Seven Bloodied Ramparts is an amazing album and if you are a serious metalhead who has gone seven months into 2011 and hasn’t given a chance to this Top 10 of 2010, then you need to reconsider your strategy as for covering underground metal. With that album, Birmingham duo Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom have acquired best kept secret status, one that is well-deserved for their masterful concoction of a metal hybrid that includes doom, black metal and folk metal. On the other end was Acwealde. Read on and spread the word.

DS -First of all let’s go back in time. Before there was Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom, Acwealde had Symbel. What happened to this project?

Hello Deaf Sparrow. It is Acwealde here, responsible for drums and guitars in Bretwaldas, doing this interview for you tonight. You want me to go back in time already? Well, before ‘Bretwaldas of Heathen Doom’, I released Symbel, an obscure heathen metal project from around 2001 (although a lot of the riffs were written as early as 1994) and due to study commitments, a hard-drive that failed with all my recordings on it, a surprise pregnancy (not me luckily), someone close dying, and writing guitar parts for Bretwaldas, it has been difficult keeping it going since its original success around 2003-2007. Bretwaldas has become the most important band in the meantime, because it is, I think, the best band I’ve ever been a part of.

DS -Getting into the lyrical aspect; not to say that everything that you read is true but I read that Symbel had ‘nationalistic’ lyrics. I am intrigued because some may say there is a racist element to that, others do not necessarily think that way. What was the lyrical slant of Symbel?

Romantic nationalist escapism maybe, yes. Most intelligent people understood what the band was about, but quite a few didn’t. I don’t really care about it at the moment. All of the lyrics can be found on the internet anyway, for those concerned.

DS -So as I understand it, then Wartooth and Acwealde get together and it was a few years until Bretwaldas became an entity. What pushed the two of you to come together?

I’ve known Wartooth for many years. Before Stmbel, I was playing in an inappropriate band around 2001 on a totally inappropriate local live circuit, and when that folded I got talking to him again, and realized we were into the same things. I think we began Bretwaldas because we were both obsessed with Saxon / Viking re-enactment and archaeology, which were concepts associated lyrically with Black Metal around that time, but we felt this concept fitted equally in classic heavy metal / doom. It took a year or so to get started, in which time I had released Symbel, which gave us the impetus to record quickly. We originally tried to play very slow stuff like St Vitus, but very quickly developed our own style, and stuck with it. It was amazing that our paths crossed in this way really…I mean, the odds of two people around that time with such a singularity of vision coming together is remote, to say the least.

DS -On the same token Bretwaldas have this very English lyrical themes. History and tradition, etc. Is your music a vehicle to praise your culture?

Ideally, Wartooth should answer this as he writes all the lyrics. I would say that his words encapsulate the boredom of modern existence and a yearning to escape to a harsh yet honourable past. I don't know if he ever considers what people think about the lyrics. He has written some great stuff. I think that everyone should be proud of what they are, and yes, we are definitely proud to be an English band.

DS -On the same subject, do you fear that by having lyrics that are very ‘of your culture’, you may be alienating people from other places who consider lyrics to be of the utmost importance and that may not relate?

Well, as youngsters Wartooth and I were both involved in the hardcore punk / metal tape trading scene and so we quickly realized there were like minded people all over the world and definitely respected them, yet we hadn’t expected to one day be so popular in those places with our own music. I suppose that the best strategy in a genre like this is to just be yourself. If other people like our stuff I think that proves that the music comprises multiple identities ranging from the specifically local, to the universal. I mean, anyone in the world can pick up a beer, raise their fist to the sky and put on the mighty Bretwaldas!

DS -In your MySpace page it says that Bretwaldas of Heathen Dooom have a ‘no live appearances and an almost zero promotion policy’. Let’s break this down into two questions, first, why the no live appearances policy? Is it because you are a duo? Logistical issues? Simply not interested? Please explain.

The simple answer is there are only two of us and it is not possible. When we began around 2002, where we lived in the ‘Home of Metal - Birmingham’, believe it or not, live performances were poorly attended anyway, which steered us down this studio only path. We’ve had offers of other band members but it hasn’t worked out yet…so far though, working this way suits us.

DS -Second, I must say it is pretty difficult to get a hold of your material. I went back looking for your back catalogue and could not even come across blogs with links to your releases.

We only sell our stuff from our own site, and don't trade anymore, so our releases are not spread around the internet. Or do you mean you can't find our releases for free download? Those who buy our stuff don’t seem to be the kind of people to upload it for everyone else, so maybe that’s why there are fewer blog links about these days. Plus, over the years we haven’t sent many unsolicited cds out for review (a sure way to get your album uploaded to filesharing sites ). We uploaded the first album to Bandcamp so anyone can listen to it for free…maybe we’ll do the same with the others. But maybe it’s better if it’s harder to find, I don't know. It’s unchartered territory at the moment for bands and labels. We’ll have to see what happens.

