LEIN
Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota, Colombia…
Today I’m lucky enough to be talking with the Lein.. an up and coming Black Metal band from Estonia
that has been making waves with their first demo and some very well received live shows….
Tere! kuidas kõik läheb? thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to our readers…
1- When / why/ where was Lein formed?
Lein was formed in the very beginning of 2023 by Kaur and Jaagup in Tallinn out of a shared love for black metal. Kiur joined shortly after and in the summer of the same year we recruited Adeele, completing the lineup.
2- Tell us about your recent demo.. The Call Of Grief
What`s there to tell? It was the first real studio recording that we did as a group, all the songs that are on The Call of Grief were the very first we wrote together. It was recorded, mixed and mastered by Are Kangus in Sügis Productions` studio in Laitse, Estonia. We also recorded everything live except for vocals, so when you listen to it, you hear us all playing together in the same room.
3- What inspires your music? What are your lyrics about?
Our music is greatly inspired by past wars, history and religious bullshit (more precisely-our hate for it). Our lyrics are often about those same topics, but also about melancholy, giref, soorow and inner conflict.
4- I know you’re all still young, but what bands have influenced you? What music did you listen to ‘growing up’?
Adeele:
Influences-Archgoat, Amesoeurs, Bathory, Leviathan, ASKEESi, Dark Funeral, Fadheit, Wormrot.
What I listened to growing up - Winny Puhh, Loits, Motörhead. I heard Loits for the first time on an Estonian TV Series when I was little and I liked them from that moment.
Jaagup: Influences-Venom, Motörhead, Immortal, Armagedda ja Carpathian Forest, Occvlta, Leviathan
What i listened to growing up - Metallica, Psychoterror, Darkthrone, Venom.
Kaur: Influences-Darkthrone, Immortal, Spectral Wound, Insect Warfare, Conqueror, Sõjaruun, Lamp of Murmuur, Kapala, Horna, Satanic Warmaster and tons more i can`t recall the names of.
What I listend to growing up-
Metallica, Pantera, Sõjaruun, Electric Wizard, Metsatöll, Motörhead, Iron Maiden.
Kiur:
We were unfortunately unable to get in contact with Kiur, as he is currently completing his mandatory service in the Estonian army somewhere deep in the woods of southern Estonia, where there is no phone signal, but as we know him, we will answer on his behalf this once.
Influences-Venom, Nargaroth, Burzum
What I listened to growing up-W.A.S.P, Black Sabbath, Loits, Motörhead.
5- What equipment do you use and what is the recording process?
Kaur uses an Ibanez Tone Blaster 100 half stack combined with some Mooer distortion pedal he got from a friend for 30 bucks.
Kiur uses a Peavey Valveking 100 (1st generation) half stack, he gets his tone straight from the amp.
Adeele doesn`t have her own bass amp as a lot of the equipment in our rehearsal space is shared, she simply uses a tuner and more recently, a Boss ODB3 pedal for her tone.
Jaagup uses a Speed Cobra 910 Twin pedal, a Gewa 14x6,5 snare and everything from the Paiste 900 series for cymbals: 14’ Hi-hats, 17’ and 18’ crashes, an 18` China and a 22` Ride.
6- Do you have new releases planned for 2025?
Yes! Our second demo is set to release in early April (more to be revealed regarding it very, very soon), we also have plans for a potential split release and a rehearsal tape. We are also planning to record our first full-lenghth album this year, but doubt it will be out in 2025.
7- What are your plans for the future? Do you have live shows coming for 2025?
Same as ever, rehearse a lot, create new music and spread our misery to new corners of the world. We have alot of live shows planned for 2025, both in Estonia and abroad, we are also actively looking for new places to tour.
8- Do you have any side projects apart from Lein?
Yes, almost all of us do.
Jaagup has: Silmus
Adeele has: Silmus, Pühak and a yet unnamed solo DSBM project
Kaur has: Ferum, Pime, SIlmus, Embus and Katk.
9- Tell us about the current scene there in Estonia… recommend some bands for our readers to check out.
It seems to us that there are finally some new black metal bands being birthed here by the younger generation, a couple notable mentions from these "new" bands would be Karachay and Soerd, as for older black metal bands, we can`t recommend Sõjaruun and Loits enough, they are legends in their own right. For something other than black metal, we very highly recommend our brothers in arms from Tartu, Käptör and their speed metal epic "Speed & Pöwer".
10- what are your top 5 metal albums of all time and why?
Jaagup:
Some of my favourites are:
Metallica- Kill em all (got me into metal, dad used to listen to it everytime we were driving)
Darkthrone- A blaze in the northen sky (first black metal album i listened)
Sodom- In the sign of evil/ Obsessed by cruelty ( just very good album)
Archgoat- Worship Eternal Darkness ( first very very evil sounding band for me)
Adeele-For me It's very hard to choose favorites, because there is too many of them and i am still finding new music every day but if i had to choose then here's a few:
Dark Funeral-Where Shadows Forever Reign (was the album that got me more into black metal, one of my favorite album of theirs)
Archgoat- The Luciferian Crown (a really gorgeous and evil sounding album)
Fadheit- Inhaling The trauma (a bit more recently have fallen in love with this album)
Kaur:
Impossible to pick really, but here are some of my personal favourites in no particular order:
Wormrot-Dirge (so brutal, so fast and so varied at all the same time, i`d say it`s one of the best grind albums of all time)
Alpinist-Minus.Mensch (fucking incredible neocrust record, what`s crazy is that in every song there is so little repetition, yet nothing feels out of place throughout the whole album, everything flows seamlessly. I especially love the lead guitar parts and drumming on this record)
Immortal-Damned in Black (Amazing riffs and songwriting throughout the entire album, there`s not a lot of black metal that`s as "riff-driven" so to say as the music Immortal created on those first couple of albums, the guitarwork is truly inspiring to me)
Dissection-Storm of the Light`s Bane (I don`t think an explanation is needed)
Sepultura-Beneath the Remains (For me, this just barely beat Arise for the place of my favourite Sepultura album, Andreas`s solos are a standout for me on certain songs, Igorr`s drumming is as good ever and so are Max`s riffs and Paolo`s bass)
11- What is your opinion of the current Black Metal, not just in Estonia, but globally speaking?
We think black metal is in a good place overall, tons of new great bands seem to be emerging every day all over the world and with them, great music.
12- Do you have any words of wisdom for young musicians looking to follow in your footsteps?
Don`t hesitate, just do. Doesn`t matter if you suck on your instrument, don`t be afraid to create music and play in bands, perseverance is key. LEIN https://www.facebook.com/leinkvlt https://www.instagram.com/lein_bm/ https://www.youtube.com/@Leinband
