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| This interview was made in collaboration with Last Cathedral Records |
For more than 25 years, Ophis have forged their own path through the international Death/Doom Metal scene, remaining faithful to their uncompromising identity while continuing to develop their sound. For The Final Witness, a compilation bringing together different forms of Doom Metal from the international underground, I spoke with Philipp Kruppa about the band's creative process, lyrical themes, musical evolution and future. We also discussed the importance of supporting a project that raises funds for people with psychological problems, and what continues to drive him to make music after all these years.
Asmoth: After more than two decades with Ophis, does writing a new song still feel like an act of discovery for you, or do you now approach the creative process in a more deliberate way?
Philipp Kruppa: Luckily, it’s still some sort of discovery. We tried to several times to write a song with a certain preset direction, for instance a real Funeral doomer or a Death Metal track, but everytime the tracks ended up somewhat different. We just can’t control it, it just comes out. It got A LOT more difficult though, because Death-Doom is somewhat limited, and we do not want to repeat ourselves. Writing songs is more difficult now than it was in the beginning.
Asmoth: Ophis has always had a very uncompromising identity. Is there anything you would never change about the band, even if it could make the music more accessible to a wider audience?
Philipp Kruppa: I would never incorporate anything trendy into the music, even if it sounded great. Ophis is a Death-Doom band, end of discussion. It’s ok to experiment with the formula a bit and include some influences from outside, but it has to match the core DNA of the band. I don’t give a fuck about trends or sales. We probably go more into post metal territory or occult elements, but that would be just calculation, not heartfelt. The Ophis DNA is slow heavy riffs, melancholic leads, growl vocals and the occasional blast beating Death Metal section. Anything that does not go along with that DNA is out of question.
Asmoth: Your music often feels less like a collection of songs and more like a descent into a particular state of mind.
Philipp Kruppa: Thank you, that’s a great great compliment!
Asmoth: When you write, do you first create an atmosphere and build the music around it, or does the atmosphere emerge from the music itself?
Philipp Kruppa: The atmosphere emerges from the music. It’s not like we burn incense or torches in our rehearsal room to create a dark atmosphere to write. All we do is dim the light a bit. It’s a very concentrated work. However, when I listen to sketches and demos we recorded during the process, I take care to listen to them in a certain atmosphere, for example when walking through woods in the rain, to see if it really ticks me in the right places!
Asmoth: Your lyrics deal with subjects such as suffering, death and nihilism. Has the way you approach these themes changed as you have grown older?
Philipp Kruppa: Yes, pretty much! This description still stems from our very early days. Ever since the second album, the lyrics became way more varied. Many lyrics deal with introspection, socio-cultural commentary and even some political undertones. For example, topics on the new album are the relation of fascism and poverty, PTSD, post-apocalyptic dreams, war and climate change. Depression and loss are also recurring themes in our lyrics. Still, due to that old entry on Metal Archives, we usually get still reduced to the old topics.
Asmoth: After several releases, how do you decide that a song is truly finished? Is there a point where you deliberately stop adding or changing things?
Philipp Kruppa: We write songs in several stages. We start doing a sketch of the song and record it, and listen to it for a while, to see what our feelings tell us about how to continue. Then we add stuff or throw parts away, or change things. Then record it again, let it sit again, and so on. A song is sometimes finished within a few weeks, sometimes in 2 years. When we take a song to the stage for the first time, it is basically finished. We may still change micro-details or lyrics, though, until we enter pre-production for the next album.
Asmoth: Ophis has remained firmly rooted in Death/Doom while the genre itself has evolved considerably. Do you think the band has changed more than the music around you, or have you deliberately resisted that evolution?
Philipp Kruppa: Not exactly sure wether you mean the evolution of Doom or of Metal in general, but I think that Ophis has developed a lot over the years. When you listen to our debut album from 2007 and then to the new album, you will find a lot of differences. As I mentioned above, the DNA is completely the same, but there is much more detail and much more variety in there than back in the early days. Other than that, I do not care much about the evolution of Doom. What other bands play is up to them, and I may like it or not. But it has no impact on what we do. If you mean the evolution of Metal as a whole, I don’t care much either. There are still some great new bands out there who have a fresh input and kick ass, but about 90% of the current stuff is bland or boring.
Asmoth: You are featured on The Final Witness, a compilation bringing together different forms of Doom Metal from the international underground. What interested you most about being part of this particular project?
Philipp Kruppa: This compilation struck a nerve, because the profit is donated to people with psychological problems. My dayjob is being a therapist in psychiatry. I work with heavily traumatized people every day, with victims of rape and violence. It’s very real and very intense. So when Last Cathedral approached us for the compilation, I was immediately up to it. I even offered them a brand new song that is about PTSD as an exclusive pre-release, but they preferred to take an older track. Fine with me. We just wanted to support the project.
Asmoth: After more than 25 years of Ophis, what still makes you want to write, record and play this music? Is there something you feel the band has yet to accomplish?
Philipp Kruppa: I must admit that on some days I ask myself what is there left to do? I think this band will not get any bigger than it is, unless we change drastically. Which is no option, as I mentioned above. Ophis commercially peaked about 10 years ago, since then we more or less keep the same level. When I founded the band, all I wanted was to play tours and put out albums. We did this, several times. We made ourselves a small but solid spot in the international scene. We shared the stage with almost every band that were our heroes back when we started. The only thing we tried to do and never achieved was an US-/South America tour, and now with the orange-haired wannabe Napoleon chances that it will happen are even worse.
So in terms of career, we could stop right here. And I considered stopping several times. But somehow, there is still something inside that makes we go on. This world is so fucking sick and depressing. Making Death-Doom is the only way I know to turn all this negativity into something useful and valuable.