The Gardnerz- It All Fades

The Gardnerz are back for their follow-up to The System of Nature. An album I reviewed with much praise. This time around the release is in EP format. Fortunately for all of you fans it still clocks in at a healthy 35 minutes. It is clear when listening to It All Fades that The Gardnerz are no "one trick pony". These guys all have chops with both their instruments and writing abilities.

As mentioned in my previous review for the band's full-length, for a melodic death metal band these guys sure know how to churn out some kick-ass riffs. It All Fades is no different. If anything this aspect of the band has grown. Every single riff on this release sticks with you immediately after hearing it. I also see some influence of Death possibly leaking through in some of the playing here. One of the best moments on this thing would have to be when the opening track "Don't Look Back" slows down and goes into some clean vocals. This moment just builds and builds until eventually we break back into the fast paced riffing featured at the beginning of the track.

Each track on this release is really like a journey. The EP is almost impossible to not listen to as a whole. It all comes together very nicely and flows with a vast amount of perfection. Not one track here is skippable. It seems as though the clean moments heard on The System of Nature have been added a bit more often on this EP. That being said the heavy moments have gotten much more intense and I really believe the band has found the perfect balance of all of their elements on this release.

While I hate to dedicate an entire paragraph to a cover song I really think the cover on here deserves it. The Gardnerz rendition of the Darkthrone classic Transilvanian Hunger is simply astounding. The track features beautiful female vocals throughout, not a single harsh vocal is used. The instrumental has a very clean, full sound going for it. It is amazing how The Gardnerz completely changed the overall sound of the song, but even with that fact, this very clean, beautiful version of the song still manages to hold the same atmosphere of the Darkthrone track. It's an amazing feat and a very mind-blowing listen. When I first saw the tracklist I was worried about how this would come out. Upon listening that worry is completely gone and this has become my favorite track on the album, and possibly my favorite cover song of all time.

Overall It All Fades is an amazing effort from The Gardnerz. I thought The System of Nature would be an extremely hard release to follow-up, but they really outdid themselves with this one. Needless to say if you are a fan of the previous album pick this up. Also highly recommended to fans of death/doom metal. This release is truly the definition of what I want out of a release of this nature and it is very good to see The Gardnerz always taking steps in the right direction.

Interview with Wilhelm Lindh (The Gardnerz)

The Gardnerz just recently had their debut full-length The System of Nature released via Abyss Records. The album definitely makes The Gardnerz a standout act in a style that is all too often filled with dull, uninspired music. Here we talk to guitarist Wilhem Lindh about the album, the history of the band, and what the future holds.

 Foul Feast: Tell us a little about how The Gardnerz came about.

Wilhelm Lindh: It all started in the summer of 2008 when I came home from a stint in Florida where I had been studying for a semester. Since I had not played guitar seriously for six months, I had to get the poison out. I got in contact with and old girlfriend about starting a band playing something similar to old katatonia but with a more death metal touch. The idea was to have female vocals but that didn't pan out. And after searching for about a year for another female vocalist I gave up that idea and went with a dude. And since then I have had some different members. But since I joined forces with Francisco Martín on bass and Niclas Ankarbranth on vocals I have had a solid foundation. The drummer situation has been the tricky part, on the system of nature Joan Pablo Donoso played session drums and now we are working with Vedran Bencic as our new drummer.

FF: I'm sure you get this often, but what is the meaning behind the band name?

Wilhelm Lindh: You are correct, that question arises often, but that is sort of the point. The main idea came from pre Socratic philosopher Epicurus, who talked about how all you need to be happy in life is a garden, some good friends and simple food. He also talked about how it is virtue to live a simple life. He was a very interesting guy. So from him I got "The Gardeners", but I thought that sounded a bit prententious and also there were many bands with that name. And also if you googled it you got something like 9 million hits. So I dropped on e and changed the s for a z for good measure. We have gotten a lot of shit for the z but I like it, it is a reminder that you shouldn't take everything to seriously. I guess I should point out that the z is taken from Swedish dance music, think mellow country music with really cheesy lyrics. In those bands it is commonplace to replace the s with a z.  Take a listen to this kick ass band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGGum5OP_zo&feature=related!

FF: The album was mixed by Dan Swanö, how did you guys get into contact with him?

Wilhelm Lindh: Actually the album was mastered by Mr. Swanö. our bass player Francisco had been in contact with him for some reason that I don't remember but he had asked if it would be possible for him to master the album, and he said yes. So I emailed him and set it up. I must say that it was a real pleasure to work with him, he did it really fast and the result was killer.  

FF: When did writing for The System of Nature begin?

Wilhelm Lindh: It started in the summer of 2008, that was how I started the band, just writing songs. My idea was to do a demo in the fall of 2008, but since I didn't have the members I just kept writing. When Francisco joined the band he insisted that we should do a full length album instead of a demo. So that is what we did.  

FF: Did the writing process seem to flow naturally?

Wilhelm Lindh: Yeah I think so, with this band my idea was to do whatever came to my mind. Since I have always felt a bit limited in my previous bands, having had members who not wanted to do the same thing as I or had the ability to play some of my riffs. So just having myself in the band while I wrote most of these songs, I could do precisely what I wanted. And I wrote a few riffs to as exercises, writing stuff I couldn't play so I had to practice and get better. And now with the guys I have in the band I can continue doing it since I know that they can handle whatever I throw at them.

