari, who is a real genius. He painted for Venom (The Wastelands) as well. The cover depicts a Hungarian legend, The Road of the Warriors. This legend is one of the stories of the origin of the Milky Way. The short version of it can be read in the booklet of the CD, so I wouldnt go into details this time. The cover itself is in connection with two songs on the album: Blood on the Milky Way, and Path to the Motherland.

The guitar playing on The Arcane Odyssey is quite diverse, yet you still adhere to the conventional black metal techniques. Was that a goal of yours?

I agree with you, this time the songs are very diverse, although they make up a complete unity. This diversity is true in case of the guitar riffs as well. This time we didnt set any boundaries, so there are different riffing techniques: heavy riffs, black metal-type shredding, acoustic themes. And, there are killer guitar solos as well. These things arent planned at all. We dont plan what music we will play on the next records. Each record is the reflections of our self and mood in the period of the songwriting.

Hungary is your native country. What is the black metal scene like there? Are there places to play?

Hungary is a very little country, so the black metal scene is also very little. There are quite many bands here. I would recommend to you FOREST SILENCE and BORNHOLM. FOREST SILENCE is the project of our ex-keyboard player, Winter. Bornholm plays a kind of pagan black metal, and I will play as a guest on their next record. There are some places to play in Hungary, but unfortunately the venues are not very well-equipped. So when we play somewhere in Western Europe, we can see what the ideal circumstances would be. It is sad to say, but Hungary has to catch up with it…

Now that The Arcane Odyssey is finished, what are Sear Bliss plans?

The most important thing is that we would like to go on tour to promote the new album as much as possible. It would be great to go on a killer European tour with some other bands. Of course, it would be amazing to play in the US as well; unfortunately, there is not much of a chance.

What is also important is the re-releases of the first two albums and the EP will come next year. I think we will be very busy in the future as well.