Behind The Tracks: Biersbreaker - Irati (Single) (2024)

This song is based on a simple melody that appears in the soundtrack (by Arantza Calleja and Maite Arroitajauregi) of "Irati," a film by Paul Urkijo Alijo, who is also the author of the lyrics. This melody is filled with melancholy and a certain sadness, the same that exists in the grey skies of Vasconia or that envelops the magical forest of Irati, where the film takes place.

We wanted to reinterpret that melody and transform it somewhat into rage, the same rage felt by the film's protagonist when she feels betrayed by the humanity in which she was raised. Irati is a lamia who lives between the world of men and the world of magical beings. She has to help Eneko, a Christianized Basque who fights for his family's hegemony in the valley. (We won’t reveal more details to avoid spoiling the movie). Ultimately, it is a confrontation: humanity against nature, Christianity against paganism... and this inspired us to use the melancholic melody but with the rage of that struggle.

From the very beginning, the fact that the theme was steeped in Basque mythology and that struggle led us to incorporate guitar chords much closer to black metal and to seek a more aggressive voice. However, to maintain the melancholy of the original melody and introduce the folk element that characterizes us, we recorded the melody with traditional Basque instruments: the alboka, the xirula, and the zarrabete. The combination of all these elements seems to us the way to achieve that Basque pagan metal sound that we want to create.