INTERVIEW: Witching Hour

From the depths of Germany’s underground WITCHING HOUR march forth with their impeccable Blackened Heavy Metal, I took some time to talk with Marco Justinger (Bass / Vocals) about this spectral entity whose 2018 opus “…And Silent Grief Shadows The Passing Moon” (Hells Headbangers) has become a favourite of mine since its unveiling.

1. WITCHING HOUR play a unique version of Black-Thrash Metal, rather than the sharp and speedy style bands like NIFELHEIM portray, you guys seem to take more atmospheric cues from bands like Iron Maiden and Angel Witch. Can you shed some light on this process of creating atmospheric yet anthemic music that is still extreme?

I guess the different aspects of our sound come from a broad spectrum of influences, keeping an open mind in the songwriting process and the fact that we write our songs together as three individuals, each with his own perspective and ideas. The first step is that we show each other some riffs we came up with, play them together and see how they feel. Once we decided which one works and which doesn’t we see if we can put some of them together in a way that feels exciting to us or speaks to us in one form or another. By the end of a session we record what we have up to this point and see if we still like it some days later or have new ideas for riffs, bridges, lyrics or anything that doesn’t seem right at the time. From there on every song evolves in a diffent way and changes various times until we’re satisfied.

2. Building on this, your songs tend to be on the longer side, one even reaching the 10 minute mark on the latest full length. How do you find this advantageous as opposed to the typical shorter tracks and does it ever become challenging to keep things fresh with the longer pieces?

We’re actually always trying to write songs as short and compact as they can be. On the other hand we try to make the songs as varied and rich as possible so they keep being exciting for us to play and hopefully for the listener once they’re released. While those longer, slightly complex songs might not be as catchy at the first few listens they tend to grow and keep interesting in the long term. You’re (hopefully) discovering new details here and there every time you play the record. That’s far more desirable to us than writing 3-minute bangers that wear out after the first few listens.

3. Your music is referred to as “Ancient Black Metal”, I gather many of the lyrics are themed around rituals and witches with plentiful macabre touches. Do WITCHING HOUR albums always follow a concept or pre-conceived idea or does this tie into the music post-writing?

Our albums don’t follow a specific concept. There’s definetely a common macabre or dark imagery to the songs but there’s no connection or intertwined story around them. We just write about stuff that inspires us and suits the music and atmosphere we aim to create. Be it Horror movies or literature, historic events or characters, folklore, personal thoughts etc. We also try to write in a kind of subtle or obscure way so that it is not too obvious what a certain song is inspired by. It leaves room for the listeners own imagination which is yet another way to keep things interesting in the long term.

4. Earlier I mentioned the comparisons to NWOBHM bands, do you take more influence from the classics of the 80s or more modern Extreme Metal such as the 2nd wave of Black Metal? Perhaps both play a key role, perhaps neither. This is your chance to cast a spotlight on the legends you look up to, big or small.

Hard to say what’s more influential for us. Obviously our music shares some elements with both of them but there are a lot of other influences as well. We all have a very varied taste of music and everything you listen to or every moving experience in general showes up in one way or another as you create riffs, lyrics, melodies, rhythms etc. Some Bands that never cease to inspire us would be Metallica, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Sodom, early Slayer, Diamond Head, Bathory, Thin Lizzy, Voivod…

5. Your first two albums were reasonably close together, 2009 and 2011 respectively. Album 3 came along 7 years later in 2018 (though with a mini-album in 2014), can we expect number 4 in the near future or will it be a long process? Additionally, is songwriting / the recording process a fast and furious affair or something you spend a long time perfecting when you have the songs written?

At the moment we have a few songs written for a new album but there’s no way to predict when we will be ready to enter the studio again or release something. Songwriting is a quite slow and intensive process for us. We always try to question our choices and find things that could be better to bring each song to it’s full potential. This is usually quite a time consuming affair as you need to gain some distance before you can really judge what you came up with in the last session. So we record, listen to and alter songs again and again until we all feel that they are where we want them to be. In the studio it’s the same more or less. This hasn’t always been the case but since the last album we rather take some more time to have it the way we want it to be than to rush it and live with an unsatisfying result. Even though you’re never 100% satisfied with a finished album you should at least make sure that you’ve done all you could to come as close as possible.

6. “…And Silent Grief Shadows The Passing Moon” has a hefty title and moreover a gorgeous cover art piece by Paolo Girardi. It is clear with the stunning art and Pino Hecker’s amazing logo that your visuals are an important aspect. How does this tie in with the story of the music aside from just looking cool and can you describe the scene painted?

Of course the visual aspect of the album is crucial and we put as much thought and attention into it as in every other piece of the puzzle. The scene on the cover isn’t directly refering to a specific song or vocal line. It’s an attempt to visualize the mood and atmosphere of the music and transport you to a similar place before you even heard a note. As it is with the lyrics it leaves a lot of space for interpretation. It provokes all kinds of dark images and has a certain mysterious aura to it that sets the stage and a perfect frame for our music.

7. Last question, does WITCHING HOUR have a vision for the future? Through the world being stuck in a pandemic, is there a brooding release we can expect with lots of live shows or new material? Or perhaps the band has been stuck due to the state of the planet. Can we expect the next album to be in a similar vein to the last or is a whole new sound being conjured behind the scenes?

At the moment we’re working on new material whenever possible but due to the current situation we’re even slower than usual. As for live shows there’s obviously nothing planned currently. I can’t really say if the next album will be in a similar vein as the few songs that we have up to this point are still in a premature state. To be honest it’s not really our concern. All I can say is that we’re not trying to transform our sound into something different. We might add some new elements to it or refine some aspect or another but we still share the same vision and draw inspiration from the same influences more or less. We’re trying to make our music as honest as possible, so as long as the same three guys are writing and recording it there will be a certain character to it. Our handwriting if you will.