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2018 is set to start with a bang for Dutch newcomers Bleeding Gods, with the group inking a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast and gearing up to release their sophomore LP Dodekathlon next month.
MORE: Albums That Shaped 2017.
Based off the 12 Labours of Hercules, Dodekathlon is brutal blackened death metal at it’s finest, topped off with a rich re-telling of one of history’s greatest tales.
With so much to offer only moments after appearing on the international radar, we took the time to chat with guitarist Ramon Ploeg about what signing to major label means in 2018, in addition to how Cradle Of Filth helped with the new record, and how the band is approaching touring a continent the size of Europe.
HYSTERIA: How does signing to a major label happen today?
RAMON: I’d already been in contact for almost 10 years with them, but more as a friend as oppose to a business way. After the recording of Shepherd of Souls there was some interest, but not enough, so in 2016 we recorded a new promo and they were enthusiastic but not as much for a signing. That’s when we decided to record the full album including all the artwork, so we delivered a full package to the label and they were very enthusiastic, but the opinions of the US and UK branch was important, but thankfully they all liked it so they offered us a worldwide full deal.
That initiative is huge. Was there an element of fear when doing that, given the financial risk?
We wanted to be on Nuclear Blast; it was a boy dream for us, as young musicians it was our dream to be with them. If they had said ‘no’ we would have gone to another label, but thankfully that wasn’t necessary!
The concept record idea is awesome, especially given each song on this record is about a different trial of Hercules. How did you arrive at Greek Mythology as a theme for this record?
On the previous record we already had some mythical and nation stories going on; ancient Egypt, south America with the Mayans were all mentioned, but this time around we wanted to focus on one story. We had a few ideas and stories, and our vocalist Mark came up with the ideas of the 12 labours. It was a challenge to write 12 tracks for one record that goes for 60 minutes with a story in mind. It’s 12 separate stories of course.
How engrossed in that myth did you get from a musical perspective
We wrote the music first, so I started writing for this almost two years ago. We don’t know what concept we’d be using at the time, because all the lyrics came afterwards.
How much does a band need to flesh out the mythology if they are going to write an album on it?
A lot. Nile has been doing that for years of course, but they only have the ancient Egyptian concept. You can hear that in the music itself. We chose to not do that; we wanted to make a death metal album with some fresh influences as well as blackened flavour, and it only became epic when we did the orchestras and keyboards. In our music you don’t hear a Greek thing at all—there’s only one Greek thing on the record, and that’s it. The vocal lines were where the concept was born.
Was the cinematic influence intentional? What new sounds are there this time?
Shepherd Of Souls is more to the point death metal. Our guitarist Rutger has a classical music background, so we added that influence, and a friend of the band, Martian Powell formerly of Cradle Of Filth, he did the orchestral arrangements. It was so awesome, so we recorded the 12 tracks and then sent them over to England, so he could do his magic. It still has the music from our early work, but now it has that orchestral epic element, like Dimmu Borgir. It’s a new sound for us.
How are you now going to operate with a major label behind you? What’s changed in daily operations?
A lot because they are helping us big time. The past few months we’ve been doing interviews daily so it’s very busy, but also worldwide, which is the great thing about a worldwide deal. After the release we will begin extensive touring to promote the album. We’re in the planning stage now. The festival season of 2018 will be difficult because all the festivals are happening a lot earlier this year, and that then spills over into booking bands and releasing the line-up, so we’re too late for that, so we only have Metal Days planned now in Slovenia. However, if we tour a lot this year, the festival season for 2019 should be an achievable goal.
The European touring metal scene is just such a huge juggernaut that’s almost impossible for us to comprehend over here in Australia. How does a band like yourselves approach a year of trying to promote yourselves across that continent without being overwhelmed?
It’s always up to the agency, thankfully. You can go in 10-15 countries in one tour of the continent—it’s a big place with many more countries, bands and venues, so combining that altogether makes it very possible to do a big tour with different bands, festivals and countries.
How is the album going to be presented live? Will it be played in order given there’s such a strong concept running?
It’s difficult because it runs for 60 minutes, and if we are on a bill in a support capacity we would only have 30, maybe 40 minutes, so it’s always a bit tricky. Similarly, to Shepherd of Souls we also have a classical acoustic guitar track that we probably won’t play live, plus there is a song on the new record that has about eight different guitar parts, so that’s obviously going to be very tricky for us to do.
Dodekathlon is out January 12th through Nuclear Blast Worldwide.
