1. Hello please introduce yourself to the readers?
I’m Artyom – guitar player and vocalist (growls) in Belarusian doom metal band Woe Unto Me.
2. When did you first discover funeral doom metal and what is about this genre that you like so much?
I listen to a lot of different music, various genres, and funeral doom metal and doom metal in general are among them. I can’t remember when I discovered funeral doom metal for the first time; it was long ago, probably somewhere around the beginning of 2000s. Well first and foremost funeral doom is all about the atmosphere, which embraces the listener and let him flow on the waves of overwhelming sorrow which oddly enough but soothes and comforts you and gives you the feeling that you are not alone in the world of dark and bleak emotions. That’s what I like in it.
3. Who were the first bands that caught your attention? Who are some of the current bands that you have been listening to?
I think the first funeral doom metal band that I heard was Shape Of Despair. And their music really spoke to me. After that I discovered other bands in this genre, like Skepticism, Thergothon, Funeral, Esoteric, Evoken and many others, but for me Shape Of Despair were the first and probably most influential to me personally.
Currently I listen to a lot of other genres of music, not only doom metal, at the present moment I listen to such bands as Klone, Pain Of Salvation, Ulver, The Ocean Collective, the last Ulcerate album, Opeth, Katatonia, the last Cattle Decapitation album, a lot of different as I may say already classical metal and rock stuff like Death, Paradise Lost, Pink Floyd, etc. When I listen to funeral doom metal it’s more often Eye Of Solitude or Shape Of Despair.
4. Woe Unto Me was started in 2008 when did you all get the idea to start this band? Are you satisfied with how things have progressed with the band over the years?
The idea to start a doom metal band was born in the end of 2007. Me and Dzmitry, our second guitarist, had a common decision to create Woe Unto Me. Dzmitry had some riffs, I had some ideas too, so we just said let’s do that and that’s it. I’m definitely satisfied with what we are doing and how the band is evolving. We’re doing what we like, what we feel, we’ve released two full-length albums, one EP and we are planning to release a third album soon. We’ve done quite a few tours, festivals. And we’ll be even more active as soon as all this pandemic madness will be over. So everything’s great.
5. How did you choose Woe Unto Me as the name of this band? What is the current line-up?
Actually the first idea was to name a band Woe Is Me, and we had this name for a while, but then in 2009 appeared a metalcore-emo-screamo whatever band with the same name in the US, so we decided to change it and found a similar option with the other preposition but the same meaning, and that’s how Woe Unto Me came into existence. I think this name perfectly reflects our music and atmosphere. The current line-up looks as following: Igor Kovalyov – vocals, samples; Dzmitry Shchyhlinski – rhythm guitars; Ivan Skrundevskiy –bass, Pavel Shmyga – drums, Olga Apisheva – keyboards and your humble servant Artyom Serdyuk – guitars and growl vocals.
6. For the readers unfamiliar with the band’s music, how would you best describe it? And have the band’s influences stayed the same over the years or have they changed with time?
Our music is heavy, sullen, grieving and devastating. And it’s full of emotions and atmosphere. The second question is a difficult one. We are influenced by something during the whole life. The influences change all the time, we keep discovering some more great new music which can have an immediate impact on each of us. Sometimes the old influences are coming back, the things that you liked many years ago and maybe stopped listening to some stuff and then rediscover it again. So basically I think influences are changing with time, but sometimes they can make a full circle and come back to a starting point.
7. Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck is the bands newest release how long did it take the band to write the music for the new release? How long does it usually take the band to complete one song?
Well, “Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck” is just an EP and there is only one song that belongs to Woe Unto Me in it, plus some interludes. Two other songs are covers so obviously we were not composing them, just changed some arrangements. I composed the title songs probably within one week or something like that. Everything depends on inspiration, you know. Sometimes you can compose 1-2 riffs and then take a break and finish the song couple of weeks or even months later, and sometimes you can just write the whole song during 2-3 hours.
8. Where does the band draw inspiration for the lyrics and what are some subjects written about on the new release? Which usually comes first the music or the lyrics?
