Plaguebreeder -" A true celebration of symphonic black death metal"

Sparky
1 day ago
7 min read

‘’Invocation of Lilith’’ epitomises Plaguebreeder in 2026. The first single in six years now sees band as a three-piece herald in a new era that has expanded and diversified into a malevolent creation that is pure unrelenting symphonic black metal. Furious aggression tempered by large epic soundscapes that immediately capture the new purpose and vision. The debut album will be Black Death Symphony. And it reflects the new era of Plaguebreeder.

Seiran: ‘’When we parted ways with our guitarist Mr Bleedy, I realised we are one element short melodically. I was writing I Believe in Misanthropy at the time and suddenly a thought came to mind that I’d add staccato strings to the beginning of the song. I had worked orchestral stuff before with my other projects, so it was familiar to me. It sounded so good I decided to add them everywhere. First Kalmisto and Klaath (drummer and guitarist) were hesitant but then they heard the demo and just said “Fuck, let’s do this!” And so, it came natural part of our music.

Klaath: ‘’As the band has been long with two guitars, adding orchestras was eventually easy step for us once we noticed it worked well for replacing all the lost guitar leads or rhythms from old songs and it gave wide toolbox to work with new material.

How would you describe it?

Seiran:’’ We were 4-and-5-person band for quite a long time and then we were suddenly a trio. When things change dramatically, there’s always a certain amount of despair and confusion, but there’s also a lot of new discoveries and self-assessment. What I mean personally, is that I had to rediscover myself as a song writer and take much bigger responsibility in creating melodies and moods of the songs. This gave me much more opportunities to express myself trough music. You can see this development quite well on our next releases.

The creation of the invocation of Lilith?

Seiran:’ I remember I was super pissed off one day. Maybe because of work or just to myself (as usual). You can actually see this in the lyrics... But I just needed to play some fast simple riffs as fast and loud as I could. The first 3 riffs were created like that. After some days I listened what the hell I had done and noticed that there’s something that actually works. We played it together few times and it turned out to be so fun and groovy to play we decided to make it a decent song.

Klaath: ‘’Usually Seiran gives us some song ideas or demos and plays them to me and Kalmisto. We then play it on rehearsals and then decide is it worthy for further development. This time it was instant hit I remember. I usually heavily modify or swap some riffs and structures and Kalmisto plays the killer artillery blast beats and drums on his own style, but overall, each song ends up being original entity with hand mark of each player eventually.

Seiran:’’ After composing the orchestras, we knew it will be a killer track. Especially the horns in the first riff were something we fell in love with. I was a bit hesitant, and thought is it too much like Serpentine Offering by Dimmu Borgir, but when I compared the tracks, I realised they are quite different.

It is heavier more elaborate than previous Plaguebreeder?

Seiran: I think it’s a natural continuation to what we did in Annihilation EP. Fast, groovy, epic, and vicious. Lilith is actually quite simple song though the orchestras are planned better than before.

The influence of HP Lovecraft both lyrically and musically.

Seiran:’’ Lovecraft has a special place in my heart. I’ve red probably everything he has written and seen lots of movies etc. over the years since school. But it goes beyond that.

‘’I had a colossal writer’s block after we released Annihilation. It lasted years. I’m the kind of person who needs a “frame” when creating art and it was suddenly gone completely. I didn’t know what to do with Plaguebreeder at all. Maybe creating Annihilation took so big piece of me idk... I kept asking myself what is the art of Plaguebreeder musically and lyrically now and in the future. It was quite horrible to lose my focus like that... I discussed this with Klaath, and he suggested I should read some of Lovecraft’s work if it helps to find inspiration. And it did.

Klaath: ‘’As a long-time fan of Lovecraft’s works, I was enthralled of the idea to absorb influences for lyrics from the Lovecraftian universe. Idea is not to directly reference to it but to use the themes, atmosphere and ideas and reflect those to modern day. Who could not love some cosmic tentacle horror and a dash of primal ooze.

Seiran:’’ I remembered that I had made Tentacles of Madness to our demo Loath already in 2012 or something and that song was heavily inspired by Lovecraft. So, I kind of found Plaguebreeder’s roots again and got my frame back. That in mind, I read a lot of stuff and reflected it to the music and lyrics. For our upcoming debut album Black Death Symphony, there’s at least 3 songs that are directly inspired by Lovecraft.

