INTERVIEW: Rothadás

Hungarian Death-Doom entity ROTHADÁS unveiled a superbly eerie debut album, warranting some deeper digging into this duo.

1. First I will handle the obvious, you are a Death-Doom duo from Hungary. Hungary being an Eastern Bloc country is an interesting element as bands from this region usually have a very unique sound. So what effect does your homeland have on your music if any at all? Furthermore, perhaps you can recommend some underground Hungarian Death Metal for our readers! 

TIBOR: Greetings! Apart from the native language our country doesn’t really add anything to our sound especially since both of us are living abroad. I’m living in the UK and Lambert is living in Germany. We formed the band in 2019 and we never had any rehearsal with it. Also because of the pandemic we couldn’t even meet in person for more than 2 years but we managed to put together a demo and a full length during that period. 

There are loads of great Hungarian bands with hardly any recognition in my opinion. Just to name a few there is MISTCAVERN, LEPRA, NIEDERGANG, LIDÉRC, DUNKELHEIT and Lambert’s first band from the early 90’s AHRIMAN. He also plays in a thrash metal band called MÖRBID CARNAGE which I was also a part of until I moved to the UK in 2014. I’d also like to mention one of my friend’s new death metal project MOLIS SEPULCRUM which is a buzzsaw death metal massacre. 

2. Now, let’s talk about ROTHADAS. Your debut self-titled demo came out in 2019 via Me Saco Un Ojo, Pulverised and Life After Death. How do you feel this first impact was received and did the record labels deliver a suitable debut to make sure the world found this obscure gem of the underground? 

TIBOR: MSUO released it originally on cassette and it was sold out before its release date if I remember correctly. Then Pulverised did the CD version with an alternative artwork and Life After Death the American cassette version. I honestly thought we would do one more repress after the first bunch of cassettes and that’s it, but luckily it seems like people quite dig it so we could release it on other formats.

3. From this, 2 years later we reach the present day where your debut LP “Kopár hant . . . az alvilág felé” has just been released via Me Saco Un Ojo, Pulverised and Desiccated Productions. Clearly you stuck with 2/3 labels (aside from the tape label). What is the meaning of this albums title in English and also please explain to use what the superb cover art depicts and its correlation to the music? 

LAMBERT: We wanted something which represents the last journey, the world after death, the only place where men can go once got into the underworld. This vision has been executed very well by the vocalist of GORGOROTH, Atterigner (Khaos Diktator Design).  The ancient atmosphere and the darker tones  of the image completely support this. The title in English translates to “Barren Ground… Towards the Underworld”.

4. Your sound reminds me of Finnish Death Metal like Sentenced and Rippikoulu from the classics and more modern bands like Krypts and Spectral Voice. This gloomy, doomy Death Metal sound right from the grave is played beautifully, clearly and yet still has the morbid hallmark of Death Metal! Which bands (or other elements such as themes) are your biggest influences?

TIBOR: I couldn’t agree more with the bands that you’ve just brought up. I was heavily influenced by the Finnish death metal scene but also the gloomy parts of ASPHYX and INCANTATION. I could also mention the swampy MORBID ANGEL riffs from the first Tucker era. I listen to newer bands recently especially from the USA. Their death metal scene is really strong at the moment with loads of amazing bands. Some of my favourites are MORTIFERUM and CEREBRAL ROT for example but I could put an endless list here of bands I’m currently listening to just from the states. I think their influence definitely going to have some impact on the second ROTHADÁS album.

5. To my knowledge Hanyi moved to the UK (where he plays in Cryptworm among a myriad of other bands). What does Rothadas offer you that your other bands do not? Additionally, does the geography mean that live shows will not happen for this musical entity? Feel free to introduce your other bands too for the unfamiliar! Cryptworm and Coffinborn are definitely noticeable examples!

TIBOR: Indeed. I moved to the UK back in 2014 and living here ever since but CRYPTWORM is my only English band. The rest are all from Hungary and basically have almost the same line ups like ROTHADÁS. Our oldest band is TYRANT GOATGALDRAKONA which we formed with Lambert in 2009 and the line up is exactly the same like in ROTHADÁS but when we do live shows we get a session drummer and bassist. It’s more like a bestial death metal heavily influenced by bands like INCANTATION, ARCHGOAT and IMMOLATION. And then there is COFFINBORN which we formed in 2013 also with Lambert and with our good friend Zsolt. This band is also a death metal band but influenced by bands like ASPHYX, DEATH and GRAVE. Once again the line up is almost identical to ROTHADÁS but Zsolt does the bass and I also do vocals along with Lambert and not just guitars. Since our debut MCD came out just a month before I moved to the UK we never had any gigs even though we planned to.
We formed ROTHADÁS strictly as a studio project influenced by mainly Finnish bands from the early 90’s. I started writing death doom riffs a couple years before its formation but nothing happened until January 2019. That’s when I pitched the idea to Lambert what if we would try to put together a couple of songs even though we couldn’t rehearse. I came up with the name ROTHADÁS around same the time when I moved to the UK. I think it’s the perfect Hungarian name for a death metal band since even someone who doesn’t speak Hungarian can guess that it means rot. Lambert always writes his lyrics in Hungarian first in the other bands then one of our friend who has masters degree in English translates it but this time I felt like we should leave the lyrics in Hungarian. We wanted to create a ghastly atmosphere with our music and I think the Hungarian lyrics just add an extra mysticism to the whole picture. 

6. Coming back to your new LP, it consists of 5 looming apparitions of Death-Doom magnificence, is the release following a concept or just a consistent atmosphere throughout? Perhaps your choice of native Hungarian as the language of the band is a part of this too as opposed to writing in English? It certainly adds a mystique to things! 

LAMBERT: Yes, it’s a concept album. It starts from the entrance of death, the agony of the soul then wanders as a ghost of the spectral world until the final end and emptiness, until nothing left just dust and ashes. This album basically devoted to total annihilation, emptiness and the world of the unknown which is absolutely unfamiliar for the living. We gain the main inspirations from grief, sombreness, suffering, pain, the cryptic stench and putrefaction. 

7. Finally, if you have any more plans, warnings or messages for the rabid death-heads reading, state them now!

TIBOR: At the moment we are in the recording process of COFFINBORN’s debut album. Once that’s out of the way we’ll start writing and recording the sophomore album of TYRANT GOATGALDRAKONA which we also plan to play live a couple of shows after. In the meantime I’ve already started writing the second album for ROTHADÁS but I only have random riffs at the moment. 

 Thanks and stay rotten!
Thanks for the interview!