This time we seek to better understand the project "Sylvan Realm" with a style that was termed "Dark Metal Eclectic" the man who leads the project has a wide experience of life and opens us the doors of his thought, still time for news about his latest work "Passage to Enlightenment", all this and more below.
Pedro Ribeiro: First of all, thank you for your availability and the opportunity of this interview, HeavyHardMetalMania is proud to offer its followers a chance to know the history behind the pioneers of eclectic dark metal album "Lodge of Transcendence", the Sylvan Realm. Sylvan can you start by telling us, where and how your passion for music appeared?
Sylvan Realm: Greetings,
My passion for music started in 1996 the year that I found extreme metal. I was living in a small country town in Maryland back then and there was never anything to do, I was bored and searching for something to occupy my mind. I generally never could relate to the people there and never felt like I fit in, I remember meeting some people into heavy metal back in 1996 who showed me a lot of music. I found all styles of metal that year so I started to look into every type of metal I could find. What really struck my interest is when I started to look deeper into black metal. I remember buying the metal maniacs black metal edition magazine and obsessing over it for months. I researched every band in it and ordered catalogues from all the labels in that edition. I started reading lots of underground fan-zines and ordering albums through the mail, and became totally hooked on black metal ever since.
Growing up one of my uncles who is into classic heavy metal like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden use to make tapes for me, as well my father is a very talented acoustic guitarist so music has always been around me. Around 1997 I got an electric guitar and started taking lessons and since then found that to be one of by biggest passions in life. I stopped taking lessons once I felt that I knew how to write and compose songs and jammed with a few people but never manifested anything until I was 18 and decided to do a one man project and that ended up becoming the Reverie Isolation album.
PR: Sylvan Realm born of a seed planted when you were still very young, your first band Reverie. from 18 to 23 you writhed songs that would compose the only album of Reverie "isolation". After "isolation" you “ran away” to the Rocky Mountains of Montana. What is the connection between "isolation" and your isolation from the rest of the world?
SR: I was at a very different point of my life back then in the "Reverie years" and since have grown as well as changed a lot spiritually, musically, and as a person. I Moved out to Montana back then for two reasons, to study psychology and to live out in the wilderness and get away from cities and society. Those years were an amazing time full of soul searching, enlightenment, and self discovery. I have always felt isolated from most of society and spend a lot of time alone. This isolation gave me a "Reverie" type head space that often lead to lots of creativity in my life as well as peace away from the crowded masses of the status quo. However isolation can be a double edged sword, after all humans are social creatures. The isolation that gave so much personal exploration also served much angst and alienation from society so this was the fuel for the album "Isolation" both contrasting sides to the double blade of Isolation.
PR: You said in an interview that the change of pseudonym Unknown to Sylvan could be explained by one day wanting a pseudonym and another day you decided to no longer use one. Could this mean that you found your true "self” while wandering in your thoughts? Could it be that you faced the real essence of your reason? Did you open the cosmic gates of enlightenment and knowledge found deep within nature?
SR: That is exactly it, I found my true self and started searching for enlightenment and unlocked my inner spiritual essence. Enlightenment is not an overnight process, it takes a lot of time and is a life long journey and process that I will forever dedicate my life to. I started to find and feel a cosmic oneness and used nature as my temple to connect to the universe. The old days of "Unknown" and Reverie were gone almost like a past life. So I shed the old skins of the past, and formed Sylvan Realm my musical metaphysical journey of sonic projection out into the cosmos.
PR: Tell us the paths that you travelled , what inspired you in the nature, enlighten us about the “inhuman” experience of sharing your voice with your mind and what´s the relationship of this nature with the name and music of Sylvan Realm?
SR: A good example of this would be the song Twilight Kingdom on TLOT album, the lyrics are about this very topic. I would travel as far out into the wilderness as I could get out in the rocky mountains until I felt that there was no other human life anywhere close to me, no traces of humanity anywhere. That always created a magic head space for me being completely alone in the arms of nature. I felt that I could let go of and transcend everything that is human and just simply exist as one with the universe. Staying in that zone of oneness and going out deep into the mountains would always have a profound effect, such as I would leave my mind and person behind and sour through natures landscapes as a sprit. Though these experiences is were and when I felt that I was unlocking keys to enlightenment and connecting with the cosmos.
PR: "Lodge of Transcendence" is a complex and unique black metal album that mixes various styles of metal, this is known as dark eclectic metal, along the music, the style, tempo, variation, intensity, change constantly. Although many bands approach to the progressive style, Sylvan Realm distinguishes by difference. How did the dark metal eclectic emerged? It was difficult to achieve prominence? The music came naturally?
