Interview with Way To End

Infernal Masquerade: Thanks for the interview, and let’s get started with the question:

I.M: Having formed on 2006, Way To End is a relatively new band.
Can you please tell us more on how the band came together and crafted your unique Black Metal style?

There is nothing special to say about the formation. We began to play together the music Hazard had written. After a while, our music became more complicated and ambitious until we found ourselves ready to record an album.

I.M: “Desecrated Internal Journey” is your debut album and I must add a very impressive one, how long was the writing and composing stage?

One of the pieces was written in 2004 for an unreleased demo. The other ones were composed between 2005 and 2007. But a lot of songs written during that period were not included on the album. Some of them will appear on future releases but some will be definitely discarded.

I.M: Way To End features somewhat anonymous members, why do you guys choose to have it this way? Will you reveal all the band members identities at some point?

What would be the point in revealing our identities? Nobody cares about who we are. Hopefully, people just care about whether we do good music or not.

We wanted the artwork to be consistent with the music, to use it as a mean for going deeper into the music. That is why our identities do not matter. We are just the vectors, the ones producing the sound.

I.M: What is the main concept or ideology behind Way To End?

We want to push our musical boundaries as far as possible and see what kind of music we can produce. We use the band as a catharsis for expressing ourselves.
As it is stated in the title of the album, we are trying to know ourselves through creation. For a better understanding, the concept of "Desecrated Internal Journey" is explained in the next question.

I.M: Can you tell us more about the concept behind “Desecrated Internal Journey”?

As stated in the title, the album describes an internal journey. It is the musical description of an introspection that occurs during the process of creating.  Creating makes you face what you really are because it brings to reality a part of what lies hidden from consciousness.

It is a journey because as you go deeper, the things you discover are what you tried to escape more. Accepting or refusing these findings is part of the topic of the album. This process is also what makes you evolve. By looking at what you are, you become different; neither better nor worse but different. The album describes some stages of this journey but there is no arrival. By becoming different, you have to begin a new journey to understand better this new state of mind. More than a vicious circle it is a spiral going always deeper.

I.M: What do you think sets Way To End apart from all the other Black Metal bands out there?

What sets us apart is the will to avoid the common rock structures and to build an oppressive sound without relying only on grim voices and minor chords.

Instead we try to use nuances and contrasts between different parts of the songs. If you are always playing fast and very loud, although it may sound violent at first, the linearity becomes quickly annoying. By building songs as a story in which each part brings something new, the listener has to make an effort to get the meaning of this story. We want also to distance ourselves from building songs as a succession of riffs. We try to make one theme evolve and to transform it until we fall on another theme and so on.

I.M: Going back on your peculiar musical style, what are the main influences behind each band member? And how did you manage to mix all of those together to create a very unique sound?

We are of course influenced by the nineties black metal. Some of us listen also a lot to contemporary and classical music. Decay listens a lot to progressive rock and experimental rock from the sixties. We can not talk about a mix of influences in Way to End as Hazard is writing the music. It is mostly Decay who adds his style to the music by writing the drums parts.

I.M: Have you guys started thinking about ‘the next album’ already?

It depends on what next album you are talking about. The compositions for the next full length are almost ready. However there are several other releases we are working on but we have not decided yet which one will be released first.

I.M: If you guys had unlimited money for a live performance, what props and stage set up would you use?

First of all, I would make sure this setup remains unknown to anybody.

I.M: Any other things you wanted to add for your fans and our readers of the USA?

We hope we will be able to tour in the future in the USA...

Thanks for the interview! And good luck promoting the new album