THE FORESHADOWING: the beautiful songs of the Apocalypse

The Apocalypse, as seen from the Italian doom metal scene, sounds great. I mean, yes, it’s doom metal and it speaks about the end of the world, it’s not supposed to be a holiday in the sun. And it isn't. But when you listen to The Foreshadowing’s second album, Oionos, even though it's meant as a warning, you might think, well, if the Apocalypse sounds that good, we just might live with it. Francesco Sosto (keyboards, backing vocals) is here to give you an additional warning, so make sure you mark his words.





Metalfan: The Foreshadowing is labeled as a doom/gothic metal band, do you agree with this label? What do those words mean to you: doom, gothic?
Francesco Sosto: Doom and Gothic are two words which mean our origins, first of all. We labeled ourselves since our very earlies a gothic/doom band, but our goals in the future are not to be stuck in a standard genre, but evolve it by simply adding other solutions which are not generally involved in.

Metalfan: Oionos, your second album has come as a nice surprise for the metalfans that are not particularly following the doom metal genre. The Italian musical scene is known to provide a generous offer of happy power/progressive metal bands rather than sheltering a gloomy depressive doom metal outfit like The Foreshadowing. Is there an active doom metal community in Italy or is there just you guys and Novembre to keep the sadness alive?
Francesco Sosto: Just some years ago there had been forming a gothic/doom scene in Rome which was destined to be supported for a long time: Novembre, Klimt 1918, Room with a View, Sun of Weakness. Then, for some reason these scene has been deprived of the names that I’ve mentioned: Klimt 1918 shifted their interest on indie and post rock sound, Room with a View have definetely disappeared and Sun of Weakness broke up after the tragic death of their singer Alessandro Camilletti. At the moment I just see Novembre and us as the only bands who try and support the scene.

Metalfan: How much time did you spend writing and recording Oionos and what kind of an experience it was, compared to working on the first CD? Novembre's Giuseppe Orlando joined you in the studio for the recording and mixing, how important was his involvement in the making of the album? I think I can hear some Novembre influences here and there, on a song or two...
Francesco Sosto: If we consider from the beginning of songwriting till the end of mastering we took a year and a half to realize Oionos. It was a hard job, because this was our second album and made more claims. With Days of Nothing we were easy to please whatever the solution was. Besides there had been some unexpected events that slowed our work down. Honestly I don’t see in our music Novembre influences, but surely the effort and experience of Giuseppe Orlando have been determining for the making of the album.






Metalfan: Your musical influences are easily indentifiable, would it be safe to say that innovation isn't really your goal? What is your focus then, when producing music?
Francesco Sosto: On the contrary our first goal is to become innovative. That’s true, we’re a gothic doom band but as I said before our efforts wants to concentrate on new solutions in order to find our personality and style. By carefully listening to Oionos, one might find some good results in this sense.

Metalfan: I think Outsiders is a song that immediately stands out, it's very melodic, even catchy, dare I say it. In fact, the album is filled with easily memorable tunes and melodies, that's one of its highlights. The Foreshadowing might be one of the catchiest doom metal bands I've ever listened to in a time when the trend is heading in the opposite direction: most bands tend to get more and more brutal. You might just be labeled as an "easy listening", does it bother you at all?
Francesco Sosto: We’re not bothered about it beacuse it’s just the way our own doom metal is intended to be. It’s typical sound of The Foreshadowing, and it might even be a good reply to anyone who thinks we’re a good or bad imitation of big acts like Paradise Lost or Anathema. However I think Oionos is much less catchy than Days of Nothing and in some excerpts you can even find some „evil” and „brutal” moments. As for vocals we remained faithful to our initial choice not to insert growls of screams.

Metalfan: What is Oionos about? First of all, what is the meaning of the title? Is there a common thread running through the lyrics of the songs?
Francesco Sosto: Oionos means: “bird of prey” but also “bird of omen”. It was the name for vultures the ancient greeks watched to foresee the future. The main concept in Oionos is Apocalypse, as in Days of Nothing, that’s why we can consider it as our chapter second of apocalypse. Like in our first album we also adopted here the same formula of finding a thread which is common to all tracks, but in the same time we deal about matters regarding our private live, which directly relate to the main theme of the album.

