INTERVIEW: Herzel

French Heavy Metal band HERZEL set the world ablaze with their debut LP “Le Dernier Rempart” (read my review here). It is time to investigate this mysterious quintet of old school maniacs!

1. First, let’s discover where the sound of Herzel began. Please delve into your influences which I would guess to be rooted in NWOBHM and also Epic / Power Metal from the early days. Which bands fuelled the fires of Herzel and cast a legacy in iron for Heavy Metal fans decades later?

Hi, Kevin (Guitar) here for answering the questions. First of all, thank you for the interest you’re showing in our band. It means a lot for us. 

I’d say that we are definitely influenced by a varied bunch of bands within the Heavy Metal genre (obviously). If I were to narrow it down to albums, I think« Crystal Logic » (Manilla Road) had a huge influence on the band roots and first creations. Not just the compositions or the style of riffing, but the overall idea of making music the way Mark Shelton did ; tell stories ! 

« Revival » from the band Winterhawk, from the US, were a big discovery as well for us at the time we created the band. « Graceful inheritance » from Heir Apparent would also be one of our most listened to. 

There would be so much bands and albums to quote, I don’t want to namedrop too much but bands like Scorpions, Uriah Heep, Saxon, Cirith Ungol, Fates Warning, Jag Panzer, Candlemass, Deep Purple would be some of the classics we share with the band mates.

Keep in mind that the singer of Herzel, Thomas, is and I think always will be a great « discoverer » when it comes to music. Not for introducing you to albums that would be universally good or anything like that, but just putting albums under your nose that he knows you’d enjoy, depending of your taste, on purpose. We all have different tastes in the band, Thomas and Ion (Drums) had a band when they were younger, playing some Darkthrone covers in the parents basement, later (2010 ish’ and before) I and Ion had a band called « Peryton », we’d play some Doomy Heavy metal, Black Sabbath / Pentagram worship to sum it up. Gurvan (Guitar) played in a band called « Amarok » for a long time, playing a varied range of rock’n’roll and hard rock covers as well as full compositions and has a solo career as well with his album « Le Départ ». Mordiern (Bass), Ion and I have some kind of traditional breton music backgrounds as well, each of us in our own way, wether it’d be family related or else (for exemple, Ion used to play a specific kind of snare in « Bagad », which are traditional breton music groups).

2. Following a very promising demo in 2015 your return in 2021 was on a full length LP of truly marvellous Heavy Metal triumph. What transpired in those 6 years of quiet. Was it a slow process to refine the album to a quality you were happy with, was touring a large part of this “break” or perhaps something else?

Thanks for the nice words, we tried our best to translate our music through a record with the best of our abilities at the moment. 

We did play a certain number of shows during that period of time but I would not call that touring. I don’t think we’d be capable of touring the way a professional band would yet. It would require a lot of organization for us. Even though we still manage to spread our word abroad with live music, it is a rare and great opportunity for us.

During that period, we took the time that was needed to « refine » as you said, the compositions that we managed to create. Some of the songs we made were put aside. We don’t rush anything to be honest. The thinking behind that is a little bit, what’s the point if we don’t do it exactly the way we want ? 

In the time we took to release « Le Dernier Rempart » I think you have the answer to that question. Besides of that, I think people are definitely growing less and less attention span regarding the content they consume. Maybe due to the way we consume it. It is very dommageable to the creation process of anything artistic in my opinion. I don’t think as a band we participate much in that lack of patience. That being said, we’ll try to take less time to release the next release !

3. Thankfully, the LP did come to fruition, thanks to Gates Of Hell Records, a killer label specialising in true Heavy Metal, the traditional way. How did you come in contact with this underground force and has their service in presenting your music to the world met expectations?

It was quite straight forward. Enrico (Cruz Del Sur) contacted us a while ago. We had several proposition of this nature. We thought that Gates of hell / Cruz del Sur was the most fitted for the music we played and since we had the choice we took the best opportunity that we could have. So far, it has been a great collaboration, and we hope it can continue that way ! 

4. Hailing from France and singing in your native language gives the band a mystique to those of us without understanding of the lyrics themselves. Please can you elaborate on the content of the music and also perhaps the visual side which is represented by a stunning piece of battle-ready artwork.

I’ll admit that it is a very wide subject, but I’ll do my best to sum it up correctly. 

With our band, we try to play the music and write the lyrics that relates to the place we live in, which is Brittany in France. It is a Celtic part of that country that has a lot of cultural independence such as Galice in Spain for exemple or the Basque Country in the south of France.  

