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| This interview was made in collaboration with Last Cathedral Records |
Hailing from Helsinki, Mount Palatine blend Doom, Stoner, Sludge and Psychedelic Rock into a distinctive, jam-driven sound. I talked with Count Boogie, Lord of the Groove and Jean the Baron about the band's origins, Wormholy World, their creative process and their contribution to The Silent Remains.
Asmoth: Mount Palatine was formed in Helsinki in 2020, initially under the name The Paladin. Could you tell us how the three of you came together and what led you to start this project? What was the musical idea behind those first jam sessions?
Mount Palatine: The band was indeed formed in 2020, but our history of making music together goes back much further. Count Boogie and Lord of the Groove were already playing in the same band during high school, around 2004–2007, and the three of us played together during our university years, around 2008–2011. Those projects were also rooted in metal.
When Count and Lord suggested starting this project to Jean the Baron during the downtime brought about by the pandemic, they had recently been listening to increasingly more stoner- and doom-oriented metal. They suggested that it would be cool to take the project in that direction, too, and Jean didn’t need much convincing.
Beyond that, we didn’t really try to define the music too precisely beforehand. We simply got together and started jamming, and the direction naturally began to take shape from there.
Asmoth: Your music brings together Doom, Stoner, Sludge, Progressive Metal and Psychedelic Rock. How would you describe the Mount Palatine sound today, and do you think there is one particular element that holds all these different influences together?
Mount Palatine: It’s difficult for us to define our own sound, but perhaps the best description would be psychedelic metal, with all of those influences present in different ways.
What probably holds everything together is our jam-based approach to songwriting. All of these genres have influenced our musical tastes to different degrees, so they naturally find their way into the music when we play together. We don’t really have to force them into the songs, they tend to emerge naturally through the way we create music.
Asmoth: Improvisation and long-form jamming seem to be an important part of your creative process. How does a Mount Palatine song develop from an initial jam into a finished composition? Do you try to preserve some of that spontaneous feeling when you record?
Mount Palatine: It’s not just an important part of our process, it’s essential. More or less all of our songs have originated through jamming.
There is, of course, quite a bit of variation in how the songs develop from there. Some of our tracks are almost exactly as they came out during a jam, while others have been arranged and structured much more afterwards. Some songs may consist of elements from several different jams, and sometimes we make changes to the melodies or to the way a particular instrument moves through the song afterwards.
Because of this, the spontaneous feeling tends to remain quite naturally. It’s already built into the way the songs come together, rather than something we consciously try to add afterwards.
Asmoth: Your music also explores cosmic, spiritual and philosophical themes, particularly ideas about existence, destruction and recreation. How important are these concepts to the identity of Mount Palatine, and how do they influence the way you approach songwriting?
Mount Palatine: They have become an essential part of Mount Palatine’s identity, even though this side of the band wasn’t particularly well defined in the beginning either.
Of course, these themes have an influence on what the music becomes, but we think the relationship also works the other way around. The music itself can inspire and shape the ideas and themes we explore. So the two sides kind of feed into each other.
Asmoth: You released your second album, Wormholy World, in February 2026. Compared with Cockroach Crusade, what do you feel has changed the most in your music and in the way you work together as a band?
Mount Palatine: We feel that on our second album, the music has moved somewhat towards a more cohesive and psychedelic direction, without us putting too many restrictions on ourselves.
We’ve also developed a better understanding of how we want to create our music and what we want it to sound like. We know each other’s musical instincts better now, and I think that has made the whole process more natural.
Asmoth: Mount Palatine contributed “The Dreaming” to The Silent Remains, the compilation released by Last Cathedral Records. Why did you choose this particular song to represent the band on the compilation, and what do you think it brings to the overall atmosphere of the release?
Mount Palatine: The Dreaming wasn’t one of the singles from either of our albums, so in that sense it’s an interesting choice.
We’ve actually grown to appreciate the song in a slightly different way after playing it live. The second half of the track takes you on a real journey, and based on the feedback we’ve received, it seems to do that not only for the players but for the listeners as well.
As part of the compilation as a whole, we think it brings something a little different because of that extended trip towards the end. The first part has its own strange, cosmic charge, and then the song really takes off into something more psychedelic and immersive.
Asmoth: The Silent Remains brings together twenty bands from different sides of the Doom Metal underground, while also supporting nina+nico e.V., an organisation helping people affected by sexual, psychological and physical violence. What did participating in a project combining underground music and a concrete social cause mean to Mount Palatine, and what do you hope listeners will take away from the compilation?
Mount Palatine: When you make music, you don’t necessarily think about it as something that could also be a way to help people or contribute to something important like this. Realising that it can be both is genuinely rewarding, and it gives you a kind of satisfaction you might not have thought about before.
Hopefully, listeners will discover us through the compilation, as well as many of the other underground bands involved, bands that are making music with genuine passion and putting their hearts into it. And, of course, we hope the compilation also brings attention to the important cause it supports.