DS- Question, why the almost zero promotion policy? There are several black metal bands that have this approach, apparently as an attempt to remain underground. Why is it that you adopt such posture and what is your hope that this will create or avoid?

Well, we never wanted to push our stuff. It’s not an attempt to be elitist or anything, we just aren’t in the business of begging. So long as our products get out into the world that’s fine. When we first started we managed to sell 200 CDs with barely any promotion other than a few emails. Today, fast internet speeds have trivialized information and music so much, that a zero promotion policy is no longer viable. As such we have now started to send more CDs out for review. That said, apart from one mistake with one particular metal site that we definitely shan’t be troubling again, we’ve had outstanding and enthusiastic reviews of our releases from everyone we sent them to - fanzines, high street rock magazines and metal websites alike.

DS -King Penda, I believe that is your own label. Why did you decide to go this route? Would you considerate signing to another label?

Yes it is our own label, purely designed to release our stuff straight to the people who subscribe. No we haven't looked elsewhere - there is no business sense in a label signing you unless you tour and / or sell merchandise, so we are not currently marketable. It may not give us much exposure this way, but we’re not too worried.

DS -Before we move onto the music, I wanted to mention something that struck me about all your records, artwork. It is pretty bare, the last two including plain photography. Especially with Seven Bloodied Ramparts, we could say it is not a photogenic image. It is striking in the metal realm where there is so much attention focused on artwork. Why did you pick such images for Seven Bloodied Ramparts and Battle Staffs in the Mushroom Woods?

I love the cover of ‘Ramparts’ actually – England looks exactly like this…wire fences and old gates on top of ancient earth works. History stacked upon history if you like. Droner has a photograph of Mitchell’s Fold stone circle. Battle Staffs has the hollowed out ancient Yew tree (before some fucker burnt it down ) next to a patch of magic mushrooms on Wychbury Hill Fort, and Seven Bloodied Ramparts shows a ditch, rampart and fence on Uley Hillfort. Also, Wartooth is not interested in using a computer as he prefers to be in the woods, so I am solely responsible for the design and art work, as well as mixing and producing the music, and organizing the pressing. If I had more time, maybe the covers would turn out more like other metal albums. For now, we like the stark, empty covers, and think it definitely fits the music.

DS-Now getting into the music. I must say that Seven Bloodied Ramparts is one of my top 10 records of 2010. I came late to it, but I am glad I did. “Welcome the Rider” is hands down one of the best metal songs I have ever heard. It is classic, melodic, powerful and so fucking memorable. How would you say this record compares to Droner and especially Battle Staffs in the Mushroom Woods?

Yes, that song is really good to play – glad you like it! We’ve used more traditional metal harmonies on ‘Ramparts’, but kept a nice crust edge. ‘Battle Staffs’ is a really good album too I think, even though the drum recordings were rushed. Droner was a time when we were unfocused and really not giving a shit, so it is more experimental, but still very atmospheric. I’m proud of all three albums for different reasons, but ‘Ramparts’ I think is getting closer to having that ‘getting under your skin’ quality.

DS -In which way did the songwriting process differ from previous experiences?

The songwriting is always the same – Wartooth plays something on the bass, I play the drums to it. We repeat this for many weeks until we have something like a song. Then Wartooth puts vocals down, if he has some lyrics. If I suggest anything he looks at me like he is going to punch me, or calls me a cunt, but that’s always been the way. The guitars are usually last, which means we often have to change something in the bass and drum tracks. Wartooth is not interested in musical details, and believes computers will steal his soul - he would rather be in the woods, so I generally have to re-record the things that don’t work. I think I changed one or two notes in the bass part on ‘Welcome the Rider’, but for the most part, Wartooth is responsible for that classic.

DS -Were your intentions with this record at all different from the other albums? In the lyrical aspect, is there a different approach?

We wanted to continue the stripped down sound, using natural drums with lots of cymbals and room ambience. Just about every metal album released in the last ten years uses drum samples which, whilst convenient, sounds completely wrong with our music. Wartooth’s lyrics were less about battles and fighting on this album, and more about European mythology, that’s all I can say about that.

DS -Listening to your songs, it sounds like there are a lot of guitars. As a two-piece, how do you handle this? How do you come to arrange the music in such a way?

You’re right in a way…when I first got my hands on PC recording I think I used ten guitar tracks on the first song on Droner, and lots of scalic passages in the others. For the last two albums however it has always been two guitars panned a little left and right, and one melodic lead, with a warmer sound, used for single note melodies in the middle, when necessary. On rhythm passages the two guitars generally play different parts of the same chord, as playing more than two strings at once on a distorted guitar generally makes a weak sound. It all depends what the song needs really. We are a studio only band, so when Wartooth plays the bass and I am playing the drums, I am usually writing the guitar parts in my head as we play.

