Exclusive Interview: Earthwomb talk “Becoming Immanence”!

If you’re in search of something new then the current wave of Atmospheric Black Metal with cinematic qualities to accompany the aggressive blackened riffs and raw piercing vocals is very much an interesting place to play and hailing from Lima Peru, Earthwomb are a band who have offered up something majestic in that genre in “Becoming Immanence” in recent weeks. After we reviewed the record that Pedo Zamalloa (Guitars, Programming), Giancarlo Melgar (Vocals) and Eduardo Yalan (Guitars) spent two years creating for our listening pleasure, we spoke to them about how everything fell into place for them for this in depth new interview…

How have you found the reaction to “Becoming Immanence” so far?  “The reception has been really good and has definitely exceeded our expectations. Considering that this project was initially conceived with the idea of creating a few songs only for us or our inner circle, we are actually quite surprised to see so many positive reactions from people all over the world and to see such diverse audiences also connecting with our music, even the kind that is not used to the genre. Reviews so far have given us different perspectives on each aspect related to this release, their interpretations and their critiques are of high value to us. And it’s also gratifying to think that we have reached so many people, even though our music was worked and released within the context of the pandemic. Their support and kind words for sure motivate us to keep exploring and creating. We’re deeply grateful to all of those that took the time to listen and connect with our work”

You released a demo version of “The Fractal Phenomenon” back in 2019 which gave us a flavour of what the first release might look like. Did you think at that time that it would be another two years before you were able to release the EP? “We didn’t have a clue that all that has happened in the past two years was gonna happen, nobody actually. It’s been tough for everyone for sure. But anyhow, that first release was the start of a big change for the band because we didn’t get to a point where we were satisfied with the sound we had back then, so this led us to rethink our methodology of creation. Pedro, our guitarist and producer, took the initiative to dive hard into developing his production skills and even built a home studio for us to work and re-track. It took a while but there was no rush, we wanted to do things right and at our pace and it was because of that that we ended up with a result that now resonates much more with us. Nonetheless we feel like that first iteration of Fractal Phenomenon was crucial for the later birth and evolution of Becoming Immanence, not only because it was the spark that defined the concept and theme of the EP but because it also helped us to define the direction of our own sound. We hope to maintain that same thorough approach in the future in order to keep growing and creating honest and powerful music”

The EP sounds huge and cinematic with moments of epic grandeur that sound like they belong to the soundscape of a science fiction horror movie, If you had the opportunity to do such a thing, would that be something of interest to you? You have mentioned influences in Wolves in the Throne Room, Akhlys and Trna but do you have influences in film scores or classical music outside of Black Metal? “Definitely the essence of our connection as friends and musicians resides in the love we have for music in its broadest spectrum. We love the sort of intuition that interconnects music and cinema and we think that all artistic work, be it painting, music, literature or theatre, seems always to become to cinematic narrative. We wanted to break the identity of music production, sometimes trapped within the limits of traditional instruments and sounds, to make it mutate into images, time and action. That’s how we decided to add that sense of narrative conditioning to our music by creating sound passages able to evoque images and movement, to freeze time but fulfill it at the same time. This allowed us to convey the concepts of our EP through sound elements and reinforce the narrative of the lyrics and the identity of the songs. So our outside metal influences come from that perspective as well. For Eduardo some big sources of inspiration are Giuseppe Tartini, Franz Schubert and Modest Músorgski. Pedro leans more towards Kammarheit, Northaunt and film composers such as Hans Zimmer and Gustavo Santaolalla. In the case of Giancarlo besides Tim Hecker, The Dead Texan, Akira Yamaoka or Masami Ueda, since a kid he’s always been influenced by Jean Miche Jarre, one of the pioneers who explored and experimented with electronic music, ambient and new age”

If you had the opportunity to bring a guest on board for a future track, who would you like to work with and why? “Dany Tee, vocalist of Argentinian band Los Males del Mundo, or Alfredo Pérez of Chilean band Sol Sistere. Having their vocal range and nuances featured on our music would be really amazing. Besides that it would also be awesome to collaborate in a split perhaps with bands such as Hellige, Psicosfera, Selbst, Animus Mortis, Theurgia, Dantalian, Endeathed, Arcada, Wrath and many more amazing South American outfits. We really appreciate their production but also their exploration around darkness which doesn’t fall into the predictable nor the cliché. If anyone reading has not listened to any of these bands, please do so. You won’t regret it.”

If the opportunity arose to put your own spin on a Black Metal classic for a publication like Terrorizer Magazine, what stands out to you as something you might choose to cover and why? “It would be very interesting to pay tribute to Peruvian band Hastur and give our own spin to the song Ritos de Iniciación from their 1987 demo Secta Hereje. We feel like black metal history is polyhedral and the genre manifested itself in different parts of the world almost through the same time span as first wave bands such as Venom, Bathory or Hellhammer. Hastur is a great evidence of that and we feel like their music set a milestone in our country and has influenced local bands since. We may not share aesthetics and sound but we resonate with their creative essence and what it meant for the scene back then”

What is next for Earthwomb? “First short term goal is to bring Becoming Immanence to the physical realm in the form of CDs, Vinyl or Cassettes. Right now we’re negotiating with a couple of distributors so as soon we close a deal we’ll share the news through our socials. Live shows are also on the list and as soon as the circumstances allow us to go play live we’ll do. For the time being we’re working on an audio-visual experience that includes a live performance of our EP. Hopefully we’ll be able to pull this off before the year ends. Our midterm goal is to release new music. We’re already working on and writing some ideas for our debut album but this time with a darker twist. Our conceptual approach for Becoming Immanence took roots on vitalism, immanence and our grounds, and we think that there is so much more to expand from those topics. Sound wise we’ll keep grinding the speed, the brutality and atmosphere. Alongside, we’re also contemplating the idea of making another EP prior to the release of our album but it would be a sort of extension to our experimental side, in the likes of both Cosmic and Ulterior Revelation”

Becoming Immanence” by Earthwomb is out now and is available over at bandcamp.

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