Brittany’s Tanork is back!

Formed in 2020 in Rennes, the band quickly released their first EP, followed in 2023 by an album, both independently produced. In 2026, Eflam Castrec (guitar/vocals), Melaine Gautier (bass/vocals) and Morgann Lavaux (drums) joined Musiko Eye, with whom they released their second album, Diskar.

Sticking to their guns, the band writes in Breton, and it’s with Gwad an Diaoul that they’ll give us our first slap in the face, but not before incorporating a rather retro keyboard intro, reminiscent of 80s horror movies. Once this is over, the rhythm hits us with full force, accompanied by vocals in the purest Old School Death Metal tradition, confirming the band’s attraction to this style, but also its quality: the riffs could clearly have come from the early works of the masters of the style, while incorporating more elaborate passages! Enteuzet get Trenk, the next track, is of the same ilk, combining jerky passages with much more virulent moments or others that are very catchy and openly shaped for stage performance, such as the heavier mosh part or the bass/drum break, and then it’s with the eponymous track Diskar that the band breaks our necks once again. Already quite energetic at its basic pace, the composition also offers a few simpler but effective Thrash-oriented accelerations, unlike Distrujour ar Bed, which is rooted in a fairly technical and uncompromising Death Metal mix at a good pace that only slows down to further reinforce the feeling of oppression. We’re off to a flying start with Argad, a new steamroller of immediate effectiveness that makes you want to headbang like it’s 1990, then the atmosphere becomes heavy again with the introduction of An Ankoù àr e Varc’h, which finally transforms into a brutal rush accompanied by screams, blasts, and harmonics. The slower final allows us to return to the morbid tones, then Sklaved an Doueed picks up the pace again and offers more groovy parts while remaining complex (especially in the bass) before paying tribute to one of the bands that is undoubtedly one of their biggest influences, Sepultura, by covering the song Slave New World, which, unsurprisingly, fits perfectly into their discography and closes the album with a touch of nostalgic violence.

Although the band and its members are young, Tanork follows in the footsteps of their ancestors, offering up a fine slice of Death Metal sprinkled with Old School Thrash on Diskar. If it’s true that old pots make the best soup, theirs come straight from the genesis of the style!

95/100

Version Française ?

A few questions to Eflam and Melaine, respectively guitarist/vocalist and bassist/vocalist for Tanork, about the release of their second album Diskar.

Hello, and first of all, thank you for taking the time to talk to us! Could you introduce yourselves to our readers? Without using any style labels, such as “Death Metal,” how would you describe the band Tanork?
Tanork: I’m Melaine Gautier, bassist and occasional singer in the band, and founding member of Tanork. I’m Eflam, guitarist and singer. And then there’s Morgann, who’s the drummer. I’d say we’re a band that focuses on effective riffs with a direct, in-your-face style, partly due to our inspiration from early Sepultura and early Obituary. We play fast and we scream loud!

Why did you choose this name, and why did you choose it in Breton? How do you personally relate it to the music you play?
Tanork: Basically, it’s a made-up word. Mel‘s brother used to play Skyrim a lot, and he had to name an avatar, so he called it that. It has no meaning and doesn’t belong to any language. Of course, it’s confusing because we sing in Breton.

Your second album, Diskar, is coming out soon. How do you feel within the band? Have you had any feedback about it yet?
Tanork: We actually can’t wait to release it, we’re fed up. As for feedback, we sent the album to friends and family, and in general the feedback has been good. People think it’s effective and powerful, so we’re happy.
Raven: I have a feeling those two words are going to follow you throughout this interview!

How would you sum up Diskar in three words?
Tanork: I said it earlier, but really in-your-face and straight to the point. Our songs aren’t very long, not because we lack ideas, but because we think that’s how we work best, by getting straight to the point.

How did the process of composing Diskar go? Did you notice any changes compared to the first EP or the previous album?
Tanork: We started composing this album right after the first album came out. So that must have been in November or December 2023. We did it for over two years. Overall, we tend to compose together; there aren’t really any songs that we did individually. We come up with ideas individually and then we pool them together, but the structure and assembly of the songs is done collectively. We make sure that everyone can contribute their own touch because, although we are a band, we are also three musicians with three different ways of playing, and we really try to be inclusive in that regard so that everyone can contribute to the overall sound. We started out with Maël (Mael Gautier, former guitarist of the band, ed.), who had a much more modern style. I think you can really hear that on the first album. Then we continued as a duo and kept our old-school style.

The band’s sound is deeply rooted in Old School Death Metal, but also Thrash and Hardcore. How do you manage to create your own unique sound from these roots? Which bands would you cite as your main influences?
Tanork: The thrash side is also noticeable because Eflam and I, before entering the somewhat obscure world of extreme metal, got into it through Thrash Metal, particularly via the Denver band Havok, and I think that’s the band that started it all. They’re definitely the ones who made us want to start a band. I think that’s a big part of Tanork. As for the hardcore side, we come from Rennes, which is a city that’s pretty well known for hardcore. The Superbowl of Hardcore Festival takes place there every year, so we’re in an environment where hardcore is culturally well established in the city. We’re not going to label ourselves as a Death/Hardcore band either, because that’s not really what we do, even if we have influences.

