DÖ - a wicked interview with these doomy sludge stoner legends.

December 29, 2024

DÖ - a wicked interview with these doomy sludge stoner legends.

If you haven't heard the mighty DÖ from Finland, you are missing out on a flawless catalogue of riff-tastic joy!!!.

Here's our epic interview with these wicked gurus.

1. You have just dropped a sensational release by the name of Unversum , tell us how this came about and the differences between this and your previous releases?

First of all, thank you. We’re quite proud of what we’ve accomplished with this release.

Unversum is our first album with guitar maestro Teröid, who joined the band back in 2019. We actually started writing new songs during our very first rehearsals as a reborn trio. However, the pandemic and some personal challenges stretched the process, and it took us nearly five years to complete the album.

In the meantime, we released the Black Hole Mass EP in 2020. That EP served as a kind of preview of what was to come—hinting at the evolution we began to embrace when Teröid brought his unique vibe, riffs, and skills into the mix. His contributions elevated our sound and songwriting to the next level while staying true to the essence of what we’ve done before. It felt like a natural progression, a new route to explore on our cosmic path.

Teröid is a true riff machine, and we were never short of ideas. Even after years of honing and finalizing the songs for this album, we recorded two extra tracks that didn’t make the final cut. We might release those someday.

Compared to our earlier material, Unversum is perhaps a bit more stoner and faster-paced. It’s also more versatile because we invested more time and effort into both the pre-production and post-production stages than ever before. Sound-wise, the album is more textured and nuanced, thanks to pedal-geek Teröid. You might even think there are keyboards on some tracks, but it’s all guitar.

2. To someone that has never heard you before how the hell would you describe your sound? And what bands have influenced you the most?

Ha! We’ve been thinking about this too. In a recent review, someone described us as "extreme stoner doom." That’s a pretty cool way to put it, even though we’re not exactly extreme guys—well, except for Kristös.

We like to call our style "döömer." It’s a mix of groove-heavy rhythms that make you nod, crushing riffs that blend rock and sludge, and spacious, occasionally psychedelic sections that float you through the mental void. All of this is topped with harsh, earthy vocals that range from grunts and screams to black-metal-esque growls.

What unites our influences is that we’re all part of the generation that originally fell in love with music through ’70s and ’80s bands like KISS, W.A.S.P., and, of course, Black Sabbath.

These days, our musical tastes are pretty diverse. We all enjoy the essential “modern” acts like Electric Wizard and High on Fire, but when it comes to personal preferences, there’s quite a bit of variety. Kristös leans toward faster, more extreme bands like Martyrdöd, Rotten Sound, and Knocked Loose. J’andrömeda is at the moment into thrashy stuff and hardcore punk, from Nails to Madball.

Teröid gravitates toward classics like Danzig, Pink Floyd, and Soundgarden, but also digs electronic experimental acts like Boards of Canada.

Maybe you could say that Unversum is the bastard offspring of Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, and other ’80s metal icons, mixed with Kingston Wall, Abbath, and a touch of Southern sludge.

3. How do you seeing your music being an intersection with art, be it album or merch art, music videos etc.?

Everything is, of course, connected. We draw our inspiration from a cosmic concept that ties everything together.

We’re fortunate to have our friend Hannu, a talented graphic designer and a true metalhead, on board. Hannu isn’t deeply entrenched in the doom/stoner scene, which works to our advantage. Since we don’t see ourselves as strictly doom or stoner, Hannu also brings fresh perspectives and ideas from outside the typical genre boundaries.

That said, we can’t stray too far—people expect certain recognizable elements in merch like shirts and designs. But we enjoy experimenting and trying out new concepts.

4. What is the lyrical focus of the band? Is there any particular meaning or message?

Yes, absolutely. We don’t call ourselves an “astral death cult” for nothing. It’s about revering forces we don’t always fully understand. It’s about embracing the elements that make life possible while remaining humble before the immense powers that could end it in an instant.

At its core, the ideology of our cult is about accepting humanity’s insignificance in the vast cosmic picture.

Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot speech, parts of which we’ve used in our gig intro and outro tapes, captures this mindset perfectly.

5. What is current state of your local and national music community or scene? What do you think you can achieve creatively in live spaces that you can’t in your recordings and vice versa?