Metalfan: The cover art was designed by Seth, is it like you imagined it would be? The image is rather cryptical, what is your interpretation of it?
Francesco Sosto: The cover is exactly what we imagined for the album, it has been a great and superb job and it is hypnotic and captivating in the same time. We think the image of the old man might be strictly connected to the figure of that old man with a strange posture in Days of Nothing artwork. I see in the old man eyes a warning of the apocalypse that is going to arrive, or better, more than a warning, a foreshadowing...



Metalfan: You covered Russians, a hit song by Sting, on this album (doing a great job at it, by the way). You've chosen this particular song because of its message or it's just happened that all in the band are big fans of the song?
Francesco Sosto: We wanted to insert a cover in this album, and among all options Marco suggested Russians. And in the end it has revealed the best choice because of the topic it argues which is deeply close to Oionos concept. As you know it was written during a time where there was the threat of a nuclear war, since relationship between Russia and USA were tense. Considering what the thread was about, the choice of covering Russians has been perfect, even because it has got a dark mood which fits very well with doom sound.

Metalfan: There are gregorian chants to be heard here and there on the album, how did you record those parts? Do they bear a religious meaning? There's also another christian reference in the title of the last song.
Francesco Sosto: Our choice to insert gregorian chants is not due to religious purposes, but it’s quite understandable that most of the people who get closer to our music misconceive it. Coming back to gregorian chants, there’s a harmonized gregorian chorus part which was recorded by Marco at Outer Sound for Lost Humanity, while it was an idea of mine to insert a sample on Soliloquium, it’s a song of Andrea and he told us it was written on Eastertime at night. During Eastertime in the place where I was born there’s a Christian traditional habit called the Sepulchre Procession, and it consists of visiting all the churches of the old town. I remember that every year I entered a white church where by tradition some old widows dressed in black were gathering together in circle and praying, while in the church resounding an old recording of a Gregorian chant. I thought it would have been a good idea inserting some Gregorian Chant in Andrea’s piece, and so it was. Revelation 3.11 refers to the Book of Revelation of John and it’s the last book of New Testament.

Metalfan: It has been noted that there's a certain resemblance between Marco Benevento's voice and Martin Gore's (Depeche Mode). Does it bother you to be linked with such a successfully commercial, untrue, non-metal act like Depeche Mode?
Francesco Sosto: Absolutely not. It’s a pleasure because all of us, included Marco, are Depeche Mode fans, we have deep respect fot this band since they got the merit of having brought electronic music to the top.

Metalfan: Speaking of Depeche Mode, as you surely remember, Paradise Lost, the grandfathers of gothic metal, have been criticised in the past for their presumably Depeche Modesque experiments. What do you think about their 1999 CD, Host, is it any good?
Francesco Sosto: I remember Host was unfortunately a slip for Paradise Lost, I recognize it was a valiant choice, it was anyway an attempt to make a different and innovative album, but fans generally don’t stand too much drastic route changes of a band, that’s why they didn’t forget it to them. My Dying Bride had also the same problem with 34.788%...Complete, and the reaction of fanbase was exactly the same as Paradise Lost fans. That’s why we think it’s better for us to shape our music style gradually, the best solution is to find a good compromise which consists of remaining basically a gothic doom band but in the same time finding innovative and experimental solutions, without tresspassing the fronteers of metal.






Metalfan: Do you think that having former members of successful alternative rock band like Klimt 1918 in your ranks has helped or, on the contrary, hindered the band's progression on the metal scene?
Francesco Sosto: We must be thankful to all the bands we were part of, because without them we wouldn’t have the necessary requirements that we got now. Maybe it was for this reason that we didn’t start with The Foreshadowing in 1999 as it should be, but preferred instead to acquire experience in bands like Klimt 1918, Spiritual Front or Grimness.

Metalfan: Your first album was released by Candlelight Records, but you have a new label for Oionos. Is it difficult for a metal band like yourselves to get long term label support these days?
Francesco Sosto: It’s too early to say this. Unfortunately it has happened that with Candlelight things weren’t goin’on as we expected, now we’re gonna see how it will work with our new label Cyclone Empire. The guys of Cyclone are very friendly and professional, so our first impression of them is really good. Let’s hope to make great things together.

Metalfan: What's next for the band?
Francesco Sosto: We wanna arrange a tour for Oionos and perform wherever our presence is appreciated.

Metalfan: Thank you for your time!
Francesco Sosto: Thanks to you for your interview. Doom regards.