ADORNED BROOD – Markus Frost Interviewed for Planetmosh.

Following the release of their incredibly good album ‘Kuningaz’, Planetmosh caught up with founder member Markus Frost for a lowdown on the bands lengthy history, the new album, touring plans (including the U.K.) and a host of other topics.

 

 

Thanks for joining us here at Planetmosh. I’d like to begin by asking
you to take us back right to the start, how did the band form?

The band was founded by Markus Frost, Nermin „Oberon“ Hadžović, Mirko „Pagan“ Klier and Mike „Ariovist“ Engelmann back in the year 1993. Soon the flutist Ingeborg Anna Baumgärtel joined the band and the typical folkloristic music style of Adorned Brood was born. They all loved both, folk music and metal and wanted to combine these two influences. Now 20 years later, Markus Frost is the only remaining founding member, but the musical intention never got lost on the way!

ado art
The actual Members are:
Markus Frost
Anne Jepsen
Jan Jansohn
Thorsten Derks
Niklas Enns
Mischa Kliege

At that time the Pagan/Folk Metal scene wasn’t really known,  what
reaction were you getting from the public and from the media back then?

We got a lot of different reactions. Some people really liked what we were doing, some others didn’t like it in any way. I think this is because our style of music was completely new at that time and people were not used to folk metal. But one can see, that the scene has grown and become very big over the years.

You’ve always remained true to your musical values, have there ever
been times when you’ve wanted to do something drastically different,
maybe not a Dubstep album but you know what I mean!?

Yes of course! I think every musician loves a lot of music and has more influences than he can deal with in his music. Therefore we have always tried to experiment a lot and to improve our style and make it “richer” on every new album. We think, this keeps the music interesting for us and for our audience.
Some of us also play or have played in side projects. E.g. Jan has a Melodic Deathmetal Band called “ALL WILL KNOW” and Mischa plays in the Gothic Metal Band “Denight”. Niklas used to play with the industrial Metal Band “Haertefall”.

adorned b

Did you approach the writing of latest album ‘Kuningaz’ any
differently to previous records?

Concerning the electric guitars, we did everything in the way, we did it on (previous album) “Hammerfeste”. The song writing process was quite similar here but we used more acoustic guitars and other acoustic string instruments. In the intro “Einkehr” for example, you can hear an Irish Bouzouki. We also had a viola as a guest instrument for the first time, which adds another facet to the album.

What struck me when reviewing the album was how well it was put
together, you had a great blend of instrumental pieces leading into
great Metal tracks, how difficult was it to get the balance right?

Actually, we did not focus too much on that balance. It kind of worked out that way by itself. Maybe this is a result of all the different influences we have, every single one of us has a different musical taste! Most times the Metal parts where written first, after that, Anne, Jan and our guest musician Mario Pontigo (viola) worked on the folk parts. These processes where somehow separated from each other, not at least by the local distance between us. Most of us live in West Germany, while our flutist Anne is from Leipzig, which is in the East.

One of my favourite songs on the album is ’A War Poem’, again it’s a
track that comes across as being very diverse in its make up, how did
that track come about?

One day our keyboarder Niklas came up with the catchy keyboard melodies that you can hear in the song. As I remember, this was the first idea and the first impulse that got this song rolling. So main credits for this one go to Niklas. ;)
Then we experimented a lot with guitar riffs and drum lines, then used them to fit to the melodies and create a good contrast. After that, the flute and the vocals where added.
For me, the most interesting moment in the song is the interlude part. And of course the “soft” chorus with the triplet feeling.

‘Kuningaz’ is your first release since joining up with Massacre
Records, how much of a difference has that signing made to you as a band?

It brought a lot of motivation, because it is a well known, established and very professional label. They did a very good job on promoting “Kuningaz” and support us very well. It feels good, that we do not have to worry about the label stuff and are able to concentrate on our main task: Writing and playing music.

You do like to play live I know, having performed at Wacken and
toured all over Europe. What are your plans for live shows this year?

There are a lot of Festival shows confirmed and some more are planned. There is also an extensive tour planned but we cannot talk about this at the moment. We want to play more shows outside of Germany, because of the great international feedback on Kuningaz!
Last year, we went to Brazil and had an awesome time there!
For the newest updates on our confirmed shows, you can check out our homepage:
 http://adornedbrood.de/ and our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Adorned.Brood?ref=ts&fref=ts

We’d love to see you over here in the U.K., have you played over here
before and if not can we tempt you?

You do not need to tempt us. We would love to play for you guys! We never played in the U.K. before, but now the time is just right to do so. As said above, we are focusing on playing more international shows and there will probably be some U.K. shows in the near future as well. To get us to your country please spread the word at your local venues/promoters and make some noise for us! ;)

When do you start thinking about new material, are you always
writing or do you prefer to take your time and lock yourselves away in a
studio?

At the moment, we are preparing to start writing new material again. The new material has been rehearsed a lot, so we have again time to restart the creative process. :)
We are also planning some 20th anniversary release in the autumn.

Finally, can I ask you to describe your sound and the band to those
out there who may not be familiar with Adorned Brood.

Our music can be best described with the words: “hard melancholic Folkmetal”. We do not play typical Pagan Metal. We have always tried to work out our own unique style, to experiment and to bring fresh air into the “Pagan” genre.

Many thanks for your time and best wishes for the coming year.

Thanks for the interview and for your great review of “Kuningaz”!
Greetings to every metalhead and to our fans out there. All the best for you!

Stay Brood

‘Kuningaz’ is out now via Massacre Records.

http://www.massacre-records.com

 

About Simon Bower

Rock/Metal junkie living in beautiful Anglesey.Love live music and have a musical taste which can go from Cannibal Corpse to Kate Bush in the blink of an eye.