Herzel is the name of a fictional character that Thomas created. His story is featured in the trilogy on the album « Berceau de cendres », « L’épée des dieux » and « L’ultime combat ». You can also read the full story regarding Herzel (the character) in the booklet of the album, with additional storyline that goes alongside with the lyrics.

The songs « Les Maîtres de l’Océan » and « La Flamme », at the beginning of the album, are related to historical facts that Thomas thought fitted for lyrics writing and story-telling. The first one being about the « Vénètes », a tribe from the first century B.C living around the region of what is nowadays called « Vannes » in southern Brittany (Left from Nantes on the French map). The second song tell the story of « Jeanne de Flandre », aka « Jeanne La Flamme » a women that lived during the succession war in Brittany and basically defended a castle against her ennemies (she was the wife of Jean de Montfort, who was trying to access the throne of Brittany). 

The visual of the cover, which is the work of the same artist that did the demo’s cover, Flog, represents what we want to do with our music and the meaning of the word « Herzel » in breton language, to stand as a block, a barrier, against adversity. 

To sum it up, the last lyrics from « L’ultime Combat » ; 

«  Herzel, c’est l’ultime combat, toutes nos forces en un seul endroit, défendant l’héritage, en brisant le mirage, d’une Bretagne en éclat » 

which would mean ;

«  Herzel, the ultimate fight, all of our strength in one place, defending the legacy, breaking the illusion, of a shattered Brittany » (I’m translating very literally). 

5. The production and songwriting itself on the album is truly haunting, conjuring spectral images of long-passed battles. Aside from music, what inspires you all the most? And are you satisfied with the production of the record, what was the goal sound?

Thomas is the mastermind behind most of the song-writing. He listens to very wide range of music and I think that might be one of his biggest strength for composing as well as having a great sens of « showing what he wants » in some ways. It doesn’t mean the rest of the members don’t compose at all. Our bass player, as an example, is quite a soloist in some ways, I still come up with ideas and Ion as well, but we let Thomas be the final filter, and it works well that way. When it comes to inspiration, I’d say that Thomas could be inspired by bands like Queensryche or Fates Warning in the guitar work but also with the tons of progressive music he listens to, stuff like Iona, Marillion, IQ, to name a few. 

Our dear friend and guitarist, Gurvan, did a tremendous amount of work on the recordings. We recorded a lot of the guitars at my place and he took literally all the rest in his home studio. Including the mixing.

He did mixing before with his own album and had enough experience to go on with it. With a little bit of regular feedback from the rest of the band during the mixing, Gurvan was able to picture quite well what the band needed in terms of sound. We didn’t wanted a raw sound, or too distorted. We wanted things to be as clear as possible. Adding traditional instruments was also a challenge, since the compatibility of such instruments with a rock formation requires a few adjustments as it is not granted from the start per say.

6. Herzel are a formidable underground force in true Heavy Metal. Which other bands do you think are the best in flying the banners of the traditional sounds of old?

Again, thanks for the nice words ! 

There are many bands that are worthy of a listen nowadays. Within Heavy Metal, our friends from Tentation have an album out at Gates of Hell as well, good friends and good musicians ! 

Wytch Hazel, Seven Sisters, Stonewitch,  (from France as well) are also very solid bands in my opinion. If you want to stick to Hard rock / Heavy metal essentially.

Within Herzel, we all like the most the bands that, yes, play heavy metal, but also play with genre either in terms of production or with the music itself. With a band like Stonewitch, for example, I’m really amazed with the musicianship and the way it translates into their  version of HM should be. It goes the same way for bands that are outside of that « clean » sounding heavy metal. Our friends from Hexecutor know a lot about pushing the limits when it comes to Heavy Metal in a broad meaning. They play Thrash in a way very few other bands can. It my opinion, the banner of traditional sound flies high with them, and in a good refreshing way. 

7. Finally, what will come next for Herzel? Perhaps a tour of world-dominating Heavy Metal proportions so we can all see you? Perhaps new music? Set the stage for what is to come!

A world tour would be very ambitious *laugh*.

The next step is set on composition, we’re gradually starting to put together new music. 

A few concerts as well. Opening for Lord Gallery in Paris, probably around February 2022. They’re newcomers and it’s probably gonna be loads of fun to play with these guys ! 

We’re scheduled to play at the Keep it true Warm Up as well, we’re quite excited for that one ! 

Thanks a lot for that interview, if you want to follow the band activity, we regularly update our Bandcamp page as well as posting basic informations for live shows and releases via Facebook. 

Kenavo !