After their rather introverted double album „Glasrew Point“ the French industrial/post-metallers WHEELFALL have now released „The Atrocity Reports“, a relentlessly brutal album that honors its name. You can learn more about how these two albums are still connected, why the new record features such gory imagery and why the band is now signed to Apathia Records in the following interview with frontman Fabien W. Furter.
WHEELFALL seems to be a quite fitting name for an industrial metal band. What exactly is the thought behind it?
This name can have a lot of meanings, just like our music and this is what I like the most about the name WHEELFALL. Does “wheel” mean the “sun” that falls and disappears? Is WHEELFALL a pun on “we will fall”?
You’re mixing many different genres – industrial, sludge, post-metal and even more. What exactly is it that you want to express through your music?
Above all, music is a language, and I chose to not restrain it: By this I want to say that I’ll use every sound that can support my intentions. I want to express myself, in short. I don’t want to make music that fit a genre in particular; I only want to make MY music, as I speak with words. I truly love music of all kind and I’m very curious, so I think that when I write music, all this knowledge expresses itself through sounds.
Which bands and musicians have influenced you as artists?
As I said, I’m very curious and passionate about music, so: A LOT. (laughs)
But I would say that some of the most important are Scott Walker, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), David Bowie, Stravinsky, Tom G. Warrior (Celtic Frost), Debussy, Ministry, Morbid Angel…
The French metal scene seems to spawn a lot of interesting bands lately. Are you also involved in the scene or are you just doing your own thing apart from it?
Yes, the French scene is really, REALLY interesting; one of the more interesting for my tastes nowadays. I really like to get in touch with its players… I think it’s really important not to do your thing alone: How could you learn from others? We’re all artists and have a lot to say, there’s some great conversations (through music or words). I played before in the bands Chaos Echoes (and the drummer plays for Necrowretch) and Phazm for example and our current drummer plays with the band Joy/Disaster. We have a lot of great relations with bands here, it’s a really motivating context for creating the best music we can do. I’d really like to talk one day with the guys behind Blut Aus Nord, I’m sure we’ll have a lot to say! (laughs)
Your latest album is called „The Atrocity Reports“ and it sure sounds the way the title suggests. What exactly do you deal with in the lyrics?
For all of WHEELFALL’s albums, I wrapped the themes in a fictional story which leads in the creation of an original novel paired with “Glasrew Point” (our previous album)! And the lyrics of the album were a part of this story, seen by a particular character. For „The Atrocity Reports“, it’s kind of the same thing, but this time I wanted to express my points of view in the album without a character, even if there’s a story for it too (a novel will be done too, soon). The story of „The Atrocity Reports“ takes place in the same world as “Glasrew Point”: A world ruled by a small group of people that controls medias, politics, and uses the screens as a way to literally poison the mind of the population. The story follows here a serial killer that uses these technologies to broadcast and expose his murders in underground and illegal art exhibitions. And the “small group of people” tries to stop him.
So the themes in the albums are mostly social matters, and therefore it’s political. I talk about the control of the mass by the medias, our relation to technology and how it feeds the sadism and inertia of people via screens, all of this leading to the loss of identity and ideals. And I talk about how it’s necessary for all of us to go beyond all of this, to be skeptical, to question everything; the necessity to take action to end this state of affairs.
Before that you released „Glasrew Point“, a lengthy double album. You newest record, however, is a short, but brutal attack on the senses. What’s the reason for this change?
I didn’t want to make the same album; I like to see them as two parts of a whole thing. “Glasrew Point” was kind of introspective; “The Atrocity Reports” is a reaction to it. It had to be harsh, brutal and relentless: “Glasrew Point” was an act of thinking; “The Atrocity Reports” takes action.
How was the feedback to your latest album? Were there people who were surprised by how different it is compared to its predecessor?
