BalashToth’s latest EP, Equation, delves into themes of alienation, manipulation, and resilience. This interview explores the inspiration behind its concept, along with insights into their creative process.
1. Congratulations
on the release of Equation! The EP dives into intense themes like alienation,
manipulation, and resilience. Can you share what initially inspired this
thematic direction for the album?
Thanks a lot, and also for the interview opportunity. I guess everyone in this
world can say, that there was a lot on our plates in the last few years with
the pandemic, restrictions, their media coverage, then the virus magically
disappeared a day after the Russian/Ukraine war started. The whole thing seemed
to me like a game or a smoke screen, so the attention of the masses is not
focused on this huge shift in power, control and wealth. I wanted somehow to
put this a musical form, but in a playful, not that serious way and I thought
the anti-life equation of DC comics is a good metaphor for the whole shambles.
For those who don’t know, in the comics anti-life equation is a mathematical
formula, that the main evil guy (actually a new god) Darkseid wants to possess
and control, so he can control every sentient being’s free will ergo take away
his real life. In the live action DC movies, it only appeared so far in the
4-hour version (Snyder cut) of Justice League. I think this whole lore
resonates well with today’s political happenings. We are being manipulated,
conditioned into believe in things, and we don’t really live the lives we
want.
2. You
just premiered the video for "y = Hope." As an instrumental track, it
stands out. What drew you to present this piece without vocals, and how do you
think that affects the listener’s experience of the track?
I originally planned 3 songs for the EP, but I felt a more melodic piece was
missing. Then I went through my riff folders and came across the clean guitar
part and riffs that came to be "y = Hope". They are actually very
old, from before my previous band, Casketgarden was formed, but the riffs were
never used. They were in a different key as well, than the rest of the songs,
so fit perfectly between two heavier tracks as an intermission, to give a bit
of a rest to the listener before "Shame x Failure" kicks in the door
again. I planned it to be a bit longer first, but the two parts of the songs
are so great together, that anything else would have disrupted its flow, so I
left it at around 2:30 mins. The title is a section, or more like condition of
the anti-life equation, like all the songs on the EP. It doesn’t have lyrics,
but in the CD cover (and at the end the visualizer video) you’ll see another
equation and that’s key to understand the title weird title of this song and
the previous track “n = Folly”.
3. The
EP title, Equation, is intriguing. How did you land on this concept, and what
message or story are you hoping to convey through it?
As I said in the first question the concept came from DC comics’ anti-life
equation, and it actually started on the first EP “Anti-Life", so now you
know why “Equation” is the title😊. The
message I’m trying to convey is that our government/media/tech conglomerate
trying to condition us with all kinds of manipulation weapons and methods. They
alienate us, they fool us with fake news, they discredit people just to silence
them, so reaching their goal remains undisturbed. They actually do it on an
almost genius way, so no matter how you come out of these manipulations, you
believe them, or you don’t, they reach their goal: society divided into
pro-vaxxers, anti-vaxxers, supporters and “conspiracy theorists”, pro-Russia
and anti-Russia. You surely know what I mean. The more these made-up two-party
divisions there are, the less people are in these “sets”. The more divided we
are, the less resistance we show.
4. Songs
like "Shame x Failure" and "Loneliness + Alienation" have
powerful titles. Can you tell us a bit about the writing and composition
process for these tracks?
Those are both fast songs, but yet very different. In "Loneliness +
Alienation" I tried to keep the riffs simple, the kind you’d first learn
when you start out playing the guitar, but the combination, order and timing of
the riffs changes a lot during the song, and that makes the song feel varied.
The chorus riff comes back at the end at almost half the bpm as the rest of the
song and I think it almost creates this “hypnotic” feel to it. Lyrically it’s
about what I described in the previous question.
"Shame x Failure" on the other hand is the most complex song on the
EP, with loads of changes, breaks and fills and 3 guitar solos. The lyrics here
more about the methodology of smear campaign, and silencing someone by
discrediting his previous work.
By the way, I originally planned these songs to be separated into shorter
parts: there was a version of the mixdown, where “Loneliness” is one song, and
“+Alienation” is another, same with “Shame x” and “Failure”, so the EP would be
like 6 songs. The reason I changed this idea is that while on CD this is no
problem, but in today’s world of streaming there wouldn’t be a seamless
transition between the sections on some streaming platforms. Also, as one song
their title reflects the mathematical concept better.
5. The
blending of melodic death metal with thrash and progressive elements is a big
part of your sound. How do you balance these influences while keeping a
cohesive sound?
I listen a
pretty wide selection of metal music, sub-genre wise that is, but in my
previous band Casketgarden we played strictly fast melodic death/thrash metal.
As BalashToth is basically under my own name, I can fit in any kind of
influence I like, from doom to black metal or whatever. I think about those
diverse influences as tools, to express a certain emotion. The only filter is
that I have to like the song. 😊 It doesn’t always work: the song “n
= Folly” had another version with another vocalist and I felt it doesn’t fit
with the rest of the material, so I wrote new lyrics, new vocal patterns and
let Deathmetalvoicer sing it, and that worked well.
6. Since
BalashToth began as a YouTube channel, how has that platform shaped your growth
as an artist? What challenges did you face transitioning from a YouTube channel
to a full solo project?
On my channel I mostly did weekly riff challenges by Ola Englund and some other
content creators, as well as covers of songs I really love. One of them was
Silent Night Fever by Dimension Zero and I needed a vocalist, who can nail
Jocke Göthberg’s (ex-Marduk, ex-In Flames) singing style. It’s pretty distinct,
as it’s evil sounding like a black metal singer, but also has this punky,
hardcore-ish, rhythmic attitude somehow. That’s how I found the Japanese
Deathmetalvoicer on YouTube, while browsing through some vocal covers. It
turned out to be a very smooth working relationship. I send him the song, 3
days later he sends back the vox and it’s perfect.
