Mongol, a folk death metal band made up of Devon-based youth, is releasing its first full length album this month.
Andrew Hoshkiw
devondispatch.news@sunmedia.ca
There’s a new kind of folk music in Devon — folk death metal.
Mongol, a Devon-based band consisting of local youth, is debuting its first full-length album Saturday, July 26.
The event takes place at the Studio Music Foundation in Edmonton, 10940 166A St. Doors open at 8 p.m., music starts at 8:30 p.m. and tickets are $25. It is an 18+ only event. Groups Nekrogoblikon, Wolfrik and Valyria will also perform during the evening.
The band consists of Tev Tegri (vocals), Zelme (rhythm guitar, backup vocals), Zev (lead guitar, folk instruments), Sorkhon Sharr (bass), Sche-khe (folk instruments, keyboards) and Bourchi (drums). Tev and Zev spoke about the band, its origins and the new album.
“We started in 2009, and at the time we ranged in age from 12 to 17,” said Tev. “Luke and his two brothers are in the band, and I was friends with Luke in high school, and it just started there and we’ve been together ever since.”
This first full-length album, titled Chosen by Tengri, will be available for download and hardcopy purchase through the band’s website – mongolcanada.bandcamp.com – after July 26, while the album will begin streaming on the site next week.
“Folk metal for the most part is pretty cultural-based, and most choose to go with a Scandinavian Pagan theme,” said Tev. “We figured that was pretty saturated, and we wanted to do something that was a little different, so we’ve been doing the Mongolian theme.”
“It was an empire that was bigger then the Roman Empire, and not very well known.”
Going with an Asian folklore theme seemed to be a more interesting route to follow, explained Zev.
“A popular metal theme is battles, and Genghis Khan is pretty well known for what he’s done conquering,” he said. “A lot of bands we listen to are talking about the Vikings and what they’ve done conquering, and about the Greeks and their conquests, but you don’t hear a lot about Genghis Khan. It’s an unexplored theme and we’ve taken advantage of that.”
“Our styles grew together,” said Tev. “The choice to play our type of metal at the time was unheard of, so for the area we were into band as nobody had really heard of. For us it was a completely original idea, until we met other bands from other places.”
Death metal is a genre of loud rock music, characterized very heavy, distorted guitars, unrelentingly loud drums and deep, guttural vocals. Folk death metal takes the genre one step further by incorporating folklore themes into the lyrics and sometimes folk instrumentation into the music.
“With folk metal, it’s not just brutal all the time,” stressed Tev. “We’ve played acoustic shows where it’s just folk music, and there’s that aspect that also draws people in. It’s not only for metalheads, but also for people who are wondering what the hell is it we’re doing.”
“We dress up in Mongolian stuff and we play mandolin, and people are wanting to see what’s going on, and there are other aspects for people to enjoy that don’t like the harshness of it – there’s lots of melody. There’s a banjo and lots of catchy stuff.”
In a way, the band has largely been responsible for making the genre popular among Devon youth, said Zev.
“We’ve turned a lot of people towards metal that never would have considered it before, a lot of kids,” he said. “It’s a completely different fan base here. It’s not just friends, it’s all kinds of kids that come out to the shows and do crazy stuff. It’s lots of fun playing in Devon.”
After the album release, the band’s next big event is to head overseas for a music festival.
“We’re striving towards making the band more and more serious,” said Tev. “In August we’re going to play a festival in Mongolia, and then we’re going to try to play more and more shows outside of our range and try to get it out there.”
A major roadblock currently faced by Mongol is that two of the members are still aged 17 and in high school, limiting which venues they can play.
“We have two underage members, so it’s pretty inhibiting,” said Tev. “They turn 18 next year, so we’ll be getting to that point where we’ll be touring around Canada. This year Alberta, next year Canada, the year after that the world.”
Source:http://www.devondispatch.ca/
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