A new milestone for Konvent.
Now performing as a quartet following a few lineup changes, Rikke Emilie List (vocals), Heidi Withington Brink (bass), Julie Simonsen (drums), and Amira Liv Hernan (guitar/backing vocals) continue their partnership with Napalm Records for the release of their third album, Firesky.
Exorcise opens with a touch of melancholy, which fades almost instantly as massive distortion and Rikke’s cavernous roars kick in, marking the return of that haunting, oppressive sound I’d come to love on their previous releases. Waves of slowness wash over one by one, occasionally letting the bass and guitar deliver a haunting sound, while the vocalist unleashes jarring screams before a long, minimalist acoustic break in the middle of the track – only to erupt anew, borrowing from black metal to transition into Scorning, which also begins very calmly. The gentleness is gradually corrupted, even allowing some percussion to emerge before the melody intensifies, soon joined by the singer’s growls; then the mix ignites and sweeps us away in its dark and intoxicating torrent as the screams multiply, and although the tempo slows down, the sound remains hazy and gripping right up to the very long In the Unknown, which begins with a much more energetic approach. The track retains that distinct hint of nostalgia that colors every note, but the break darkens the sound, giving it an almost ritualistic energy before the eruption brings back the overwhelming violence that pounds at us, then finally gives way to the title track Firesky, which barely lets us catch our breath before plunging us back into the ambient darkness. Once again, the acoustic break offers a moment of respite, but when the clean vocals emerge, the rhythm section races off once more, exploding with a scream before returning to its thick, intense saturation filled with shouts, until Postludium takes over, offering us nearly three minutes of calm, almost majestic, before the crackling of a fire accompanies this final lament into silence.
Although their absence was felt, Konvent makes a triumphant return with Firesky, embracing new sounds that are even darker and more abyssal. The four musicians master both oppression and gentleness, but we know which direction their nostalgia leans toward.
95/100
A few questions to Heidi Withington Brink, bassiste du groupe Danois de Death/Doom Metal Konvent, à propos de la sortie de leur troisième album Firesky.
Hello, and first of all thanks a lot for taking the time to talk with me! How would you describe Konvent without using any musical label, such as “Doom Metal”, “Death Metal” etc.?
Heidi Withington Brink (bass): Thank you for having us! I think I would describe Konvent as slow, dark, heavy and very physical music. A lot of what we do is about creating tension and allowing it to build for a long time before something finally breaks. There is also something quite hypnotic about it. We use repetition a lot, and we’re not afraid of staying in the same atmosphere for a while if it creates the right feeling. We want the music to feel almost tangible, almost like something that surrounds you rather than simply being a collection of riffs and songs. At the same time, especially with Firesky, there is much more contrast within that darkness. There are moments where we pull things back and create space before everything becomes overwhelming again.
The band’s foundation happened a bit more than ten years ago, how did you decide on the name Konvent, and how do you still link it to the music you play now?
Heidi: The name came very early in the life of the band, and I think what appealed to us was the imagery and atmosphere surrounding the word. There is something ritualistic and slightly mysterious about it, like the idea of a closed community or people gathering around something. That has actually aged quite well with the band. There has always been something quite ritualistic about our music, especially because repetition plays such a big role in it. A Konvent song can sometimes stay with one idea for a long time and slowly build around it, which almost creates a ceremonial feeling. After more than ten years, the word is so connected to the four of us and everything we have experienced with the band that I don’t really think about its literal meaning anymore. It has simply become our name and our identity.
Konvent will soon release its third album, named Firesky, how do you feel about it? How would you sum Firesky’s identity up in only three words?
Heidi: We’re incredibly excited to finally release it. Four years is a long time between albums, and we have lived with these songs for quite a while now, so it almost feels strange that they are finally going to belong to everyone else as well. At the same time, I think we are very proud of this record because we allowed ourselves much more freedom while making it. We weren’t thinking too much about what people expected a Konvent album to sound like. We followed the ideas that excited us and let the songs become whatever they needed to become. If I had to choose three words, I would say: dark, expansive and defiant.
Firesky happens four years after your latest album, and is the first one you created as a four-piece band, did you notice any changes or evolution in the composition process?