We draw inspiration from everywhere where it’s possible. The main source is our life of course, everything that is happening around us, everything that stays in our hearts and minds, it’s a reflection of ourselves, our feelings and emotions. The lyrical concpet of the new song “Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck” was inspired by the most eminent art by Ivan Aivazovsky “The Ninth Wave”. The unbridled and powerful forces of nature against the vain ambitions of a human-being. The main character tries to escape from himself, to hide from the despair and suffering of his mortal existence. He desperately stands against the wild and mighty waves in his tiny and fragile boat of life. But in the end this raging storm crushes his hope and these waters devour him. There are no rules in terms of what should come first, the music or the lyrics. Both options are fine. In my experience I usually compose music first and then the lyrics, but many times it happened the opposite way.
9. Besides the upcoming Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck release are the bands previous releases still available for the readers to purchase? Besides physical releases does the band have any other merchandise currently available if yes what is available and where can the readers purchase it?
At the moment our debut album “A Step Into The Waters Of Forgetfulness” is completely sold out. So you can buy it only in digital format. Our second album and the new EP of course are available on our Bandcamp as well as other merchandise like t-shirts for example. We had some hoodies and longsleeves too but they are also sold out. We’ll be adding some new stuff to our merchandise soon. You can take a look at what we have and purchase digital and physical releases and apparel here - https://woeuntome.bandcamp.com/
10. Has the band ever made a music video for any of the band’s songs? If you could do a music video for any song off the new release which song would you like to see made into a music video?
You can check all the videos that we have on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/woeuntomeband We have a music video on our song “Angels To Die”, we have couple of lyric videos and live videos, the newest one is the live video of our new song “Spiral-Shaped Hopewreck” performed at Brutal Assault festival in Czech Republic. We are planning to make a new story video clip in the nearest months on one of the songs from the forthcoming album, can’t say which one right now, so just subscribe to our YouTube channel and stay tuned.
11. Besides working in Woe Unto Me do any of the members currently work with any other bands or solo projects? If yes please tell the readers a little about them?
I play in several bands. A technical progressive death metal band DEATHBRINGER has recorded a second full-length album after several years of silence. This band is originally from Belarus, but now mostly consists of musicians from Poland. The band had a long break in the concert and studio activity. But now we are back to the front and it’s awesome. This new stuff is very technical and brutal. At the moment mixing and mastering are almost finished and we’ll be looking for a new label. DISLOYAL is an old band from Poland, which performs also technical death metal. We’ve just recorded 5th full-length album called “Divine Miasmata”. We are mixing it right now and are planning to release it this year. And one more project is called AMENTIA, also from Belarus. It’s a progressive, sometimes even avant-garde brutal death metal. It’s a studio project, at least at the present moment. We are planning to record a 4th album this year.
Concerning other members of Woe Unto Me our vocalist Igor has a band called NEBULAE COME SWEET. A very good post doom/post metal and they are recording their second album at the moment. I also perform as a session musician with different bands when needed.
12. When you need to take a break from working on new music or band business what do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Spending time with my family, my wife, reading books, watching movies, hanging out with friends, travelling when you have no damn pandemic restrictions of course.
13. Woe Unto Me comes out of Belarus funeral doom scene what are your thoughts of the doom scene in Belarus over the years?
I would say that there is no real doom scene in Belarus. There are very few bands that are releasing doom metal albums like for example REIDO, but they do not play live and most of such bands are one-man or two-man projects. And usually when I say the word “scene” for me personally it means that the band should at least sometimes appear also on the stage. That’s my personal opinion of course but still. There are also some bands that have elements of doom in their music but their main genre is different, it can be DSBM or folk or pagan. It’s hard for me to say that such bands belong to the doom metal scene. There is a promising young band THE AGONY COLUMN which plays gothic/symphonic doom metal. And that’s it I think. At least from what I know.
14. Who are your all-time favorite bands coming out of Belarus and are there any new bands you feel the readers should check out soon?
I would recommend checking out the band SERDCE for those who like good and intellectual progressive death metal, and the band KHANDRA for fans of aggressive and uncompromising black metal. And I will not repeat the names of the other bands of Woe Unto Me members and Belarusian doom representatives mentioned above, but be sure to check them out too.
15. Thank you for taking the time to fill this interview out do you have any final comments for the readers?
Keep supporting underground music, keep buying records and attending the shows, this is the only way to show your appreciation to the bands for what they do and help them to survive. Thank you very much for your interest and support! Stay doomed! Band Contacts https://woeuntome.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/woeuntome https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGVs1ULXidB9jSSETgnt7Fw Label Contacts https://solitude-prod.com/ https://solitudeproductions.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/solitudeprod https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClwNBIBuQglLOYKz9TWXCcA