‘’For the song, The Last Raven Circle I had always At the Mountains of Madness novella in my mind. Icy mountains, vast plains, and weird, epic constructions. Tentaclean Majesty, that mad track will be our second single from the album, is inspired by madness and cosmic horrors. Finally, Klaath wrote a complete song…

Klaath:’’ I made one song in Plaguebreeder in mind and actually wrote some lyrics to it (which I usually don’t do). I explained the concept and the adaptation of the Outsider short story to modern world and she loved the idea. Seiran reworked the lyrics and adapted them to the song, and I think it worked like a charm. It is quite long, brutal, and beautiful track so to speak…

Seiran: ‘’I named that one as Eldritch Screams. For that one specially I poured my own “outsider” feelings and thoughts to the lyrics, and it turned out to be quite a massive and personal song.

The debut album, Black Death Symphony when, and what can we expect of it?

Seiran:’’ Since we are releasing it ourselves, we are planning to release it after Summer 2026. Maybe August-September. Date is not set that accurately yet.

Klaath: ‘’We will drop some singles first and promote it ourselves. Then try to catch some attention of worthy labels or distributors.

‘’The album is versatile, fast, epic, and vicious – a true celebration of symphonic black death metal. I composed it over a long period of time and got good feedback from the guys, so it’s very thought trough. It’s the best work we have done so far lyrically, mood wise, sound wise - thanks to Mirko Byman’s amazing mix and Mika Jussila’s kick ass mastering - and as a whole it sounds and feels like Plaguebreeder in 2026.

‘’There will be an interesting collaboration on one track with a Finnish black metal legend band too. It will be weird and totally unexpected, unique probably in the history of extreme metal. But I’m not revealing too much yet, but I can promise you guys that it worth the wait.

Conceptual in nature?

Seiran: ‘’Lyrics wise speaking with Annihilation, I had War as the connecting theme between songs. For Black Death Symphony I thought about Plague in different forms and ideas. Besides the mentioned H.P. Lovecraft influences, there’s a lot’s of references to the darker side of human mind. Kinda like what is plaguing the minds and behaviours of individuals and humankind as whole. So, it’s not a concept album but there’s one theme carrying throughout the album.

How do you define horror?

Seiran:’’ Existential horror is something I’ve battled against most of my adulthood. Why I exist, why I carry on, what’s the point of life itself... It’s a devastating foe but it can also reveal quite a lot of yourself in the long run. True horror can show you what is important to you and what is worth fighting for.

Your own personal transformation? It's importance to yourself and your music.

Seiran: ‘’As someone who was born in the 1980’s in a small town in Finland, I had lived so many years in terror what happens when I come out the closet as a transwoman. Especially this time we are living right now... But I was so surprised when I came out a year ago of the positive feedback and support, I got from the fans and extreme metal scene in general. Sure, I have got my fair share of death threats, despise and hatred but that doesn’t stop me. It’s so much more liberating to create music as my whole self. I feel that all the boundaries are broken and I am finally free to create music without any extra bullshit dragging me down. I didn’t even know they existed but now when they are gone, it’s obvious.

‘’My transformation had inspired lyrics in the past quite a bit. For example, all of the Loath demo’s lyrics circle around the subject. Did I know it that well back then? Not clearly but I knew something was going on and tormenting me. Some nasty demons eating me alive from withing… and that experience is a good fuel for metal lyrics, I guess.

What was the inspiration to create this style of music?

Seiran: ‘’To me, it always comes from fun. It’s just fun to play fast, dark, and epic music. The best riffs and songs I’ve made are the ones I first thought that they are so ridiculous that they make you laugh at the rehearsal place. When we play them, I get the feeling of “fuck yesssss.” And if there’s not that feeling, the song or riff gets discarded. Same goes with the lyrics.

Klaath: ‘’Over the top fast black and death metal with some self-irony is the best link between work-life balance.

future plans?

Seiran: We have few good gigs coming up and always looking for more. A lot of time goes now into promoting our next singles and album. Also, I’m making a lyric video for Invocation of Lilith. After the release of the Black Death Symphony, I’ll start working on new material more intensively. Some tracks are already done but I’m eager to write new music.

Top 6 albums of all time

Seiran:

Mörk Gryning – Tusen År har Gott

Immortal – Battles in the North

Dimmu Borgir – Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

Mortiis – Smell of Rain

Anaal Nathrakh – The Codex Necro

Marduk – Panzer Division Marduk

Klaath (Black metal edition):

Dissection – Storm Of The Lights Bane

Enslaved – Frost

Satyricon – Nemesis Divina