— Since you have a new album out, I suggest, as per tradition, to first get acquainted with the information about it. Let’s begin?
Druknroll: DRUKNROLL-”Gross Puzzle”-is the 8th full-length album, which was released at the end of 2024 on the Dark East Productions label, the CD edition is also on the way! What can I say – 2 years of hard, meaty work in the livelinesstudio in Saratov!
Tracklist:
- Bots
- Pandora’s box
- Retrogradation of Fate
- Skeptical mind
- Höllenwald
- My spiteful clone
- Programmed to Fail
- Dull Pain
- I’ll be in black
- 3’14
The lineup has grown, the guys did a great job on the solos, they really tore their souls apart, here is the current lineup: Druknroll – guitars, bass, keys, drums, Uzhas – vocals, Maria – vocals, Dmitry Nazarenko – vocals, Oleg Kireichuk – guitars, solos (3, 8, 9, 10), bass, keys, sound producer, Igor Kazakov – solos (1, 2), Andrey Stepanov – solos (4), Grigory Melkumov – solos (5), Alexander Blinov – solos (6), Artem Rybintsev – solo (7)! In support of the album, they shot a video “Retrogradation of Fate”, almost 50k views on VK Video, if everyone took a CD (I was dreaming), then we could celebrate the New Year in a bathhouse!
– Knowing your pathological love for experiments, I foresee that they couldn’t do without them here either. Maybe you’ll admit it right away? )))
Druknroll: There was an experiment on the Retrogradation of Fade video, for the sake of interest, we rented a photo studio for an hour, 50 minutes for filming, they’ve never done it so quickly, here’s the paradox – the faster you make a video, the more views! As for the music, there was an experiment in the track about clowns (already funny), there was an idea that at the beginning of the track you look for songs about clowns on the radio, there were a lot of them (English-language), but it was tempting to insert our Vysotsky!
— I see from the list that this time there are quite a few guitarists who took part in the recordings. Did you adjust the tracks for each one or did they bring the arrangement? Everything is so complicated here that you can break your leg, he-he!
Druknroll: Yes, these are not just solo guitarists, but gods of guitar art, I would say that I only gave them the “fish” of the track, and they wrote the solos themselves, I am very pleased with their work, since the solos are the most difficult part of the work!
— Is there a list of musicians, well, besides you, of course, who are constantly involved in the creation and recording of compositions?
Druknroll: Well, here’s the thing, I record all the material, including drums (on the computer), then Uzhas does the vocals, then with Oleg Kireichuk, Diman also joins us (on the left in the photo), in general we finalize the material, liven up the drums, add a little electronics, then the guys throw in some solos, then Oleg mixes everything and it’s ready! Simple in words, but in practice, as you say, a hassle!
– And you are the main composer of all these mind-boggling outrages? I know, but I need to remind the readers)))
Druknroll: Without false modesty – yes, well, the music is fine, but the lyrics are more difficult, here are just a few quotes from the lyrics from the new album, well, how can you come up with something like that, I don’t know myself, and in English, in short, a hassle (that word again)))
— a cunning brain suffers from helplessness
— cut the wires, free your mind
– a distorted conscience degrades at the speed of light
– my skeptical mind emits only inhuman anger
– my head is like a nest of my demons
– a dull pain is killing my brain right now
– vile demons are running quickly in my head
– 3.141592653589793238462643383279
— Since the lyrics are in English, it means your work is aimed at the West. And how is it, is there any feedback? In terms of reviews? Does anyone even listen to this stuff there?
Druknroll: Yes, I used to be promoted by the Metal Scrap Records label, which was aimed at Europe, there was a good movement in Europe, now everyone is slowing down, all the reviews and interviews of both foreign and our media are presented on the band’s websites druknroll.com and druknroll.ru, everything is carefully stored there with links!
— You already have eight full-length albums under the DRUKNROLL name and none of them are similar to the other. Are you constantly searching and experimenting, or do you just listen to new unknown bands before each studio?
Druknroll: I don’t listen before the studio, my brain must be transparent! Well, in general, I’m omnivorous, I like to listen to both new and old, So in 2024, if I need to cheer up, there’s DAATH “The Deceivers”, although DEATH is just as invigorating. If you need to sing, then VOLUCRINE “Etna”, if you need to sing and scream – SCAR SYMMETRY “The Singularity”, if you need to be sad – PARADISE LOST “Obsidian”. But if you need to get hung up, then the whole DREAM THEATER, starting with “Awake” and to the end, then the day is not wasted! Oh, I forgot, if you want to count – MESHUGGAH!
– Do you think that for a band of your level it is necessary to search for an unusual sound, invent new formats of presentation, expand the boundaries of sound production? Well, for example, record a rock opera in a steel mill and shoot a 40-minute film? Or do the boundaries of the chosen direction clearly define the boundaries? Druknroll: Of course! There used to be more hassle, for example, about 10 years ago I loved writing choirs, it was powerful, but now it’s expensive (usually two devils wrote for 6 voices, the choruses turned out powerful, once in our community center they even recorded a choir of pensioners from the neighboring section, about 10 people came down to our studio and blew)! Here’s another hassle, in our track The Heroes Of The War there was a bell at the beginning, you could take it from the library, no, Knip (then the sound engineer) and I left the studio with a laptop and wrote a live sound from a bell in a temple that was nearby! There are no boundaries in our music, we try to diversify, sing, shout, add different sounds there, well, and Oleg (our sound engineer) is now trying to steer a fresher sound in each new album (fortunately, a lot of hardware comes out every year)!
— And as per tradition — I’d like to know what new things you’re preparing, what’s already in the works, and what’s just being conceived!
Druknroll: There’s only one plan — a new ninth full-length album, it’s already haunting me! The momentum has already started, we’ve recorded a new track, “Moral Leprosy” (who even comes up with these names, and the main thing is that it’s already clear that it’s complete crap), we’re also working on 2 more tracks (I’m already afraid to write the names), we understand that we need to make an EP of 3 tracks by autumn! There will definitely be a video too! A plan is a plan (as the chickens say), but there’s also a dream! A happy dream is to go on tour for a whole year, a sad dream is to go on tour for a whole year with SLIPKNOT! Oh, we’d be there screaming songs about clowns with a guitar!
Yuri Khmelev