Interview with black death metal band from United States - ORDEALS.
Recenze/review - ORDEALS - Third Rail Prayer (2025):
Ave ORDEALS! On September 26, 2025, your first full-length album “Third Rail Prayer” will be released by Eternal Death. As the title suggests, it is a whirlwind of honest black, death metal. When you left the studio, how did you feel? Please introduce the new album to the fans. Where did you want to move from your previous recordings?
Well, THIRD RAIL PRAYER is an expression of who and where ORDEALS are at the time, our attempt to draw out the dark energies of our surroundings and experiences. We blend our present with the ancient past that inspires us. After being a two piece for almost a decade, we have welcomed a new permanent member to our fold, Bellum, in 2020, who was with us the entire time we composed THIRD RAIL PRAYER. Of course we were satisfied with our work when it was completed on those apocalyptic winter days in Montreal at Studio Tehom.
You are a band made up of experienced musicians who play mostly death metal. How did ORDEALS actually come into being? I’m guessing a good pub and lots of beer. Who first came up with the idea of playing death/black metal? Please take us through the history of your band.
ORDEALS was formed simply from a desire to create. At the early stages there really was not alot of talk about what style we should play. Everything just flowed organically. The 2011- 2015 period was very slow, but in '16 we recorded our EP APOTHEOSIS and were fairly active from that point on, until 2020 when the world came to a standstill for a while. We try to stray away from sounding too much like anyone else.
I admit that your new album has me on my ass. I really like that you are not only orthodox and genuine, but you don’t forget about cold and dark melodies. Who is the author of the music and how do they compose and create new ORDEALS songs?
Illuminated will write guitar and bass pieces, and then Bellum and myself will contribute songwriting ideas, and the three of us put it all together. Illuminated contributes sinister passages with an intense emphasis on dark sentiment and striking melodic flashes from which we develop our sound.
What really caught my attention about the new album is the very raw and “dusty” sound. Where did you record the album, mix it, who is responsible for the production?
The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at STUDIO TEHOM in Montreal. Xavier Berthiaume is a longtime collaborator and great comrade to ORDEALS, throughout the years. We also recorded APOTHEOSIS there, on which he played drums. We hope to continue to work with him in the future.
I was also intrigued by the album cover. If I understand it correctly, it shows an entrance to the underworld, to an old mine. The cover is mysterious and fits the music perfectly. What is this theme supposed to express? The author is the great Santiago Caruso. How did you get together and why him?
It is desolation and Death portrayed in the endless dark of the subway tunnels beneath where we live in New York City. We chose Santiago Caruso because based on his skill and prior work, we believed he would be able to achieve this vision to our satisfaction. It perfectly sums up the atmosphere we want to present.
As a band, your lyrics deal with dark fantasy, suffering, death. What are they about on the new record? What is the main theme and idea of “Third Rail Prayer”?
The lyrics have root in personal experiences, and trying to pull things from my reality and memories and mix it with other sinister things that I am inspired by, that practically forces its way out onto the page. There are themes of necromancy and exploration "There are other worlds than these" Beyond this, I would prefer people get the album and make their own interpretations, from reading the lyrics and absorbing the imagery, rather than to go into too much specific details. The booklet for the album contains all one needs to get lost in this suffering between nothing and nothing, and the cover is what we really have to say to lure souls into the dark.
How are you doing with concerts? Do you like playing often and often? And do you prefer big festivals or small clubs? And what about promoting the new album, are you planning a tour?
The immediate goal is to be active with some live gigs to spread the album and its message, like the plague. We have just done 12 concerts so far, but a lot of them have been festivals away from home. Whether it is a large festival or a small club, they both have their benefits or drawbacks, but it's the energy of the audience that really matters. During the winter solstice in 2022, we played in Iceland for the Andkristni festival. It is the first time we left our continent and even though it was a small club, it was a highlight for our history. We hail our comrades there, and some from that scene have contributed some guest vocals on THIRD RAIL PRAYER as you will see. We will start our promotion of the album at the Covenant Festival in Vancouver in late Sept.
An essential question that must never be missed. What are ORDEALS planning in the coming months? If you have something on your mind and would like to express it to fans, labels, promoters, here's the space...
As mentioned above, we will play in Vancouver later this month, and we have plans to cross the seas and spread the Word. We are also writing new material, and we will try not to take too many years to put it out this time.
THIRD RAIL PRAYER will release on CD and Vinyl on Eternal Death Records, Sept 26th. Corrupted and condemned..and truly doomed audio and mental illness await. Visual insanity within the pages via Pvtrfaktvr. NYC despair and hopelessness via Rhys Knight, and Subterranean NOIZE from T.O.M.B.
Thank you very much for the interview and I wish not only the new album great sales. May your concerts be sold out. I will be very much looking forward to one of them. I wish you all the best in your personal lives. May the force be with you! ORDEALS FOREVER!
Recenze/review - ORDEALS - Third Rail Prayer (2025):
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