Emotional post hardcore bleed into intense sonic ferocity on the new LP from HEARTLAPSE

Fresh off the release of their intense debut full length album “Remains”, Budapest based hardcore / metalcore band HEARTLAPSE are joining us today to investigate the themes and inspirations behind their craft. We asked the band to give their perspective on the Hungarian independent music scene and share some other bands recommendations to keep our creative juices flowing.

“From the very beginning of the writing process we planned this record in its entirety, working on the connections between the tracks to shape a precise structure that revolves around a few recurring themes.” – says the band.

𝑊𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑖𝑡𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠, (𝑒𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑝ℎ𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙).

“One way to describe this perception, we can point out a keyword that is the psychological concept of Uncanniness.” – they continue.

“In the end, the album refects a complex interrogation: what lasts of the traces that we leave behind? What’s left of the sentiments when they end, and even the memories fade out, and what’s the meaning of these traces for those who remains?”

Besides, the lyrics explore the struggles in finding a place in which to belong, the sensation of always being at the margins of a community, an event, or a family. In general, express the feeling of inadequacy in every life situation in a way that it can be linked to some of the works of the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran.

The album artwork visually symbolizes and summarizes all the topics mentioned by the band:

“We took inspiration from the consuetude used in the past, to conserve a part of the body of a holy person as a relic to build around it a place of pilgrimage, with a statue that would represent him. From a more laic point of view, it refers to the episode of composer André Grétry whose heart was placed inside his commemorative bronze statue in Liège.”

Visual arts have become a big source of inspiration for HEARTLAPSE.

Explains th eband: “Luca studied cinema and theater at university and he used his background knowledge for our latest music videos.”

“With the video for the song called “Relic”, we took inspiration from the performances of the French artist Olivier de Sagazan, which visually gave us a perfect way to represent the main concept of the album.”

“The shooting was quite improvised, the performers Levi and Reka did an amazing job but we are not sure if they would do it again as it was quite painful for them to wash out all that clay and paint after the shooting!”

As for the second music video, “Solstices”, the band wanted to “lift up” the mood a bit and do something completely different.

“We had to come up with an idea that would have been possible to realize during this time of restrictions in which flming is really hard in therms of organization, but without recording a “quarantine video” through our webcams (luckily that trend seems to be over!).”

“We were able to show what we’ve been through recently (as most of the people), like discouragement, anguish, apathy and loneliness but in an ironic way, making fun of ourselves and mocking up the “independent flm” genres.”

Here’s HEARTLAPSE’s personal mixed list of recommended music videos and movies worth a check:

1. EYES – Underperformer

2. KYTARO – Kryptogyros

3. PG.LOST – Suffering

4. SAM TUDOR – Jospeh in the bathroom

5. IDLES – Colossus

“These are flms which, either because of their atmosphere or their ideas, have inspired us during the writing process of the album (as you can notice they are mainly quite harsh horrors, defnitely the kind of movies you don’t want to watch to chill out, or after a Christmas lunch with the company of your family!)”

1. ANTICHRIST– by Lars von Trier

2. HEREDITARY – by Ari Aster

3. MIDSOMMAR – by Ari Aster

4. RELIC – by Natalie Erika James

5. GUMMO– by Harmony Korine

Underground music scene in Hungary

The Hungarian music scene has changed a lot in the last few years.

Comments the band: “Ten years ago, underground music genres, such as metal and hardcore were quite popular in Budapest, and also in the Countryside. Nowadays, not much has remained, but there are still some people who try to keep the scene alive and organize events. A great example of it, is a small DIY festival called “Hell Vill” that still resists and has become a landmark in the Hungarian underground scene. In general, Hungary is going through hard times concerning everything related to culture. One of the most popular music club called “Dürer kert” had been forced to close, and this is only one of the multiple attacks that have been perpetuated against independent arts and music during the last years. It’s evident that diversity scares this type of politics, of which anyway at the end the only interest is the proft.”

“During this changing process many bands split up and lately, due to the pandemic, the situation has been even harder, as we all know. Nevertheless, we keep a a positive attitude, and we believe that the underground scene will fnd its own way in the future.

Back to music, we’d like to quote 10 albums that has been somehow, either a source of inspiration, or simply something we’ve been listening while writing or recording “Remains”:

• WASTED STRUGGLE – Agenda of Fear (2020)
• ALPHA WOLF– A Quiet Place to Die (2020)
• LAAKE – O (2020)
• TRIPSITTER – The Other Side of Sadness (2019)
• FRAIL BODY – A Brief Memoriam (2019)
• EMPLOYED TO SERVE – Eternal Forward Motion (2019)
• SLEEP TOKEN – Sundowning (2019)
• BIRDS IN ROW – We Already Lost the World (2018)
• INFALL– Silent (2017)
• NORMA JEAN – Polar Similar (2016)“

Finally, we’d like to take the opportunity to suggest everyone a couple of really interesting Hungarian bands, who are currently working on new materials and soon will release them.

“The first band are IDIOTEQ-featured SATELLES, with whom we had the chance to share the stage several times and every time was pure joy. We had the honor to feature their vocalist Balázs Bokis on our new album for the track ‘Margins’, and they are currently recording a new album! For lovers of hardcore bands like Bane and Sinking Ships.”

The second band is called KYTARO, a psych-math trio from Budapest.

“They are working on their debut album and we can’t wait to listen it. Their music is mind blowing and quite evocative visually, go and check them out! For anyone who loves post-rock, mathrock, The Physics House, “Electric Counterpoints” by Steve Reich and in general music experimentation at its fnest.

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