DS-For the most part I do not like folk metal, yet listening to Bretwaldas I get the feeling that there is a great dose of that. I say ‘feeling’ because nothing is too blatantly obvious in your music. Everything seems carefully measured.

Lots of 70s and 80s metal, especially English metal and rock, had that folk metal feel…if anything, what you are hearing in our music comes from that, not the recent folk metal phenomena. Jumping on a bandwagon is not a good idea if you want your music to last, so we made a decision to avoid the acoustic guitars, pipes and flutes in a lot of ‘Folk Metal’ music around at the time we started. I have nothing against this new wave of folk metal, which was very refreshing in its primal state, but suspected that it would get too big what with the slick production, professional musicians and opera singers, and hey! - I was right - it is now very ‘un-cool’ these days to play that stuff, especially amongst those who slavishly follow the rise and fall of fashions.

DS -To anyone who hasn’t heard your music, how would you describe it?

Musically speaking… Bretwaldas is probably best described as English metal made by two heathen bastards from outside Birmingham. We don’t care too much if our albums don't fit with current genres, or aren’t immediately successful, because we know that in twenty years time they will still sound good and people will find them interesting. Yes, being carefully measured, as you say, was a good idea. In fact, as we’ve progressed we’ve learned more and more that what you don’t play, is just as important as what you do.

DS -Where do you think that your biggest influences come from? Could we point in one direction (one subgenre) or there are too many to highlight only one?

Hmmm, it’s hard to cite influences, but I guess for people who haven't heard us yet, it’s 70s heavy metal, 80s crust punk, 90s black metal, and the 00s doom resurgence, before any of those genres became so overtly self-conscious that they began to, as the Americans say, ‘suck’.

DS -Have all your recordings been recorded by you or have you had outsiders producing and helping arranging the music?

The first demo was a relaxed affair and we did it all ourselves onto a four track tape recorder. The first album proper had the drums recorded at a budget studio - we asked for the most unfashionable echoey 80s sound possible – but it had a generic noise gate set up, which is why they disappear occasionally, and everything else was recorded onto a new PC I’d bought purely for recording. The second album was recorded by a friend who, try as he might, just could not get our sound to work, so we just used a stereo recording of the drums and recorded the guitars and vocals again a year later, and mixed it ourselves. Everything on the last album was recorded and produced by us, and this time we upgraded on cymbals (first two albums feature only two cymbals! ), and I bought some decent microphones and preamps, on top of a USB interface and PC upgrade, plus studio rental. The good side of this is that you get total control – the bad side is that everything takes so long, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like its much fun being in a band when you’re staring at a monitor for days on end, ignoring everyone around you, when you could be in the woods, shooting arrows and drinking whiskey. However, it’s something to be proud of once it’s finished. Ideally, we’d like to work with someone we could trust to get the sound we want, so we could work more quickly.

DS -I believe that Wartooth had some problems with the law recently, can you speak about these incidents and what they involved?

I cannot elaborate but unfortunately Wartooth is not free to do Bretwaldas at the moment. In his present circumstances, it is very difficult for him as he is not able to use any kind of device to record his riffs, nor write, nor, of course, work a computer. Yes, it is a bad period for him I think. StilI, in a world where it seems nothing really matters, one thing you can’t buy is a band member like Wartooth. I do not know for sure when he will be free – hopefully he will have a release date before the year is out.

DS -I believe that a fourth release is in the works under the working title of Looting the Barrows, when can we expect those release to come out? What can we expect from it?

Most bands write songs, rehearse them, and then once they’re perfect, record them in one consistent package. For us the writing process and recording is repeated until we’re happy, by which time we might have ten songs recorded at different times with a totally different sound, so it takes far, far longer to create a consistent product for release. The idea with this release was to do it differently - write a demo, rehearse it, and then record it, saving me a lot of trouble. As for ‘Looting the Barrows’, we have recorded a lot of material, but nothing is finished for release because the vocals are missing and as I said, we’ll have to wait for Wartooth to be freed. In the meantime I’m writing new songs…lots of new songs.

DS -Finally, what are you listening to right now?

Like Bruce Lee, Kung Fu extraordinaire, I use a yin and yang approach whenever possible, so right now I’m listening to Fratres by Arvo Part, but afterwards I’ll be putting something absolutely filthy on, not sure what yet…maybe Lugubrum. Yes, Lugubrum….in fact I’m eagerly awaiting their new album.

DS -Last Words…

Cheers mate! AlI I’d add is that it’s the fans that buy our stuff and email us to say they liked it, and people like you that review and interview us, that make being in a band worthwhile. In the meantime, we’ll keep the home fires burning and the wheels of doom turning! Thanks for the interest and good luck!

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Interview by Ignacio Brown