The Old Dead Tree is reborn.
Seventeen years after their last album, the band led by Manuel Munoz (vocals/guitar, Arkan, live for Melted Space), Nicolas Chevrollier (guitar, Ommatidia, ex-Monolithe), Nicolas Cornolo (guitar), Gilles Moinet (bass, Lux Incerta) and Raphaël Antheaume (drums, Penumbra) confirm their return with Second Thoughts, their fifth album, released via Season of Mist.
The band also welcomes guests for the first time, vocalists T.C. (Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Sang Froid) and Ludovic Loez (S.U.P./Supuration), as well as cellist Raphaël Verguin (Psygnosis).
The album kicks off with the catchy delay-boosted sound of Unpredictable, which immediately adopts the motivating Prog keys, fitting perfectly with the soaring vocal parts that respect this dynamic. The band returns to a slower, melodic Doom ambience on Don’t Waste Your Time, where harmonics fly gently around us, but the track grows increasingly ferocious, even adopting a jerky approach at its climax. The Lightest Straw brings back the lively touch, as do the saturated vocals, complementing the clean vocals and creating a complementary duet that gives the track a more intense and diversified feel, but the band return to their gentleness on Better Off Dead, a very calm track of almost two minutes that lets us catch our breath before segueing quite naturally into Without a Second Thought. The sound becomes aggressive and imposing again, but retains the melancholy elements that appear from time to time, before returning to a more minimalist approach on Luke, which only lasts to introduce the more powerful parts. There are occasional Post-Metal tinges creeping into the musicians’ canvas, as well as mistier elements as Story of My Life bewitches us in its turn, building imperceptibly in intensity until the explosion followed by the final chorus. Fresh Start gives us a moment’s respite with its introductory sample, then it’s with a Gothic atmosphere that the track moves forward, letting the vocal parts diversify again before the sample picks up again, rushing into I Wish I Could and its much steadier rhythm. The track bears witness to an obvious nostalgia, as much in the lyrics as in its quieter moments, which lead into The Trap and its atmospheric tones coupled with background vocals. The track reminds me of a short film, with its evolution and distressing passages, but we soon return to the simplicity of Solastalgia, where backing vocals accompany the vocalist on the pessimistic instrumental coupled with cello. OK initially remains in a gentle mood, but the rhythm section eventually takes over, bursting into flames and providing a natural transition to The Worst Is Yet To Come, which quickly proves to be furious, offering fierce growl parts and bursts of energy that contrast with the obvious, heady soothing of the final section. The vinyl version also includes Terrified, a track that remains totally in keeping with the band’s identity, but which above all plays with its natural duality, which punctuates this final composition.
The return of The Old Dead Tree was heralded as one of the events of the year within the Progressive/Gothic Metal scene, and the least we can say is that Second Thoughts lives up to its promise!
80/100
A few questions for Nicolas Cornolo, guitarist of The Old Dead Tree, on the release of their new album Second Thoughts.
Hello, and first of all, thank you for your time! We last spoke at Hellfest 2023. How have you been feeling since then?
Nicolas Cornolo (guitar): Hello, and thanks for your time too! The band is feeling very good, a lot has happened since Hellfest 2023 and all that work has led to the release of Second Thoughts, which we’re very proud of. We’re really happy to be able to share it with the public at last.
How would you present The Old Dead Tree without ever using the word “Metal” or its labels, such as “Progressive”, “Gothic” or “Doom”?
Nicolas: We’re a rather dark but very open-minded band. Our influences range from Pop to Extreme Metal, and we aim to create a coherent, structured universe at the service of intense emotion. We take great care in the writing and arrangements of our songs, and try never to fall into clichés.
Your new album Second Thoughts will be out in a week’s time. How do you feel about it?
Nicolas: Very good? It’s a mixture of excitement and impatience. The very first feedback from the team around the band, including that from our label Season of Mist which is very important to us, has been fantastic, as have the first press reviews. The only thing missing now is the public’s response. The moment when our music is finally shared with fans is always special, especially after so many years of silence.
How would you sum up Second Thoughts in three words?
Nicolas: Intense, varied, rich. OK, that probably applies to all the band’s releases!
Second Thoughts comes out five years after The End, the EP that heralded your comeback. Why did you choose this name for the album, and what does it mean? What has happened to the band in five years?
Nicolas: Our songs often reflect the state of mind we were in when they were written. We were anxious about coming back when we were writing Terrified, and Second Thoughts reflects our hesitations and our new choice after The End, which didn’t announce our comeback but put an end to our career in 2019. This was really the plan, with a few concerts in the spring of 2020 to say a proper farewell. But then COVID came along and cancelled all our dates except Paris, which was sold out. And even though the idea of canceling everything almost won out, we didn’t want to disappoint the hundreds of fans who had turned out for the event. The Paris concert was postponed 3 times, taking place more than 2 years after the original date. To keep the band active during this time of confinement, we tried a few things (alternative versions, covers, etc.) before giving in to the urge to write new songs, which had become strong. However, having the urge and succeeding in offering music at the level of previous albums are 2 different things, especially now that the band members all live far apart! That’s why the single Terrified, which we released in 2023, was a real test. Its writing and production allowed us to test our ability to work remotely, and our capacity to offer something meaningful in a metal scene that has changed a lot since our previous album in 2007. The feedback we received from the public and the industry, particularly during our appearance at Hellfest, gave us the answers. The End was the end of one chapter, Second Thoughts marks the opening of a new one.
Whereas the band was best known for its very Doom and Gothic touches, I find that this album is much more oriented towards Progressive Metal. How would you describe the evolution of the composition? What was the creative process like on Second Thoughts?