Heidi: Konvent has actually been built around being a four-piece from the beginning, but Firesky is the first album we have written with this exact line-up, with Amira on guitar. Naturally, bringing another person into the songwriting changes the chemistry. Everyone approaches music differently, and that can push the rest of you into places you might not have gone otherwise. More generally, I think the biggest evolution was that we became less strict with ourselves. We used to have a clearer idea of what a Konvent song was supposed to be. This time, we were much more willing to let an idea develop without immediately questioning whether it was too long, too atmospheric, too Black Metal, not Doom enough or whatever else. That freedom is probably the biggest reason why Firesky sounds the way it does. Most of the songs are close to ten minutes, and one is around twelve, but we never decided in advance that we wanted to write a record with very long songs. They simply became that way because we stopped forcing them into a certain format.
Konvent’s sound is still rooted in a heavy melting of Death and Doom Metal, but we can almost feel a few Black Metal touches. Did your influences change with time? What influences you to create music and lyrics?
Heidi: Our influences definitely evolve because we evolve as people and musicians. The Black metal elements aren’t completely new for us, since we have experimented with them before, but on Firesky we allowed them to become much more prominent. Our inspiration also comes from much more than music. The world around us has been a big influence on this album. Exorcise, for example, comes from the anger and helplessness we felt while watching legislation restricting the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people in different parts of the world. That feeling of watching things move backwards politically and socially and feeling powerless while it happens, became part of the darkness of the record. But there are personal themes as well. I think what connects a lot of Firesky is transformation: destruction, anger and darkness, but also the possibility that something better might eventually grow out of it.
Which song is your personal favorite on Firesky? And which one was the hardest one for you to complete?
Heidi: For me, I think In the Unknown is one of the songs I keep coming back to. It is the longest song on the album, around twelve minutes, and I really like how much it transforms along the way. It represents a lot of what became exciting about writing this record – not knowing exactly where a song needed to go and allowing it to slowly reveal itself. I also really enjoy how the different sections change the role of the bass. When a song has that much space and development, you can approach your instrument differently throughout it rather than simply maintaining the same function from beginning to end. In terms of which song was the hardest to complete, Exorcise was definitely one of the more demanding ones simply because of its structure. When you have a song that long and it changes character quite dramatically, you have to make sure the transitions feel earned. You don’t want it to sound like several unrelated ideas glued together. But that challenge is also part of why the song ended up becoming such an important introduction to the album.
What does Firesky’s cover art mean? Is there a precise meaning, or is it just conceptual?
Heidi: The artwork was created by Nona Limmen, and we wanted something that reflected the atmosphere of the album without explaining it too literally. The red immediately creates this very intense feeling. It can look violent, apocalyptic and threatening, but at the same time there is something beautiful about it. That duality fits the record very well. Fire obviously represents destruction, but destruction can also represent transformation. There is an idea throughout the album of looking at a world that feels increasingly hostile and thinking that perhaps something has to fundamentally change. So for us, Firesky contains both of those ideas: something burning and ending, but also the possibility that something new can emerge afterwards. We like that the artwork doesn’t tell you exactly how to interpret it. It gives you a feeling first.
The album Firesky comes out on Napalm Records again, how is the relationship with the label, and how did this partnership happen?
Heidi: Our relationship with Napalm goes back quite far now. We first came into contact with them around 2018, before Puritan Masochism, so they have been there throughout basically our entire career as an album-releasing band. Having that history obviously means they know where we come from and what Konvent is. At the same time, the band has changed a lot since then. We have changed as people, our ambitions have evolved, our line-up has changed and the music has developed significantly. What has been important with Firesky is having the freedom to make the record we wanted to make. Nobody told us that we needed to recreate Puritan Masochism or write shorter songs because they would be easier to market. Considering that we came back with five very long songs and considerably more experimentation than before, having that space was important.
Do you think you improved yourself, or evolved as a musician while creating the new record?
Heidi: Definitely. But for me, becoming a better musician isn’t necessarily only about becoming technically better at playing bass. It is also about understanding when not to play something. On this record especially, dynamics became much more important. When you are writing songs that can be ten or twelve minutes long, you can’t have every instrument fighting for attention during every second. Sometimes the bass needs to be huge and very present, and sometimes it needs to become part of the atmosphere and create space for something else. I think we have all become much more confident about making those choices. There is also simply a different confidence after playing together for so many years and playing so many shows. You stop worrying quite as much about whether something is technically the “correct” thing to do and start thinking more about whether it creates the feeling you want.
The Danish scene is getting more and more known for its extreme scene, how did you live its evolution through time?
