Dear readers we have the pleasure to offer you in this article an interview with a Swedish band with Progressive/Post-Metal and Doom sounds. We welcome Gamdøden.
Hello how are you?
“Hi Jacopo! We are great, thanks for having us. Right now we are preparing with some beers to go and see Cult of Luna in a couple of hours. So all is great!“
What is the meaning of your band name Gamdøden?
“The initial name that was proposed was Death of Vultures but it did not have the right feeling to it so we decided to translate it to Swedish. Gam=Vulture and Döden=the Death but since we live in Helsingborg very close to Denmark we decided to take the Danish letter ‘ø’ instead of ‘ö’. It looks more evil.“
Your sound incorporates elements of Progressive/Doom and Post-Metal, how did your passion for this music come about?
“We all were growing up in the 90s and listened to a lot of hardcore and punk and some alternative metal like Tool, Helmet, Breach and Deftones. Then Neurosis and ISIS came into our musical journey around 2000. And then of course Cult of Luna and Mastodon a couple of years later. In later years we have been listening a lot to “newer” bands like the Ocean, Elder, Pallbearer and Psychonaut. But we equally love and get inspiration from the big four of progressive bands of the 70s; King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis which can be heard in our latest single.“
Your new single “In Remembrance” was released in August 2023, how would you describe this track?
“This song was the last song we started to write with our late drummer and friend Christian who passed away in Dec 2022. We simply had to complete this song and record it in his memory. The song is over fourteen minutes long and consists of three different parts which were carefully crafted together into one cohesive song. The toughest part in writing a song that long is to make it interesting throughout the song but we think we managed to do that and the dynamics in the song is an important ingredient to make it interesting.“
The track was released as a stand-alone single, do you have plans for an album in the near future?
“This is a passion project for us. We all have families, kids and work, so the time is limited to work intensely for two weeks to record an album. We are very ambitious in our song writing so completing a song takes some time. We will not record for the sake of recording but we will record when we feel we have something worthy to record. With that said it would be very cool to record a couple of songs in the same session to get a more cohesive sound and expression.
We are working on new stuff and maybe a 3-song EP is ready to be recorded in early 2024.“
Heavy sound that alternates between instrumental and intense vocal parts, what themes do the lyrics deal with?
“This song is simply about expressing our love for Cristian, so grief, memories and love. The lyrics from our EP from last year were more written in the moment, no specific theme. More a reflection of our society and that mankind never seems to learn from their mistakes.“
Your music is a concentrate of technique and power, will there be a chance to hear you live?
“It is hard to get gigs for a small band like us but of course we want to play more live shows. We do not have any label or anything to back us up but we do our best to spread the word and hopefully we will be booked to some shows in the near future. If you know someone please hook us up.“
In 2022 your EP “The ones to be seen,” was released, how has your sound evolved over time?
“We rediscovered the RAT and HM-2 type of distortion so they have taken a front seat in this production whereas “The ones to be seen” were more fuzz and classical Ross and Amp distortion. Martin is a completely different kind of drummer than Christian, that is maybe the biggest difference.“
Sweden in heavy sounds is one of the most active countries, how do you see the music scene today?
“It’s alive and breathing and there is a strong underground scene, but many live venues closed and are struggling in the aftermath of covid.
As for getting your music out today just look what Facebook, instagram, bandcamp etc have done for bands and how easy it is to reach out worldwide today, compared to when we were teenagers and starting bands in the nineties.“
Do you have any other artistic activities or passions outside of music?
“Except for family and outdoors activities and discover and listen to music:
Martin is a world class pizzabaker;
Kristofer trains Olympic lifting and cook;
Andreas builds guitar pedals and like trail running;
Fredrik collects Nike Air Jordans and makes an incredible gin fizz.”
I thank the band for the interview, wishing them all the best in the prosuccess of their artistic career.
“Thank you for having us! This has been a real blast for us to try answer your questions take care” // Gamdøden
Purchase their new single on Bandcamp: https://gamdoden.bandcamp.com/track/in-remembrance
Lineup:
Andreas Rödin / Guitar and Vocals
Kristofer Andersson / Lead Guitar
Fredrik Kylmä / Bass
Martin Skoog / Drums