The lyrics are also in Breton. How did you manage to translate your lyrics? What do you think is the added value of Breton for Death Metal?
Tanork: All three of us are Breton speakers. We went through the entire school system, except for Morgann who only did part of it, in a network of Breton-speaking schools, immersed in the Breton language from kindergarten to high school. As a result, we are now bilingual, so we don’t need to translate into French.

There’s a cover of Sepultura on the album, Slave New World. Why did you choose that particular song, and how did you manage to transpose it into Breton?
Tanork: I think it’s perhaps the song on Sepultura‘s album that best corresponds to what we want to say in our lyrics. It talks about a bit of everything and ends with the line “We’re not slaves, we’re free.” I think that sums up our state of mind pretty well. However, we didn’t translate it into Breton, we sing it in English.
Raven: I’m a little disappointed about that, it would have been interesting to compare the two.
Tanork: We thought about it, we think the message would have come across in both languages, but maybe this text works better in English.
Raven: And still on the subject of the continuity of Breton, because it’s still very interesting. In your opinion, does the Breton language bring real added value to Death Metal?
Tanork: I don’t know if it helps us stand out. We just do it because it’s our language and we want to sing in it. It’s also a bit of a militant act, we want to show people who listen to metal that no matter what kind of music you play, you can sing in languages other than English. Also, when you’re a musician in Brittany, you’re quickly pigeonholed into the traditional music category, and this is a way of showing that you can make contemporary music in the Breton language and that just because you sing in Breton doesn’t mean you’re making traditional music.

Diskar is being released on the Musiko Eye label. How did you get in touch with them and how is the collaboration going?
Tanork: We played at Samaïn in 2023 and Gérôme was there. He saw our concert when it was just the two of us. He liked what we were doing and paid for 200 copies of our first album to be pressed through a partnership. When we came back in October, he came to see us and said, “I want to sign you.” The collaboration is going very well, and we think it’s really the best label to release our second album.

I already had the chance to see you on stage in Mennecy in 2024 and then at Motocultor the following year. How do you build your stage performance? How do you approach a Tanork concert? Do you have any little pre- or post-concert rituals?
Tanork: I would say that before a concert, there’s always one of us who is more stressed, it’s not always the same person, and the role of the other two is to support them. Our pre-concert routine, let’s say, is to encourage each other to give our best, both musically and in the way we move on stage, because we really want to put on a good show. We also try to be impactful in the way we move and show off our stage moves. We encourage each other, and after the concert we don’t do much, we just relax and go for a drink. When we have a stand, we go there and talk to people. We really enjoy getting feedback because we don’t necessarily have the same vision as the audience, and it also helps us put things into perspective when we think we’ve given a crappy concert.

What are Tanork‘s next projects after the album release?
Tanork: Nothing has been decided yet, but why not do either an EP or a split album? The short-term priority is to play as many concerts as possible and find as many dates as possible, in as many places as possible, and rock the house. Because if we release something else, it won’t be right away. For now, we’re really focused on communication and promoting the album.

Do you think you’ve improved as musicians and composers with this album?
Tanork: Yes, I definitely think so. Personally, I think I’ve really surpassed myself because I’ve never taken guitar or singing lessons. It really pushed me to give everything I could to compose good riffs and, above all, to be able to play them on stage. And I feel the same way. It’s true that before, we tended to compose stuff that we couldn’t play properly, but by playing it over and over because we had composed it, it forced us to work on our technique, and I think you can see an improvement in that regard.

The band is relatively young, and so are you. How did you get started? What do you do besides the band?
Tanork: We started playing together in 2019, so we’ve been playing together for seven years now. However, the first compositions came out in 2020 and 2021. We started playing gigs in 2023, so it’s only recently that it’s become something a little more serious. Even though we’ve been playing together for seven years, I’m only 20 and so are you. I’m still studying, and the difficulty is juggling the band and my studies. Morgann is one year younger than us, but he’s in the same situation, still a student.

Which bands do you dream of playing with? I’ll let you imagine your dream date with Tanork as the opening act and three other bands.
Tanork: *in unison* Obituary! Gatekeeper and Skelethal, who we’ve already played with. We’d love to play with them again.

Last question: what dish would you compare Tanork‘s music to?
Tanork: Chili con carne? No, more like sin carne, vegetarian!

So that was my last question. Thank you for your time, and I’ll leave you with the last word!
Tanork: Well, as we say at the end of every interview, “Bevet Breizh, bevet ar brezhoneg! And bevet ar Metal”, that’s it. It means “long live Brittany! Long live the Breton language and long live Metal!” I think that pretty much sums up who we are.