SR: My goal was that I wanted to make a album that incorporated every typeof music that I listen to while instead of sound like a progressive band or a style hopping band, to blend and refine everything together into dark intense metal music and craft my own personal unique sound from it. The style of eclectic dark metal is really just a lose label to best describe the music. I wanted to push the boundaries and have no barriers or limitations in sound and style, to make something unique and fresh in the world of extreme metal. The music is deeply rooted in black metal, however SR is not a black metal band because being a black metal band would apply boundaries and barriers that I would not want to limit my sound and style to. As far as being progressive, SR is only progressive in the approach of mixing different styles, but we are not a "prog" band nor do we have a "prog" sound. This all came naturally because I just let the music and various influences flow out of me with out limits, boundaries, or barriers... just musical freedom.
PR: Jason Eckert and Evan Madden are exceptional musicians with great experience after their integration in your project was it easy to work with them? The projection of the work that you imagined was instantly achieved or otherwise took a lot of work?
SR: Working with Jason and Evan was a true pleasure and amazing experience. Everything clicked into place with them naturally, they both listen to all the types and styles of music that I am influenced by and they just knew what I was trying to do by listing to the rough mixes that I sent them. They came into the studio and went into their creative zone and everything flowed like magic, they are both indeed exceptional musicians.
PR: After "Lodge of Transcendence" which was produced by Ron Vento and all the work you had together you should have created a relationship not only professionally but also intimate because of the passion you both share, besides the music connection, do you feel a spiritual connection with the ideals espoused by the formation of the Aurora Borealis?
SR: Ron has became a good friend and musical mentor to me, he has taught me a lot about being a musician and it has been a wonderful experience to work with him. I also recorded the Reverie album with him and will return once again to record the new album passage to enlightenment with him as well. There is an amazing energy in his studio and we have a way of working together to get exactly the sound I am trying to achieve.
As far as the actual Aurora Borealis formation, I have only ever seen the Aurora Borealis once in my life while I was visiting Tromso Norway. As for a personal spiritual connection to the Aurora Borealis I don't have a specific feeling or connecting with it, rather a general cosmic oneness.
PR: It's been one year since the release of "Lodge of Transcendence," I hope eagerly to learn more about the new album. You said yourself that the new work would be done in the style of the last but more acoustic and doom. What have you done lately? Anything new that can be shared about "Passage to Enlightenment"?
SR: I am gearing up to hit the studio in August and am hoping the album will be ready for a winter of 2013 release. some exciting news is that Dan Swano has been confirmed to mix and master the album, as well Jason and Evan will return to the band. The album will have a more neo folk, doom, and dark metal feel with a lot of clean guitar and a slower more hypnotic tempo. But thats all I will share for now.
Nuno Ribeiro: A comment: Christopher McCandless
SR: Interesting that you would bring his story up. He never influenced me or anything like that however I can understand him wanting to leave the world behind to live out in nature. He was unprepared and ended up dying since he did not have experience and training in wilderness survival. Sure I have had fantasies about leaving everything behind to just go out into nature to live, but simply just fantasies for realistically that is not how I want to live out my life.
PR: Continue to spread the good music, once again thank you and here is a space to you to share some thought.
SR: Thank you as long as I am alive I will always strive to create a high caliber of music to spread amongst to world as a sonic temple spreading enlightenment and transcendence through the ears of the listeners.
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| Sylvan Realm Disappear Into the Landscape Temple of Not Lodge of Transcendence Twilight Kingdom |
SYLVAN
REALM's 2011 eclectic dark metal masterpiece The Lodge of Transcendence
(Reverie Recordings) is now streaming in its entirety at sylvanrealm.stereokiller.com.
The Lodge of Transcendence infuses various elements of black metal,
doom, progressive metal, 70's psychedelic rock, 80's heavy metal, death,
thrash, neo-folk, and more. SYLVAN REALM is a progressive band in the
sense that these diverse styles are entwined to form a unique, exquisite
blend of dark intense music that sounds unlike anyone else. The
approach to breaking down barriers is an original one, yet rather than
seeking to reinvent the wheel, SYLVAN REALM draws upon its influences as
a vehicle for traveling into uncharted territories. The Lodge of
Transcendence is an album that deserves to be heard.
SYLVAN
REALM is currently seeking distribution outlets for The Lodge of
Transcendence, as well as any labels interested in releasing the album
on vinyl. Interested parties should contact reverie999@gmail.com.
Find SYLVAN REALM
www.myspace.com/
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