We published a new interview with STORMKEEP mainman Otheyn Vermithrax, digging into the Colorado band's second full-length, "The Nocturnes Of Iswylm," out now via Vesperian.
Vermithrax walks us through the record's shift away from the dungeon synth textures that defined STORMKEEP's earlier material toward real orchestral arrangements, and his decision to take on clean vocals across an entire album for the first time — a departure from the harsh-vocal role he's always handled, with longtime collaborator Shield Anvil (GALLOWBRAID, CALADAN BROOD, VISIGOTH) sitting this one out. The album continues STORMKEEP's ongoing story of the world of Elda, following the Seer's reckoning with the Serpent Stone's curse after the Dragon Queen's awakening.
That Dragon Queen also graces the album's cover, painted by legendary British illustrator Simon Bisley (Heavy Metal Magazine, Lobo, DANZIG sleeves) after Vermithrax cold-emailed him out of the blue. We talk through that collaboration, the censorship reflexes the artwork has run into on some U.S. platforms, and why Vermithrax thinks that reaction is such a specifically American one.
The conversation also covers the wider North American symphonic black metal revival STORMKEEP finds itself part of. "When STORMKEEP started doing what we're doing, nobody else was really doing it, aside from the original bands," Vermithrax told us. "It felt like a real gap." From there we get into the reunion of genre forebears OLD MAN'S CHILD, and how Vermithrax balances STORMKEEP against his other bands, BLOOD INCANTATION and WAYFARER.