Interview with Profane Elegy

Hi! How does it feel to have your music out in the world and receive positive feedback from critics and listeners?
-Mikael L: It feels awesome to finally get this in front of people and receive all the positive feedback we have seen so far.

-J. Gulick: Feels great. Glad to have our hard work pushed out more onto the masses.

Profane Elegy‘s music combines elements of black metal, progressive metal, and doom metal. How did you develop this unique fusion of styles, and what inspired you to blend these genres together?
-Mikael L: from a vocal perspective I’m simply writing whatever I think feels right for the song. Yes, there is a foundation of black metal under everything but if I think a section would benefit from some clean singing I’m not afraid to go for it.

-J. Gulick: Hard to say fully, but back in late 2021, I started writing up a project specifically Black Metal-based, and everything just kind of came together cohesively. A lot of trial and error with the songs – I narrowed down half of the material I wrote for the EP. I took a lot of inspiration from early 90’s / 00’s Black Metal with more of an Atmospheric/Melodic touch, but also wanted to dabble a bit with the Prog and Doom side, but create a formula that we could call our own. Too many influences to name. Really just a lot of experimentation that led to this – not knowing fully where it would go until we heard the finished demos in Pre-Production then the Mixes/Masters. I personally had no idea how the end result would sound when first starting the track the EP.

Can you tell us more about the creative process behind the songs on “When All Is Nothing” and how you approached crafting your distinctive sound?
-Mikael L: We bounced a lot of ideas back and forth. Did a lot of demoing to see what worked and what didn’t. Some of the songs came out fully formed right away while others were completely rewritten as we worked through the process.

Doom Heart praised the eclectic mix of furious atmospheric black metal and slow blackened doom on your EP. How do you strike a balance between these contrasting elements, and what do you hope to evoke in listeners with your music?
-J. Gulick: I think of a music as crescendo of emotions and sounds, build ups and pit falls. I think with this EP there is a ‘push and pull’ of emotions going on that we channeled musically from our own life experiences. How our listeners gauge our music is entirely based on their own subjective experiences within their own lives. I personally wrote the instrumentals out of channeling my own inner conflict into the music, so maybe it will have a similar effect on some of our listeners within their own realm of personal experiences.

With “When All Is Nothing” being your inaugural release, what were your main goals and aspirations for this EP, and do you feel that you have achieved them?
-Mikael L: My personal goal with this album was to put out the kind of album I would want to hear and also something that people in the extreme metal scene would enjoy. Really just wanted to share my art with the scene – I think we’ve achieved that.
-J. Gulick: I fully agree with Mikael. Biggest intent before even writing the album, was to just make music that I would personally listen to and am proud of.

You mentioned that a full-length release is planned for 2024. Can you provide any insights into what we can expect from this upcoming album? How do you envision it building upon the foundation laid by your EP?
-Mikael L: We’ve done a few demos for guitar and vocals. What I’ve heard so far sounds like a natural progression from this record. Some faster heavier stuff as well as more doom parts.
-J. Gulick: We’re currently in the demo stages of everything. Bouncing ideas back to one another. With writing ideas on guitar, just trying to build off of the sound that we have with the EP, but a lot of new sounds are unfolding as well. I think at the end, we all just want to be content with the end result as a collective. Songs are beginning to take form. One thing I will say is that some of these songs are a bit faster than what was heard on the EP – but the Doom and Prog elements will be there if not more so than the EP. Just in the beginning stages right now.

The lyrical themes in your music explore the darkness of life, man, and god. Could you elaborate on these themes and share some of the inspiration behind your lyrics?
-Mikael L: I take a lot of inspiration from literature, philosophy, and religion. For this record I used these inspirations to really share my personal philosophy on a variety of topics. From my point of view society in general lives in delusions. These notions of inherent human goodness, justice, purpose, god are all just constructs built to distract from the pointlessness and finality of our brief existence. A lot of the lyrics deal with those constructs.

Profane Elegy was formed in December 2021. How did you come together to create the band, and what motivated you to start making music under the name Profane Elegy?
-Mikael L: It was very random, we connected via an online ad. I noticed J Gulick’s musical influences in the ad skewed towards mine and so I reached out.

How does the natural environment and surroundings influence your music, both in terms of inspiration and atmosphere?
-Mikael L: the natural environment is very inspirational for my writing. When I look at nature I see no evidence of purpose or design, no hand of god, I see only cruel fate and the randomness of everything.

-J. Gulick: My aim with writing music on Guitar / Instrumentally is to create with clear intent. I have a visualization towards a sound that I’m building and aim to have a cohesive approach to the songs and overall formula. I don’t personally write the lyrics and we share some slightly different philosophies on varying subjects, but a lot of our natural surroundings and outside forces are built off of abstractions. It’s hard to necessarily define an ultimate ‘sum’ and to assume that one has answers. So realistically, I would say a lot of how our music is interpreted is subjective to how our listeners and audience interpret our message.

The path of darkness is a recurring theme in your music. How do you translate this darkness and its complexities into the sonic and lyrical aspects of your songs?
-Mikael L: When I write I’m trying to give the listener a mental image. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so whether it’s Sisyphus rolling a stone for eternity or calling Judas a martyr I want the lyrics to evoke a kind of dark imagery in the listeners mind.

Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals and aspirations for Profane Elegy? Where do you see the band heading musically and artistically in the future? Thank you for your time!
-Mikael L: My goal is to continue making quality music and grow an audience around it. How far that goes is up to fate I suppose. To answer the second question – I think we’re going to get more aggressive while staying melodic and branch out in interesting ways lyrically and sonically. Appreciate the opportunity to talk with you.

-J. Gulick: My current goal is to put my all into writing our up and coming full length with the time given – but also stay on our grind with the business aspect as well. Mainly just trying to branch out and expand to a larger audience while still maintaining our sound naturally and being happy with the end result. Opportunities for live shows are in the works as well, so the remainder of 2023 will assume to be a very busy year. As stated above, everything is still in it’s experimental stages and a lot is unfolding, but a lot of new music is on the way. Thanks for the great interview.