Heidi: It has been really interesting because when we started Konvent in 2015, we obviously didn’t know where any of this was going to take us. Denmark has always had an underground scene, but it feels like there is more international attention on Danish heavy and extreme music now. What I particularly like is that it isn’t just one specific sound that is getting attention. There are Danish bands doing very different things within extreme music and still finding audiences outside Denmark. For us, one of the biggest changes has probably been seeing the distance between the Danish underground and the international scene become much smaller. When you start a band in a rehearsal room in Copenhagen, playing festivals and touring around the world can feel very far away. Then suddenly you realise that bands around you are actually doing exactly that. That creates a really healthy feeling that you don’t necessarily have to come from one of the traditionally huge metal countries to be taken seriously internationally.
Let’s talk about live shows now. How do you live a Konvent show? What happens inside of you, and in which mindset do you come to the stage? Maybe you have some rituals or habits before or after a show?
Heidi: There is definitely a transition that happens just before going on stage. You can spend the whole day travelling, waiting, eating, doing interviews, soundchecking and talking to people, and then suddenly you have to switch into this completely different mental space. But once the first note starts, everything else disappears quite quickly. Our music is very physical to play. There is something about the volume, the low frequencies and the repetition that you feel throughout your entire body. Especially when the audience is completely with you, it can become almost meditative despite the music being so heavy. I personally try to get into a focused state before we play rather than becoming too hyped. The music works better when there is some control behind it. You have to let yourself disappear into it without losing awareness of the other people on stage. We don’t need some enormous ritual beforehand, but we always have to yell « Have a great show », between all of us right before we go on stage.
I was lucky enough to catch you at Hellfest Open Air back in 2024, do you remember this show? How was it to play at the festival? Would you like to come back to France?
Heidi: Absolutely. Hellfest is difficult to forget. It is one of those festivals that you hear about for years before you ever get the opportunity to play there, so actually arriving and seeing the scale of everything is pretty overwhelming. France has always been really good to us. There is a very dedicated audience for heavy music, and people seem genuinely curious about bands rather than only showing up for the biggest names on the poster. We would absolutely love to come back, both to Hellfest and to play shows around France in general. There is also something really satisfying about playing our kind of music to a festival crowd. Our songs aren’t necessarily designed to give people instant gratification. They take time. So when thousands of people are willing to go into that slow, uncomfortable atmosphere with you, it feels very special.
What comes next for Konvent after the album release? Do you already have some plans?
Heidi: The immediate focus is getting Firesky out into the world and bringing these songs onto the stage. We have release shows coming up, and after spending so long creating the album, we really want the next chapter to be about playing it. That is particularly exciting because these songs were written with much more dynamic movement than some of our older material, so we are still discovering how they change once they become live songs. Beyond that, we obviously want to tour and take the record to as many places as possible. After four years between albums, it feels like we have been holding onto Firesky for a very long time. Now we finally get to actually live with it together with an audience.
What do you know about the French Metal scene? Are there any bands you know and like?
Heidi: France has an incredibly diverse heavy music scene, and I think one of the interesting things about it is how many French bands have very strong individual identities. Obviously Gojira is impossible not to mention because of what they have achieved internationally, but there are also bands like Celeste and Hangman’s Chair who approach darkness and heaviness in completely different ways. That is something we can relate to. The French scene seems quite comfortable allowing atmosphere, emotion and heaviness to coexist without everything having to fit neatly within one genre, and I think that has produced some really interesting music.
Are there any bands you would love to play with? I let you create your dream poster with Konvent headlining and three other bands, even unrealistic answers are accepted.
Heidi: If unrealistic answers are allowed, then we should take full advantage of that! Let’s say: Konvent, Black Sabbath, Bolt Thrower, Candlemass. Konvent headlining that bill would obviously be completely absurd, which makes it even better.
Last question: is there any book, movie or even painting you could compare Konvent’s music with?
Heidi: Honestly, I don’t think I have a good answer to that. It’s not something we’ve ever really connected our music to, and I would rather not force a comparison just because it sounds good in an interview. I think we tend to think much more in terms of atmosphere, emotions and images when we write, rather than having a specific book, film or artwork in mind. So I’d actually be really curious to hear what someone listening to Konvent would compare it to, sometimes other people make connections to your music that you would never have thought of yourself.
That was the last question for me, so thank you very much for your time and your music, last words are yours!
Heidi: Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us and for listening to the record. We’ve spent a long time creating Firesky, and it feels like an important album for us because it represents a point where we allowed ourselves to stop worrying quite so much about what Konvent was supposed to be. Hopefully people can hear that freedom in the record. And to everyone who has followed us through the first two albums, come to a show, bought a record, worn one of our shirts, discovered us at a festival or simply spent ten minutes of their life listening to one extremely slow riff: thank you. We hope you’ll follow us into this next chapter as well.