It was conceived of by James. One of his family names is ‘Nash’ and ‘atte’ can mean ‘at the’ or ‘nearby’ so the words ‘atte’ + ‘Nash’ form the band name, paying homage to his ancestors.

The three of us have been friends for many years, outside of playing music. James saw Daylight Dies play in London in 2003 before he realized we are from the same place - North Carolina, USA. He and I met shortly thereafter through a mutual friend, and I introduced him to Archie, who was looking for a new drummer for his blackmetal band which he did vocals and guitar for, Legion of the Fallen. Archie and I had met at various metal shows in NC around that time. James and Archie worked together for years in Legion, and even started a business together which they still run. I even played bass in Legion for a string of shows one summer. We’ve all kept in touch and stayed friends through the years and eventually the growing power of the recordings from James’ studio caused us to unite under the banner of Atten Ash.

We did virtually nothing to push the album, aside from uploading the album to itunes, soundcloud, and sharing tracks through social media. This was partly because shortIy after the release, I moved from NC to Tampa, FL to pursue a project with some well-known heavy hitters in the metal world. That project never saw the light of day for various reasons. After the conclusion of that project, Hypnotic Dirge approached us about a physical release of ‘The Hourglass’. This came at the perfect time and allowed me to return to my true musical home: melodic doom/death. We foresee many new songs and albums over the coming years with Atten Ash.

The sheer volume of metal bands and releases creates an environment of seemingly endless options and genres, subgenres, etc. There are literally thousands of new metal albums every year. The talent level is incredibly high, it seems every new band has a guitar hero and a drum god, but it’s hard to tell what is real vs what is recording trickery. Real metal music is bigger and more popular than it’s ever been, so I think it’s a positive thing overall.

My favorites are ‘City in the Sea’ and ‘Born’.

I was contacted by Lycanthia – doom from Australia – about contributing a Daylight Dies track to a 7 inch vinyl split release, to be released through Hypnotic Dirge Records. I suggested Atten Ash and sent “City in the Sea” for consideration. The track was well received and discussions about releasing our full album ‘The Hourglass’ quickly followed.

It words of the poem paint pictures in the mind eye readily. The language used is vivid while gloomy, alive while mysterious and archaic. The piece can be read as an homage to past societies lost, or warnings about the future. The archetypal story of Atlantis encompasses these ideas and ‘City in the Sea’ is an obvious reference to that story as well. We feel it fits with the music perfectly.

Loss is a common theme throughout the album. From being general like ‘The Hourglass’ to the very personal like ‘Born’, loss is the common concept.

Yes, a good amount of new music has been developed already for a follow up album. We have a few new demos recorded, but nothing’s in a final state.

Tempo is important to conjure the intended vibe. Above all, and beyond any technical measures, a strong emotional expression by the music and vocals is required to be a strong doom track, in my opinion.

We’ll be writing for another album and possibly playing some shows in 2015. Thanks for the interview. The album can be purchased at www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com and is free to stream from https://hypnoticdirgerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-hourglass Cheers.