Maybe it’s just us, but it feels like the stoner and doom genres hit their peak a few years ago. These days, there don’t seem to be as many exciting new bands emerging as there were back in the day. We’re not saying doom or stoner is dead, but even in Finland—a metal nation—these styles are becoming more niche. Right now, metalcore and deathcore seem to be dominating the scene, along with established bigger bands from other, more popular subgenres. But that’s just how things evolve, and that’s a good thing. It’s been this way for decades—blues to rock, rock to metal, and on to whatever comes next.

Sound-wise, Unversum is the most creative album we’ve ever done. In the past, we aimed to keep everything as organic as possible, ensuring that everything on the album could also be performed live as a trio. With Unversum, however, there are many layered guitar parts that can’t all be directly replicated on stage. But Teröid does an incredible job using effects to create soundscapes that are both similar to the album and, most importantly, work well in a live setting. Paradoxically, the album’s spacey layers actually allow for more improvisation in live performances, providing a foundation for a more organic expression.

When we play live, the song structures remain the same, but we leave plenty of room for improvisation, adding extra elements to spice things up. For instance, we never really know how a song will end—we just follow Kristös’ lead or adapt to whatever extra touches Teröid adds to solos or other sections. After all, nothing is more boring than going to a gig only to hear the songs played exactly as they are on the album.

6. Your live performances are energetic and fun. How have you cultivated your physical presence during performance? What do you feel like you embody as a performer when you’re on stage?

Energetic and fun—that sums up our gigs pretty well.

Back in the day, we aimed for a dead-serious vibe on stage: no talking, lots of smoke, only backlighting, and a mysterious aura. But eventually, we realized that wasn’t really us. Sure, our music is heavy and dark, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be lively—or even a bit goofy at times. After all, we grew up watching metal bands that knew how to put on a show. We want to enjoy the music, and part of that is being spontaneous and a little crazy on stage.

Take Kristös, for example—he’s something you really need to experience live. He’s a true performer, pounding the drums like they owe him money and hyping up the crowd maniacally during and between songs.

We also noticed that many bands we play with keep things pretty minimal between songs, maybe just thanking the audience. So, we’ve embraced the role of filling those gaps by chatting and sharing random thoughts.

We also interact a lot with each other during the set, and one of the best compliments we get after shows is that people can see how much we love playing together. And it’s true—we absolutely do.

7. How do you feel that changing economic structure impacts creativity?

Does your creativity help you connect to and navigate or deal with the world?

Even though our lyrics focus on the cosmos and the forces of nature, on a deeper level, they also reflect and process social issues by putting them into a cosmic perspective.

The driving forces behind our music are both frustration and relief. Frustration stems from witnessing ego-driven leaders—presidents and other figures—pushing humanity closer to impending doom. It also comes from seeing how greed compels people to oppress others and measure worth in terms of wealth. And for what? Humanity is so maddeningly self-centered that we often forget the incredible cosmic coincidence of our existence in the middle of infinite nothingness.

The relief, however, comes from the realization that, one day, this waste of space we call the human race will eventually be wiped away.

8. What are some of the highlights of your career so far? And what is happening next?

One huge highlight for us has been joining the Lay Bare Recordings family. We’re so happy and grateful that Desiree—a person with such impeccable taste in music—believed in us enough to release both the Astral Death Cult and Unversum albums.

There have also been unforgettable gigs we truly cherish, like performing at Soulcrusher and Desert Hel festivals, and sharing the stage with Church of Misery.

All in all, music has given us so many incredible experiences and brought us together with countless amazing people. We wouldn’t trade it for anything.

We’ve got one more Unversum Unleash Ceremöny left in 2024, and we’re already planning gigs for next year—including shows outside of Finland. Let’s see how it all unfolds. We’ll probably start writing new music too—hopefully it won’t take five years to finish the next album! Oh, and those two songs we mentioned earlier? They might finally see the light of day.

9. Any bands or releases you can recommend at the moment?

As for an album, definitely Muuntautuja by Oranssi Pazuzu, one of our shared favorites.

10. Final words to the fans and readers?

As always; Stay safe. Stay DÖÖMED!