Interview with Dormant Ordeal

Dormant Ordeal is a death metal band that simply shouldn't be missed. I stumbled upon them completely by chance last year, probably a few months after they released their latest album, Tooth and Nail, and I haven't stopped listening to them since. There's something about their music that ticks every box for me—they're phenomenal musicians, effortlessly balancing brutality with melody, darkness with atmosphere whenever the songs call for it. Their intelligent lyrics draw you even deeper into the experience. To top it all off, the phenomenal booklet, created by Morgan Sørensen, feels as though he completely understood the album's narrative and brought it to life visually, perfectly complementing the whole concept. It is my great pleasure to introduce Dormant Ordeal from Kraków, Poland.

Hello guys! What's been happening in the Dormant Ordeal camp lately?

Hello, thanks for having us. Our latest band-related adventure was playing at Into the Grave festival in The Netherlands. Good reception, awesome hospitality, also a chance to see Mastodon, The Gathering and many more. Other than that, we’re pretty much preoccupied with our daily lives right now.

When did the Dormant Ordeal story begin?

Dormant Ordeal, the project, started in 2005 when our former drummer, Radek Kowal, coined the name and recorded two demos on his own. Dormant Ordeal, the band, began its existence in 2008 when Maciej (vocals) and I joined. I took over songwriting duties, we played our first shows and somehow here we are almost 20 years later.

Your music often sounds like the soundtrack to existential collapse. Do your songs stem from personal experiences, or do you create a fictional world that serves as a mirror of reality?

To a degree, both. I mean there are autobiographical themes in my lyrics, I always liked to look outside to inside and draw from my own experience. However, I’m very much into creating fictional worlds, as you called it, that gives me the opportunity to make a setting, to try and describe my ideas in an interesting way.

Last year you released Tooth and Nail, a phenomenal death metal album of world-class caliber. In fact, that's how I discovered your band—the album came up completely by accident and I simply couldn't stop listening to it. It may sound like an exaggeration, but to me Tooth and Nail is one of the finest death metal albums of the past decade. How long did it take to create this monster and what was the creative process like?

We’re glad to see that each album exposes us to a larger audience, that more and more people listen to us, reach out and share their opinions. As for the creative process for Tooth and Nail, it’s a little hard to say how long it took exactly. It’s not that I can afford to simply write new songs anytime I wish to, life and work will always find a way to complicate things. Having said that, it took me about 18 months in total to write all the music and lyrics. It’s the first album without drummer Radek Kowal, so I pre-programmed the drums using a plugin, recorded guitars, bass and vocals at home and sent the preproduction files to session drummer Chason Westmoreland. A few months later we had final drums already recorded and we were ready to head into the studio to record our takes.

I'd love to hear the story behind the album's lyrics. At times they feel direct, at times confrontational, and at times deeply introspective. What lies beneath Tooth and Nail?

The overall theme of the album is fight in many of its aspects. And so we have direct Orphans, confrontational Halo of Bones and deeply introspective indeed Everything That isn’t Silence is Trivial. One can struggle in a search for meaning in this cold and ruthless cosmic space, as well as fight for his own sanity and try to overcome depression. Having a general idea that binds all songs together is helpful and inspiring.

How much effort and meaning you put in your lyrics, compared to the music? Do you think that the lyrics are equally important as the music?

I put a whole lot of effort into lyrics, but they’ll never be as important as the music. I mean, we’re a band, not a poetry club, after all. It’s important for us to have a product that is thoroughly thought-out; everything is important, be it artwork, band photos, lyrics, however it all exists as an addition to the music.

Your lyrics leave plenty of room for interpretation. Do you deliberately avoid delivering clear-cut messages because you believe that art should raise questions rather than provide answers?

What I like about other bands’ lyrics is when they don’t explain them. The best ones are those that make me think, that I may not really understand, but that are written interestingly enough to provoke me into having my own interpretation. I heard someone say that what a fan thinks a song is about, that’s what the song is about - and I really like that. I really don’t mind if someone misreads my intentions, especially if it makes them feel something on their own.

At a time when many extreme metal bands seem increasingly focused on technical virtuosity, do you think death metal is gradually sacrificing emotional weight in favor of flawless execution?

I think the more diversity, the better. I always had a wide interest in music, but in recent years I opened up to certain genres even more and found greater respect for bands like Archspire, Beneath the Massacre, The Zenith Passage or Psycroptic. I’m all in if they decide to continue to play million notes before the chorus even kicks in, they do it in the best way possible. Then again, if I feel like putting some emotional weight into my ears, I can listen to Hath or, maybe not exactly death metal, but still extreme to a degree, Gaerea. As for the Dormant, being overly technical wasn’t ever my goal, it’s just a means to an end and that end would be the best music I’m able to create in a given moment. And to be honest, I’m not that good as a guitar player, anyway.

Today, music is often consumed through short videos and algorithms. Is it still possible for an album that demands the listener's full attention to have the same impact it could have a few decades ago?

Look, I’m not young, I took my musical education in the ‘90s, I grew up in a small town where new music required 200 kilometers round trip just to get a new cassette or a CD. Back then I studied every inch of any album I was able to get my hands on, memorized lyrics, read thank-you's, tried to learn the songs on a guitar, so I’m an album guy for life. I still believe the album of eight songs can make a greater impact than eight standalone singles. I’m obviously aware today’s music model has changed or is at least changing, perhaps we’ll see more and more bands switching to singles and EPs just to stay relevant. I doubt that will ever be the case for us, though.

Your music carries a constant sense of tension and inevitability. As human beings, what frightens you the most—your own mortality, collective collapse, or something completely different?

