This Croatian band comes to soothe the souls of many with their gentle yet experimental music, those who think that countries like Croatia don't have much to offer should for sure check this one out. Now listen to Gordan's words… Hi there folks, first of all please tell me something about your origin, is that right that you come from Rijeka, Croatia? I have been there a couple of times and I think it is quite an interesting place. What do you think? Yes, Ashes you leave is a doom band from Rijeka (Croatia) that was founded back in 1995. We are one of the few croatian metal bands and the only doom band. We had quite a turbulent career as far as affirmation goes, because our first two labels, Effigy records and Arctic Serenades, both bankrupted. We continued to promote our music in spite of the faliures and as You can see, our persistence was worthwile and we are now under contract with Morbid records. By the way, Croatia is a beautiful country with an interesting history and many other fascinating aspects. In spite of this, we received a lot of indifference just because we were from these parts. Still we managed to capture many hearts. Morbid records have recently released your 2 albums, which were recorded a long time ago. Were they ever released before? How come have such jewels remained hidden for such a long time? Well, I think I partly answered this in the previous answer. The great time interval that was required to publish these albums is due to the unprofessional attitude of our previous labels and people working there. They just kept promising and we just kept waiting. Do you think Morbid records are the right label for you, do you like any of the stuff they release? It is mostly brutal death metal or grind core... Morbid records is a great label that has really efficient employees. The fact that they have tendencies towards a more aggressive sound, doesn't bother us at all. Personally I like some of their bands like Postmortem, Dying Fetus and Obscenity. Are there many metal bands in the countries of the former Yugoslavia? I don't think I have ever heard a band for example from Croatia before. I'm not very familiar with the metal scenes of other countries that formed after the divison of ex-Yugoslavia. I could only say that Slovenia is one of the strongest in the promotion of metal. The fact that You have never heard of a croatian metal band is nothing strange since, in the last 12 years, the only known bands from Croatia are A.y.l. and Castrum (a black metal band). Do you get any metal concerts down there? What's the attendance? Do you ever play live? Metal concerts are very scarce especially as far as big foreign bands are concerned. Metal manifestations are usually organised by individuals and even then mostly demo bands appear. This is not really as bad as it sounds, the most important thing is that people still play. Media in Croatia support heavily dance, rave, a mix of pop and rock and the commercial estrada. There is absolutely nothing to be said about underground music. A.y.l. had a lot of concerts, but unfortunately only in Croatia and Slovenia. These concerts, and the apparition of supporting bands, we usually managed to organize all by ourselves and these were usually attended by many. People are really hungry for such manifestations here. What about metal shops and distributors? Is it easy for you for example to get newest releases of foreign bands? Metal shops and distributers? Ha, ha, ha, I'd really like to see that. There are only two such microscopic shops in Croatia and they've also been sentenced to death. If we want to buy a metal album, we usually use mail order cathalogues, but because of weird political decisions these are quite expensive.

You were described as a true doom metal band. Do you think this description suits you? We consider ourselves still to be a true doom band. We experimented with different musical styles on our second album, but this makes little difference. The point is that our feelings and attitudes could be only placed into the doom sphere. Are you fans of old fashioned doom metal, which used to be played by bands like My Dying Bride? Do you like anything from the contemporary metal production? Where do you think the best metal bands come from? Our fans are mostly doom oriented listeners, but people that tend towards other styles also appreciate us and we had many occasions to confirm this. Of the current scene I'm very attracted by bands like Theatre of tragedy, Therion and Anathema (Alternative 4 is truly a sublime album), but there are other bands like Rhapsody and Stratovarius. Quaility bands come from all over the world it is only important to discover them. I'd just like to say that people see Scandinavian bands as something superior and this is really too much. People should turn around and see that there are many bands that are worth listening from all countries. Back to your albums now. The biography says you have used Croatian folklore in your music, is that true? I don't know Croatian folklore so I can't judge. I wonder how people get involved with folklore today, do you listen to it? In fact I like all folklore except the one that is played here, I thought this was common. Yes, we use a lot of croatian folk elements, usually in classic instrument parts. I believe that we create a more interesting and individual sound that way. As You can see we love to experiment with different styles, and since we listen to many styles, and among this also folk music, so why not try them also when it comes natural. I think Dunja's voice is just awesome, especially on "Desperate Existence", and she tends to be experimenting with it quite well, songs like "Momentary Eclipse of Hope" or "Shadow of Somebody Else's Being" are thus brought closer to another dimension, to so called Alternative music, has this ever crossed your mind? Honestly, Dunja likes to "test" the ears of the listeners, and believe me, You haven't heard her craziest ideas yet. The crossing over into alternative has not yet reached us (although we are quite close to it) because we express ourselves best in this style. If this changes one day, You will be able to see this in our music also. Has your line up changed at all? It is very common with metal bands to change their line up from release to release, I know a band from Brno that has encountered about sixty member replacements so far. What about you? During these years we changed many members because we were unable to find professional and reliable people. The only ones that remained from the original line- up are Dunja and myself (Gordan) as the founder. This line-up has been working for a year now and I hope it doesn't have to change again. Quite some time has passed since you recorded "Desperate Existence", do you have anyting new ready? At the moment we are developing in detail the ideas for our third album and we should enter the studio by the end of Summer 1999. The date of its official release is still unknown. I think that's all I wanted to ask you, if you have any message for the metal fans out there, now's your chance. Don't give up on your ideas and stay loyal to your beliefs, because only such people succeed. Thanks. CONTACT: CENCIC GORDAN FRANJE CANDEKA 23b 51000 RIJEKA CROATIA fax: ++385/51/257-030 (between 8-16 cet,except saturdays and sundays) ++385/51/256-971 (between 8-16 cet,except saturdays and sundays) e-mail: [email protected]