Published: January 28, 2019
interview by: Clayton Michaels
Original Link

This is a short interview that was included along the song premiere of "The Void Above" on Indy Metal Vault.



Indy Metal Vault: It’s been nearly five years since The Haunting Green’s last release. What was the band up to during that time – were you working on Natural Extinctions for most/all of that span?

The Haunting Green: After the release of our self-produced, s/t EP we spent three years playing many shows, concentrating only on live activity and promotion. In the last two years we were stunted by various personal problems; therefore, we decided to spend all our time and energies in composing the new album. It has a completely different mood and reflects some very difficult moments as well.

We know that five years is a lot of time for releasing a new album, but we don’t really care a lot about these “business needs.” This project is above all a way to express ourselves, so we took all the time needed to create something that mirrored our real inspiration. We are used to composing when we are really inspired, and we needed no interference while doing it.

THG: I appreciate lyrics that don’t reveal only one meaning. I think that anyone is free to see the point by himself.

Natural Extinctions is not a proper “concept” album, but there is actually a hidden thread connecting all the tracks, relating the inevitable destiny of every human being along his life to inhibit, suppress and lose some of the most pure and precious aspects of their own soul, to adapt and live with the hostile environment that surrounds him.

Another key to interpretation could be the sense of frustration in being unable to adapt to a society we don’t feel a part of.

In recent years, Italy has reached the lowest cultural and artistic level. The actual government is the mirror of an alarming increase in an uncultured, uninformed, and arrogant mood in the people. We live in a country where personal expression is hindered and the social structure seems to be specifically created to align us to a standard. The most “lucky” have already made the decision to leave Italy to find a place where they can follow their ambitions and just be respected as any human being deserves.

For our part, this band is our personal way to escape from that.

THG: We listen to black metal, and yes, it is natural that we are influenced by it. On the other hand, we really love music that doesn’t even have drums or distortion as well, and the result is something we consider very personal, free from the cages of musical genres. We care only about the feelings, not about the way we bring them to the listeners.

THG: This is the maybe the fastest song we have ever written. It came out in a very short time, when we felt the necessity to try something more aggressive.

The lyric is a metaphor about migration, about escaping, and about the irremediable consequences that this need brings. It is about being conscious of our inability to face something bigger that us (feel free to suppose it can be life, or death).