Valkyrian Music

For York based Folk Metal band CRYPTIC AGE 2012 is going to be one hell of a year and a year that should see them truly emerge and blossom on to the scene. This is the year that Cryptic Age release their debut album entitled ‘Sounds Of Infinity’ and for a teaser if you visit their website you can stream the excellent new track from the album, ‘Eternity Beckons’.

If you think that is all the band have on though you’d better guess again. This year will see Cryptic Age grace the stage at both the Metalcamp Festival in Slovenia as well as the Warhorns Festival right here in York with the mighty Skyforger.

So with all that in mind, here is what keyboard player and vocalist Jenny Green had to say on all things Cryptic Age, from the new album to metalcamp with a stop off on the Isle Of Man for good measure.

With this being your debut album, were there any nerves or worries regarding the writing process?

I wouldn’t say nerves, but I think we took a step up from our EP on the quality of the songs. Sometimes we made up a really good riff really fast, but other times we changed things a lot until we thought they sounded good enough.

How do you feel the overall finished article has come out?

We are personally very happy with it. We’ve managed to accumulate a style we were still trying to find with our EP, the overall sound quality is far better than before and the songs flow together very well. And also the artwork is amazing!

Who was responsible for the artwork?

The artwork was done by two guys who make up a small company called Kogain Art. The album art was up for sale, but it was archived on the website so it was pure chance that we managed to find it.

What was the bands inspiration lyrically and musically for Sounds Of Infinity?

Well our inspiration on both musical and lyrical terms for the album came from countless places. We did stick to a few rules though, in that we wanted the album to maintain its overall folky sound which is the bread and butter, while the more symphonic, black, thrash and progressive elements are extra factors of our music that we think give us a unique style.

With the lyrics, we also had a few rules. We wanted to put more Manx Gaelic on there because of popular demand and of course we wanted them to be memorable and visual. The only difference is the sixth track Sea Invocation, which is an arrangement of a Manx traditional song.

So where does your love of folkish/gaelic styles come from?

For me it comes from my upbringing on the Isle of Man. Manx folk music I suppose sounds very similar to Irish music but still has its unique aspects. So we like to maintain a real sense of folk metal which stems from Manx folk music, which gives our sound subtle differences to possibly the more generic folk sound other bands may use. And of course I love folk metal ever since I got into Finntroll and Eluveitie. In fact it’s probably my favourite metal genre.

So part of the new album is a four parter by the same name as the album, whats it about?

Well it’s based off a Manx legend where if you put your head to the ground on top of Dalby mountain, you can hear the sounds of spirits, known as Sheean ny Feaynid. This loosely translates as ‘Sounds of Infinity’ although it also means ‘Sounds from Space’ so I personally wanted to re-capture this theme in the concept of revelation that there is so much more out there than one may first think. The story itself is something we wrote: I play a Manx woman whose husband is out at sea during a terrible storm. Unfortunately he doesn’t make it back alive and I becoming mad with grief. I then remember the legend of Sheean ny Feaynid and set out to Dalby mountain to find them. I finally reach them and then supposedly they take me up so I can be united with my husband once again. However we left the ending very ambiguous. For all we know she could have committed suicide from madness and these spirits never existed, or it could have actually happened. It’s left to the imagination of the listener.

Now the new album isn’t the only exciting thing going on with Cryptic Age right now, how did the Metalcamp Festival slot come about?

Well we were very surprised at this – all we did was register our band on the metalcamp website. Then there was some kind of poll as to which unsigned bands should play and we were on there. We thought nothing of it and there was no word on it for months. But then suddenly Hallam got an email from them and there we have it.

Thats amazing, so which bands on the bill are you looking forward to sharing the stage with?

Well the rest of the bands on the second stage are none we have heard of since most come from Slovakia or Croatia, however I’m looking forward to seeing the Furious Horde since they’re symphonic black metal, which I love, and of course they are a band reigning from familiar territory. We also got a message from Avven who said they were looking forward to seeing us. On the first stage there are so many bands I can’t wait to see: Epica, Finntroll, Eluveitie and Scepticflesh to name a few.

That’s going to be an excellent experience, and then you’ve also got a spot at the Warhorns Festival supporting amongst others Skyforger, so would you say 2012 is really going to be the year that boosts your musical career?

Well I never like to predict the future too much, but I can certainly say that we’ve made great progress this year and hopefully next year will be the same!

The new album from CRYPTIC AGE is out right now and you can buy it HERE!

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This entry was posted on 5th June 2012 at 2:46 pm and is filed under Interview with tags Cryptic Age, Eluveitie, Finntroll, Folk Metal, Isle of Man, Metalcamp, Skyforger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.