2023 is shaping up to be an incredible year for fans of traditional metal and hard rock, partially thanks to bands like Firmament. Hailing from Germany, this up and coming outfit caught my attention with their debut album, We Don’t Rise We Just Fall, which I’ve been playing on repeat ever since. Their blatantly retro brand of metal is bound to appeal to fans of the heavy 70s and earliest days of the 80s, when the NWOBHM was thriving. We sat down with guitarist Philipp Meyer and bassist Stefan Deutsch to discuss all things Firmament. Despite their album title, they don’t fall…they just rise!
Greetings Firmament and welcome to Defenders of the Faith!
Philipp Meyer and Stefan Deutsch: Hello Defenders of the Faith. Thank you for the interview first of all.
I know many of you played together prior in a band called Tension. What led to that band’s demise and the subsequent shift towards Firmament?
PM: There are two main reasons for that basically. The whole pandemic situation made things really complicated in terms of rehearsing, recording, meeting up and just everything. And we had trouble finding a skilled lead guitarist to replace Clemens (Richter). These two things in combination led to us losing motivation to continue the band, with the name Tension at least, and everyone had kind of different views on certain things. In the end, we all agreed on laying the band to rest.
Jonas (Zeidler), Maik (Huber), and me still wanted to play music together, and we got in contact with Tom (Michalik) again (former lead guitarist of Tension). We started to jam around and soon the first songs were written. When we started playing together, everything felt very natural. All of us have developed in terms of songwriting and influences. That’s why from the beginning we knew it’s going to be something different than Tension.
While doing that, we thought about good bassists from the area, and Stefan came to our mind. I’ve known him for about 9 years now already, and the other guys knew him too, so it was an easy decision. We invited him and we instantly had a very good and creative vibe with a good workflow. This resulted in us recording the first demo, “The Void / Losing You”, live in our rehearsal room in October of the same year. In March 2022, about one year after we founded the band, we already entered the studio to record We Don’t Rise We Just Fall. We are very happy with the result. We hope you are too haha.
Which bands most influenced Firmament’s sound?
SD: There are many bands that influence our sound, because all members of Firmament have a wide variety in their music taste. The most reminiscent type of music that we can relate to is the NWOBHM, with bands such as Witchfynde, Pagan Altar, Ritual, Trespass, Crucifixion and many of those “one 7” bands”, but also classic hard rock bands such as Thin Lizzy, BÖC, Rush, Scorpions and Deep Purple. Also many bands from the 70s like Sarcofagus, Camel, Sir Lord Baltimore, Wishbone Ash etc. have influenced us. In addition to that, East German rock and metal bands like Formel 1, Puhdys, Karat, Prinzip and Berluc play an important role in our understanding of music. We have too many influences to list them all haha.
What is the origin of the album title, We Don’t Rise We Just Fall?
SD: The title itself is a lyrical part of a song we have rejected. It’s funny though; looking back to what happened last year, and also the times before (in Tension) regarding the personal situation with our former singer Maik, and all the struggles we had within the band after recording the album, maybe it is a quite fitting title for the album.
PM: The fall, in that case, can stand for parting ways with our former singer, just after having finished the album production. But still releasing the album and getting mostly very positive responses about it and finding a very good replacement singer can be seen as the rising moment. We didn’t have all of this in mind when we chose the album title obviously, but looking back how things turned out, it was almost like a prediction.
Who handles the band’s songwriting and how does the band go about putting a song together?
PM: Usually one of us comes up with an idea, then we jam out in the rehearsal room. Most of the times, we have such a good creative flow that everyone adds his own input and it turns out to be a new song. Our songwriting is happening in a very natural way without any boundaries, and most of the times we are able to write a new song within just a few rehearsals. Sometimes, we are surprised how different it sounds from the previous song we wrote. We’re a bunch that’s always good for a surprise haha.
What was the recording process for the album like? In what ways, if any, did it shape the direction of the music?
SD: We had the opportunity to use a professional studio room with a sound engineer of our choice for one week. He knows what kind of sound we were aiming for, and also was delivering some creative ideas for some of the songs. We worked with him recording the demo already, so we knew that the result would satisfy us. In general, the whole recording process was pretty rushed unfortunately; due to several reasons like the pandemic situation, the resulting time struggles in finding ways to prepare the recording, but also songwriting, properly. In the end, we had to finish/change song parts during the recording process. All in all it was a very spontaneous session. Looking back, we think that the spontaneousness added a more natural feel to the album.
Are there any recurring lyrical themes on this album?
SD: All the lyrics were written by our former singer Maik, who mostly was writing about melancholic topics such as all-day and inner life struggles, but also current things happening in the world. That is why we had chosen such a dark artwork theme for the album in general, and the mentioned title that does not really sound positive as well.
This album is loaded with killer riffs and hooks reminiscent of the NWOBHM. What are the key elements that constitute a killer riff?
PM: Uhh that’s a very tricky question because there is no formula to write a killer riff; or at least we have no clue about such a formula. But we wish we had haha. Maybe our formula is using twin guitar leads. Of course, a killer riff needs to be catchy. It has to get stuck in your head for days. If you achieve that, just add some twin leads that go hand in hand with the rest of the instruments, such as the rhythm section (drum and bass) and the result probably will be very good. I think it’s important to just find a good balance between the instruments. The more natural a riff seems when you hear it in a band context, the better.
There’s also a handful of songs and moments in the vein of 70s acts like Thin Lizzy and Blue Öyster Cult. What is it about this early era of metal and hard rock that appeals to you as a fan and musician?
SD: We do burn for music from the 70s and also the early 80s, which was a kind of a transitional time in heavy music. The great thing about the 70s is, that all the “labeling” of certain sub-genres didn’t exist yet. Everything had a much more “free” feeling to it. Musicians and listeners didn’t get stuck in specific genre titles, causing them to stick to certain “rules”. Everything in heavy music was quite new, or didn’t even exist yet. So people came up with certain new ideas that would change the whole way of playing for a whole wave of bands for example. Everything seemed more spontaneous and natural in those times. We also have this approach: being spontaneous, accepting unconventional ideas and not being too bound to a specific way of playing. The result is pretty 70s/early 80s influenced and it feels good the way it is.
While Maik Huber handled vocals on the album, you’ve since gotten a new singer, Marco Hermann. Can you tell us a bit about him and what he brings to the band?
PM: The main thing that Marco brings to Firmament is a charismatic frontman, who has a very powerful voice. His tonality is pretty similar to Maik’s, but also isn’t. He has a wider vocal range and this gives us the possibility to do things that wouldn’t have been possible before. He really adds to our songwriting and also the general live appearance. Marco is coming from a different direction when it comes to lyrics and certain music, which is very welcome as an addition to the band’s general sound.
What can fans expect from Firmament throughout the rest of 2023?
SD: We recently recorded 2 songs for an upcoming split release, which hopefully will be released this year. A bunch of festival gigs are coming up too: Bavarian Metalheadz in May, Muskelrock and Der Detze Rockt in June, and the Heavy Metal Revolution festival with Metalucifer in September. The time in between those gigs we will use for songwriting, so that we can hopefully record a new album by next year. And for the rest of the year: Only time will tell.
PM and SD: Thanks Joe for the interview! And thanks to everyone who reads this. We hope that everyone who reads this checks out our music, and hopefully we see some of you at one of our gigs somewhere somewhen in the future. Cheers from Germany!
We Don’t Rise We Just Fall is available now on Dying Victims Productions. For more information on Firmament, visit www.facebook.com/FirmamentRock/.