InterviewsOctober 15, 20242,834 views

Loss and Its Weight - Mother of Graves discuss 'The Periapt of Absence'

"We’ve had more time together as a band to grow and solidify what we do, but also more time to explore some new ideas."

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By Jake

Melodic and melancholic doomsters Mother of Graves have only been in existence for around five years but in that short time they have climbed to the top of the mournful heap of modern doom bands. With poetic lyrics, melodies drenched in sorrow and aggression, and a knack for writing hooks, they’ve proven to be quite the force in the doom scene. Their debut EP, In Somber Dreams immediately got its hooks in me and I immediately shared it with anyone that had expressed passing interest in their sphere of doom metal. The next year they blew up with their debut LP, Where the Shadows Adorn landing them on multiple end of year lists by doubling down and expanding on their already bulletproof formula.

Photo by Kristie Vantlin

This week, Mother of Graves will release their second LP The Periapt of Absence and first on their new label, Profound Lore. I reached out to guitarist Chris Morrison and vocalist Brandon Howe to discuss the new album’s ideas, the new label and more.


Let me start with a question about the album’s title, The Periapt of Absence, what can you tell me about its meaning or significance to the band and how this title encapsulates your new album?

Brandon: These songs are related to a lot of dark points in my life, depressions, relationship and personal struggles, with underlying rays of sunlight shining through the black. They root in longing and separation, fear and uncertainty, strength and equal weakness, a lot of “what if” moments that have come and gone…but ultimately love and the harrowing tribulations of its pain that can really weigh on you. The Periapt of Absence relates to that weight being carried in suffering and in the perseverance of hope.

It’s somehow been two years since the release of your debut LP, Where The Shadows Adorn. Your new album is fiercely congruent with the debut but also has some notable differences with songwriting and style here and there, was that intentional or just a natural evolution?

Chris: Yea, time flies… We were working on some of these songs right around when that album came out. But yea, mostly, I think we just grew together as songwriters which led to a bit of natural evolution. Our core sound is definitely still there, but we did some different things with song structure, and we consciously allowed the songs room to breathe when we felt they needed it. We’ve had more time together as a band to grow and solidify what we do, but also more time to explore some new ideas. We took our time going through each song with a fine toothed comb to make sure they had impact and staying power, to our ears at least. We always do that, but I think we looked deeper this time. There was more focus on making the melodies and harmonies bigger and stand out more than ever. Stylistically though, it was all natural. We never said, we need to insert some goth rock here or some black metal here or anything like that. In the end, we just wrote and played what we wanted to hear.

One of the things that I noticed is that some of the tracks (“As The Earth Fell Silent”, “Shatter the Visage” etc.) feel legitimately heavier and more aggressive than some of your previous material without losing that now-signature MoG sound. Is that a stylistic choice or is this more to serve the meanings and emotional tone of the record moreso?

Chris: Yeah, we did go heavier on some of these songs for sure. There are aggressive aspects on the last album too, but more so on this one. So it is not necessarily new for us. "Emptiness of Eyes" on the last album kind of hinted at that aspect of our sound. So it was both a stylistic choice and a way to serve the emotional tone of certain songs. When I write guitar parts, I am usually in the moment trying to channel what I am feeling. The more aggressive riffs/sections that I write are meant to portray anger or frustration. Those emotions often go hand in hand with the album’s general themes of loss, pain, suffering, etc. So I want to show the listener some of that, when appropriate. On the other hand, we also just made a stylistic choice to go heavier with some songs. “As the Earth Fell Silent” was meant to be a heavy and aggressive song that does this thing where it starts churning and becomes quite ugly and uncomfortable in a way. That was purposeful.

Lyrically, Mother of Graves has always had a clear vision of what is being expressed. Are there any new facets that are layered within the songs on The Periapt of Absence?

Brandon: Not particularly. My writing format hasn’t strayed. Just expression and emotion. Feelings and colors morphed into individual portraits. They are meant to flow through the listener and invoke whatever they may. Maybe they will bear some reflections of your own experiences, or maybe they will simply be an enjoyable sonic journey that you can zone out to.

Which one of you loves words and language to the point where I almost need a dictionary for your songs titles? In all seriousness, since the beginning there has been a poetic language running through your music, where does that come from?

