I am truly excited for this one! After having the chance to experience ERSEDU’s upcoming EP, GORE, before its official release on May 19th, I was truly honored to speak with the band and dive deeper into the dark universe behind this release !
In this interview, we talked about the creation of GORE, the concept behind the EP , the challenges of recording during war and what lies ahead for ERSEDU!
Hello and thank you for taking the time to speak with us. How are things going for ERSEDU at the moment?
Hello. At the moment we’re polishing the artbook, adding more Easter eggs for our true fans, and hoping to finish shooting the video for “Offering”. That’s if we’re talking about the creative side of our lives.
For readers who are just discovering your music, how would you introduce ERSEDU and the vision behind the project?
We are drawn to dark music. We write and perform what we feel is missing in the existing scene. We are deeply connected to dark aesthetics, and everything we create is built around it – the sound, the themes, the visuals.
Reviewers often point out the density of our sound and its dark atmosphere. We channel our inner demons and personal experiences into our music. We are symphonic metal, but not the kind with corsets and clichés – rather, something that solemnly reflects the tragic nature of human existence.
You are about to release your EP GORE. First of all, how do you feel about it?
As you may know from the press release, we originally planned to release it back in 2022. The full-scale invasion completely disrupted those plans and set us back significantly.
We’re happy to finally present this universe and move forward, because we’ve invested an enormous amount of time and energy into it. And there are still six more colors ahead.
Your upcoming EP GORE is described as the first chapter in a series dedicated to colors. How did this concept come to life?
We liked the idea of connecting the nature of sound with electromagnetic waves, even though they are different physical phenomena. At the same time, we wanted a long-term concept – something that would guide us for years.
And it works. The awareness that you’ve committed to a series pushes you to keep going, no matter how chaotic the world becomes. The world may be falling apart, but we still have six more conceptual EPs ahead. There’s no time to slow down.
Your sound has been described as Cinematic Symphonic Death Metal. How do you personally define the sound of ERSEDU?
That’s exactly how we define it. Cinematic, symphonic, with elements of death metal. We would also add one more word – dark.
What inspired you musically while writing GORE?
For this release, we explored different shades of red – blood, passion, and love.
“Offering” was inspired by Aztec sacrificial rituals, where blood serves as a bridge between life and death – where one dies so another can be born.
“Reap Souls” draws from Clive Barker’s The Hellbound Heart and reflects a distorted understanding of passion through the eyes of the Cenobites.
“Eros” explores love as an instinct – a force of reproduction that burns a person to the last drop.
We’ve expanded on these ideas in the artbook, and the most attentive listeners will discover even more hidden details.
The war in your home country, Ukraine, deeply affected the creation of this release, and the production of GORE took four years instead of one. What were the biggest challenges you faced throughout the process?
Most of the material was recorded by the end of 2021. Because of the war, we couldn’t record vocals at the studio we had previously worked with. It took us about a year to gather the equipment needed to recreate that sound ourselves.
Then came long and massive power outages. There were times in winter when we had no electricity for up to two weeks. Back then, we weren’t prepared for that kind of reality. Now almost every home has a power station, flashlights, power banks, and even small camping gas stoves for cooking – but at the time, electricity would come on for just two hours out of every six.
We waited for those two hours to charge everything, do basic tasks, and work on recording. On January 1st, 2023, while most people were recovering from New Year’s celebrations, we were drilling chipboard on the balcony, building acoustic panels to be able to record vocals at home.
Recording strings required everything to align perfectly. In the end, the musicians came to us, and we recorded using portable power stations, literally by flashlight.
The entire process depended on having electricity – and the willpower to keep going. Daily bombings don’t exactly support healthy sleep or mental stability.
What do you hope listeners will feel when they experience GORE for the first time?
A sense of scale. A touch of something that exists beyond personal will. Acceptance. And an appreciation of the beauty within darkness and tragedy.
Since GORE is only the first chapter, can you give us any hints about what comes next in the color series?
Here’s a hint: the answer is hidden in our artbook.
Are there any plans to bring ERSEDU to the stage in the near future?
Not in the traditional sense. But we might come up with a more unconventional way to interact with our audience.
We send you our best wishes from Greece, along with our sincere hope for peace and for all wars to come to an end. Please leave a message for our readers.
Don’t stop. Keep searching, keep evolving, keep improving.