FF: How did your deal with Abyss Records come about?

Wilhelm Lindh: Dan from Abyss records wrote me after finding us on myspace. We were talking with him and another label and we decided to go with Abyss since they had better distros and such. Dan is a really great guy as well so I'm glad we went with Abyss.

FF: The sound displayed on your debut manages to maintain an aggressive feel that is typically lost when blending death metal with doom. Was this something you set out to do or did it just come naturally?

Wilhelm Lindh: Well as I wrote earlier the idea was to mix our style with female vocals, since in my mind most metal bands that have a female as a vocalist have a tendency to be really polished and kind of lame (as for most music these days). I felt that I wanted to do something dirtier, and when I had to give up that idea and go with a male vocalist (not that I'm disappointed about it, Nicke is a amazing singer and a great dude) I just kept it the same way. So Answer your question I would say it was a natural thing.

FF: What influences you most musically?

Wilhelm Lindh: As for bands the top bands are Katatonia, Bolt Thrower, Acheron, Broken Hope, Death, old Nile. I wanted to do slow and heavy stuff but to try to not do it the same as most people do it, you know a few slow power chords and the just riding those chords. I like allot of brutal bands but I have always prefer when the drumming is more down tempo. So I wanted to have some fast riffs but with a more groove oriented and doomy tempo on the drums.

FF: re there any reoccuring lyrical themes on the album?

Wilhelm Lindh: There are a few songs that are antireligious, and the rest are me venting various things that annoy me or that I think should be more talked about. We have songs about: our consumption crazed society, Sweden's sordid part in the field of racial biology, tabloid journalism.

FF: Do all of the members of The Gardnerz have previous experience in metal bands?

Wilhelm Lindh: Yes we have all played in a few metal bands, we are in or have been in Toxodeth, Tristitia, Kanatran, Vandöd, Pandemonium, Insomnis, Savage Harmony. There are more to mention, but my memory lets me down.

FF: Are there any tracks on The System of Nature that stick out to you the most?

Wilhelm Lindh: The first one I wrote was The art of suffering, so that one for sure, I also really like how that one came together, I think everyone added some killer stuff to it. Maybe it's time also turned out really good, good mix of harmony and brutality. Confusion as well, I really like the vocals on that one, and my clean guitar solo is one of my highlights.

FF: How has the album been recieved thus far?

Wilhelm Lindh: It has mainly gotten good responses, allot of people has given it really good feedback. And since we have got it officially released is a big pat on the back for me.  

FF: Do you guys gig often?

Wilhelm Lindh: We have never played live with this band. Since we didn't have a drummer for a long time we couldn't play live. But now when we have Vedran we are trying to set up some shows, but that is not the easiest thing to do. But hopefully we will do some shows next year.

FF: Has there been any thought put into the next release yet?

Wilhelm Lindh: Yes we are planning to put out a ep next year, we have ten songs written but we thought it would be better to do an ep. And the new songs are keeping with the same style as for the system, some might be bit slower and longer but, if you liked the system you will like the new songs as well.

FF: Any final thoughts?

Wilhelm Lindh: Thanks for this interview! And for those of you who haven't heard us head over to www.thegardnerz.com were you can listen to the entire album.
Cheers
Wilhelm

The Gardnerz- The System of Nature

The Gardnerz is a four piece death/doom band from Sweden. All four members have pretty solid backgrounds in the extreme metal scene. The group formed back in 2008 but this marks their first release together. The first thing about The Gardnerz that will grab your attention is their ability to incorporate doom elements but still pack a mean death metal bite. Many bands playing death/doom these days lose that impact and most of the time it makes for a dull, uninspired sounding record. Luckily that isn't the case on The System of Nature. This clocks in at one hour and has you on the edge of your seat for every second of it. Not a dull moment is in attendance, even with the lengthy playtime it still manages to leave you wanting more.

The sheer amount of amazing riffs on this release is astounding to say the least. Enchanting melodies are abundant and hard hitting riffs run rampant on every track. Tracks change direction out of the blue in a very cohesive manner making for an absolutely enthralling listen. The writing is very strong throughout and the structures vary a great deal, rather than just switching things up the same way every track in a desperate attempt to sound "edgy". Occasional "softer" moments like the intro to "Incident" really do an excellent job at spicing up the flow of the album. Said clean moments mesh with the distortion quite nicely, and during the few moments where the two clash amazing things occur (see "Confusion").

The vocal approach used on this album is much more menacing than what you'd normally hear from the average death/doom band. Ranging from gutturals to sinister screams there is a decent enough variety to keep things interesting. The production is very polished and even. On most occasions squeaky clean production bugs me but on The System of Nature it fits the sound like a glove. Having a big name like Dan Swanö handling the mastering on the album certainly isn't a con either.

Overall The Gardnerz are playing a brand of death/doom that will even appeal to those who aren't typically fans of the genre. The System of Nature is an extremely successful debut. In fact, it is possibly the best debut of the year. There is an endless amount of memorable moments to be found here and the replay value is beyond through the roof. Sure to be found somewhere on most top 20 of 2011 lists this is certainly an album you're not going to want to miss. The Gardnerz has definitely set the bar high, it will be interesting to see what their next move will be. Get.