Metal and Beyond

Leonhard Waltersdorfer began writing songs under the moniker of Araxas for the first demo Dunkelheit in the spring of 2009 when he was just 15. One of his basic goals was to combine Black Metal with orchestral music. I was very impressed with his demos when a friend recommended it to me last year and was eagerly looking forward to conducting an interview with him on his musical journey so far.



XD: Hello Leonhard, it's great having you here on Metal and Beyond. As a big fan of the Depressive Black Metal (DBM) sub-genre, I appreciate your great contribution towards this type of music. To start off things, how did you manage to churn out 5 demo tapes in the space of 2 years at such a young age?
LW: Well, when I started to play the guitar I also got educated at recording. So I tried some crappy melodic death metal stuff first. But I have always liked orchestral music (I’ve been playing in some orchestras) very much and thus I wanted to combine black metal with orchestral music. Later, the demo Dunkelheit was the result of my earlier recordings.


XD: Who are your greatest influences?
LW : I wouldn’t say that I have a lot of influences. During Dunkelheit, it was (of course) romantic orchestral pieces, and on the later demos I don’t really have any influences. I like the instrumental parts from the band, Shining very much, but I think that’s it. At the moment I’m writing some orchestral stuff again, but it's a lot more cinematic, so I would say my influences now are soundtrack composers like John Williams and Hans Zimmer.


XD: Apart from your own music, do you listen to a lot of other DBM artists?
LW: When I changed my music to depressive black metal I used to a lot of DBM bands. But now I hardly ever do. At the moment I like piano artists like Ludovico Einaudio or Yiruma. I also like soundtracks very much (John Williams, Hans Zimmer, James Horner, Howard Shore, etc.). And I also like Jazz and Funk a lot.


XD: A one-man band has its pros and cons. On one hand, you get the creative freedom to express yourself in the way you want to. But, it's also difficult to tour without any band members. How do you manage this?
LW: Araxas was never planned to be a live band. When I started Araxas, it was a pastime for me. But it turned out that people liked it, so I continued recording. Of course I like the freedom to write whatever I want and whenever I want to write it.



XD: Why did you shift from Symphonic black metal to the depressive stuff after Dunkelheit?
LW: I used to listen to a lot of DBM before I changed my music. But there are so many crappy bands and just a few who are listenable, but none of them really combine epic music with DBM. I mean, I love epic music (soundtracks, symphonic metal) and I thought it would be great to create something that combines DBM with that. Suicide of my Mind and Das Ende der Gezeiten were not as epic I wanted them to be, but with Umarmung des Nebels I really hit the point I wanted to get to. It has epic melodies, clean and quiet guitars and of course that strong distorted guitar sound that is needed in this genre.


XD: Do you plan on releasing a full length album or an EP anytime soon?
LW: Just a few days ago a label from Vienna asked me if I wanted to release a CD. At the moment there is nothing really planned, but I think it would be great to do a remake of Dunkelheit, which does not have the best sound quality and production on the original demo. I could make a 2 disk set, with some songs from Dunkelheit and perhaps some new songs in that style on the first CD, and on the second disk I could put the cinematic songs I write.


Q: Which is your favourite demo out of the five you've released so far? Mine is Suicide of My Mind.
A: I switch very often between Dunkelheit and Umarmung des Nebels as my favourite demo. But at the moment I would say it is Dunkelheit. But I got very positive responses on the song Suicide of my Mind from the same titled album, I also like this demo.


Thanks a lot for taking the time for this interview. It was great talking to you and knowing about your insight on orchestral and Depressive black metal. Here's wishing you the best in all of your future endeavours and hoping for a great debut album soon.


Araxas on Myspace
Araxas on Last.fm