Interviews About Albums: CRYPT OF REASON - Stargazer (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Belarusian Progressive Doom Metal/Progressive Death Metal band CRYPT OF REASON to ask questions about their album, "Stargazer".

1. What can you say about Stargazer?

 

Stargazer is an awesome band from Australia. I love them. Our album has nothing to do with them though. We are just no names.

No, but really this is just a bunch of songs written by my late brother Pavel. I stepped in to take his role as a guitar player and we worked closely with the band, taking great care to arrange and record these tracks to pay tribute to his memory. I think it came out okay.

2. What is the meaning of the album name?

It's a nod to our childhood when we used to stargaze every summer night from our village rooftop. This became less frequent as we grew older, 'cause we spent more and more time in different cities. And later, in different countries. But we still enjoyed it every now and then when we got together.

It's also a reference to Pavel's last night here. "You guys go, you have work tomorrow, I'll just stay here and watch the stars." That's how he passed.

3. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

There are two that are kind of "more special" than others. "Savior" is a trip-hoppy number, an hommage to our love for early Antimatter recordings. I think the title kind of gives it away. Guitar-less arrangement, percussive delays, muffled rhythmic pulsation. We loved that.

"The Bliss of Quiet" is another one. Technically it's not even a CoR song, it's based on an old demo we made with Pavel when I was teaching him things in the early 00s. We were hanging out in his room with a cheap Gibson knockoff, a crappy mp3 recorder, an ultra-slow 90s Pentium PC, and some proto-DAW, probably version 1 of Fruity Loops or something like that. These were just some improvised riffs that we recorded for fun. It was long before he went to form the Crypt of Reason. Many years later I found that old demo and thought it would be nice to re-track it for this album. Especially there was a piece of lyrics remaining with no music written for it, and it did fit right in.

I think other songs on the album have more to offer musically than these two, it's just that these two have backstories that stand out.

4. Which inspirations have been important for this album?

I know Pavel was heavily into stuff like dISEMBOWELMENT, Shape of Despair, Skepticism, and Evoken. He was a funeral doom guy. He was also very fond of early Katatonia, My Dying Bride, Anathema, and such. I know he also loved Ulcerate and Cult of Luna which somehow found a way into his riffing style. More of a flavor rather than essence, but I could sense that. He was into a lot of dismal, slow plodding, and overall dark music, which I think reflected his personal emotional needs. He struggled with depressive states for most of his life, and I think he never solved the puzzle of why we are here and what is the reason for us to even exist. I could tell this lack of meaning was torturing him. I think his overall despair and confusion, with his ever-active curiosity for the unknown, is what made these songs what they are.

5. Something to add?

Don't listen to this album at home. Go explore nature, stare at things, and have some simple offline pleasures. You will feel better.