Brandon:  Ha, that would be me! It’s just a product of what I cram into my brain regularly with literature. I tend to flock to older poets (Shelley, Yeats, Byron, Rossetti, D.H. Lawrence to name a select few). Their writing styles are very immersive, colorful, deep and thoughtfully crafted. Rooted in life experiences, introspection, hope, loss and romance.. they’ve always resonated and struck a chord with me. They trigger my inspiration and keep my creative gears turning, on top of my own personal trials. I found the word “Periapt” somewhere in a mess of pieces that I was reading through, (couldn’t give you an exact source) but I remember jotting it down for safe keeping. It fit with the existing material and theme I had going at the time when I was revising and writing for this record. I like standout words that aren’t common and make you think. Like an ornate painter weaving a brush inside of your head and taking you different worlds. I don’t consider them flashy or anything, as there’s nothing I'm trying to prove or boast about with the use of them. Just brings a deeper depth and beauty to the overall work.

All of these moments and songs sound absolutely huge on the new record. How are you feeling about the way The Periapt of Absence sounds and what can you tell me about why it sounds so great?

Chris: Thank you! It sounds fantastic to us as well, and that is 100% because of Ben[Sandman]’s production skills. Honestly, he should be engineering and producing albums full time, in my opinion. The album is big, full, and has a classic sound, but it also maintains a crisp clarity without sounding like overproduced garbage. We started out by getting a great drum sound at Azmyth Studios here in Indy. Ben doesn’t have room in his studio for a full drum kit at the moment so we went to Azmyth for Don to record with Dyllen and Ryan. They have a great room, and we got a great raw drum sound. Then Ben tweaked that to his liking, and they turned out great!  The rest was easy, as he knows how to dial in tones and capture great performances from all of us. His attention to detail, especially in the post-production process, is unbelievable. He’ll spend as long as it takes to fix some issue that I can’t even hear, haha, but it is that level of care that makes the album what it is. Then of course we worked with Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Bloodbath) for mastering. He knows our style and knows exactly what tweaks need to be made for the album to pop and sound extra warm. The vinyl masters sound especially great. He did such a great job as always.

Visually, the new record is looking great with the vinyl pressings but the real star is the cover art by Caelan Stokkermans. Tell me about how that came to be the art that best represented the album that you’ve made.

Brandon: Caelan did an excellent job portraying what I had in mind. I had initially run an idea by him, along with some lyrical themes to set the mood, and he took it from there and made the magic happen. I mentioned wanting it to have the qualities of an old masters painting with an emphasis on heavy detail and darker colors. Basically to make it reek of romanticism. He did exactly that and more, and we couldn’t be happier with the final visuals that really tied the record together and made it whole.

For The Periapt of Absence, you’ve moved to Profound Lore for the release (with your past label Wise Blood bringing out cassettes) what can you tell us about how that came together?

Chris: Sometime pretty soon after Where the Shadows Adorn came out, Chris Bruni (Profound Lore owner) emailed us asking about future plans, etc. At the time we hadn’t really even thought about the next record yet, but told him we’d stay in touch after we’d worked the promo cycle for WTSA some more. Then we started to get interest from some other labels as well and decided it may be in our best interest to do some future planning regarding our next steps. Wise Blood was, and still is, so amazing to work with, but we felt like we needed to take that next step and take advantage of the larger reach a bigger label could provide. Sean at Wise Blood told us up front that he hoped to be a stepping stone on our way to other opportunities. Also, we are all huge Profound Lore fans. If you look at their roster and discography, it is just full of so many amazing bands and classic albums. So like I said, we received interest from a few labels and some offers, but what Bruni offered was perfect for us so we signed and never looked back. He’s been great to work with throughout this process. We are also super stoked that we still get to work with Wise Blood on the Periapt cassettes!

With the release of the album imminent, what would you like to tell someone about to listen to this album for the first time?

Brandon: Take it with you on an autumn walk. Embrace the change of color, the turning of seasons and the dwindling of daylight. Listen closely. Let it speak to you.

Chris: There is a lot happening on this album that you might not catch with your first listen. Some of us get bored with music easily, so we had to make it entertaining for ourselves by adding layers and special parts that serve as ear candy to us upon repeated listens. It can be a fully immersive headphones on in a dark room album, or it can be a turn it up and doom while you clean your room album. Regardless, we hope that it resonates with the listeners like our old favorites resonate with us.


You can pre-order The Periapt of Absence here and if you're in Indianapolis or Chicago next month, be sure to check out their shows with Immortal Bird and guests! 


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Bortslob 22 days ago

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