Nicolas: There wasn’t really a desire to be more Progressive. I think the album simply marks the evolution of the band’s personalities. We tried to make each track as effective as possible – they’re relatively short compared to the past – and to be faithful to the band’s heritage. Nevertheless, we’re big fans of bands like Leprous, Haken or Mastodon, who have this modern Prog dimension and who have inevitably influenced us. Above all, we’ve set ourselves no artistic limits, and the fact that we’re 3 composers as opposed to 2 before has enabled us to broaden our range of influences even further.
What were your guidelines for the artwork? How did the collaboration with Henri Lejeune go?
Nicolas: We had a hard time agreeing on the artistic direction the artwork should take. So we entrusted the demos of the new tracks, the album lyrics and the covers of our previous albums to Henri, giving him carte blanche. His first idea immediately met with unanimous approval within the group. The collaboration went wonderfully well, and the visuals are original and 100% in tune with the music.
This is the first time you’ve welcomed guest musicians, T.C. (Regarde Les Hommes Tomber/Sang Froid), Ludovic Loez (S.U.P./Supuration) and Raphaël Verguin (In Cauda Venenum/Psygnosis). How did you go about choosing them?
Nicolas: We’d already worked with other musicians on previous albums, but this is the first time we’ve actually invited singers on one of our tracks. We met Ludovic Loez at a concert in Limoges at the end of 2023, which was the first date the two groups played together, and we were all amazed that it hadn’t happened earlier! S.U.P. is a reference point, we’ve always loved the band, and the two groups have a very high regard for each other. As for T.C., our bassist Gilles met him at a concert. T.C. has been a fan of The Old Dead Tree since high school, and we’ve long admired the work of Regarde Les Hommes Tomber. We figured that S.U.P., RLHT and The Old Dead Tree represented 3 generations of French Metal, and that bringing them together on one track would be a great idea. Their performances proved us right! As for Raphaël Verguin, Gilles had already had the opportunity to work with him on the album of his other project Lux Incerta, and the cello parts he was able to record on 3 of our new titles really transcended those tracks. We’re really grateful to these three enormous talents for bringing their touch to Second Thoughts.
I know it’s a tough question, but do you have a favorite track on this album? Or the one that seemed the most natural to compose?
Nicolas: That’s a tough one! First of all, you have to realize that for me, being the last to join the adventure, the challenge of composing for a band I was initially a fan of was a challenge. I don’t have a favorite track, but I’d say I’m very proud of the title Luke, which I wrote with Manuel. It’s a track that I can identify with enormously, with a few specific writing elements that are close to my heart (the guitar sounds, the open chords, the minimalist solo…) but which retains an overall color that’s typical of The Old Dead Tree.
Second Thoughts is released on the label Season of Mist, which has been with you since the beginning. How is the collaboration going? Why did you decide to renew your trust in them for this new project?
Nicolas: The collaboration is going perfectly. You have to remember that we’re very loyal to our team, whether it’s the technicians who work with us, the people who manage our merchandising or the director of our videos – they’ve all been with us for 20 years. Season Of Mist is no exception: they’ve always supported us, and they were there for The End, when the commercial potential of a posthumous 5-track EP from a band that hadn’t been active for several years was more than uncertain. They were there for Terrified and have been there from the start of the 4th album project, both administratively and promotionally, while giving us complete artistic freedom. There’s no reason for us to want to change this beautiful story between them and us.
I still remember the live show at Hellfest 2023, which we debriefed at the time. Looking back, how do you feel about that performance?
Nicolas: When we debriefed, we were still in the energy and emotion of the live show, for which we’ve had nothing but good feedback. Now that we’ve had a chance to listen to it again and again, you can imagine that all we can hear are the faults, and we’re keen to do better! I think we’re even better today, and the fans I met who were at Hellfest and La Maroquinerie last October confirmed that. As for me, it was the first time I’d played in front of such a crowd, which included some of my closest friends and family, including my son, so it was a constant battle between concentration and emotion. Hellfest was only the 5th concert since the band’s one-off reunion, and we were in the throes of reflection about our ability to reform, so this date was very important in our rebuilding process. We can only thank Hellfest for their unwavering confidence in inviting us for the third time. They played a real role in our comeback.
What are The Old Dead Tree‘s next projects?
Nicolas: Of course, we’ll be touring to promote the new album and perform the Second Thoughts songs live. The first dates should be announced very soon. We’ll also be putting the finishing touches to some new songs we recorded just before Second Thoughts earlier this year, in London at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. But that’s another story…
Are there any musicians or artists you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Nicolas: We have a lot of ideas in mind. We’d love to work with artists like Einar Solberg from Leprous, Aaron Stainthorpe from My Dying Bride, or Gregor Macintosh from Paradise Lost for example, but it depends on a lot of factors that we can’t always control.
Do you think you’ve improved as musicians with this album?
Nicolas: Yes, we’ve never been virtuosos, but we’ve all broadened our technical palette on this album. There’s more variety of styles in the guitars and bass, Raphaël, our drummer, has brought a lot of subtlety to his playing, and Manuel has developed an extremely vast vocal universe at the service of each track. Apart from the drums, which were recorded at Vamacara Studio by HK Krauss, who was also in charge of mixing and mastering, we were our own sound engineers and producers. This was a new experience for practically the whole band. I, for one, already had my own home studio before joining The Old Dead Tree, but it was rather new for Nicolas and Manuel, and they learned very quickly. In fact, HK congratulated us on the quality of our takes. We’ve learned a lot during the production of Second Thoughts, and we’re confident that the follow-up will be even better.
That was my last question, so I’d like to thank you for your availability, and the final words are yours!
Nicolas: Thank you Acta Infernalis for supporting the band, and thank you to the readers of this interview. See you in a while for a new live show?