The shadowy allure of British doom metal maestros Godthrymm is growing more intense via their second album Distortions, an August release on Profound Lore. The band’s name itself, which, by the quartet’s definition, means “divine might,” already stirs intrigue. With Distortions they absolutely serve up a divinely mighty composition with a dramatic gloom to doom.
“Musically we have pushed ourselves so much further and expanded upon our sonic palette with greater layering, harmonies and scope of vision,” says lead vocalist and guitarist Hamish Glencross. “Ultimately, the sound is more grand and epic than what we have done before.”
Distortions is beefier in production compared to their debut album, Reflections. The seven epic hymns make up the second installment in a conceptual trilogy of albums titled “Visions.” Glencross divulges the backstory behind the three chapters, “Funnily enough, the idea of the Visions trilogy came after we were discussing Distortions’ title. Reflections was first, looking over and celebrating past musical work. Distortions then twists that vision, pushing the contrasts and extremes further, which we found very inspiring.”
The concepts behind the final part of the trilogy are already in the works, tentatively titled Projections, “as we look to the future,” says the vocalist.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, Glencross reflects on the matter at hand, confessing real-life events that inspired lyrical themes of the new record.
“A very dear friend of ours died before the writing of the album, as well as a couple of family members, and so that’s reflected in some of the lyrics.” He then delves into a specific track, offering, “Most of the lyrics of ‘Echoes’ were taken straight from my eulogy I spoke at my friend Martyn Hall’s funeral.”
Speaking of family, one of the newest members of Godthrymm plays a significant role in the songwriting process: Hamish’s wife, keyboardist & vocalist Catherine Glencross.
“As well as the addition of her beautiful vocals, having her take lead on a couple of tracks has taken pressure off me,” he laughs. “It also inspired me to push my clean vocals further and gain more confidence in doing so.”
“Sasquatch” Bob Crolla is another newcomer to the darkness developers, holding down the low end for the heavyhearted material.
“Bob is such a fantastic bass player,” says Glencross beams. “And his involvement in the music has resulted in a night and day difference to the bass.”
Gathering everybody into the same room proved to be a challenge during the writing stages of Distortions. Obviously, policies implemented during the pandemic forced people to keep distance between themselves. Godthrymm worked around this issue, persevering through remote sessions via the internet. The frontman touches on the unassumed benefits of this unfamiliar practice, “It was initially borne from necessity, but it ultimately made us study everything so much closer and prompted rewrites and embellishments aplenty. Plus it’s a bit more comfortable!”
“Seriously, it’s amazing how much can be achieved with home recording these days,” he continues, “It meant we didn’t have to wait to all be together to work on something; you can send ideas as they come rather than waiting until rehearsal.”
However, when it came time to record, they collaborated on location at The Nave Studio in Leeds and Sasquatch Music Studio in Huddersfield. Producer Andy Hawkins (Hark, Grave Lines) harvested their max potential, and Glencross is massively impressed by his contributions, stating, “He’s amazing–wonderful understanding of gear and we had such a great dynamic. He wanted to make it sound as grand as possible. I really look forward to working with him again.”
You can pre-order Distortions from Profound Lore Records. Follow Godthrymm on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for future updates.
Image courtesy of Frank Ralph.
