Kozoria back in force with an album entitled "The Source"

The debut album from Paris-based Kozoria will be released on 11 October by Black Lion Records. I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of this nine-track gem, entitled “The Source”. Spoiler alert: it’s insane! Three tracks are already available: “Division” and “Reborn” with their respective music videos, and “Demonize Them” with a live session (links to the videos are available in the article below).

You can already reserve your copy of “The Source” by following this link. And you’re also strongly advised to get your ticket for the release party, which takes place on 11 October at O’Sullivans Backstage By The Mill in Paris (tickets here).

So I thought I’d dig a little deeper and find out a bit more about the “backstage” of this album by going to “The Source” to get some information. Interview with Julien PERDEREAU (singer-guitarist), Kevin DELCOURT (guitarist), Bertrand JANICOT (bassist) and Pierre GELINOTTE (drummer).

It’s almost hard to believe. We’ve been working hard on it for several years, and it’s a long, tiring road. Imagine a pregnancy lasting 4 years: all you want to do is give birth and present your baby to the whole world!
So in one word: we are IMPATIENT.

Wow, “Le Barde Atomique” has already been around for 10 years… ! In reality, it’s been a gradual evolution in terms of composition. Everyone’s musical cultures have grown and intertwined, tastes have matured, experience has grown… all these factors have helped us get to where we are today. The only real breakthrough came when Julien tried to integrate choirs into the songs: Pandora’s box had been opened. There was no stopping us after that!

As for the line-up, Julien had been working hard for years to integrate Kevin into the band, and it finally paid off! In fact, his arrival and that of Pierre enabled us to lock in a more technically solid line-up.

“The Source” is a very romantic metal album: each riff, each arrangement for each track is at the service of a particular emotion, a particular colour. Trying, of course, to be more subtle than “angry riff = angry”.
It’s like a collection of contemporary tales where each track has its own universe. It’s about the anxieties of human beings, their emotions, their inner struggles. In “Division”, for example, we imagine an apocalyptic context in which a believer questions his faith. In “Pandora’s Box” we take the well-known Greek myth of the same name to illustrate the mechanisms of traumatic memory. To sum up, some of the tracks are based on autobiographical accounts, while others are more exercises in thought and fiction.
We worked pretty much on our own for this album, with Julien and Kevin working in tandem on the production. Julien took care of the recording and arrangements, and Kevin did the mixing. The mastering was done by Adam Bentley.

An album is like a musical snapshot of the band at a given moment. And this EP is getting a bit old, we really were different people … literally! Apart from Julien, there’s not a single member left from that era! Our tastes and ambitions have evolved since then too. For all these reasons, “The Source” is made up entirely of new material.

The album was produced by us alone, with the exception of the mastering, for which we preferred to call in an outside ear (Adam Bentley). Our budget was limited, so our tandem Julien / Kevin had to find solutions to produce a sound that met our expectations. All the recording was done at Julien’s, including the vocals. The real challenge was to get good quality recordings without a professional studio. It was also the first time Kevin had mixed an entire metal album. It was a bit of a challenge too, especially when it was his own band.
Looking back, we realise that the biggest difficulty was being left to our own devices to define the band’s artistic direction and sound. Given that our music stands at the crossroads of several styles, we had to invent our own references in terms of sound signature, which meant we had to rethink our copy several times on certain tracks. But we’re convinced that it’s for the best, because we’re very proud of the result and of the energy we want to convey on this album.

There’s a lot to say, and it’s difficult to answer. In terms of composition, Julien worked mainly “vertically” rather than “layer by layer”. In other words, he didn’t compose the guitar first, then the bass, the drums and then the vocals. It was a bit like everything at once. This allowed us to really try and find a balance within each section and between these sections. We always try to keep a constant tension throughout the songs, you may have felt that. It’s a slower process, involving dozens of versions of each track (the record stands at 43!), but it allows us to ensure that each section has been thought through and has its place. We try to avoid filler.
This album is also the fruit of a long process of sound research. For all the instruments, we really wanted to serve the compositions and not the egos of the musicians.
As for the influences, it all depends. For example, the polyphonies come from many different groups and styles: Tryo, Les Wriggles, SOAD, Benjamin Britten… The same goes for certain synths, there’s a synth in the chorus of “Demonize Them”, for example, which was inspired by the one in the chorus of Stromae’s “L’enfer” (well, it’s very subtle!). As for the riffs, they come from thrash, death, heavy, prog… you name it!
As far as the drums are concerned, Pierre really aims for efficiency and always tries to find the right beat at the right moment. Kevin always tries to find the right melody in his solos to make them catchy. Bertrand, being the good bassist that he is, will try to establish a heaviness in the manner of Jean-Michel Labadie [Gojira], but will also look for little leads in his lines, as you can see in prog or heavy music. As for the vocals, Julien spends a lot of time working on them so that they’re all as catchy as possible! Basically, for us, each track is a bit like an equation to which there is only one solution, but it can take a long time to find it!

We’re preparing a concert that will be a synthesis of what Kozoria has become today, with attention to detail, exclusive versions of the songs and an interpretation of all the instrumental parts on the album. We’re looking to push back our limits, and this concert is going to be a real challenge for us in terms of interpretation. Our technical team are working hard to ensure that the sound and lighting are a cut above anything we’ve done before. More than just a concert, we’re hoping to put on a real show that will surprise even long-time fans.

Each of the concerts you’ve mentioned has pushed us to give a little more on stage, to honour our ever-growing audience. And in fact, with a view to meeting this audience, we’d love to go to the south of France, both west and east, but we haven’t set foot there yet! In Belgium too, we know that our neighbours have a great metal community, and we know that people are already listening to us there. And, of course, we’re really looking forward to meeting the Germans in September – that’s going to be so cool!

Of course, we can mention the great festivals we have in Europe that we’d love to be programmed at: Graspop, Hellfest, Motocultor, Wacken… But we’re under no illusions: the stage leads to the stage! So we can answer you with what we said before: we want to get this album out already, see it come to life and bring it live, make it happen! It’s really a beautiful baby, you’ll see! Then we’ll tackle the next one. That’s what’s happening, isn’t it?

Thank you already for this interview, and thank you to all of you who read us. It’s a really great thing to keep metal alive in France. We had Gojira at the Olympics, so things are changing and the world is opening up a bit more. It’s also thanks to things like this interview!
And if not, we’re all going to be at the Backstage in Paris on 11 October, so it’s going to be a real ball! We’ve invited Maudits for the occasion. They play instrumental post-metal, with a cello that’s a real killer!
And : “Deutschland! Wir kommen bei dir!” [“Germany, we’re coming!”].

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