DRUKNROLL (for Metalegion Magazine #3)2018

METALEGION MAGAZINE / journalist: Ricardo Azevedo
Band member: Andrey “Druknroll” / Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Denis / Guitars

  • Despite being around for more than 10 years and several albums already released, I would say that Druknroll remains a name quite unknown to non-Russian fans. Do you agree?

Andrey: Yes, partly it’s true. I think that this is one of the main reasons why we don’t play on tours. Now it’s technically difficult, since we don’t have time, although our label Metal Scrap Records constantly invites us to the tours in Europe! We permanently work in the studio and try to release new video clip once a year.

  • In one point of your career, you decided to start writing your material in English. Was this an effort to reach a broader audience and give the possibility to non-Russian fans to sing and understand your songs?

Andrey: Yes, you yourself perfectly answered your question, thank you Ricardo!  First of all, this is an experiment. We would like to try something new. Secondly, the musical critics induced us to this step to make the texts available for wider world audience, although, from the other hand, I was recently listening to the cool material by the band Frater — Pulso en Eclipse (2017) in their native language, and it seems that if they wanted to sing in Chinese, this would be equally great! 

  • Your fifth album was again released by the established Ukrainian label Metal Scrap Records. “Unbalanced” is a twisting effort that displays most likely your most complex material and song structures on top of an opulent production. Have you reached a point where Druknroll has the intricacies and sound complexities that you were looking for since the beginning of the band?

Andrey: How cool you twisted the question, my brain even got unbalanced! I know for sure that this is not an end, but rather a comma, since we move forward and will improve musical structure of the songs, we try to experiment with the sound constantly, invent some new features, inherent only to us!

  • If you had to state the band that had the major influence on what Drunkroll represents musically today, who would be and why?

Denis: It’s difficult to name only one band. However, selecting from the music I prefer, I would indicate some similarities with Arch Enemy.

 Andrey: I agree with Denis, that it’s difficult to name only one bad but I always returned to the band In Flames. By the way, my daughter got addicted to Metallica (the life hasn’t been in vain!) and I absolutely agree with her! 

  • Have you returned to Metalheart studios to record “Unbalanced” like on the previous albums?

Andrey: Metalhearts – is our home studio, so to speak! We built it on our own, we selected special materials for the finishing and assembled an excellent apparatus! All the albums of DRUKNROLL were recorded in Metalhearts! By the way, the record and mixdown is carried out by our sound producer, special effects master, the guitar player and just excellent guy Alex Knip! And of course we will record our new album there. By the way, we have already recorded few new songs!

  • The song ‘It’s Not My Way’ is the smoothest, almost ballad alike, song on the album featuring distinctive female vocals and a guitar solo towards the end that grabs the attention of the listener. This is definitely one of the most singular songs on the album with the addition of a guest female vocalist…

Andrey: This was easy, because we hadn’t persuade the invited vocalist for long, on the contrary! She herself showed her willingness to make such a song, finishes off the text in English and rehearsed thoroughly! Are you intrigued who is it?… It’s simple, this is my daughter Maria! And I would like to say that if our vocalist Horror didn’t join in singing with his thin voice, then the song could be called a ballad!

Denis: I absolutely agree with the review 🙂 I tried not to overload the final solo for this song with technical features but at the same time I didn’t want to my make it too simple. According to my idea, it should have sounded concisely, making a logic conclusion of the song. I want to add that composing this solo, I was inspired by the ideas and features of the guitar player Zakk Wylde.

  • On a positive note I would like also to highlight the artwork, which appears to be in some way linked with the title “Unbalanced”. Can you disclose the connection between the title and the artwork?

Andrey: Of course, there is direct connection! Such fair and right lines from the track of the same name from this album absolutely accurately reveal this connection. They hit the mark, here are they:

Twisted mind, breeding fear, pleasant pain

Hell inside, end is near, bloody rain!

  • This is the fourth album released via Metal Scrap Records and apparently, it will become a long lasting relationship. How has it been working with them?

Andrey: We have a contract with the label for 33 albums. We have made 5, now 28 remain. We will work off for the rest of our lives!!! Jokes aside, we don’t have a contract for a particular number of albums (but we wouldn’t be against it), but we release the fourth album at Metal Scrap Records and are satisfied with its work again! Anatoliy (label director) always offers so great conditions for cooperation that Nuclear Blast can only dream of it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Druknroll - modern metal