Brothers Marco and Andrea Basili are part of the great Italian black metal band Hornwood Fell who recently released their second album Yheri via Avantgarde Music. They talked with us about the band’s beginnings, the new album, and more.
How did you go about forming Hornwood Fell?
We decided to return to a musical genre that we played in the mid-nineties with the “Hastur Evocation”, which was our first real band. At the time we were very keen on Black Metal and we and the band came up with a blend of Black Metal and Death Metal. Then over the years we have developed many other projects that veered away from Black Metal towards more progressive musical styles that were somewhat more brutal (Kailash, Hastur). Today Black metal is still one of our favourite styles.
Is there a special meaning behind the band’s name?
We like the image that the combination of these three words brings to mind. In our opinion it suits the type of music we produce.
How would you describe your second album Yheri?
Yheri is an eight-piece concept album. The music was composed according to the story and it is essential to listen to the music while reading the lyrics in order to get a complete picture. In this case music and words come together as one. In respect to our first album from a purely musical point of view, we have added ambient and progressive rock elements in order to broaden our horizons.
What are the themes you explore in your lyrics?
Writing lyrics helps us to bring our hidden world to light, a kind of inner journey that crosses a path of life metaphorically. In “Yheri”, our inner world takes the form of a story; the events that come in succession belong to us in some way. There are also many references to “nature” which ever present in our lyrics; for example in “Yheri” nature is the setting of the story. We live in a village surrounded by woods and countryside, which has greatly inspired us both from a musical and narrative point of view.
Which bands influenced your work at the most? Name five albums that influenced Yheri in one way or another.
For the rougher parts of the album we are very inspired by Ulver of “Nattens Madrigal”, from a melodic perspective and also for the vocals (Garm’s style of singing is greatly inspiring) and also by Darkthrone and their “Panzerfaust” album which is one of the most raw and rotten albums I know of and a great example for those who play Black Metal. We feel that Emperor’s album “Anthems to the walking at dusk” as well as Ved Buens Ende’s “Written in waters” have influenced our album from a lyrical point of view.
“OK Computer” by Radiohead for many vocals and “Past Changing Past” by Kailash (one of our old projects) for its avant-garde approach.
What do you guys do except Hornwood Fell?
Marco: In my time as a music teacher I have developed a method called “Ground Discharging Approach”. My method is to create a physical/muscular equilibrium when one plays a musical instrument.
Andrea: I’m a musician, I teach drums and also work as a surveyor.
Do you think that Hornwood Fell is on a level that you want it to be?
Well, we’re certainly extremely satisfied with our latest work; this does not mean that we think that our music has reached its peak. You know the objective changes every time you work on a new album, (which is the case as we are working on our third full-length album). Each time musical references change and other elements come into play, the avenues of expression vary.
Where do you see Hornwood Fell in the future?
First we must finish our third album, then we’ll see. Thanks for giving us this space. See you next time.
Hornwood Fell: Facebook
