Progressive, multi style and experimental strains of metal and hardcore have successfully accustomed us to more dynamically engaging amalgams that reside somewhere between epic, powerful and melodious and successfully challenge musical norms. Out today’s guests, Cracow’s alt metal / post hardcore band WHITEWHALE hit this mark with their diverse self-released debut album “Fading Days“, an interesting debut that delivers familiar notions, puts new twists on ideas, and comes as an unexpected surprise!
We have teamed up with the band to get some insights about the creative process and content behind “Fading Days”, and give you the full track by track breakdown!
This album, in terms of lyrics, has been based on personal experiences, daily issues, social observations. I assume that many people can say that we do not discover anything new here, but why should we? We are ordinary people, struggling through our lives with common and uncommon problems, which inspires us to compose and create.
The making of this album took us around 2 years. During this time, we were precisely focused on polishing each song. Some of them has been entirely changed, same about the lyrics. It’s mostly because we are very critical of our work and we think about music precisely. What we could do better/differently. We work as a team but we are strong individuals, that’s why sometimes it is really tough to agree about the final version. That’s why we are really happy with recording, this album and how it sounds.
Asked about their future plans, the band intent to play as many live gigs as possible, record a music video and a special live session:
In short, our major goal is to play many live shows to create that unique connection with people. To capture their attention and get them involved in our music. We are aware, that it is a difficult task for a new band to manage good events, but it’s also understandable that hard work brings results- we are patient and we do our job. We plan to participate in some metal / hard-core festivals next year and in the meantime we are trying to mark our presence in the scene, by playing shows around the country. Additionally, in the beginning of the next year, we are going to record a professional music video and if we get the chance, maybe record some live session in the studio.
New stuff is on the way – all the time we collect feedback about our music from different sources. This is a valuable information, however we do not follow trends or common styles. We know, that it is hard to avoid inspiration from other music, but we rather mix all of that
together with our own twisted ideas and if it sounds good for us – it’s enough. We don’t care about the genre, our music is an expression of ourselves.
“Fading Days” – full track by track commentary by WHITEWHALE:
Selfish – Our world is dying, mostly because of our belief that Earth belongs to human kind. We ignore the fact, that we should respect this place and do not follow all those bullshit slogans of human development at all cost.
Purpose – What is the true purpose of our lives? What drives us forward? What inspires us to become better people?
Disaster – Sometimes we have problems communicating with other people. They don’t understand us, we cannot understand them. There is no ultimate solution, no cure for our frustration. Just find some place where you feel comfortable and shout out at the top of your lungs – it really helps.
Broken Promises – Life is brutal, it wipes our dreams out, our hopes, our bonds, our relations. When we are young and full of passion, we promise ourselves that we will become someone, do something we admire, but 10, 20 years later we forget or intentionally suppress those thoughts, we replace them by comfortable life.
Tu i teraz – The first of two songs in our native language. In short, it’s about a death race in which we all take part. Willy-nilly we are all participants, trying to achieve our goals, make our dreams come true, keep surviving in modern times.
Doubt – It’s about the everyday struggle no to become forgotten. No one wants to be “a short while”. We all have this need inside, to leave a piece of ourselves in this world.
Worth – People always have had issues with sharing thoughts, feelings with others and it’s becoming even harder in the era of online society. Humanity chases for perfection and in the same time destroys what is the basic feature of society – human relation.
Pustka – The second track in Polish. This is a kind of manifestation of hatred, directed to media who fuck up lives of so many people. They shape the current world, and most of society issues are caused by them.
Twisted – Regrets after a loss of someone close. It’s not directly about someone’s death – personally I’ve never experienced this – we lose friends, family, loved ones because we are focused so much on ourselves, that we don’t see anyone else and we push them away until they are gone.
Indifference – “there’s no one who might listen” – that is the best summary for this closing song. Indifference is the worst shit and we are all, more or less affected by it. Awareness is painful, but only if we feel the pain, we can stay aware and fight against this sickness.
