Dying Vision Discusses About Themselves and Music!

Extreme metal band DYING VISION got their start way back in 2012, releasing two full-length album's, with the process of a third in the works currently! The band discusses their time together, current recording's and more all below.

1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.

The band was formed in 2012 by Starash (guitar former, Devilish Impressions and Diachronia), SeeKing (drums, former Diachronia and Seven Main Sins), and Przemyslaw Kajnat (Praesepe and Eternal Deformity).  Filling out the line-up for the production of the debut album, ‘Univerself’ were Navar and Virian (current: Lilla Veneda).  

Subsequently, in 2014 Owen Padfield (current: Edge of Ruin and Tyrannos) joined on bass, followed by Richard Ashton (former: Axis of Evil, Deathtrip Armada, Deep Throat Trauma, Hollow Demise, and Ritual Abuse) on vocals.  This has remained the line-up since then.

2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?  

The name came from the former bassist, Przemyslaw.  

3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?

Individual band member locations span across London and the Home Counties.  Rehearsals and meetings take place in Woking.  London and Kent would be the scenes that the band participated in the most. 

The live music scene seems to be catching up from the backlog of postponed shows due to the pandemic.  In the time spent performing at Meta,l 2 the Masses shows, I have been personally impressed by the likes of Vesicarum and Atravion.  It is also worth looking up 10 Plagues who have emerged rapidly across the UK live scene since March this year.

4. How would you describe your style?

The style / genre broadly covers extreme metal.  It may be possible to pigeonhole specific parts of songs as ‘death’ or ‘black’ metal.  While writing music, no time is given to considering what style or subgenre should be assigned.  The listener as an outsider is usually the best-placed person for that.

5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?

The band released two full-length albums: Univerself and The Death and its Slaughter. Memorable hooks usually underpin the songs and incorporate harmonic or sometimes dissonant textures.  To me, this is where the ‘depth’ can be found; in the sum of the arrangement.  That is irrespective of whether it happens to be labelled as ‘technical’ or not.  For an extreme metal offering I also think that the songs maintain a balance of being accessible and taking opportunities for a few surprises (take the clean female vocals on ‘Testimony of the Fallen’ for example).

6. Do you have any new music in the works?

The band is in the process of writing for a third release and some pre-production teaser footage for new songs can be heard on the Facebook page.

7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?

The band is currently involved in Metal 2 the Masses Kent.  As of writing (June 2022), we are preparing to perform at the Grand Final – competing for the opportunity to play on the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock 2022.  We are actively seeking and taking bookings for gigs.  Our social media pages all include the details for booking a show with us.

8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?  

The plan is to continue gigging through 2022 whilst writing new music.  At the start of 2023, finish writing and begin the production of the third album.

9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?

Several digital outlets including Bandcamp (lossless formats available), Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and YouTube Music offer The Death and its Slaughter.  Univerself is available on Bandcamp. 

Merchandise including T-shirts, caps and beanies is available from the Big Cartel store (https://dyingvision.bigcartel.com) 

10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?

The songs contain memorable and melodic hooks that would stay with the listener from the first listen. I would urge them to replay the song to appreciate the textures contributed by the rest of the arrangement behind those parts.  

Last month, a fan told us that it took them more than one listen to appreciate specific nuances, making them worth repeatedly listening to.   That was an interesting outsider’s perspective to us (being required to know the songs at a forensic level through practising and rehearsing them - we were probably too close to make that kind of judgement ourselves). 

I can also think of parts in Plague Bringer or Lost in the Darkness for example, where the listener expects a specific part to repeat in a certain way, but we subvert their expectations.  I think that that makes the experience more engaging overall.