Eihwaz Recording Artist -Toska Interview up ...
TOSKA
1. You're from Iceland tell us a bit how you epic black death sound came about? There is a haunting melody to the harsh main style.
Part of our music is a result of our musical influences. Another part comes from our hunger to innovate and make our music as interesting as it can be. We let the melodies come to us from intangible world that most people choose to ignore in favor of chasing after material goods. We make effort to step out and listen to what is out there which is what makes our music haunting - it comes from otherworld.
2. The album cover give a very spare winter landscape how does the feeling of cover play with the tracks on ep ?
We think that cover is a perfect match to the music that is on the album. This ties to the previous answer - our music is a result of violent, haunting and magnificent force of nature. It’s exactly the same force that created scenery captured in the photograph. What you see in the artwork and hear complements each other.
3. I'm sure my readers are the same I know very few Icelandic extreme music artists . Can you tell us about some of the great music from your nation?
There is abundance of great metal bands for Iceland being active now. Bands like Sinmara, Carpe Noctem or Almyrkvi are bringing new quality and fresh perspective to black metal. Music coming from Iceland has unique vibe to it and each band is pushing creative boundaries in different directions thus avoiding stagnation and repetition.
4. How did you connect with Eihwaz label?
We sent our demo to Eihwaz/Bindrune as they released albums by black metal bands we highly esteem and they got back to us with release offer, simple as that.
5. If Toska could make a proper good budget video for your music what would you want it to look like and present to the people that watch it?
We aren’t fans of video clips as they tend to detract attention from music. There are few exceptions to that but in general videos are disappointing..
6. Is there a strong live music scene in Iceland and if so do you perform live or is this a studio project only?
There isn’t that much happening as far as live shows that we are interested in are concerned. We believe black metal loses its’ character when played live so we avoid black metal shows. This is also reason Toska is studio project only.
7. What is your thoughts as a band with digital age of social media, downloads, bandcamp, SoundCloud and podcasts. Do you feel it allows to many bedroom musicians ?
It is undeniable that many great albums were released over last few years and digital age played it’s part in it. On the one hand, this contributes o abundance of music which makes it harder and harder to make music that stands out. On the other hand, this is only a good thing as it pushes individuals creatively to put effort into songwriting and create more interesting music. Also, tools to create music are constantly evolving and allow to experiment more which again, makes music more interesting. The main negative thing is that it’s hard to hear all the great music that is being released these days due to volume of music being put out.
8. Do the members of Toska have other projects as well or is Toska the main focus.
Yes, we are involved in other projects. Toska was main focus for us in the second half of last year and now some of us are focusing on other projects while writing for Toska full length at the same time. Once other projects have albums ready, Toska will become main focus again.
9. As you may have to answer this often but what does Toska mean and how does name play role in style of band?
We cite Vladimir Nabokov to explain the meaning:
"(Toska) is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause.(...) a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning".
This spiritual anguish echoes within us so we felt it’s a good match for overall atmosphere that we wanted to convey.
10. What music and books are influencing Toska currently?
We take inspiration mostly from extreme metal, no surprises here. In addition to that, classical music influences are making it into our songwriting but it’s a small addition rather than major influence. As far as writings are concerned we focus more on poetry rather than books. Again, there are too many authors to mention here.
11. I know you working on new material how does it differ from the ep? With next release we with Eihwaz as well.
New material will build on top of writing style we explored on the ep. We aim to include event more interesting twists and turns in order to make our music even more engaging. We focus on song dynamics and how material flows and connect to tell bigger story. It is shaping really well so far and we are excited to see where it will get us.
12. Does image still play a strong role in extreme underground music in 2016?
It certainly does, it still complements the music and it’s great to see that many put effort into enhancing their art to draw bigger picture. Unfortunately though, it feels like image became more important than music for some.
13. In 4 words how would you explain Toska's sound?
Violent, haunting, cold, majestic
14. Thank you for the time any closing thoughts here..
Many thanks for interest and putting effort into creating Absolute Zero Media.
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