Zen Disdain defies genre boundaries with their debut album, Inanition, weaving personal struggles into a dark metal tapestry. The band’s evolution from studio project to live powerhouse reflects their unyielding creative spirit.
1. Zen Disdain began as a studio project unbound by genre constraints. How did this freedom shape the creative process for your debut album, Inanition?
Being not attached to one particular genre is giving freedom, the freedom to create whatever you feel in the moment. And of course, we are not playing just in one subgenre of metal, we still have our boundaries within dark subgenres of metal. But who knows, maybe one day we will write the happiest and most life-affirming song ever, and then we will come out of the boundaries of just dark metal.
2. Your music blends elements of blackened doom and death metal with intricate drum arrangements and powerful vocals. How do you balance these diverse influences to maintain a cohesive sound?
We don’t, we just do whatever feels right, and if it ends up in a cohesive sound that’s a nice bonus.
3. What themes or concepts inspired the lyrical and musical direction of
Inanition?
Initially, this album wasn’t supposed to be personal, we wanted to write something unrelated to us, but somehow it ended up being very personal.
Therefore the main themes for the lyrics are inner struggles but are often shown through the prism of various manifestations of nature.
4. You toured extensively in the Netherlands and recently ventured into Eastern Europe. How has performing live influenced your music or helped shape the band’s identity?
Originally, this band was planned as a studio project, but everything turned the way for this project to become a full touring band, so it probably was just meant to be. That’s why it feels very natural to play these songs live, it’s like they just wanted to be played live. As for how performing live shaped the band’s identity, well at the moment we are thinking of writing new music to be more performance-oriented.
5. Blackened doom-death is an intense and emotional genre. How do you channel such dark and haunting elements into your performances and recordings?
Well, life helps immensely with that, with its variety of dark, unsettling emotions.
6. As Inanition prepares for release, what are your hopes for how this album will resonate with fans and the broader metal community?
Since we never had the intention of being a proper band, this album was written out of the heart, it wasn't meant to be a big hit or anything like that, but if this album resonates with people, it will be the biggest compliment for us as artists.
7. What can fans expect from Zen Disdain in 2025, both in terms of touring and potential new music or projects?
We already have some plans for a tour, but we also hope to appear at some festivals and to have more shows at home. We are also planning to film some music videos since we don’t have any yet, and maybe even release some new music since we have a lot of music composed already, so fingers crossed for all of that to happen in 2025.
8. Finally, if you could describe Inanition in just three words, what would they be, and why?
The first word would be Inanition itself because this album was created from
the lowest point, and burnout, but there are also songs like Everpresent that
state that no matter how beaten and exhausted we are, we are still here making
music, we are ever-present, so the second word would be fierceness. And the
last one is maybe hope, at least it is what the song Symbols gives after
listening to it, it’s a hope that it’s just the beginning of a great and
fruitful journey ahead.
Zen Disdain (@zendisdain) • Instagram photos and videos
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