Interviews About Albums: IN DAKHMA - He Who Sows The Ground (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Croatian Death Metal band IN DAKHMA to ask questions about their album, "He Who Sows The Ground".

1. What can you say about He Who Sows the Ground?

Matko: The album was an idea during 2022. Vedran and I wanted to make old-school death metal songs like Entombed, Bloodbath, etc.

While making the songs, we started to divert from the original idea for the band and started to put some of our other influences into the songs.

Vedran is the main vocal & played all guitars (electric guitar, acoustic guitar & bass) except work that Tomislav Ferenc has done on lead guitar (“Sentinel Hill”) and Darjan Fiolić on lead guitar (“In Dogma”), vocals (“Sentinel Hill”) and mandolin (“...“ = “three dots”).

I played drums/percussion on the album and wrote the lyrics.

Vedran: It’s the darkest and most aggressive record I’ve ever recorded.

2. What is the meaning of the album name?

Matko: It's part of an old saying that means actions, not words. The phrase comes from a prophet, Zoroaster or Zarathustra, who later became a founder of Zoroastrianism. Since the album and the band's name references the Zoroastrian religion, we thought it was appropriate to name the album in that spirit.

Vedran: “He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers.”

3. Which one is the composer of the He Who Sows the Ground?

Matko: We were bouncing ideas back and forth, Vedran was mainly behind the riff ideas, and then we both tried to puzzle our way to structure these riffs into the songs.

Vedran: I see us both as composers since most of the riffs and compositions happened live during our rehearsals.

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

Matko: I would pick Lies Beneath The Golden Ruins because it has a strong message and really powerful riffage, something we definitely want to retain in the future. It’s pretty groovy, as well.

Vedran: It’s a hard one, torn between Ona kraljuje sama, In Dogma and Tower of Silence, but I would go with “Ona kraljuje sama”. Tearing my voice down during the ambiental intro and then going full-on into death metal is a special feeling I thoroughly enjoyed, and I’m looking forward to performing that live.

5. Is there a special message in He Who Sows the Ground? If there is what it is?

Matko: There’s no very special message behind the album, but every song has its own special message, sometimes very direct, sometimes not so much haha.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

Matko:

We boast how proudly we hate,

So sad is our fate,

New reign of time,

Each take their side,

Birds are silenced,

Only cold winds remain.

Vedran:

When fire envelopes the air

I will solidify my throne

Of suffering and death

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

Matko: We would like to thank Vedran Kovačić at Chicken Sound Studios who put up with us for weeks on end, to record and mix our album. Our guests on the album Darjan Fiolić and Tomislav Ferenc, and our artwork creators Vanja Perković and Mirko Czukor will be managing our videos, directing and filming them.

Vedran: And I would like to thank Entombed, Bloodbath, Cannibal Corpse, Alkaloid, Gojira, Opeth, Morbid Angel, and other great bands for inspiring us to do a recording like this!

8. Something to add?

Matko: Support your local bands, support music in general, buy merch, and love your mom.

Vedran: and see you on our shows!