Windswept - ''Everything we do is rooted in this esoteric darkness
- Sparky
- 7 minutes ago
- 5 min read
‘’Couple years ago, Steve (our drummer) got in contact with me and asked if I wanted to do vocals in a black metal band, then slowly he started to weave together the lineup that we've got today. We're all from different musical backgrounds, scenes and have varying levels of experience playing live, so we each bring something special to Windswept.
Rachel (Vocals) is the force of nature out front for New Zealand's Windswept. Their live shows are a visceral display of madness that is black metal infused chaos. It is real, tangible authentic darkness that consumes everyone and everything it touches. You can don’t just hear their music, you feel it and on May 29 the rest of the world gets its chance as well. Raw seething music that is immediate. ’Howling in Baptismal Filth” is a debut unlike no other.
‘’The title represents to me a personal anecdote of being baptised as a child. As I got older distancing myself from organised religion and feeling like I was branded with this label that I had no say over. I was thinking a lot about the same font that I was baptised in, instead of being filled with holy water, being filled with rotted, mossy sludge and emerging from that into some sort of screeching devilish congregation.
Is it unrelenting black metal? Cold and Furious?
‘’I think it's about balance, cold and furious, yes, but we do also have parts of this record which are more melodic, allowing breaks from aural abuse. Overall, it does have an aggressive feel to it, which makes it feel like a call to war, but the melodic parts allow for more sombre reflection.
The inspiration for cenote and its bottomless pit?
‘’I wrote Cenote and re-wrote the lyrics during a mentally pretty dark time. A cenote is a natural reservoir, and has mythological significance for the Mayas, they called them dzonot, being like an entryway into the underworld. In its most basic form, the song is about self-destruction and drowning in a web of lies, or in this case a cenote, on your way to the underworld.
Does it reflect the chaos of your live shows?
‘’Since it's one of the first songs we wrote, we were still figuring out our edge, or the "Windswept sound". As we went on writing, our later songs I felt captured that chaos a little bit more as we got more comfortable with each other and how we play together.
The power of Black metal and how you were drawn to it?
‘’Coming into Windswept, I wasn't really listening to much black metal at the time aside from war metal bands like revenge, tetragrammacide, abysmal lord etc, it just didn't really speak to me as much as it did when I was younger. However, in the last year I've felt more drawn to it again as we progressed. Bands like Dodsrit, Sunken, Niden Div. 187 and Totalselfhatred were the ones that captured my ear again. I've had the track "Enlightment" by totalselfhatred on repeat for months. Those bands have a much bigger focus on creating beautifully miserable cold sounding atmospheres, which is in complete contradiction to war metal. I'm personally a massive fan of ambient/drone music, so I'm really loving albums/bands that I can just let consume me in overwhelming emotion.
Does Windswept revel in the darkness?
‘’100%. I think everything we do is rooted in this esoteric darkness that we are the masters of.
Not something to be feared, but an important creative outlet?
‘’If I didn't have this outlet, I think I'd go insane. Windswept, and who I am when I perform with them allows me to "act" out everything I've ever wanted to do with music. I'm not a musician like the others in the band, they're all incredibly talented at their instruments, and I'm in awe of them constantly. So, while I can't understand and see music the way they do, I feel it in my own sort of way and that feeling is why and how I perform/write the way I do.
Hope vs despair? And the transformation of the individual through experience?
‘’One cannot exist without the other, how will you know what hope feels like if not drowning in complete despair? I'm someone who's lived in complete states of despair and hopelessness, and found comfort in that, because it's easy to stay there. Once you know what your ultimate rock bottom is through horrible experiences and pain, the drive to claw yourself out becomes clearer, just depends if you're ready to get the dirt under your fingernails in the process.
Do you define extreme music as how much one puts themselves into their art honestly and fearlessly?
‘’YES. I've said this 1000s of times, but I think it's really easy to get up on a stage and scream about death and destruction in a black stained niche local band shirt (which I have done countless times). This is an extreme genre, and what makes it unpalatable but yet interesting to an unfamiliar audience, is when you give yourself over completely to the artistic side of the genre, that's where I've found most freedom. Even when I am playing live, it is a character, like some sort of Goddess of War and destruction. That character still comes from a deeply insecure part of me that I wish I could be more often. That's as honest as it gets in my opinion.
The goal of the Windswept?
‘’I don't think we really have a straightforward goal, but for any band from NZ, the goal I think is to have a solid string of good albums and play internationally. Personally, for the next album and subsequent performances, I really want to see how far I can push my own on stage antics and vocal ability. The more uncomfortable I am performing, the more grossed out the audience will be. A lot of the lyrics I write are angry, and require that emotion to be completely embodied, however, I think the good thing about black metal is that it can encompass so many different emotions, and it's my job as "vocalist/frontwoman" to be the physical manifestation of those emotions; whether that be grief, sorrow, aggression or bliss.
Final thoughts? Upcoming Shows?
Our next show is our release show at Over the hill records; I'm super stoked to be playing their first show and supporting my mate Kurt as well. OTH is the only record store of its kind in Wellington and caters to us with more niche taste. I think OTH is going to be a real cornerstone of the Wellington heavy music scene. Thanks for the opportunity, and hope you get to revel in 'Howling in baptismal filth"
Top 6 favourite albums of all time?
S/T - Meth Drinker
Peace can't combine - Abraham Cross
Into The Silence Of Eternal Sorrow - Hibernation
Escalator - Sam Gopal
S/T - Tristwch y Fenywod
Dopethrone - Electric Wizard
Howling in Baptismal Filth, release May 29 via Northern Void Records
Comments