I had couple of original ideas on my hard drive at the time, as I recorded some
song ideas for studying recording and mixing, so I asked him if he would sing
on them. That turned out to be the first EP “Anti-Life" and we also made a
bunch of covers (Gates of Ishtar, Iron Maiden, The Haunted, Dismember, Entombed
etc) on my channel together since, and now the second EP.
Today content creation is very important to any band, as it keeps the name
spinning even between materials. I keep doing both the channel and the musical
project, as they are basically one thing. The channel had other benefits as
well. When the project started the songs didn’t arrive in an empty vacuum,
there was already a following. This way I felt the first songs didn’t get
“lost” like many first material does, if it’s released the traditional way.
The challenge is that the metalheads are very conservative and it’s harder to
get accepted if you start a project this way, I feel. “Silly YouTube thing” you
know. But I believe, you have to provide quality stuff and it will find its
way.
7.
You’ve mentioned the EP deals with themes relevant to modern struggles. Are
there specific social or personal issues you hope listeners might reflect on
when they hear Equation?
Well, I hope so, to say the least. I think everyone can find pieces in the
lyrics one can reflect on. The message is ultimately positive. We shout these
topics I talked about earlier into the air, so you know you’re not alone
feeling frustrated and angry, because some smilingly push lies into your face
every day.
8.
Following the success of your previous EP, Anti-Life, did you feel any pressure
when creating this new release, or did it give you a renewed sense of purpose?
I don’t think “Anti-Life" was that successful, that it created any kind of
pressure, haha. The way I see it, I only write songs, try to make them the best
I can at the time, and if people like it, that’s a bonus. If they buy the CD
that’s an extra bonus (currently I’m in dept because of it, so please support,
haha). But after the material is out, it’s out of my hands, how a person reacts
to it. If they like it, good, if they don’t, also good. There are very big bands, that many people
like, but I don't, so it’s OK. Of course I try to show the music to as many
people as I can, so the songs don’t remain in this black hole, but after that
it’s not my job to judge or defend it. The music is/was my statement at the
time, if you know what I mean.
9.
You’ve earned comparisons to bands like At The Gates, Dimension Zero, and
Carcass. How do you feel about these comparisons, and what do you hope to add
to this genre that’s unique to BalashToth?
The comparisons are really fair and humbling. It’s a great honor to be compared
to these bands, as they created masterpieces. Those are some of my favorite
bands.
I think what’s unique in this project is that it can draw influence from these
bands and charge with some death/thrash in one minute, but there can be a break
and then it’d draw in some early Paradise Lost doom atmosphere or even black
metal, or an acoustic song or part. I admit it maybe not that obvious on the 2
EPs, although I tried to make them as varied as possible. There’s even a song
(“n=Folly”) on the new EP, that people would have called death n’ roll in the
90s. I’ll try to stress this diversity musically in the future even more. I
also think there’s a quite unique, fragile and sad melody style, that is
present even in our fastest songs.
10.
Being a solo project must have its own challenges and rewards. What’s the most
rewarding aspect of having full creative control, and are there any downsides
to working alone?
The reward is, that it’s absolutely compromise free, and 100% me. Even though
the vocals are done by someone else, I give very clear instructions to describe
what I’d hear in my head to the given part. The production is also to my
liking, I can tweak it as long as I want, add additional stuff, layers when I
hear it’s needed. There is no time constraint, as we had it in the past in
studios.
The main challenge is, that it can drive you mad, as you heard the songs so
many times, and sometimes you lose the reference point: “what did I really want
to hear here?”. So, sometimes I need to take longer breaks (and I mean weeks
here) to distance myself from the material a bit and hear it with clean ears.
So, it’s not like that I can release an EP every month, because it’s all done
at my home studio...
I want to keep the project as DIY as possible, but recently I was thinking
about the next material, specifically if it should be an EP or a full-length
and I have to say, if it’s going to be a full album I might consider an
external mixing engineer as it’s so much work. But we’ll see.
11. The
CD release combines both Anti-Life and Equation. How do you see the evolution
of your sound and message between these two EPs?
Purely from production perspective “Equation” is definitely an improvement,
even though “Anti-Life” also didn’t sound too bad, or at least that’s what I
wanted and could at the time. In terms of musical evolution, the songs are
actually newer on “Anti-Life", than on “Equation”, but I think I managed
to make it feel more like a “whole package” with a concept, while the first EP
was just 3 separate songs, if you know what I mean. I like both materials, that
was the reason why they both came out on one CD. I do think the next material
will be an even bigger improvement, so it’s nice to close this era with this
physical version.
12. For
new listeners discovering BalashToth through Equation, what would you say
defines this project and sets it apart? What can fans look forward to next?
As I said, this is absolutely the music I love, and you can feel it in every
tiny detail. Every little background melody in it has its purpose. It’s also
100% compromise free and you’ll always hear what I wanted to hear. It draws
influence from the early 90s Gothenburg scene, the original vision of melodic
death metal, with fast drums, melodic guitars and harsh vocals. On the melodic
side I feel it’s a bit more dramatic and fragile. We also don’t clean vocals,
as we think it defies the purpose of melodic death metal.
The next release is either going to be another EP, probably a bit longer or a
full-length album (in that case the shorter kind, under 35 mins or so). My plan
is to merge my Gothenburg/Swedish death metal influences with even more
death/doom atmosphere, but in a more natural way, so not like “this is a slow
song and this is a fast song”, but just to completely blend the two. Not sure
yet, but lyrically we might continue exploring the anti-life equation even
further as there’s still a lot to cover.
Thanks for the interview and the support!
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