I’m a simple man, so like any other person I’m afraid of losing my close ones, my health, my sources of income. I’d prefer not to see real war here in Poland, luckily the only country that actually threatened us in recent times is currently facing significant problems on their own and hopefully it’ll stay this way. Frankly, I haven’t ever thought that these things might translate to music, but who knows.

Over the past decade, the far right has been gaining ground across much of the world. Wars and conflicts are, unfortunately, nothing new to humanity, but do you think the global rise of the far right has further intensified the situation?

Damn politicians ruin everything. They feed off creating a divide among people. The current political climate in Poland is ridiculous, they’ll do anything to not let the other side look good in the eyes of the public, but truth be told, I have an equal problem with both the far right and left. Mostly with people who aspire to become walking definitions, the “I decide to identify with X, so I should behave like X” approach, no questions asked, no reflection. Well, maybe this is the answer to the previous question - what frightens me the most these days might be being surrounded by dangerous and stupid people. Extremity suits the music, not societies.

Authenticity is a recurring topic in extreme metal. In your opinion, what poses the greater threat to the scene today—commercialization or the endless recycling of already established formulas?

I don’t mind commercialization, if it stays within the right context. I doubt if anyone with a dose of critical thinking considers so called big league players the most honest and genuine bands around. Every band that at some point finds an entrance to the mainstream, loses some credibility in exchange for success, or at least a promise of success. And that’s ok, these bands are there for a reason. So I’d side with the latter - recycling the old ideas is where creativity suffers and that’s really unfortunate.

How difficult is it today to create music with lasting impact when audiences seem almost completely desensitized to every kind of content, both musically and lyrically? The world is overflowing with sources of inspiration—wars, genocide, extreme wealth, extreme poverty, climate change, and so much more. Yet it often feels as though a large part of society has become emotionally numb to all of it. Does that mean musicians should also give up, or even change the way they express themselves, or do you believe the struggle should never stop?

The truth is, I appreciate when someone devotes their time to listen to what we have to say, but when I’m writing I don’t really care if anyone cares. I do it because it makes me a better person, it validates me in my own eyes, helps me stay focused and inspired. Whether or not the music created this way will have any impact is a completely different story. Anyone can join us for a ride, but feel free to depart at any moment if it makes you feel overwhelmed, or underwhelmed, for that matter. To answer your question, you should never give up if you feel it is not the right time to give up. I don’t want to sound like a motivational speaker, but staying true to yourself might be the best decision you can ever make.

If you had to reduce your entire discography to a single idea or question that you would like listeners to ask themselves, what would it be?

Tough question. I’d like to think we’re something more than a single idea, but for the sake of this interview: we’re all complex creatures, but everything that isn’t silence is trivial.

Let's go back to Tooth and Nail. I'm particularly interested in its visual identity. The cover artwork is outstanding. Who created it, and what is the visual concept behind the booklet? Is the artwork an extension of the themes explored in the lyrics, or does it tell its own independent story?

I don’t exactly remember what came first, the idea or the artist. I think I came up with the concept first, then started looking for someone with a distinct style to bring it to life. I wanted an ambiguous depiction of violence and affection, a symbolic take on unspeakable struggle. That’s why they’re both dancing and fighting, loving and hurting. If you wish to know where the inspiration came from, look up Zofia Stryjenska’s Mazur. Tooth and Nail album cover is our twisted homage to this classic. I’ve found an incredible artist, See Machine, with a portfolio as fresh as it is disturbing, whose style I deeply admire. Our cooperation was productive and pretty smooth. We’re very happy with the final result.

Although it may be too early to talk about a new album, have you already started working on new material? If so, what direction do you see it taking?

I’d love to finally sit down and write a few new songs, but my health situation is a little complicated these days. For over a year I've battled severe muscle inflammation that reduced my right arm mobility by at least 50 percent. It makes it very hard to play guitar at all. I have some riffs, some song ideas floating, lyrical concepts, but nothing will really happen until I fix my arm. Right now I’m deconstructing the pain with my physiotherapist and it hurts like hell.

One thing that stands out to me is that Dormant Ordeal seems to draw from many influences outside of metal. Am I right? What kind of musical inspiration do you take from genres beyond metal?

That’s correct. Death metal dominated my teenage years and helped me become the person I am today. That’s why I find it the most natural to speak the death metal language, however, these days the inspiration comes from everywhere. Besides various branches of metal, I always enjoyed ambient music, IDM, less commercialized EBM, I’m very fond of classical music, too. And on top of that, just recently I opened up to hip hop, some of those artists have incredible ability of creating loops that have just the perfect flow.

If you could erase one dogma from contemporary death metal—whether musical, production-related, or ideological—what would it be, and why

I cannot think of at least one dogma that makes things worse. There’s so many bands stuck in the past as well as those who break every rule there is and I think it’s beautiful.

If people stopped talking about Dormant Ordeal as a band and instead started talking about the ideas behind your music, would you consider that a success? To be honest, some of your lyrics strike me as poetry that just happens to have been turned into songs.

Thanks, but… This band is supposed to be a creative outlet and music is the essential part. As I said earlier, everything’s important, but it all exists because at one point I wrote some riffs. I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed the lyrics, though. It makes me happy when people care about the big picture.

It seems to me that over the past decade—or perhaps even longer, although I haven't followed it closely enough—the Polish metal scene has experienced tremendous growth. What do you think is driving this expansion?

I’d rather not answer this question, because to be completely honest, I don’t follow the Polish scene, either. Some of its features make me not interested in it and if I'm missing out on something great, I can live with that.

Finally, I'd just like to congratulate you on an outstanding album and thank you for creating the record that introduced me to Dormant Ordeal! If there's anything I didn't ask that you'd like to talk about, the floor is yours.

If you’re looking for black-ish non-technical mostly-death metal, check out Tooth and Nail. Thanks so much for having us!