Interview: Hesychast
Image: Hesychast
The artist behind Daygraves (a fantastic blackgaze artist) is responsible for this interview and my interest in this band, so much credit to him. A couple years ago, he was telling me about Hesychast and their mystical brand of black metal. After checking them out, my initial thought was, “Why are they so hard to find?” Then, my wandering mind came to how they haven’t released but one album so far (in 2016!), making me wish that they would get their act together and put out more music.
After a few years and still no new music, it started to make me wonder if this was simply a one-and-done band. Sad if true, but it’s not shocking given the obscurity of the subgenre of Orthodox black metal. Alas, I was able to get the band to do this interview, which has shed light on many of my own questions (and, hopefully, yours too).
It was a pleasure getting to ask E. and S. (the two members of Hesychast) about their music, the ethos behind it, and what awaits in the future. Enjoy!
It’s great having you join us for an interview! Before we get started about your music, can you tell us where about where you’re from and where you currently live?
Hello, and thank you for your interest in our music. We are both from the U.S. E. is from and resides in Indiana, and S. is Texas-born and raised.
Your only album, aptly titled Ageless, was released in 2016. Since then, what have you been up to as an artist, as an individual, and as Hesychast?
E: A lot has changed since that year - career changes, trips overseas, a marriage, children being born, several moves including one across the country, and a chrismation into the Orthodox Church.
We as a band have been writing new music and, of course, working on recording our next album. Family and work matters, combined with a bad habit of perfectionism, have delayed the album a lot longer than we would like. We get a lot of messages asking about the progress of the next album, and I understand the wait has been excessive, but I just can’t put out a piece of work knowing that I haven’t done all I can do to make it worthy of a release.
So, you guys are working on new music? Can you tell us about it? Any other projects?
E: Our new album is 95% tracked, and we are aiming for an autumn/winter release. It is a full-length and should come in at around 45 minutes. It is in keeping with the same style as Ageless (i.e. mid-tempo metal with obvious black metal influences and keys). Some clean vocals, some spoken word. We’re hoping it will be received as well as Ageless has been.
As for another project, I have considered writing an album further exploring chants with light accompaniment, sort of branching off the “Ageless” title track on our debut, but more in keeping with the Orthodox choral tradition. We already have plans for a third album in the style of metal, as well, but I do have an interest in releasing music solely devoted to accompanying Orthodox meditative prayer. Perhaps it will be the antidote to my insistence on a maximalist approach I’ve taken for our metal albums. We shall see.
Image: Hesychast
It doesn’t take much for a casual observer on your Facebook or Bandcamp pages to see that you’re really into the Eastern Orthodox aesthetic, particularly with a name such as Hesychast. Can you tell us a little bit about how Eastern Orthodoxy plays a role in your life, both individually and artistically? Also, how did you come about choosing hesychasm as a theme for your project’s name?
E: Yes, as I mentioned earlier, I was chrismated in the Church after the release of Ageless, even though I had been attending Divine Liturgy in the Church for years before.
S. introduced me to Orthodoxy back in 2009 when we were still recording under the name Vikarbyrgi, a heavily Antestor-influenced basement unblack metal precursor to Hesychast. He leant me the book Christ, the Eternal Tao by Heiromonk Damascene, which remains the most influential and cherished book in my bookcase. Soon after, S. was chrismated into the Church.
We are hoping that people don’t get the impression that we are simply aping the aesthetics of the Church because “it looks cool”. In fact, this is one of our concerns with the project: how we present our love and admiration of the Church we call home without making it seem like we’re using it as a gimmick or sales tactic. We have enormous respect for the sacred Orthodox tradition, and we are very careful about how we represent that admiration through our music and imagery. For instance, in our Church, holy icons are not to be printed on items that will be in the hands of the non-Orthodox and eventually end up in the trash, such as T-shirts or CD booklets. Therefore, we refrain from using them, as beautiful as they are.
S: We are not truly Orthodox without seeking Christ as a member of His body (1 Corinthians 12). The Orthodox faith, as it is now, is the result of two thousand years of the working of the Holy Spirit within the Church. Even hermits have spiritual fathers. Shedding the individualism of our Protestant past has been difficult. We must see our living and choices through the communal lens. For example, I have a copy of the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete at home, but it would be better if I never read it, because that means I’m at church when it is read during Lent. Jesus lists the commandment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves as second only to the commandment to love God. He lists our treatment of the “least” people as criteria for judgment; there is little room for the “me and Jesus” attitude in true salvation. The more we follow the Orthodox faith, the more unified we become with both God and the whole cosmos.
With regard to the name Hesychast, to be honest, at the time the name was simply better than anything else we could come up with. However, as we have lived within the life of the Church as much as we are able, we come to see it as holding in esteem a long line of Christians who have cultivated inner prayer and reached, as our hymnography puts it, the “heights of humility”. Such ones participate with Christ and the angels to keep the cosmos from devolving into total chaos and ruin. Our name reflects something we each wish ourselves to become.
There seem to be quite a few Eastern Orthodox believers who are in the black metal underworld, including one of my all-time favorites, Fathomage. Have you ever connected with any others in the scene?
E: Unfortunately, we have not been in contact with that particular person. I’m listening to his Bandcamp now and it sounds excellent. There are others who we are in contact with or have been contacted by in the past. Our Australian friend, Iliya from the band Illyria, is Serbian Orthodox, and my good friend John (Austarus, Vaskula) who has contributed to albums by bands like Saor, Vukari, and Panopticon is a chanter at his ROCOR Church in Chicago. Even one of the members from Lo-Ruhamah, a band I’ve loved for over 15 years, reached out at one point, which was an honor.
Other than your faith and your music, what are some of your passions and hobbies?
E: I am very busy at the moment with my one-year-old son and work, so unfortunately, I do not have much time for hobbies. I would like to continue traveling, but with a little one it’s a lot more difficult now. I’ve had Georgia and Armenia on my “next destination” mental list for a while now. I also recently inherited a road bike, so this spring I’m looking forward to returning to my town’s trails that I explored so frequently as a kid.
S: I have two kids and a job, and my wife works, as well. I am slowly working on a short novel; maybe it will be done before 2030. I try to read as much as possible, and if I can find an interested co-host, I’d love to start a Dostoevsky-themed podcast. I’m an occasional terrible disc golfer.
Last question, which is typically me being sarcastic (so, brace for it): Do you really think your first album, Ageless, is just that – ageless? I’m thinking 8 years is a bit long. Basically, it’s old. Don’t you think the title is a bit misleading?
E: Perhaps we'll release a reissue of the album entitled Истекший (“Expired”). Actually, a few of the songs on the album were already 5 or 6 years old when we released it, and on the new album there will be two songs that we started writing all the way back in 2010. So, I regret to inform you that the new album will be just as “old” as the previous one.
S: We’ve received messages from listeners who have told us that our music was at least part of something that has led them to Christ, or back to Christ. Others have credited their escape from depression, despair, and even suicide to our music. We give all glory to God, but it is a true blessing to partake in such synergy. The riffs and melodies may grow stale, but our prayer is that the impact of the album (and subsequent ones) on the world is ageless.