The feedback to “Glasrew Point” was astonishing! It was truly awesome: I think people (and press) did understand what we wanted to do, and we were really acclaimed for it (how cool is that?!). They were surprised, obviously, because we disappeared from the scene for almost two years after the release of “Interzone” in 2012, which was in the stoner/doom genre. Personally, even though I’m really proud of these stoner/doom years, for me it was not the definitive form of WHEELFALL, but it’s part of our identity. For me, 2015 “Glasrew Point” and “The Atrocity Reports” are what WHEELFALL really meant to be.
Is there a track on „The Atrocity Reports“, that you think to be the most representative or most accomplished on the album? If so, which one and why?
I really love all the songs equally in „The Atrocity Reports“! But the one that really resonates with me is “There Is No You”, which is a very personal and intimate song. It did me good to make and record this song.
„Black Bile“ might stand out the most, since it’s rather calm and cleanly sung, but it still conveys an unsettling atmosphere. What was your thought behind that particular song?
This song is the very first I sang with clean singing, it was particular so! (laughs) Hippocrates thought that spleen was caused by an excess of black bile: The song deals with the spleen caused by the inability to control everything. Even words are out of control in this one! (laughs) I thought a clean deep voice would contribute to the ambiance I tried to build, melancholic yet disturbing.
You also made a quite brutal music video for „The Way To Every Crime Is Ours“ as well as for „Violence Is Seduction“. Why did you choose these two tracks for it and why did you go for such gory imagery?
These two tracks are the most immediate songs of the album in my opinion, and they have easily understandable titles to set the mood to discover the album. As you said earlier, the album is brutal, so I wanted to extend this to the videos and have a “complete” work of art (the music, the words, the visuals)! By the way, I’m passionate about Cronenberg, Fincher, Lynch, Kubrick and Carpenter… I love their meaningful, provocative and mysterious imagery, sometimes under control, sometimes not. It may be unconscious influences. (laughs)
Have you also had experiences with violence in your personal life?
Yes… And I think we all had experience with violence at certain degrees. It does not have to be “physical” to be violent. Psychological violence is the most insidious and destructive in my opinion. And we all have to be prudent because it is, sadly, so simple to be violent… As I say in “Violence Is Seduction”: “Violence is seduction / defiance [is] construction”. And let me finish by a quote by Chateaubriand about this: “What destroys morality among nations, and with morality those nations themselves, is not violence, but seduction; and by seduction I mean that which all false doctrine contains of the flattering and the specious. Men often mistake error for truth, because every faculty of feeling or intellect has its false representation: Calmness resembles virtue, rationalisation reason, emptiness depth, and so on.”
The artwork shows something that seems to be a human head wrapped up in something. What is it and how does it connect to the album?
It’s exactly that: A bloody human head wrapped in plastic… As the victim in the “The Way To Every Crime Is Ours” music video. I prefer to let people take their shot at interpreting this image (things I said before will certainly help). (laughs)
„The Atrocity Reports“ was released via Apathia Records. Why did you change labels and for what reason did you decide to sign with this particular label?
In fact, our preceding albums were released on Sunruin Records, which was the label I made myself to release our albums in total freedom. But it was so much work… I can’t do everything and I don’t want to. It was a great experience, but exhausting. So when we had the possibility to sign with Apathia Records, we totally considered the offer! And they totally trust us about our music and the fact that we make something new and original. Look at their roster, these guys are afraid of nothing and sign only bands they like and find interesting! And THIS, is what I call a real record label. Thanks to them. (laughs)
What’s planned next for WHEELFALL?
We have two albums we are very proud of, with lots of songs. We want to play them live as much as possible and in front of the most people possible! We’ll tour as much as possible, for sure.
Now, moving on with our traditional Metal1.info-Brainstorming. What comes to your mind when you read these following terms?
Favorite album: Only one is… brutal! (laughs) Nine Inch Nails’ „The Downward Spiral“.
Safety: boredom
Blast beats: cocaine
Emmanuel Macron: oligarchy
Censorship: (social) hacking
WHEELFALL in five years: Continuing to do what we want in front of thousands people.
Thank you once more for your answers. If there’s still something that you want to tell the readers, go ahead:
Thank you a lot for this interview, and thanks a lot to the readers to have been curious and reading all of this!
17. November 2017 Stephan Rajchl